John Cage

By Laura Briscoe

Jan 31 2019

Mostly remembered for his experimental music compositions, John Cage was also a devoted naturalist, fascinated with mushrooms. He began foraging mushrooms as a food source during the great depression He co-founded the current incarnation of the New York Mycological Society, a club of mushroom enthusiasts that is still running strong today. Most of his fungal collections are held in the herbarium of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

"Often I go into the woods thinking, after all these years, I ought finally to be bored with fungi. But coming upon just any mushroom in good condition, I lose my mind all over again."