Date: July 24, 2025

Time: 2:00 p.m.

Location: Green River Library

Speakers: Olga Katić

Join Olga, of Mushroom Mountain, for an engaging journey into the underground world of terrestrial fungi, with a spotlight on Stropharia rugosoannulata—the mighty King Stropharia. Discover how mushrooms act as ecosystem engineers, transforming woody debris and organic matter into rich, fertile soil. This lecture explores the essential role of saprophytic fungi in building soil structure, retaining moisture, supporting plant life, and even cleaning up toxins. You’ll also learn about practical applications in permaculture, gardening, and habitat restoration using mushrooms like King Stropharia. Whether you’re a mycophile, a conservationist, or just fungi-curious, this talk will leave you seeing soil in a whole new light.

Olga grew up mushroom hunting with her relatives in Bosnia and Hercegovina. When her parents were at work, her grandma watched her and her sister, and they had the freedom of being in the woods all day long. At one moment they would be digging up leeches out of the fresh water well and feeding them to chickens, and the next moment, they would get chased by grandma’s rooster. But they also spent a lot of time picking boletes, milk mushrooms, and other varieties of mushrooms. They’d bring them to their grandpa and he would get rid of the ones he thought were not edible, the rest they would cook on the wood stove and eat! Moving to the present, Olga is the proud owner of Mushroom Mountain and she has an amazing team working with her. They produce mushroom spawn for many different edible and medicinal varieties. They also make several different medicinal mushroom extracts and medicinal mushroom honeys under the name Mycomatrix. Mushroom Mountain also runs a Wild Mushroom Food Safety Certification Program. This program was accepted by Health Departments of 7 states, and counting, and also endorsed by the FDA. In her free time, Olga loves to be in the woods, picking mushrooms and wild plants, and of course taking tons of pictures of anything she finds. She is fascinated by nature in every possible aspect.

*Space is limited and pre-registration is required by visiting the Green River Library’s calendar of events at this link. 

The Green River Library Speaker Series programs are made possible thanks to our partnership with the Henderson County Public Library.

Contact Pam Torlina, pam@conservingcarolina.org, with questions or for more information.