Ancient Remedies, Modern Dogs and Lifelong Wellness: Lee’s North American Mushroom Teaching Tour, 2025
6 minute read
Returning to North America always feels like slipping into a second skin. I have spent decades travelling through the United States, teaching herbal medicine. It’s always a pleasure connecting with practitioners and exploring the landscapes, ceremonies, foods, and cultures that shaped my work.
This year’s tour was no exception. It was a blend of teaching, learning, laughter, mushroom foraging, deep scientific conversations, reconnecting with old friends, and the joy of making many new ones.
At the centre of my work during the tour was a single thesis: exploring the ancient link that fungi share with all animals, including us and our pets.
My travels began with a major keynote, continued through study groups and seminars, wound into the forests of British Columbia, dropped into the neon intensity of Las Vegas, and finished with a seminar that brought human and animal health together in the same room.
Here’s a look back at a whirlwind few weeks of mushrooms, movement, and meaning.
In This Article
- San Diego – Feed Real Summit
- Berkeley – Home Away From Home
- Charlotte Maxwell Clinic – Educational Seminar
- Roberts Creek, Canada – Mushrooms, Family, and Forest
- Las Vegas – SupplySide West
- Back to Berkeley – Seminar With Dr. Rob Silver, DVM
- The Journey Home
San Diego – Feed Real Summit
Talk: Ancient Remedies for Modern Dogs, Mushrooms, and Lifelong Wellness
The tour began in Torrey Pines, just north of San Diego, at the Feed Real Summit. The event, hosted by the Feed Real Institute, founded by Ruby and Turk Balaram, brought together thought leaders in pet nutrition, veterinarians, raw feeders, and innovators in the pet health world.
My keynote explored a concept I believe will reshape canine health: Dogs need mushrooms. Not just as an optional extra, but as part of a wellness approach aligned with their evolutionary biology.
Emerging research suggests that canine immune systems have receptors that respond to mushroom beta-glucans, a system that first evolved in early vertebrates. Mushrooms also contain an abundant supply of ergothioneine (ERGO), a protective nutrient dogs cannot produce on their own. In humans, low ERGO levels are linked with age-related changes, and I suspect the same may be true for dogs.
Wolves did not eat mushrooms directly. They obtained ERGO through the animals they hunted. Deer and wild boar, the preferred prey of wolves throughout prehistory, eat mushrooms in large amounts.
This nutrient chain reaches back more than a billion years to the shared ancestor of animals and fungi and continues today through the choices we make for our modern companion animals.
The message resonated strongly with veterinarians, raw feeders, pet parents, and health coaches. It set the tone for the rest of the trip: mushrooms as ancient allies that support wellbeing across the lifespan for animals and people.
Berkeley – Home Away From Home
After San Diego, I flew to Berkeley. A cozy Airbnb, tree-lined streets, and the familiar rhythm of the East Bay made it feel like returning to an old friend.
A highlight was a visit to Monterrey Market and Berkeley Bowl, which have some of the best fresh mushrooms in the country. I tried fresh porcini for the first time, a truly exquisite mushroom.
Study Group Session
I ran a small study group hosted by Dr. Suzie Lee at her clinic in Alameda. We explored ergothioneine, immune modulation, redox balance. Central to this talk was the idea that mushroom nutrients form an ancestral nutritional link we have largely forgotten.
Charlotte Maxwell Clinic – Educational Seminar
Next, I delivered a mushroom-and-immunity session for the Charlotte Maxwell Clinic (CMC) at the Samuel Merritt University Health Education Center. CMC is a respected pro-bono integrative cancer support service for low-income women in Oakland.
This visit was especially meaningful for me, as I had the privilege of personally hand-delivering Real Mushrooms’ $5,000 donation to the clinic on behalf of our community. Every person who bought a 5 Defenders product during Pink October helped make that contribution possible.
Around forty integrative practitioners joined us. The team, led by director Mary Lynn Morales, was warm, thoughtful, and deeply committed to service. It was a privilege to support the important work they do.
Roberts Creek, Canada – Mushrooms, Family, and Forest
From California, I flew to British Columbia and stayed at the original Chilton family home, the heart of both Nammex and Real Mushrooms. The history and integrity behind these companies are something you can feel in the house itself.
Friday Foraging With the Nammex Team
One of the highlights of the trip was joining COO Bill Chalmers and the Nammex team for their monthly Friday forage. The forest was thick with moss, softened logs, and hidden fungal treasures. We found matsutake, white chanterelles, golden chanterelles, and many smaller species tucked into the forest floor.
I also went on several extra foraging trips with Real Mushrooms’ CEO, Skye, and his dog, Cyprus, who is an expert at tearing apart dead logs while we search for mushrooms.
We ate mushrooms every day. In a strange twist, I normally cannot tolerate more than two eggs a week, but in Roberts Creek, I ate sixteen eggs in six days without any issues. I am convinced that my daily mushroom intake was the antidote.
Meetings, Strategy, and Mushroom Science
Between foraging sessions, we held meetings on extraction science, testing, substrates, quality assurance, and the future of the mushroom industry. The dedication of the Nammex team is unmatched. I also recorded a podcast interview on Forever Young Radio discussing Reishi, the “mushroom of immortality”.
Las Vegas – SupplySide West
From quiet forests to a conference with more than 1,700 exhibitors and 15,000 attendees, the shift to the SupplySide conference in Las Vegas was dramatic.
I joined the Nammex team at their booth for two days of in-depth conversations with formulators, researchers, product developers, and manufacturers. SupplySide West is the largest ingredient-focused event in the industry, and the innovation on display was remarkable.
Standing alongside the Nammex team as we represented evidence-based mushroom quality was a genuine privilege.
Back to Berkeley – Seminar With Dr. Rob Silver, DVM
After Vegas, I returned to Berkeley for our Real Mushrooms seminar with veteran hollistic veterinarian, Dr. Rob Silver, in Lafayette. More than fifty practitioners, both human-health and veterinary, attended. Several company friends also hosted booths, including Feed Real, Haight St Shroom Shop, ADUCO, and Real Mushrooms.
The room was buzzing.
Our message was simple and strong: Mushrooms deserve a central place in modern wellness routines.
Regular mushroom consumption may support long-term healthspan. By regular, I mean eating mushrooms at least two to three times per week. That is the ideal starting point.
But many people do not cook often or prepare the same meals repeatedly, which makes consistent intake difficult. This is where high-quality mushroom extracts can help. Powders and capsules fill the gaps and support a steady mushroom intake each week.
During the seminar, we discussed emerging research exploring how mushrooms may support areas such as metabolic health, gut function, cognitive performance, immune system balance, healthy aging, ergothioneine, and what it looks like to live a true mushroom lifestyle for both humans and pets.
It was one of the most energizing events of the entire tour.
The Journey Home
After the seminar, I travelled from San Francisco back to Brisbane. The jet lag was intense this time. It took more than two weeks to feel fully grounded again.
Despite the fatigue, I returned home deeply grateful.
This tour reminded me of everything I love about North America:
community, curiosity, innovation, generosity, and a shared excitement about the future of mushrooms in human and animal health.
I met extraordinary people, strengthened existing relationships, and spent unforgettable days in forests overflowing with fungal treasures.
Here’s to the next adventure, and to a world where mushrooms sit where they belong, at the centre of lifelong wellness for humans and their animals.
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