Have you been missing this amazing and underrated mushroom? Chances are if you’ve ever gone out in the woods in North America, you’ve walked past the mushroom red-belted conk (Fomitopsis pinicola)—though you may not have noticed it. This ubiquitous, yet often-overlooked mushroom may not be well known among herbalists, but it certainly deserves to be! As this week’s podcast guest, Logan Keister, describes, there are so many benefits to working with red-belted conk, from aiding digestion to reducing inflammation, and so much more.

Logan also explains in detail one of his favorite ways of working with medicinal mushrooms: as a long-extracted mushroom powder, full of all the goodness of these amazing fungi. This preparation can be expensive to buy, but luckily it’s really easy to make yourself! We’ve got a beautifully-illustrated recipe card for Logan’s recipe for Mushroom Extract Powder to share with you; you can download your copy here.

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► Four tips for identifying red-belted conk (and what to do to be sure the mushroom you’re finding isn’t a lookalike)

► How the red-belted conk interacts with and benefits other species living in the forest

► Six medicinal gifts of red-belted conk—and the type of person who may especially benefit from its support

► How medicinal mushrooms work together with your body to help prevent and heal from cancer

► Why mushrooms are best consumed cooked

► and so many other reasons to make mushrooms a part of your daily diet!

For those of you who don’t know him, Logan Keister is a clinical herbalist, educator, medicinal herb farmer, and permaculture designer, born and raised in the coniferous forests of Noti, Oregon. He has worked with many clients with a diverse range of health concerns over the years and helped them to address their concerns using the vitalist approach to herbalism. He currently resides in Noti, Oregon where he runs his own small business, Noti Botanica, where he sells herbal remedies, offers holistic health consultations, and shares his teachings on herbalism. 

Logan received his training in clinical herbalism and botany at the Columbines School of Botanical Studies, the Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism, and the School of Evolutionary Herbalism. He also has a B.S. in Horticulture and a Permaculture Design Certificate from Oregon State University.

I’m thrilled to share our conversation with you today!

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Get full show notes and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

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On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.