Mycology Outside: A Weekend Mushroom Retreat in Maine

C.J. Spotswood, PMHNP-BC—also known as the EntheoNurse—is a board-certified psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner based in central Maine with over 25 years of experience. A third-generation nurse, C.J. is the author of The Microdosing Guidebook and has published in leading journals such as the Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. He holds certifications from the University of Southern Maine, Psychedelics Today, and the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). C.J. is the lead psychiatric clinician at REMAP Therapeutics, specializing in psychedelic care for chronic pain, and has taught or presented for APNA, Psychedelics Today, the Psychedelics and Pain Association, and more. He takes a harm-reduction approach in supporting clients working with psychedelics, both in clinical and underground settings.

Scotty is a natural builder, compost educator, and farmer with a degree in chemical engineering from W.P.I. and 10 years of experience in the world of cooperative business. He is the founder of Diggers Cooperative, a local Maine compost and permaculture design business. And as co-founder of the permaculture education group, Permatours, Scotty travels around the Northeast to joyfully share educational content on various topics such as building science, Hempcrete, soil science and plant ID.

Thomas Roehl is a PhD candidate at Clark University in Worcester, MA, where he studies the evolution of mushroom morphologies. He began mushroom hunting in 2011 as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia. After graduating, Thomas started the blog Fungus Fact Friday, joined the Mycological Association of Washington, DC, where he became the newsletter editor, a foray leader, and a certified identifier. In 2022 he graduated with a masters degree from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse and then began his PhD work. Thomas' current project focuses on the river-associated mushroom Lentinus tigrinus, a single species which has both gilled and secotioid forms.

Will Levatino is a chef/owner of a seafood market and restaurant in Brooklyn New York called Greenpoint fish and lobster. In his spare time is an avid fisherman and forager who uses his three decades in the restaurant industry to showcase using under utilized species, off cuts and hyper local ingredients on his YouTube channel “cooking with clams”

Jasper Degenaars is an ambassador to the Kindom of the Fungi and has dedicated his life to the sharing and growing of Fungal Wisdom. It all started over 13 years ago when he embarked on a journey to decipher the growing of Psilocybe mushrooms. Since 2019 he has committed his full time and awareness in service to nurturing the connection between people and the Fungal Kindom.

Through radiating passion and inspiration evoked from his many years of traveling the world, Jasper has co-created 20+ educational experiences, online courses, and retreats that cultivated diverse communities of learners, empowering them to explore the symbiotic relationship between fungi, people, and their environments.

Noah is a PhD candidate in Soil Ecology at the University of Vermont, where his research focuses on enhancing farm productivity through integrated waste management. Before moving to Vermont, he earned a BS in Biology from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, specializing in plant science and human health. Since joining UVM in 2020, he has worked with growers, composters, and other stakeholders across the US to develop waste management strategies that provide economic and environmental benefits. His research seeks to identify innovative recycling methods that convert agricultural and human waste into on-site fertilizers that improve soil health, boost plant productivity, and build soils suppressive to disease. Currently, he is investigating sustainable approaches for managing cannabis waste and human waste compost using microbial inoculants, mushroom companions, and traditional composting techniques. By transforming waste streams into valuable products like edible mushrooms and organic fertilizers, he aims to cultivate agroecosystems that efficiently cycle nutrients and generate more biomass per area—increasing productivity and sustainability of farms without expanding land use. This work is driven by a commitment to advancing practical, impactful solutions that promote both ecological health and economic viability.

Greg Marley has been collecting, studying, eating, growing and teaching mushrooms for 5 decades. He shares his knowledge of mushrooms through walks, talks and classes held across the New England and beyond. Marley authored the award-winning book Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares; The Love Lore and Mystic of Mushrooms, (Chelsea Green, 2010) and Mushrooms for Health; Medicinal Secrets of Northeast Fungi (Downeast Books, 2009). As a volunteer mushroom identification consultant to Poison Centers across New England, he provides expertise in mushroom poisoning cases. He is a frequent lecturer to college groups and an occasional mushrooming foray faculty member. When not mushrooming, Marley works as a mental health clinician specializing in suicide prevention and response after a loss.

Licensed acupuncturist, clinical herbalist, and fourth-generation botanist with a Ph.D. in phylogenetics. Dr. Hobbs is a leading researcher and educator on medicinal mushrooms, adaptogens, and herbal medicine. Author of Medicinal Mushrooms: The Essential Guide, widely considered one of the most authoritative books on the subject.

Dr. Hobbs integrates traditional herbal wisdom with modern scientific research. He emphasizes the importance of whole-plant and whole-mushroom extracts, particularly fruiting bodies, for their synergistic health benefits.

Yeshua is a psychedelic guide based in Portland, Maine, focused on psilocybin mushrooms. He supports individuals, couples, and communities through intentional ceremonies and integration journeys, drawing from his healing path as a combat veteran and from guiding hundreds of psilocybin rites of passage. At the threshold of who you’ve been and who you’re becoming, he offers sacred mushroom ceremony, coaching, and education designed for safety, harm reduction, and lasting transformation. Learn more and download his free Ceremony Readiness Guide at aboutyeshua.com.

Eric Milligan opened New Hampshire mushroom company in 2012, and has been cultivating/ distributing specialty mushrooms ever since.

Over time, what began as Sunday tours, evolved into NHMC becoming an agritourism destination spot.

Eric educates and entertains thousands of new mushroom enthusiasts a year. Whether it's an identification, cooking, or cultivation class. NHMC has become a one stop shop for all things fungi.

Maxwell Van Houten, M.A.T. is an ethnobotanist, gardener, and agroforestry instructor from the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He attended school in Maine; as an undergrad at College of the Atlantic, and a Masters of Arts graduate from UMaine Orono. He has taught horticulture and natural resources for nearly a decade, and is the founder of Mai Shiitake, a small genboku mushroom farming operation in the Mad River Valley of Vermont.