In this issue of the Spoonful, you’ll find a coupon for 50¢ off your purchase of any size of Host Defense immunity boosters: Stamets 7, MycoShield, and MyCommunity.

In 1980, Olympia celebrity Paul Stamets pioneered Fungi Perfecti as a local, independent business, dedicated to promoting the cultivation of high quality gourmet and medicinal mushrooms. Paul is considered an intellectual and industry leader in fungi – its habitat, medicinal use and production. Paul’s experience and research have taught him that habitats have immune systems, just like people, and mushrooms are cellular bridges between the two.

Receiving Paul’s book ”MycoMedicinals: An Informational Treatise on Mushrooms” in 2002, our Wellness Manager Barbara L’Aimont knew that Fungi Perfecti’s Host Defense products would greatly enhance the wellbeing of our membership, and introduced the line to the Co-op thereafter.

Extending far beyond the edible mushroom, Paul’s work is considered groundbreaking for helping ecosystems worldwide, from bioremediation of toxic waste to addressing the pollinator crisis. Paul’s work with University of Washington was recently published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, demonstrating immune benefits to bees from mycelium extracts of polypore mushrooms (Reishi and Amadou). With Colony Collapse Disorder threatening 90% of our food supply, this breakthrough research has already improved our chances of survival.

Fungi Perfecti’s Host Defense products all serve us in fortifying our immune systems as winter approaches. With this issue’s Local Saving Coupon, you’ll find

• Stamets 7, a blend of 7 mushroom species that support general immunity
• MycoShield Spray, which combines 5 powerful polypore mushroom species, these provide a unique “shield” of immune support
• MyCommunity, which offers 17 powerful mushroom species for immune system health.