Herbs + Fungi of the Mediterranean: Enchanted Forests and Meadows of Greece

January 14, 2026 6pm EST/3pm Pacific - LIVE + access to a recording!

Join herbalists Jade Alicandro, Eleni Bourou + mycologist Olga Tzogas for a peek into the biodiversity and natural world of northern Greece. Together we take a visual journey from the city to the forests + high mountain meadows painted with super blooms of dozens of flower species and fairy rings of mushrooms. Learn about a handful of typical medicinal and aromatic plants we run into, their use and history locally in the region and beyond. Lets envision Spring in the thick of Winter and learn what plants and mushrooms grow in northern Greece.

-Connect with herbalists and experts sharing their work and relationships with plants and mushrooms from the Mediterranean bioregion

-Learn about the biogeography of the southern Balkan Peninsula

-Meet common + rarer plants and mushrooms in their showiest stages of growth

-Witness various ways local people use common and endemic herbs, plants and mushrooms

-Yearn for Spring during long, dark Winter days :)

FREE - ONLINE

You'll be emailed the Zoom link after registration

Duration 1-1.5 hours

Hosts:

Jade Alicandro

Jade Alicandro has been formally studying herbs since 2006 and teaching about them since 2012. Her relationship with the green world began in childhood and some spots that especially held her were the tops of huge White Pine trees and the skunk cabbage swamp and cranberry bog behind her childhood home. Although she didn’t learn that herbalism even existed as a profession until her early 20’s, upon realizing that one could go to school to learn about the medicinal benefits of plants, she returned home to the northeast, from travels out west and in Central and South America, to study herbs in earnest. She attended every herb school she could manage to find during those early years of the internet and her herbal educational background is rich in Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda and the Vitalist tradition of herbalism. Education is at the heart of her work as an herbalist and she has taught a 9 month apprenticeship in bioregional herbalism since 2013, a winter online series on kitchen medicine and medicinal culinary herbs since 2015, runs an online membership program on Patreon, has taught around the country and at numerous herbal conferences, and has been a guest teacher in Sicily for Radici Siciliani’s ‘Botanico Sacro’ plant gathering.

She’s a mother, caretaker to her mostly wild gardens (which more or less take care of themselves), tender of a menagerie of animals (goats, kittens and beloved family pup), forager, and kitchen witch. When she’s not roaming the hedges with her harvest basket in hand, she can often be found cooking up some potent food as medicine or trying out a new recipe.  Forever inspired by the wisdom and traditions of her Greek and Southern Italian ancestors, her herbal, food as medicine and foraging practice is an homage to the beloved ancestors and she carries this lineage forward through the container of Milk & Honey Herbs. You can learn more about her work at www.milkandhoneyherbs or @milkandhoneyherbs.

Olga Tzogas runs and operates Smugtown Mushrooms, a farm and mushroom production facility that cultivates mushrooms, offers growing supplies and provides classes to her community for over ten years and has been studying mushrooms and plants for two decades. She is a daughter of Greek immigrant parents and grandparents who started a Greek diner in Rochester, NY in the late 1970s that still operates today. Growing up, she returned back to Greece with her family and spent lots of time in her parents village in the northern borderlands. As she became more enamored with Mycology and botanical studies, her times in Greece became anew, and relearning what gifts the land and experience in the Balkan peninsula shared. Olga remembered that this was part of her, a living tradition, to learn from and to share. Its a deep honor and pleasure to be able to return to Greece to guide, host and share what is loved the most; frolicking in the forest and fields looking at mushrooms, plants and birds.

Her love for fungi and plants definitely has a lot to do with the kitchen, and you’ll notice she’s here to feed people and make them feel comfy and held. She loves the act of growing and gathering food with people and cooking afterwards. Her long family tradition of caring and cooking for people extends here in Greece and with many of her class offerings is a huge part of who she is. Let her show you how she learned to cook some mushrooms!

Olga Tzogas has been hosting classes, events, art shows, music events and lastly and more importantly, mushroom and biocentric events for over a decade. She is a co-creator and organizer for the New Moon Mycology Summit, a justice focused mycology and biocentric gathering. In the past, was an organizer for Mycosymbiotics Mushroom and Arts Festival, now called MycoFest and in 2016 was a core organizer for the Radical Mycology Convergence in New York. She started bringing mushroom minded people to Greece since 2016.

Eleni Bourou

A pharmacist and herbalist that has been working with plants for the past 15 years, more specifically growing, harvesting and processing plants to produce reliable and effective therapeutic and cosmetic preparations, but also simply observing them seasonally and mediating to bring people closer to plants and their own bodies, through phytotherapeutic consultation and the sharing of relevant knowledge (workshops, plant walks).  Eleni has recently shared knowledge and facilitated herbal workshops in collaboration with institutions and ventures such as: Global Environments Network (GEN), Radical Herbalism Gathering-UK, Herbfeast-Ireland, Herbalism Day-New Guinea Estate/Nea Makri, Queer Spring Fest-Athens, Hearing Voices-Athens. Eleni is interested in herbal community projects in which she has often participated as a coordinator or simple member and the use of plants in reproductive and sexual health.

Eleni comes from a family of healers – Western-educated as well as traditional – which has been a stimulus for exploring the contrasts, convergences and tensions between the Western biomedical-pharmaceutical and the holistic-traditional health care model. Starting from studies in Pharmacy (UOA) Eleni continues to educate themselves on plant therapy (The Plant Medicine School, Medicum college, Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, Southwest School of Botanical Medicine, Northeast school of Botanical medicine) but also subjects such as nutrition, traditional Mayan womb massage and more traditional practices.

Find us here with our full set up! Grow kits, extracts, books, vintage mushroom decor and more!

Find us set up with other amazing artists!

Join us for another lovely stroll amongst our city!

Sliding Scale $5-40 Pay What You Can

Pay-it-forward price: $80 (this helps us give out scholarships to those who cant afford to attend)

Exact location given upon registration

Let’s take a walk in the wooded acreage of Well-Sweep Herb Farm and connect with the nearby ecosystem. Together with community mycologist, Olga Tzogas, owner of Smugtown Mushrooms, we will become familiar with what is growing around us, to become more comfortable and to start a relation with mushrooms, plants and more! We will explore ways one can easily gain access to the nutritious and delicious world of edible mushrooms. With mushrooms gaining popularity, it’s easier to find more exotic and rarer mushrooms in supermarkets. After a brief hike we will prepare, cook and taste various foraged and cultivated mushrooms. Wear comfortable shoes!

Reservations are required. $65.00.

Please Note - there are 2 options for registration:
- Call the farm to register - $65.00 per registration (call us at 908-852-5390); or
- Register through Eventbrite - $65.00 per registration + tax + Eventbrite fees = $75.92 total per registration

Cancellation/refund policy:
Cancellations 10 days or more in advance of the class may receive a refund of:
--if you registered through the farm - registration fee minus $5.00 cancellation fee; or
--if you registered through Eventbrite - registration fee in full, minus Eventbrite fees/taxes

If you need to cancel or have any questions about this event, registration, cancellation or refund policy, please call the farm at (908) 852-5390.

Join us for a full day of foraging, learning and nature loving!

Mushroom Mania is back! Come spend the day exploring the fascinating world of fungi with ADKX. There will be family-friendly activities, guided mushroom walks, cooking demos, and more!

MAKERS MARKET 2025 NOTA SUMMER FESTIVAL
Join us on Saturday August 9, 2025 from 10am -5pm for our Viciously Crafty Summer Makers Market, part of the NOTA Summer Festival! Enjoy exciting and creative vendors. This is a space for local artists, crafters, creators, and Viciously Crafty folk alike to gather and support creativity and the Rochester Neighborhood of the Arts.

Our alternative Makers Market provides an exciting shopping experience that welcomes patrons to support quality makers, artisans and small businesses. The diverse crew of vendors is hand-curated for each event, creating a memorable and celebrated experience!

The market is free and open to the public! This event will operate in the Neighborhood of the Arts, around the block and Inside the courtyard of “The Factory Building”, which is home to amazing local businesses like Stacy K Floral, Winter Swan Coffee, Scratch Bakeshop, The Fleurish Candle Co. Old Pueblo Grill and more vendors will be on the block around Russell and Elton Streets, including inside of 34 Elton Street!

FREE EVENT!

Our Summer Solstice Mushroom Walk +Feast runs June 21, 2025 from 11-5pm $75

The first half of the say we spend in the forest, learning, searching and listening to what is being sung by birds and fungi alike.

After we feast and enjoy a mushroom centric meal together.

The meal is 3 courses and the menu will be shared soon.

Most, if not all dietary needs will be met.

There is an option to ONLY attend the walk which runs 11-2pm $32

Or an option to ONLY attend the meal which runs 230-5pm $45

Children under 12 are free

rain or shine

no refunds

“Store credit” or swapping someone in your place is perfect

Tentative Menu:

First Course:

Seasonal Salad - VEGAN

Main course:

Home cooked Mushroom centric entree ( MAYBE homemade Greek Mushroom + Wild Green Pie !! ) AKA Spanakopita with Mushrooms! Ya heard of it?!? :) if we have Gluten-free folks coming we will not be making this dish to accommodate to everyone but expect something yummy yum!

3rd course: LIVE DEMO’d Wild mushroom cooking! Over a fire, in a cast iron like every good dish!

Fresh Fruit!

Find us vending our wares in Canandaigua June 14th with a lovely group of folks ! Free entry!

Spend time with your Mother.…Mother Earth that is :) or both!

Come on a cute little sweet mushroom and wild plant walk in peak Spring beauty season

This walk is in the area of Springwater, NY and is within 1 hour from Rochester, NY

Join us for an evening of learning about the glory of Fungi and their medicinal properties!

Our instructor Olga Tzogas will -lead us through various methods by which we can access the profound ways mushrooms can help us build immunity and strengthen ourselves and our communities

-go over several species of mushrooms that are known for their beneficial properties -teach techniques and recipes to take home with you

-help participants get creative with recipes, and treating mushrooms like Turkey Tail, Lions Mane + Reishi as the ingredient to inspire a DIY, intuitive approach to making extracts, like vinegars, tinctures + oxymels Together we will explore and open your palate by mixing the gastronomic + functionality of fungi and their allies.

-Make and take home a 4oz extract starter of a Lions Mane medicinal mushroom extract that is alcohol free!

*** PS - If you have time to come early, check out Audubon's new seed library and plant guide in the visitor center! Or walk the trails before the event

*** This event is free and open to everyone. The PMC is funded entirely through donations. If you are able, please consider giving an amount of your choice at checkout.

By registering for this event you grant the Philadelphia Mycology Club to use photographs and/or video of you taken at the event in publications, online, and in other communications related to the Philadelphia Mycology Club.

Find me speaking in Atlanta, Georgia!

Free Presentation about the Mushrooms + Culture of Greece!

SCUMS monthly ​meeting: Monday, May 5th

Olga Tzogas will present:

Mushrooms + Culture of Greece

Experience and take a visual journey into the diverse and lush natural world of Greece.  Ancient forests, traditional land-based living still exist, providing a rich culture weaved within nature itself.  Connections to fungi are ever present and it’s only gaining more attention. Take a look into the relationships the locals have with certain species of mushrooms, plants, & their recipes for use. Olga Tzogas of Smugtown Mushrooms, based in Rochester, NY returns to her ancestral home to learn and connect deeper to the mycelial communities, and the people still practicing traditional ways of life or those creating a new.  Greece is typically pictured by bluebird skies and matching crystalline seascapes, but Greece is home to lush dense forests of several Oak species, Chestnut, Beech, Fir, Sycamores and Pine to name a few.  The life they harbor is exquisite.  See the similarities of fungal life that are shared on both continents.  Together we see a visual depiction of the funga, flora + fauna of this diverse ecological haven of the country of Greece. 

Find us vending and sharing our creations amongst amazing herbalists and creators!

Come learn from the forest! See for yourself the awakening of the blessed Spring and witness the beauty of the ephemeral plants of our woodlands native plants…..and of course mushrooms. .

This time of year is precious and we are lucky enough to have city forests to experience this sacred time of year.

Walk begins at 11am on April 26 in Rochester, NY.

Exact location is given a couple days before the class begins

Join me for a free presentation about my work I do in my ancestral homeland of Greece

Mushrooms + Culture of Greece!

Ill also have some offerings for sale like Lions Mane Grow kits, extracts and more.

Join us!

6:30 pm at the Community Library of Dewitt & Jamesville, 5110 Jamesville Road in Syracuse, NY

Join us for an afternoon of learning about the glory of Fungi and their medicinal properties!

Together we go through various ways we can access the profound ways mushrooms can help us build immunity and strengthen ourselves and our communities. We go over several varieties of mushrooms that are known for their beneficial properties. Learn techniques and recipes to take home with you. Getting creative with recipes and treating mushrooms like Turkey Tail, Lions Mane + Reishi as the ingredient to inspire a DIY, intuitive approach to making extracts, like vinegars, tinctures + oxymels.

Together we explore and open your palate by mixing the gastronomic + functionality of fungi and their allies.

Make and take home a 4oz extract starter of a Lions Mane medicinal mushroom extract that is alcohol free!!

We are grateful to Alex at Arise Botanicals for hosting us and connecting us with the venue and co-host Proyecto Cultural. We are honored and excited to share in community in Lincoln, Nebraska!
Cost of class is sliding scale!

$25-60..Please pay what you can! not sure how that works…scroll down to see where you fall into the sliding scale spectrum

See you there!

Join us at the lovely and important community resource of Red Root Acupuncture + Herbs in Albuquerque, New Mexico!

Class space is limited to only 12 people so please sign up and secure your spot!

Everyone will go home with their own non-alcoholic medicinal mushroom extract!

Join us for a POP-UP + Mushroom Tasting alongside our friends at the Mobile Moon Co-op

Our website is being funky and wont let us update the time …this days events run from 12-6pm

Join us!

Suggested Donation is $10-20