Join Our Email List To Hear About Course Announcements, Sales, and More!

The Many Ways of Fungi

First Steps Into the World of Mycology


Do you want to improve your mushroom hunting skills?



I know how tricky it can be to feel confident with mushroom hunting. When I first started foraging over a decade ago, I was often confused by the technical language and dry approach taken with most field guides. I wanted to be safe and accurate while foraging, but also have fun doing it!

After years of mushroom hunting, I have since come to embrace foraging as my favorite reason for getting out into wild spaces. It is a life skill that helps be find new ways to be fascinated by the natural world, wherever I go.

In this course I want to share with you the many lessons I’ve learned about good foraging over the years, while sharing all the favorite things I love about the dozens of species covered. So whether you are new to mushroom hunting or want to expand your skills into a variety of new avenues, this course will be sure to equip you for a life time to discovering the many mushrooms all around us.



—Peter McCoy

MYCOLOGOS Founder and Mycomind


The Many Ways of Fungi:
First Steps Into the World of Mycology

Start Date: July 17
Duration: 7 weeks, with new material released each Wednesday
(See below for full details on the course's structure)

Woven into the human story, infused throughout the ecosystems around us, and guiding the newest advancement of culture and technology today, fungi have richly influenced life on Earth since the earliest epochs. Recent discoveries in mycology are proving the science offers unprecedented means for creating a more sustainable and resilient future, with each day offering new ways for anyone to get involved in the mycocultural revolution. The biggest challenges in all of this excitement is simply knowing where to begin one's journey, and how to find proper support along the way.

In this course, you will learn about and apply the core skills and insights that mycology offers – from the unique biology of fungi, to their fascinating history and numerous applications. By the end of the course you will have learned to create a variety of fungi-centered foods, medicines, and artworks, while also honing the language to teach others about your passion for fungi through outdoor activities and personal development projects. All told, this course will leave you well-prepared for pursuing the more advanced courses offered at MYCOLOGOS and for knowing that you are starting off – or running strong – on the best foot possible.


Course Overview


WEEK 1: The Fungal Queendom

Orientation • Course Objectives • The History of Mycology • The Uniqueness of Fungal Biology • Patterns of Fungal Ecology • Fungi in Human History

WEEK 2: Finding The Fungi Around You

Mushroom Hunting Safety & Ethics • Best Foraging Tools • 5 Mushrooms to Know • Common Lichen Types • Fungi Are Everywhere(!)

WEEK 3: Cooking With Fungi

Best Recipes for Cooking Any Mushroom • Cooking With Truffles • Rejuvinating Fungal Tonics • Crafting Alcoholic Drinks

WEEK 4: Working With Medicinal Fungi

History of Medicinal Mushrooms • Active Compounds • Top Species to Know • Best Types of Medicinal Products • Simple Home Preps • Psychoactive Fungi Primer

WEEK 5: Cultivating a Relationship With Fungi

Fungal Cultivation Introduction • Growing Mushrooms on Coffee Grounds • Promoting Lichens in the Garden and Forest • Fun with Molds and Yeasts

WEEK 6: Fungal Arts & Crafts

Spore Art • Mushroom Paper Making • Dyeing Clothes & Hair With Mushrooms • Mycelium-Based Objects (Mycomaterials)

WEEK 7: Advanced Mycology Primer

The Mastery of Fungi • Healing the Environment with Fungi • Current Research in Mycology • Best Places to Study Mycology • Common Careers in Mycology • Sharing Mycology With Others • The Future is Fungi

Join Live, or Later

This course runs live from July 17 to August 28, 2019. New content (videos, suggested readings, and other resources) is released on the Wednesday of each week, and questions for a given week's material can be submitted until noon the following Monday (PST / UTC-7).

You are encouraged to join the course while it is live to both save money and to have an active voice in the weekly Question and Answer sessions. But if you're not quite ready to join, you will still be able to sign up after the course ends at any time.


Life Skills You Will Learn

This course will leave you well prepared for a lifetime of engaging with fungi and all that mycology offers by teaching you:
  • How to work with medicinal fungi at home and how to select the highest quality products at the store
  • The central roles of fungi in human history
  • Essential concepts and terms used to discuss and describe mushrooms, lichens, molds, and yeasts
  • Tasty ways of preparing mushroom-based dishes that will convert anyone into a mushroom lover
  • A clear understanding of the primary roles fungi fulfill in the environment
  • Fun and easy techniques for growing mushrooms and other fungi at home
  • Unique ways for making art with fungi, including mycelium-based object art
  • Exciting, cutting edge applications and areas of research in mycology
  • Common career paths in mycology

What You Receive

Enrollment in this course provides you with these offerings:
  • One year of streaming access to the entire course content, including video lectures and demonstrations, field recordings, reference and resource documents, and more!
  • Lifetime access to this course’s section on the MYCOLOGOS® web forum where you can share ideas, questions, and success stories with a global community of fellow fungi enthusiasts
  • Study and reference materials, and experiential projects designed to reinforce concepts and terminology
  • Instructions, materials lists, and support for projects to be done in home, in the field, and in your community
  • Question submissions to the course's weekly Question & Answer sessions (if you register before the course begins on July 17)
  • Upon completion, a Certificate from MYCOLOGOS recognizing your comprehension of course materials and completion of the course’s requirements. Learn more about our Certificates of Completion here

Ways to Join

You can sign up for this course at any time as enrollment will be ongoing once the course goes live on July 17, 2019. To register, simply sign up at the link below. Prior to the start of the course, you will receive registration information to set up your account on the MYCOLOGOS Courses Portal, where the videos and other course content will be made available.

You will then have access to the course's contents for a full year, during which time you can engage with the material and the associated projects and assignments at your own pace.

Registration Windows

  • If you register prior to July 17, 2019, you will be registered for the entire course and will be able to submit questions to all of the course's weekly Q&A sessions.You will also save money off the cost of the course by registering before July 17!

  • If you register after July 17, 2019, you will still have access to the entire course, including any Q&A sessions that have been recorded up to that point. But as you will only receive the course contents one week at a time, regardless of when you sign up, you will not be able to submit questions to the recorded weekly Q&A sessions. You will still be able to submit questions via email and on the MYCOLOGOS Community Forum at any time.

Content Access

Once you are registered, new course content will be provided to your account on the MYCOLOGOS Courses Portal each week, and an email will be sent to you when the new content is available. You will be able to download all of the course’s texts and supplementary materials, though course videos will only be available online, so you will need a reliable internet connection (whether on your smart phone or computer) to watch them.

Who This Course is For

This course is ideal for anyone interested in starting or expanding their path into the many arts and sciences of mycology. Course participants include:
  • Fungi-curious folks unsure of where to begin with mycology – but who can’t wait to start!
  • Practicing myco-enthusiasts wanting to fill in gaps in their appreciation of fungi
  • Naturalists seeking new ways to engage with the uniqueness of fungal biology and ecology
  • Herbalists and natural medicine enthusiasts wanting to start their studies with medicinal mushrooms
  • Parents and homeschoolers wishing to teach their children simple skills for working with fungi
  • Homesteaders and permaculturalists seeking a solid foundation in the best skills that mycology offers resilient living styles
  • Educators of any type needing new frameworks for communicating the importance of fungi
  • Artists interested in incorporating the uniqueness of fungi into their palette
  • Ethnologists and sociologists curious about the history of mycology in human cultures as well as current trends in the scient and culture of mycology

Get Certified!


This course will prepare you for a lifetime of working with fungi in any capacity. To provide the best learning experience, we are including various suggested homework assignments and providing research resources to help reinforce the information covered in the video instruction.

These additional learning tools are optional, but in order to meet the requirements for obtaining a Certificate of Completion for the course, you can expect to spend approximately 1–3 hours reading, practicing new skills, or foraging for every hour of instruction.

At a minimum, students seeking certification will be expected to complete several readings and quizzes, facilitate one community-oriented project related to coursework (various options for this will be provided in the first week of the course), and to document their practice of various skills presented throughout the course.

Full details on Certification requirements will be provided in the first week of the course.

You can learn more about our Certificates here.

Ready to Dive In?
Register Today!

Payment Plan Price

$77

Early Bird Discount


$67

Discount ends July 16, 2019 at 11:59pm PST (UTC-8)

Made in 3 monthly installments

Register Now

Full Tuition Price

$197

Early Bird Discount


$177

Discount ends July 16, 2019 at 11:59pm PST (UTC-8)

Pay in full and save!

Register Now





Money-Back Guarantee

If you're not fully satisfied, we'll refund your tuition within 72 hours of enrollment, no questions asked.



Do you want to take your understanding of fungi to the next level?


If you’ve gotten hooked on the wonders of fungi and have been having hard time knowing where to get started – or even getting clear on where the limits of mycology end – you are not alone! This course has been designed to address many common stumbling blocks and points of confusion in this massive subject, and to help anyone getting started in mycology know exactly what it offers.

By joining this course you will be preparing yourself for the easiest route into this unique world, supported by the best information and most practicale skills needed to quickly and easily embrace the many gifts of working with fungi.

Have a Question?

Check Our FAQs


This course’s goal is to get you familiar with the most popular entry points into mycology. Through guided studies, tests, experiential projects, and other coursework you will develop competency in the topics listed at the top of this page, giving you the familiarity and experience needed to later make well-informed steps into more advanced areas of mycological study. The insights provided in this course will enable you to enrich your personal engagement with fungi on many fronts, as well as open new possibilities for academic exploration or career development.
Prior to the start of the course, you will receive login information to the MYCOLOGOS Courses Portal, where the course videos are hosted, and the MYCOLOGOS Community Forum, where discussion takes place. You will also receive a welcome video at that time that will familiarize you with these online platforms.

Once the course starts you will receive weekly emails linking you to new course content (e.g. videos, downloads, instructionals, and supplementary resources).
Starting in 2020, MYCOLOGOS will be offering partial scholarships for some of our online and in-person course and events. If you are not financially able to join our courses this year, please check back as details about our scholarship fund continue to develop.
Yes! Anyone is welcome to join the course, so long as they feel comfortable engaging in the topics and understand that we cannot offer language translation services at this time. We are excited to educate students around the world and invite you to join us wherever you are!
Information about our Certificates of Completion can be viewed here.
Yes, though students that join the course by July 17, 2019 will have the added benefits of a lower cost of tuition as well as the ability to submit questions to the course’s weekly recorded Q&A sessions.
Each student will receive access to a section of the MYCOLOGOS Community Forum for this course (2019 The Many Ways of Fungi), where they can share questions, stories, insights, and more with their class peers. As with other online forums, there will be subthreads for specific topics covered in the course, so that information can be easily sorted and retrieved.
Students joining the course while it is live will be able to submit questions online for a weekly Q&A session of each week’s topics. Students joining after that time will be encouraged to watch the recorded Q&A sessions and check the MYCOLOGOS Community Forum for their queries (in many cases, common questions have already been asked and archived for your convenience). If your question is not answered in either of those areas, you can email us directly.
We do offer a 10% discount per person when groups of 3 or more friends, family members, or colleagues sign up together. Please contact us if you wish to register with a group.
This course is the culmination of over a decade of dedicated research and teaching experience by Peter McCoy to create a robust, holistic, and one-of-a-kind course that is affordable. We ask that at all times you respect this time and energy investment by not sharing your login information or any of the course’s videos and original resources.

In joining this course you are also joining in a pact of mutual respect and trust, shared by you, Peter, and the other students wherein the information and personal accounts shared by all is held within the confines of the course unless otherwise stated. Peter and all of us at MYCOLOGOS thank you in advance for helping maintain the integrity of that pact and for helping ensure a longstanding, and ever-stronger community amongst all MYCOLOGOS students and alumni.

All that said, we want to make clear that we highly encourage you to share you own insights and discoveries that this course brings out and up for you in whatever capacity you desire. We need more Fungal Ambassadors in the world!
This course is a stand alone offering that cannot be broken up. If you are interested in just a portion of the topics listed above, you will need to join the whole course to access those parts.
The projects related to the course are designed to be skill-building, but cost effective. There are several books that will be required reading for students seeking certification, most of which can often be acquired through your local library if you are not able to purchase them. For most of the skills taught, Peter will present the most cost-effective tools and techniques for getting started, while noting where more money and time can be invested for going deeper into the given topic.

In all, it would be good to set aside US$50–200 for the suggested books, supplies, and miscellaneous resources related to the course if you are considering acquiring certification.


Want to Know More?

Get in touch!





Register Now

Payment Plan Price

$77

Early Bird Discount


$67

Discount ends July 16, 2019 at 11:59pm PST (UTC-8)

Made in 3 monthly installments

Register Now

Full Tuition Price

$197

Early Bird Discount


$177

Discount ends July 16, 2019 at 11:59pm PST (UTC-8)

Pay in full and save!

Register Now





Money-Back Guarantee

If you're not fully satisfied, we'll refund your tuition within 72 hours of enrollment, no questions asked.

Want to Know More?

Join our email list to receive updates about our courses