EP55: The Wild Power of Mushrooms

Tom Baxter is the founder of Bristol Fungarium, the UK’s first organic-certified medicinal mushroom farm. A former organic vegetable grower and forest school leader, Tom has spent years foraging in the wild across the Pyrenees, Siberia, and the forests of Somerset. Today, he leads a pioneering operation that not only cultivates native strains of mushrooms but also funds neuroscience research and runs the only dedicated analytical lab for medicinal fungi in the UK. In this episode, Tom joins Robin Harford for a rich and far-reaching conversation about the power, mystery, and challenges of working with medicinal mushrooms. They explore the rise of lion’s mane, the pitfalls of the supplement industry, why most mushroom powders are misleading, and what makes a mushroom extract genuinely effective. It’s a frank and passionate look into one of nature’s oldest and most complex kingdoms. 🎧 Listeners get 15% off at — use the code WILDPOWER at checkout.

You can listen to EP55: The Wild Power of Mushrooms online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

EP55: The Wild Power of Mushrooms is an episode from Plants & People: An Ethnobotanical Journey Through The Plant Kingdom by Robin Harford.

This episode is 55:30 long.

This episode was published on Jul 2, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Plants & People: An Ethnobotanical Journey Through The Plant Kingdom when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.