Ep. 242: Becoming Mushrooms with Madison Murphy Barney

<p>Today on the Plant Cunning Podcast we welcome Madison Murphy Barney—doula, two-spirit Indigenous sister, public health storyteller, and author of Our Ancestors Want Us to Be Mushrooms: Wisdom for Living in Balance with the Planet and Each Other. Madison shares how mushrooms offer blueprints for reconnecting with ourselves, community, and the planet through traits like connection, decomposition, adaptability, and humility, emphasizing moving forward with “original instructions” rather than trying to return to the past. They discuss relating to ecosystems anywhere (including cities) through curiosity and noticing, mushrooms’ role in composting and rebuilding systems, and how doula work applies beyond birth and death to divorce, career change, and other transitions by honoring grief, support networks, and cycles. Madison also mentions ceremony, favorite mushrooms, and where to find her work online.</p><p>01:19 Meet Madison and Book Launch</p><p>02:27 Plant Path Origins</p><p>04:05 Why Be Mushrooms</p><p>06:26 City Nature Connection</p><p>09:00 Why Mushrooms Matter</p><p>12:53 Doula Calling and Expansion</p><p>17:20 Guiding Change and Grief</p><p>22:38 Ancestral and More-than-Human Support</p><p>24:33 Living in Cycles28:51 Cycles and Comfort</p><p>29:27 Native Plants Debate</p><p>30:37 Love of Place</p><p>32:05 Mushrooms and Protection</p><p>33:33 Adaptability and Neighbors</p><p>37:18 Humility in Ecosystems</p><p>42:01 Fungi Favorites Today</p><p>44:13 What Comes Next</p><p>45:25 Who the Book Is For</p><p>47:25 Connecting and Closing</p>