Image: Bear's Head Tooth - Vermont State Mushroom - Courtesy Jenne Antonino DiMare
We now have a state mushroom. It’s called the Bear’s Head Tooth. It became law in May. This law fosters an appreciation of Vermont foods, farming, and forests. A state mushroom highlights a distinctive and delicious edible mushroom that thrives in the northern hardwood forest or in cultivation outside or indoors. We hope you can find it this summer or fall.
This was a student led bill from Windham County. We thank the students from Westminster and Windham and the sponsor of the bill Rep. Bos-Lun. We also are grateful for the support of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and the Agency’s mushroom expert Ari Rockland-Miller. When Ari is not supporting land use efforts at the Agency he is giving mushroom tours in Vermont. Their support made this law happen.
The role of elementary and middle school students in selecting the proposed State Mushroom and providing testimony for the bill was compelling and provided a positive and collaborative framework for education and engagement with the legislative process. Civility and civics are needed and appreciated.
This law supports the strategic goal of growing Vermont’s Economy – by recognizing a symbolic State mushroom that is cultivated in Vermont, found in the wild, and sold at farmers’ markets and grocery stores. This law may foster agritourism, agricultural and ecological literacy, and an appreciation of the market for Vermont foods. It now joins the state vegetable the Gilfeather Turnip in the lineup of official state foods that are recognized by law.
It also is aligned with affordability by highlighting a food that can be grown in one’s backyard or found in the wild; and the bill, given its primarily symbolic implication, does not require spending or any additional budget appropriations. Bears Head Tooth is a native mushroom and decomposer in Vermont hardwood forests. It grows wild in a variety of Vermont hardwoods in late summer and fall and is also an excellent gourmet mushroom for indoor cultivation or outdoor agroforestry systems.
All these attributes, along with the role of Vermont elementary and middle school students in Windham County in its selection, make Bear’s Head Tooth an excellent choice for the State mushroom.
Anson Tebbetts
Secretary