Ep. 242: Becoming Mushrooms with Madison Murphy Barney

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.01:19 Meet Madison and Book Launch02:27 Plant Path Origins04:05 Why Be Mushrooms06:26 City Nature Connection09:00 Why Mushrooms Matter12:53 Doula Calling and Expansion17:20 Guiding Change and Grief22:38 Ancestral and More-than-Human Support24:33 Living in Cycles28:51 Cycles and Comfort29:27 Native Plants Debate30:37 Love of Place32:05 Mushrooms and Protection33:33 Adaptability and Neighbors37:18 Humility in Ecosystems42:01 Fungi Favorites Today44:13 What Comes Next45:25 Who the Book Is For47:25 Connecting and Closing