McMahon likes to clone his interesting fungi finds in petri dishes, testing to see if he can reproduce the colony with a tissue sample, and bring it back to life in sawdust and rotting wood.

“It’s uncharted territory,” McMahon said of mushrooms. “It’s wide open for anyone to carve out their own little thing; you don’t have to have a background in biochemistry to do it.”

Through the club, Mitchell and McMahon managed to coax some Lynchburg enthusiasts out of the woodwork. They meet monthly at the Quarry Gardens at Schuyler, and average about 10 to 15 members at each meeting.

“A lot of them have been waiting a long time for a mushroom club,” Mitchell said. “People are starting to trickle in from Lynchburg, and all these people that were unconnected, are all finding each other from this club.”

People like Lynchburg resident Christopher Barbour who, until he met Mitchell, thought he was the only one.

“I spent a lot of my life and a lot of my hobbies alone,” Barbour said. “I’ve always been the oddball. When I was a kid, I’d rather be staring at an anthill … but when I went [to the club] it was very strange to finally find people.”

Mushrooms have spread to almost every aspect of Mitchell’s life.