Net-Zero Hero: Angel Schatz

I’m helping to make Austin Net-Zero by helping divert thousands of pounds of mushroom waste from landfills.

Meet our newest Net-Zero Hero: Angel Schatz, Executive Director of the Central Texas Mycological Society (CTMS). Through CTMS, Angel mobilizes over 500 volunteers to transform spent mushroom blocks into fungal-rich soil to help plants and trees survive drought and extreme weather conditions, while also helping educate Central Texans about the importance of our fungal network. 

Fungi serve as a foundational species for nearly all life on Earth. But the waste from commercial mushroom farms can add to methane emissions when it ends up in landfills. Through Angel’s leadership, Central Texas Mycological Society volunteers pick up leftover blocks from local farms and put them to work in Central Texas gardens, orchards, and landscapes instead.

We met with Angel CTMS’s research station in Circle Acres Preserve to talk about how CTMS grew from a small group of mushroom enthusiasts into a volunteer-powered movement, what it takes to keep it going, and why she believes everyone can play a part in building healthier soil. Read on to learn more about Angel and her advice for Austinites.

What inspired you to take action?

I grew up learning the complete cycle of food, including composting, from my grandparents and then my parents, who lived on farms and had gardens to produce their own food. That early connection to the land taught me that nothing is truly waste — everything cycles back into the soil. But as I got older, I saw how disconnected most of us, including myself, have become from our food production, and more importantly, I saw a generational divide growing — the knowledge transfer from older generations to younger ones was simply not happening.

So before and during COVID, I became very active in teaching gardening and started volunteering at the veggie gardens at Zilker Botanical Garden. There, I began using a lot of spent mushroom blocks to build soil. I was able to put the principles I learned from my family into practice in a community setting. During COVID especially, our collective disconnect from our food system hit me hard, and I doubled down on teaching gardening to help people reconnect with where their food comes from and how to grow it themselves. I wanted to be part of bridging that generational gap and pass on the knowledge my grandparents and parents had given me. 

That personal history is what made the work of Daniel Reyes (one of the CTMS founders) and the Central Texas Mycological Society resonate so deeply with me. The inspiration for the society came from seeing a glaring inefficiency in a system that was otherwise beautifully circular. Daniel’s work using mushroom blocks started back in 2013. At that time, he was getting them from the mushroom farm LoGro in Dripping Springs, where they were already using spent beer grains from Jester King Brewery to grow mushrooms. But he noticed that after a few harvests, the spent mycelium blocks — still full of life and potential — were being stacked up and discarded as waste. Daniel saw an opportunity where others saw trash. He took that idea to Mike Wolfert from Symbiosis, a mentor in permaculture and regenerative agriculture, and they began experimenting with using those blocks to strengthen swales and berms. That initial spark — the idea that we could take a "waste" product and use it to build soil, sequester carbon, grow more food, and even clean up toxins in soil — is what inspired me and continues to drive our entire community. 

It’s a simple but powerful lesson: in nature, there is no waste. For me, this work is the perfect intersection of my childhood, my hands-on experience volunteering at Zilker Botanical Garden, and my commitment to closing the generational knowledge divide — one spent mushroom block at a time.

How did you do it?

We built a program that is part recycling, part research, and part community education. The origin story is rooted at Circle Acres Nature Preserve, a former landfill in Montopolis. Daniel started the foundational work there with Myco Alliance. Back then, volunteers would bring blocks out to the research station to rejuvenate them in the greenhouse and build soil on site. That chapter is part of our history. In 2019, the Central Texas Mycological Society (CTMS) was formed to expand that mission, and today the program operates differently. Instead of bringing blocks to one central location, we connect the community directly with the farms.

Here’s how it works now:

Collection & Community Pickup: We partner with local mushroom farms like Hi-Fi Mycology and Cap City Shrooms. We divert close to a ton of spent spawn per month  — nearly 50 tons annually — from landfills. Today, anyone can participate. Each week, people sign up on our website to pick up spent blocks from partner farms. You can sign up to volunteer and claim blocks on our website.

Grow More Mushrooms: Anyone can grow mushrooms! Once you have a block, you can give it a second life at home. Here’s how:

• Keep the mushroom block in the plastic bag and place it out of direct light in a cool environment at 65–75°F.
• Spray with water 2–3 times a day.
• After about 2-3 weeks, the mycelium (the white stuff) will begin to develop "pins" or small mushrooms.
• Water more frequently, and in 2–5 days a "flush" of mushrooms will be ready. Harvest with a knife before the tops curl up!
• After harvest, compost the block or use it to build fungal-rich soil in your garden.

Soil Building & Research: After growing mushrooms, blocks can be repurposed instead of thrown away. At our research station, we use the Johnson Su bioreactor method — a no-turn composting system that creates fungal-rich soil. We have five of these bioreactors out at Circle Acres, where we are studying the soil biology as part of our "Healthy Soils, Healthy Trees" research. Our goal is to learn exactly how this fungal-rich soil helps trees survive drought and extreme conditions. We also use blocks in restoration projects to fight erosion in riparian zones. Whether you grow mushrooms or compost the block, you are keeping waste out of the landfill and building healthier soil.

Community Power: None of this would be possible without our incredible volunteers. We have over 500 individual volunteers per year who help with everything from picking up blocks to building bioreactors and participating in research. Every block you claim, and every flush you grow, is part of a collective effort to contribute to Austin’s net-zero goals.

What’s been most rewarding about getting involved in this way?

The most rewarding part is seeing the full circle of impact. It’s one thing to talk about sustainability, but it’s another to see a stack of "trash" turn into a thriving pile of mushrooms, then into a rich, dark soil, and finally into a tree that is surviving a Texas summer because of the organic matter and fungal networks we helped build. It’s also incredibly rewarding to see the community rally around us. Knowing that 500+ volunteers a year are giving their time to pick up blocks, learn about mycology, and help with research at an old landfill site, now Circle Acres, is what gives me hope. We are literally building a healthier ecosystem from the ground up, and we are doing it together.

What’s been the toughest part?

The toughest part is the scale of the challenge versus the resources we have. We are diverting 50 tons of waste a year with a small team and a dedicated group of volunteers. The logistics of collecting, transporting, and processing that many blocks — each one weighing 7 lbs — is physically demanding. There is also a constant need for education. We have to teach people that "spent" doesn't mean dead; it means it has a second life. Overcoming the "waste" mindset is an ongoing challenge. But the biggest challenge is the one we are trying to solve with our research: extreme weather. Watching the trees we are trying to protect suffer from drought and flooding is a stark reminder of why this work is so urgent and why adding organic matter back to our soil is crucial.

Can you talk about some of your favorite varietals of fungi in Central Texas? What fascinates you most about these organisms?

My current favorite is definitely Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus). It’s in season right now, and we actually hosted a Myco Cyco bike ride on October 11 to go look for them perched in the trees around Central Austin. There’s something magical about riding through the city and spotting that brilliant sulfur-orange flash high up in a live oak.

What fascinates me most about Chicken of the Woods is how perfectly adapted it is to our brutal Central Texas conditions. While most mushrooms need consistent moisture and mild temperatures, this one thrives in our heat — it can grow in 100-degree temperatures without much rain. It grows on the exposed heartwood of older Texas Live Oaks, slowly eating just part of the wood. And here’s the remarkable part: that partial decomposition actually provides habitat for bees and other organisms as it slowly breaks down the tree. It might be taking a little water from the tree — but that sharing makes it part of a larger ecological web.

And yes: it’s delicious. It has a texture and flavor remarkably similar to chicken, with 14g of protein per 100g, plus antioxidants and medicinal compounds. I love foraging for it, cooking it, and sharing it with our community on rides like Myco Cyco. It’s the perfect gateway mushroom — easy to identify, no toxic look-alikes, and a reward that tastes like chicken.

Each year, Central Texas Mycological Society participates in the Roots & Wings Festival. Can you talk about your experience with the festival and how folks can get involved this year?

The Roots & Wings Festival is always one of our favorite times of year because it brings the whole community together to celebrate nature, and this year we are doing something really special. On Sunday, November 1, 2026, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, we are partnering with our friends at Ecology Action to transform Circle Acres Preserve into a Fluorescent Forest — an official Roots & Wings Festival event. It's family-friendly, fungal fun, and it all happens at a former dump site where our origin story began.

The evening is packed with activities. There's a Fluorescent Forest Night Walk where you can discover glowing mushrooms, lichens, and nocturnal wildlife using provided UV flashlights while playing glow-in-the-dark bingo. We'll have a costume contest where you can dress as your favorite mushroom, animal, insect, or plant. There will be hands-on demos on upcycling mushroom blocks for gardening, mycoremediation, and soil-building — and this year we are especially excited to be doing Myco Skull Making, where folks can get creative and craft their own fungal skulls to take home. We'll also have guided tours of the restored dumpsite-turned-forest, mushroom snacks, "Mush Love Tea," and community science opportunities to document fluorescing organisms on iNaturalist.

The event is free with registration, though donations are gratefully accepted. We also welcome enthusiastic volunteers to help bring this glowing night to life — from setting up the UV wonderland to managing glow games and helping with cleanup. Volunteers receive a special glow-in-the-dark token of appreciation. Attendees can take home a mushroom block to grow their own fungal allies at home.

It's going to be a magical night — glowing mushrooms, myco skulls, costumes, and community, all in the heart of East Austin. We hope you'll join us and be part of the magic. Register to join us!

Is there a book, documentary, or other piece of media you would recommend for folks wanting to learn more about these topics?

I recommend the book Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets. It’s the classic text that inspires so many people to get into applied mycology. I also encourage folks to watch Fantastic Fungi (you can find it on Netflix). It’s a beautiful introduction to the world of fungi and their potential for bioremediation and healing.

Finally, check out the Central Texas Mycological Society website at centraltexasmycology.org and our blog. The history of our program is documented there, and it’s a great way to see how a grassroots idea can grow into a city-wide movement.

What advice do you have for others?

Start small, but start. You don't need a farm or a lab to make a difference. You can start by repurposing your own kitchen scraps, or by connecting with a local farm, coffee shop, or juice shop to see if they have any “trash” or by-products you can recycle. The most important thing is to change your perspective on "waste." Look at a pile of leaves, coffee grounds, or spent mushroom blocks and ask, "What can this become?"

Also, find your community. I couldn't do any of this alone. The 500+ volunteers who show up every year are the backbone of this program. Join a local mycological society, a community garden, trash club, or a conservation group. Collective action is the only way we will reach net-zero.

Dive deeper

The Roots & Wings Festival continues through November 1. Find events near you. Looking to get more involved in the Central Texas Mycological Society? Check out their upcoming events or find other ways to get involved. To discover more ways to take action toward our community’s net-zero future, visit the Austin Climate Equity Plan.

Know a sustainability superstar?

Nominate them as a Net-Zero Hero by emailing Climate@AustinTexas.gov.