Sarah Paul and Josh Walker are excited to introduce Lost Garden Labs & Therapeutics

Sarah’s transformative experience with psychedelics has inspired her to share the profound benefits of these medicines with others. She feels fortunate to partner with Josh in founding Lost Garden, a space dedicated to fostering healing and personal growth through these powerful tools.

With 25 years of experience cultivating and working with psilocybin mushrooms, Josh is thrilled to share his knowledge and insights, with the goal of deepening the connection between people and the plant medicines that can support their journeys.

Josh’s journey into psychedelic medicine began at age 19 when he was living in the beautiful Cumberland Plateau of Kentucky and working as a caregiver at a state mental facility. These early experiences ignited his passion for bodywork, Eastern philosophies, and holistic health practices, shaped by both traditional and non-traditional teachers.

He graduated from the Natural Health Institute in Bowling Green, KY, in 2006, further fueling his broad interest in psychedelic medicines. His focus lies particularly in the realm of psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline-containing cacti, and DMT-containing plants.

In 2009, he established Whispering Creek Mushrooms, Produce, and Ferments near Gallatin, Tennessee. From 2009 to 2017, Josh led seasonal foraging groups focused on identifying edible mushrooms and medicinal plants in the area. Additionally, he organized educational tours for homeschool groups, sharing the wonders of nature and its healing properties. During this time, he was growing and distributing gourmet mushrooms, supporting the local restaurant and farmer’s market scene. He played a key role in providing organic food for fine dining restaurants, helping Nashville chefs craft healthy, interesting, and delicious menu options. Here’s a link to a Tennessean article from 2015 about Josh’s work with Whispering Creek.

In between consulting jobs out west, Josh was residing in northern New Mexico and did some caregiving and substitute teaching. While there, he met and worked with Alfred “Jitsudo” Ancheta in his last stages of dementia due to Lewy body disease. Jitsudo was one of twelve Dharma successors of Japanese Zen master Maezumi Roshi, a Zen monk with Taoist influences. Josh would like to honor Jitsudo’s life, legacy, teachings by renaming our favorite clone of ODPE after him to allow Jitudo’s legacy to continue in the healing space. For more information on the life and work of Jitsudo, click here.

Since 2017, Josh has consulted on mushroom projects of all varieties and locations across the country, including work in California, Oregon, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arizona, and New Mexico. His projects have ranged from organic food production to university psilocybin studies, allowing him to contribute to a broader understanding of these transformative substances. Josh is committed to applying his experiences to foster meaningful relationships that support the cultivation and understanding of these plant medicines.