FFSC Events Archive

Learn more about this event on our Alaska Long Distance Foray page.

In view of the ongoing Covid-19 situation, Bill is not planning restaurant meals, favoring instead staying as a closed group on foray and at the lodge. The state of Alaska requires a negative Covid-19 test within three days before arrival to the state. Please be sure to check with Bill as to details about this and any other questions and concerns you may have regarding the trip in general, the Covid-19 situation locally and how details will be handled.

We regret the need to cancel the March membership meeting. This is in keeping with public health recommendations to limit non-essential gatherings where individuals are in close contact. Stay tuned for updates, and hope to see you all in April!

In this presentation Phil Ross will describe the challenges and opportunities for fungus based manufacturing, and a view of global developments in applied mycological research.

Phil Ross is an artist, scholar, and an entrepreneur, with a focus on biomaterial design and life-support technologies. Phil is the Co-Founder and CTO of MycoWorks, a Bay Area based company bringing fine mycelium leather to the fashion world. www.mycoworks.com @mycoworks

Rain or shine, let's get this train loaded and moving for another fantastic foray adventure at Roaring Camp!

The Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad is a 3 ft. narrow-gauge tourist railroad in California that starts from the Roaring Camp depot in Felton, California and runs up steep grades through redwood forests to the top of nearby Bear Mountain, a distance of 3.25 miles. Big thanks to Rene Barone, Heather Troy and Bob Wynn for making this fun day happen!

1:30 - 12:00 Arrival

12:00 Board Train

12:30 Exit on top of Bear Mountain

12:30 - 2:00 Hike and foray back to Roaring Camp station

2:00 - 4:00 Boby Wynn;s Gourmet Mushroom Pate with Focaccia, Mushroom Soup, Salad and Dessert

BYOB - Bring your own wine, beer, soda and glasses. Coffee, tea, water and paper cups provided.

FFSC Members

$35.00 Adults

$25.00 Children 2 - 12

Children under 2 free

Non-Members

$45.00 Adults

$35.00 Children 2 - 12

Children under 2 free

The Fungus Federation will be giving a mushroom identification class, led by Phil Carpenter, Science Minister, on Sat. February 8th. The class will start at 10 AM with a foray. We will gather examples of mushrooms on which we will put names later in the day at a hands-on workshop.

Visit the Classes & Workshops page for more information.

Emphasis will be on finding, and identifying fungus and on habitat, but most of this area does allow collecting so you can bring your collection basket if you wish.

“Shut the Front Door! The Microbiome Inside Your Home!” Roo notes that your home, like your body, is an ecosystem that contains an intricate array of micro-organisms, including fungi! We live in intimate association with thousands of species of bacteria and fungi. Roo will describe the results of an EPA funded study he conducted that focused on the composition and structure of indoor microbial communities. Roo will also share the trailer of a film currently in production “Marrow of the Mountain” documenting the truly life-changing work he and his colleague are doing to document species diversity and to preclude massive mining initiatives in the cloud forest reserves in Amazonian Ecuador. This work will take your breath away!

Roo finished his PhD in 2016 in Dr. Bitty Roy’s lab at the University of Oregon, with a fair bit of shared advising by Dr. George Carroll. In 2013, he participated in NSF’s East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) program in Taiwan, where he was able to work with the incomparable Xylariaceae taxonomist Dr. Yu-Ming Ju. Since receiving his doctorate, Roo has been working as a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Oregon’s Biology and the Built Environment Center, studying the interface between fungal ecology and building science. Currently, he is working on a large EPA funded study examining the impacts of home weatherization on the microbial (fungi and bacteria) communities found in household dust, among other things.

FFSC is partnering with Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History on:

Mushrooms: Keys to the Kingdom of Fungi

The story of fungi is integral to the story of life. Wherever there is life, there are fungi. Fungi are not plants and they are not animals, they are their own category of living organism. Mushrooms: Keys to the Kingdom Fungi explores the variety of fruiting bodies produced by fungi from the edible to the outrageous.

Check out upcoming events:

• Guided Hike

• Fanastic Fungi

• Naturalist Night: Mushrooms and Community Science - Where to Next?

Visit the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair page for details.

Featured speakers include Dr. Christopher Hobbs, renowned author and medicinal mushroom expert and Dr. Roo Vandegrift, a National Geographic Explorer grant recipient for his continuing biodiversity and conservation research of the threatened Andean cloud forest reserve.

In Downtown Santa Cruz, January is Mushroom Month! To coincide with the annual Fungus Fair at Louden Nelson Community Center, many Downtown Santa Cruz businesses offer special dishes, displays, or products celebrating the wonder of fungus. Maps and information will be available in January to all who want to explore!

You can also see First Friday exhibitions at Artisans & agency and Far West Fungi!

Clear your calendars for the fourth annual Santa Cruz Mycoflora Foray. We will again gather at the Mission Springs Conference Center in Scotts Valley, CA. Plan to spend an absorbing weekend in the beautiful coastal redwoods collecting and identifying fungi, participating in lectures and workshops, enjoying the company of fellow fungiphiles, all the while building our local mycoflora database. Participants may stay at the foray site in Scotts Valley or participate during the day and stay off-site.

We have some premium room space, as well as select and offsite possibilities.

One recent addition is a three hour cooking workshop with Chad Hyatt, author of The Mushroom Hunter’s Kitchen

Registration opens September 1st for the 4th Annual Santa Cruz Mycoflora Foray, to be held December 12-15 in Scotts Valley, CA. Registration links and information about dates, programs and accommodations can be found at  http://scmfforay.com.

The Santa Cruz Mycoflora Foray is part of the North American Mycoflora Project. This foray continues the work started by Christian Schwarz and provides ongoing funding and data for our local mycoflora research. We are all working towards a single goal — the development of the first comprehensive mycoflora of North America. This project is a consortium of citizen scientists and professional mycologists performing a biological survey of all the macrofungi that occur in North America. Your involvement as a citizen scientist is crucial.

We hope you can join us!

Cheers,

Ron Bader

Phil Carpenter

Debbie Johnson

Foray Committee

Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz

This foray near UCSC is open to all members of the FFSC and anyone else with an interest in fungus who might be interested in joining the club. Experienced members are encouraged to come and share their knowledge with newer fungifiles.