FFSC Events Archive

Our Annual Echo Summit Foray is scheduled in September at California Alpine Club’s Echo Summit Lodge, overlooking the Tahoe Basin. It’s not large, but it has a lot of character! Dues-paying FFSC members get first chance at the limited space so make sure you reserve your space in advance. Reservations must be post marked after August 1st for members and after September 1st for non-members.

FOOD: New development: Yippee! Chef Bob Wynn will be planning and preparing all meals for the weekend, so we know they'll be great. Participants should plan on helping out with dishes/kitchen cleanup all weekend, as well as limited prep and serving assistance.  Attendees must also volunteer for cleanup before departure. If you have major food restrictions, please notify Lee Yamada when you reserve your space.

Saturday's dinner menu:                      

• Antipasto and herbed foccacia            

• Stuffed Porcetta roast

• Polenta with mushroom ragu

• Roasted root vegetables

• Mixed green salad

• Candy cap Tiramisu

COSTS: Rates include meals and CAC fees. 

RATES FOR THE WEEKEND: 

Private Room: $110/adult/2 nights for members.  $130/adult/2nights for nonmembers.     

Dorm Room: $100/adult/2 nights.  $120/adult/2nights for nonmembers.

Child age 4 – 12: $50, shares room with parent/2 nights   $70, shares room with parent/2nights for nonmembers.

CAMPERS:  (The spaces are only for self-contained RV campers-–no space for tents)  Same costs as for dorm residents; includes parking space and meals.  $20 price differential for nonmembers applies to campers as well, $120/adult/2nights for nonmembers.

MEALS FOR OFF-SITE ATTENDEES:       

Friday dinner, $10; Saturday dinner, $15; Breakfasts, $4 each; 1 lunch, $6

Our speakers will provide a fungal version of "What I did on my summer vacation". Club members who have traveled outside our area in the quest for summer mushrooms will regale us with their tales of adventure. We are hoping to hear of Alaskan gypsies and kings, and perhaps salmon and bears as well.

We will have a report on the Alaska foray from Phil and Kitty as well as Hugh. We also have a report from Telluride's Mushroom Festival and the Rocky Mountains from Christian Schwarz. Cassandra Fuentes will provide Telluride photos as well. We even have news from Burning Man from Ted Lorek.

If you have done some travel and would be willing to share your photos just bring them. We want to hear what you have been up to.

The 33rd Telluride Mushroom Festival celebrates the many uses of fungi (all things mycology). Fungi serve many purposes--from breaking down plant cellulose in nature to creating nutrients for plants, to serving as food and medicine for people, to acting as bio-remediators to filter and break down toxic land like oil spills and agricultural run off.

This year's theme is "Mushroom Science." Please help the Telluride Institute in supporting this unique event!

Keynote Speakers

We are so pleased to announce the keynotes:

Langdon Cook, John Holliday, Taylor Lockwood.

Presenters and Special Guests

Alissa Allen, Katrina Blair, Langdon Cook, Eric Cerecedes,Tradd Cotter, Ayman Daba, Marc Donsky, Larry Evans, John Holliday, Kris Holstrom, Mark Jones, Maggie Klinedinst, Paul Kroeger, Gary Lincoff,

Taylor Lockwood, Lawrence Millman,

Yva and John Neal, Robert Rogers, Noah Siegel, Ja Schindler, Christian Schwarz, Ron Spinosa, Graham Steinruck, Maxine Stone, Dan Tura, Jordan Weiss, Daniel Winkler,

More information can be found on http://www.telluridemushroomfest.org/

Sara Branco: Understanding fungal diversity from a population perspective

Sara is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. She fell in love with fungi at age 16 and has been studying fungi ever since. She is interested in fungal diversity, ecology and evolution and has studied fungal communities both in Europe and the US and more recently started focusing on the population genomics of Suillus brevipes.

Suillus brevipes, an ectomycorrhizal fungus associated with pine trees. She uses whole genomes of S. brevipes individuals across North America to assess 1) whether there are different populations of the species across the continent, 2) how genetically different potential populations are, and 3) if local environments are related to genetic differentiation. Results from her study will contribute not only for a better appreciation for the ecology and evolution of S. brevipes, but more importantly, will inform on the way ectomycorrhizal fungal species occur and evolve in their natural environments.

Fungi are hyperdiverse organisms that assemble in dynamic and complex communities and details on individual species are crucial for understanding such complicated assemblages. Studying fungal populations allows understanding how specific species live in nature, which is crucial for a full appreciation of fungal diversity. Populations can tell us about how and why species are distributed across the landscape and whether specific environments act to differentiate populations by imprinting genetic diversity. Ultimately, population-level studies shed light on the processes involved in the formation of new species.

Learn more about this event on our Suds n Shrooms page.

We have reports of morels and boletes are coming in and weather is warming in the Sierras. Some rain is in the forecast, which will help keep conditions moist. This may be a fleeting morel season, or more of a bolete foray.

Visit our Spring Long Distance Foray page for more info.

One of the good things in life is that some things never change. The always-fantastic Wine and Mushroom event is the highlight of our culinary activities. Jeff Emery of Santa Cruz Mountain Winery brings together up to 6 exceptional Santa Cruz area wineries that share their great wines with us.

Wineries booked as of 4/18/14:

Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard

Muns Vineyard

River Run

Ahlgren

Sones Cellars

Visit our Wine & Mushroom Fest page to learn more.

Douglas Smith is a local amateur mycologist that has hunted mushrooms around the world. He photographs mushrooms where ever he goes and these photos are posted online, and have appeared in field guides, journals, and the National Geographic. In 2009 he had a chance to move to France, on the border of Switzerland, and lived there for two years.

During that time he was a member of La société mycologique de Genève, and did a large amount of mushroom hunting in the area. In this talk he will discuss his experiences in the area, in terms of the mushrooms found, but also in terms of how people run a mushroom group in the area. As part of this, he was able to compare mushrooms from Europe, and from California, and he will present some of those comparisons.

Shannon Nix presents "Molding Human History: The biology, evidence, and speculation behind mycotoxicoses." Mycotoxins are poisonous secondary metabolites produced by fungi. Under favorable conditions microfungi or molds can proliferate and these toxic compounds can contaminate food and feed crops. If food contaminated with mycotoxins is ingested by humans or animals, severe and occasionally fatal toxicoses of the liver, digestive tract, or kidneys can result. This talk will discuss the biology and history of some of the most potent and important mycotoxins produced by molds.

Nix is an associate professor at Clarion University of Pennsylvania specializing in mycology and microbial ecology. Shannon’s interest in all things fungi was first cultivated as an undergrad at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) in Syracuse, NY. There, she developed a keen interest and passion for the fifth kingdom, receiving training in taxonomy, identification and ecology of micro and macro-fungi by several distinguished mycologists. After receiving her B.S. in Environmental and Forest Biology, Shannon headed for New Jersey and worked as an environmental microbiologist.

Shannon eventually returned to academia to pursue her passion and work with Dr. John Dighton author and professor of fungal ecology at Rutgers University. During this time Shannon was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and spent a year abroad studying micro-fungi at the Agricultural University of Norway. Shannon also did a 2 year post-doc at the University of Georgia (UGA) investigating yeast community structure and dynamics in agricultural systems.

Shannon Nix, our speaker for our March meeting, has agreed to teach one of her very well-reputed classes in how to use a microscope, how to prepare slides, etc. All necessary supplies will be provided and handouts will be given to you. This class is geared to beginners and advanced beginners, and is limited to 12 attendees. It is free for members of the FFSC.

Yev is giving a lecture and workshop on mushroom microscopy at Sudo Room in downtown Oakland this Monday, 2/24 at 6pm!

From Yev:

I will start with a powerpoint presentation that goes over some basic microscope stuff, then some intermediate level microscope stuff, and then photos of the various microscopic structures you will be looking for in mushroom identification.   There will be a live demo of how to use ImageJ to digitally measure spores and cystidia.

After I am done speaking, we will use microscopes to look at mushrooms that people bring in, or if no one brings mushrooms we will look at mushrooms that I brought back from my recent trip to Mexico.

The goal of my talk and workshop will be to teach people how to prepare slides and look at the microscopic features of mushrooms, and more importantly how to turn what you see into useful information.

The lecture starts at 6 and goes until maybe 7:30, and after that I will teach people hands on how to use a microscope until the last person gets tired of learning, which will probably be around 10pm but could go all night if people want.   I am bringing four microscopes, but there will be more than 4 people, so if you have a microscope, bring it!

The cost is $0.   RSVP not necessary.  Late arrivals welcomed.  

Alan Rockefeller's is our speaker. His subject will be Mushrooms of Mexico 2013, showing the best of 50 gigs of photos taken during this summer's travels. There will be photos of edible, poisonous and hallucinogenic mushrooms, mushroom hunters and fungus fairs from southern Mexico. If you've followed Alan's accounts on the FFSC Google group, you'll surely want to attend this talk.

Alan is a mycologist studying the mushrooms of California and Mexico.H e has been focusing on the taxonomy and photography of Mexican mushrooms for the past seven years. Alan recently returned from five months of collecting in Mexico with extensive field work in the states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, District Federal, Morelos, Puebla, Veracruz and Oaxaca. When he is not photographing mushrooms he is busy sequencing fungal DNA, photographing the microscopic features of mushrooms, hacking computers, modifying electronics and working in the IT Security field.