FFSC Events Archive

Visit our Wine & Mushroom Fest page to learn about this event.

Walt Sturgeon presents: Just For the Smell of It, Mushroom Common Scents, a non-technical look at wild mushrooms from an olfactory perspective. His talk will include:

1. Using scents to clinch an identification;

2. How to properly check for a mushroom’s odor;

3. Sniffing subjectivity and the power of suggestion, and;

4. Scent and memory.

This program should be a reminder to check for an odor in your attempts to identify mushrooms as well as to appreciate the fragrance of a known species. At forays, he recommends checking a mushroom for its odor and then asking the question to others, “What’s this mushroom smell like to you?” The answer may surprise you and lead to a friendly debate. 

Sturgeon is president of the Ohio Mushroom Society, recipient of NAMA’s Award for Contributions to Amateur Mycology, and recipient of NEMF’s Eximia Award. He is also author or co-author of: Waxcap Mushrooms of Eastern North America, Mushrooms of Ohio, Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the West Virginia High Country. He is also an award winning photographer with photos published in several field guides.

I am pleased to announce a Winter foray at Quail Hollow Ranch in Felton. All the normal preparations for wandering through the woods apply: it should be cold and wet.

Picking in this location is restricted: We can pick but nothing can leave the ranch. We are allowed to cook what we find though which people always enjoy :)

Group size is limited so sign up by calling the park at 831-335-9348 Friday - Sunday. If they do not answer, DO leave a message! That will get you on the list and they will eventually get back to you. The Ranch is located on Quail Hollow just off of Zayante (about 15 minutes from downtown Santa Cruz).

Directions and further info about the Ranch can be found online.

Visit our Albion Long-Distance Forays page to learn more about this foray.

The North American Mycological Association's annual foray will be in our backyard this year! NAMA is hosting its annual foray at Mission Springs Conference Center in Scotts Valley.

This is an incredible opportunity to foray with some of the country's leading mycologists including David Arora and Else Vellinga. Registration is open and fills up quickly.

More intel at http://www.namyco.org/events/NAMA2012/index2012.html

Well, the weather won this weekend so we are cancelling this foray at Albion. It is just too dangerous to be in the woods under these conditions. I will be able to refund all deposits.  The folks at Albion are quite accommodating. So we we will lose nothing.

The January foray is still on for the 25th and 36th. If any of you folks still want to go this weekend you will have to make your own accommodations either at Albion or elsewhere.

I will get checks out over the next week or so to all.

Regretfully,

Bill White

LDFM

Phil Carpenter will be leading the fall Mushroom ID classes. The dates of the fall series of classes will be October 3, 24, and November 7, 28 (first and fourth Wednesday of the month).

Pre-registration required.

The Ranch features diverse habitat ranging from our normal oak/madrone woodlands, to stands of pine and sandy thickets of manzanita. The terrain goes from flat to quite hilly, but the trails are usually well maintained. We can pick but nothing can leave the Ranch. Mushrooms collected will be cooked up following the foray. Foray registration is required and group size is limited so sign up by calling the park at 831.335.9348 Friday - Sunday. Parking at the Ranch is very limited so car pooling is recommended. There is no street parking. Further info about the Ranch can be found online at http://www.scparks.com/quail_hollow.html

Dr. Rytas Vilgalys' talk will be about studies in his lab at Duke University on environmental mycology using molecular approaches. At his lab, research focuses on sampling DNA directly from the environment using state-of-the-art technologies such as high-throughput sequencing, microarrays, and bioinformatics to study how microbial communities respond to environmental change. He promises to show lots of cool mushroom pictures as well, although the talk will also try to introduce some ideas in fungal ecology.

Vilgalys’ Lithuanian ancestry explains a lot about his fondness for fungi. He first learned to hunt edible mushrooms from his grandmother. In high school on Long Island, he learned mushroom identification from ardent amateur mycologist and NAMA activist Marge Morris. In college, he had the good fortune of having mycologist John Clausz as his advisor at the SUNY College at Geneseo. John also recommended that Vilgalys pursue graduate school with Orson K. Miller at VPI in Blacksburg, VA, where he earned both M.S. and Ph.D. working on mating biology and molecular systematics of agarics. In 1985, he worked as a postdoc with Amy Rossman at the National Fungus Collections in Beltsville, MD, before landing his current position at Duke University. During 26 years at Duke University, he has trained over 24 Ph.D. and masters students. Vilgalys’ lab group at Duke still uses molecular approaches to study fungal natural history at a variety of levels ranging from populations to species and communities. Research areas include: 1) the Fungal Tree of Life Project and the origins of fungal biodiversity; 2) Molecular epidemiology and population genetics of fungi. Genetic studies are aimed at elucidating mating systems and life history in wild mushroom species as well as symbiotic fungi including human pathogens; and 3) community ecology of fungi in the environment. We are sampling DNA directly from the environment using state-of-the-art technologies such as high-throughput sequencing, microarrays, and bioinformatics to study how microbial communities respond to environmental change.

Phil Carpenter will be leading the fall Mushroom ID classes. The dates of the fall series of classes will be October 3, 24, and November 7, 28 (first and fourth Wednesday of the month).

Pre-registration required.