FFSC Events Archive

Visit the Wine & Mushroom Fest page for details.

Sustainability bonus:

FFSC has a stock of those handy-dandy little plates with a notch for your wine glass. We're including a plate with each admission, in the hopes that you will bring them back with you in years to come. Please bring your own reusable fork, wineglass and napkin (and perhaps a dessert plate, as dishwashing facilities are limited).

Mycology in California started with the discovery of a few species during a break in the voyage of the North Pacific expedition. The discovery of new species has every been ongoing since that time. The main players during the more than 150 years of history will be put in the spotlight, and future directions of research in the state will be laid out.

Else Vellinga is a mycologist who is interested in naming and classifying mushroom species in California and beyond, especially Parasol mushrooms. She has described 22 species as new for California, and most recently worked at the herbaria at University of Calfiornia at Berkeley and San Francisco State University for the Macrofungi and Microfungi Collections Digitization projects. She got her training at the National Herbarium in the Netherlands, and her PhD at the university of Leiden, also in the Netherlands. The main motivation for her taxonomic work is that it lays the basis for efforts to include mushroom species in nature management and conservation plans. She has proposed a number of Californian and Hawaiian species for the IUCN global database of endangered species. She tries to keep current with the mushroom literature. And lastly, Else is an avid knitter and likes to use mushroom dyed yarn for her creations. She lives with her two cats in Berkeley, California.

Mushroom ID workshop for 4-5 hours to be taught by Phil Carpenter.

This workshop is going to be a different format than those held in the past. We will go out in the morning to gather mushrooms for study and then meet at an indoor location to spend time putting names on what we found. To take this workshop you must sign up though this website; the first 20 people to do so will be allowed into the class so sign up right away.

If you are not a member, you must become one to take this class. Once you have registered, you will be notified that you have been accepted into the class. Detailed information as to the plans for the workshop will be sent to you by email. Be certain your email information is accurate.

A modern important aspect of hunting mushrooms is the opportunity to become a citizen scientist by collecting data to be used by future or on-going mycological research. And it turns out that this is actually not at all difficult by using the cellphone app called iNaturalist. The concept is that you are able to record your finds simply by taking a photograph and downloading it to iNat. The location data, date, etc. are automatically recorded. It is absolutely not necessary to name the mushroom since a number of crack-IDers will do that for you plus the app will reply to you with that ID. The FFSC is very supportive of on-going research, especially here in our county. We have been supporting Christian Schwarz’s project, The Mycoflora of Santa Cruz County for a number of years. The goal of that project is to document and describe every mushroom found in the county, including photos and molecular sequencing. By using iNat, adding many other observations of mushrooms in the county can dramatically increase the possibility that the goal could be met. The FFSC is therefore strongly suggesting that its members use iNat when out collecting. Our February meeting will be a hands-on session on how to do that. Christian will lead a workshop on how to use iNat. To get the most out of this meeting is it highly recommended that you come to the meeting with iNat already loaded onto your cellphone . To make an iNaturalist account, first visit https://www.inaturalist.org/signup. You can make an account with your email address or link it to a social media profile like Facebook. After that, download the iNaturalist app for your phone and log in. You can then start getting familiar with the app by visiting: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started. What all that looks like, plus a few extra tips, will be covered at the meeting.

Please plan to attend the meeting on Febuary 20 complete with your cellphone already loaded with the iNat app and learn how you can contribute to science.

Christian Schwarz is a mushroom enthusiast and taxonomist and citizen science advocate from Santa Cruz, the land of milk (caps) and honey (mushrooms). He graduated from UCSC, and now spends his time photographing, teaching about, and making scientific collections of macrofungi. He is coauthor of Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast, and is slowly building a mycoflora for Santa Cruz County. Fungi satisfy his curiosity with their seemingly endless forms (from the grotesque to the bizarre to the sublime). Besides mushroom taxonomy and mycofloristics, he’s an excitable birder and mediocre fisherman.

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!

Roaring Camp Foray - Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019

Roaring Camp Railroads

5401 Graham Hill Road

Felton, CA

10:30 - 11:00 am Arrival

11:00 - Board Train

11:30 - Exit on top of Bear Mountain

11:30 - 1:00 pm Hike and foray back to Roaring Camp station

1:00 - 5:00 Bob Wynn's Gourmet Mushroom Pate with Focaccia, Vegan Quinoa Mushroom Soup, Salad and Tiramisu, coffee & tea.

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

$40.00 Children 2 - 12

Children under 2 free

Visit our Albion Long Distance Forays page for information.

Drawing on over 50 years in the woods hunting mushrooms and over 40 years on the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) Toxicology committee, Michael Beug describes the common identification mistakes that people have made when out mushrooming. This talk features the most dangerous mushrooms and what happens when you eat a poisonous species. You will also learn what features to look for when seeking edible mushrooms. He describes how to tell the good ones from the bad ones. His stories are both of the mistakes that people have made leading to poisoning and of the disappointment felt by people when they realize that they have left choice edibles behind

Michael Beug is Professor Emeritus of The Evergreen State College and an award-winning photographer, with photographs published in over 50 books and articles. He is principal author (with Alan and Arleen Bessette) of Ascomycete Fungi of North America: A Mushroom Reference Guide. He writes about mushrooms in McIlvainea, The Mycophile, Fungi Magazine, and Mushroom: The Journal of Wild Mushrooming. He created 25 PowerPoint mushroom programs available through NAMA as a two-DVD set. He is a coauthor of MatchMaker, a free mushroom identification program covering 4,092 taxa with over 5,000 images of 1,984 illustrated taxa (www.matchmakermushrooms.com). He was winner of the 2006 NAMA Award for Contributions to Amateur Mycology. He is chair of the NAMA Toxicology Committee, chair the Editorial Committee and is past editor of the journal McIlvainea. In the Columbia River Gorge, he currently studies the unique fungal ecosystem associated with Quercus garryana where he has found roughly 50 unnamed Cortinarius species, many unnamed Hebeloma species, new species of Russula, a new Amanita, a new Polyozellus, a new morel and a new Sarcomyxa as well as numerous species previously thought to be restricted to California and Southern Oregon. His hobbies are organic farming and winemaking.

Enjoy an amazing four-course mushroom and wine feast with a group of like-minded fungiphiles.

Details:

Check in and gather at 5:30 in the Auditorium

6:00 - 9:30 PM

• Chef Chad Hyatt presents the 8th Mushroom Dinner

• Wine pairings by Eric Baugher of Ridge Vineyards

• Music by George Heagerty & Never the Same

• Appetizers will be served.

WHERE: Room 3, Louden Nelson Community Center, 301 Center St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Cost: $150.00, Tax and Gratuity Included

Visit our Albion Long Distance Forays page for more information.

For information about this event, visit the Holiday Potluck page.

Taylor grew up near Seattle in an art-aware environment and took to music at an early age. After high school he entered the University of Washington College of Architecture, but by the time he was 21 he was playing several musical instruments and soon moved to California to start a band.

After spending several years in the San Francisco Bay Area, he moved to Los Angeles. Then after three bands and seven years of heat and smog, he set out looking for a cooler and greener place to live.

In December 1984, in the middle of the rainy season, he moved to Mendocino, California. In his first week there, he "discovered" mushrooms, bought a camera, and started taking photos.

After a year of customizing his equipment and focusing his direction, he presented his first slide show for the Los Angeles Mycological Society annual fair. Since then, he has taken thousands of photos and done hundreds of shows in the U.S. and around the world.

In 1996, Taylor bought a computer and learned quickly how to work with graphics programs in order to "spread the word" about the beauty of this facet of nature. Praise for his work and vision to promote the beauty of mushrooms has gained him acclaim with mycologists, mushroom enthusiasts, photography critics, and nature lovers around the world.

His work has appeared in the National Geographic Magazine, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many other publications. His photo of a bioluminescent mushroom was the first mushroom photo ever put onto a US postage stamp. Like many other amateur and professional mycologists, Taylor is a pioneer in the discovery and appreciation of mushrooms and other fungi.

The FFSC Culinary Committee is happy to announce a fungal feast to start off the new season. Thanks to Tatyana Rekow for organizing this delicious treat! We’re planning a family-style dinner for FFSC members at Casa Nostra in Ben Lomond on Tuesday, November 13 at 7:00 pm. Get your reservations now before it fills up! Members can purchase guest tickets for the same price.

Pasquale, the chef, enjoys collecting wild mushrooms and knows just what to do with them. Dinner will include one glass of house wine or soft drink per person, tax and tip for a cost of $45.00 — check out the menu below. Additional beverages can be purchased, or you can bring your own for a corkage fee of $15. Our feast will be served family style, meaning that dishes will be brought out on platters and diners will serve themselves, rather than a "plated" meal in which diners must choose in advance.