I officially retired in Oct 2024 and after the end of our club season this year, I suddenly had more time to go foraging.

My alebrijes are the opposum and fish

I headed down to Mexico and joined Chad and Rose Hyatt in Oaxaca with Zachary Hunter of TheFungivore.com. I signed up for the MyComida Rupestre - Forage & Feast. For those who know me, what I love almost more than hunting mushrooms, is traveling and eating. This tour was to explore the foods of Oaxaca with a fungal bent. All my three loves in one tour. It was a culinary feast: mole, squash blossoms, corn many ways, insects, mezcal and much more. Unfortunately, the rains arrived 2 days before we were done, but we still found many mushrooms, flowers, plants and insects to entertain us. We were up in Sierra Norte Mountains at around 7000 - 8000'. We found Boletus edulis, Amanita ceasarea, and at Monte Alban inside a tree trunk Volvariella bombycina flaviceps which Chad got really excited. This mushroom was on his bucket list. This area is part of the cloud forest and we found orchids, air plants and carnivorous plants. Definitely worth visiting.

Josepha and Ken Hendry. That's a lot of Chicken of the Woods in their Maine neighborhood

I headed to Maine to visit with Josepha and Ken Hendry (FFSC members) in Windham Maine and was joined by Phil and Margaret Carpenter who happened to be on the East Coast for the Nama foray. This coastal part of Maine has elevation which was much lower than Oaxaca and more like here in the Bay Area. We hiked around many lovely lakes. I found my first Velvet Foot (Flammulina velutipes). We found chicken of the woods and was gifted a large fresh hen of the woods from a member of the Maine mycological club. Josepha managed to get us invited to a local foray nearby. One surprisingly delicious mushroom was the Aborted Entoloma (Entoloma abortivum). The current thought is this mushroom is a parasite of Amillaria species. My favorite find was the ghost pipes (Monotropa uniflora), this parasitic plant of Russulaceae species. While in Maine, I enjoyed eating lots of lobsters, the crustacean type and not the fungal type. Very much appreciated the hospitality of the Hendry's for putting us up and planning our forays into the woods.

What's Cookin Calabria group picture

I finished my summer vacation by heading to Italy. I was joining my favorite mushroom tour group, What's Cookin and this time we were visiting Calabria. I have gone on about 5 tours around Europe and parts of Italy with this group led by mycologist Britt Bunyard. Their tours cover my 3 loves: travel, food and fungus. Calabria is famous for their chili and sweet onion and we definitely got to taste those offerings. We hiked amongst conifers and chestnut trees checking out the fungal offerings. Again, I was skunked by the lack of rains and although we had some rains earlier, things were looking a little dry. We found Boletus edulis, chanterelles and many others. I got to eat a soft polypore, call goats foot which was pickled and delicious. What I love about these tours is we have a local mycologist on our foray along with Britt.

I love traveling and foraging in different areas. I get to try eating different mushrooms prepared differently from us. I learn that in spite of the differences, I see many similar mushrooms and characteristics. I am a newbie in their woods and with my newbie eyes, I pay more attention and relearn to stop and look deeply. I remember why I love foraging for mushrooms and the best part is even if I don't manage to collect anything, the beauty of the woods is more than enough so I breathe and live.

Kitty (Apprentice newbie of the woods)

FFSC Long Distance Foray Minister

Enjoy the Trip