Alaskan varied mosses. Photo by Katherine Elvin The landscape which is Alaska is alone worth the trip. Snow capped mountains, the fjords, Denali, glaciers, almost virginal forests, deep mosses of varied hues (Not Hugh's), and turquoise rivers. Then you add the animals: bears, moose, elk, belugas, killer whales, puffins, bald eagles, musk ox, Dahl sheep, salmon and much much more. If that is not enough, you add the sports: fishing, kayaking, dog sledding, flying, scuba diving, hiking and you get the picture; lots to see and do. Oh did I mention "mushrooms"? They have mushrooms up there along with berries and other very interesting plants. This year however, the rains failed us. On the Kenai pennisula, where Bill has the lodge, they are experiencing a drought where the rivers all throughout the pennisula are 2 feet lower than usual. Bill pushed the foray week 1 week because last year, the rains came later. Luckily for me last year, I like to linger and for the last couple of days I was in rain and bolete heaven. This year however even, that did not work. We did get a little more the last day before we left. We however did find mushrooms on our hikes some led by Bill and others we did on our own. Gypsies, Birch boletes, man on horse back, hedge hogs, shaggy manes, hawkwings, alaskan gold and birch polypores. We should have Sue Labiste do a current write up on that polypore soon based on what she learned from this mushroom. Here is Sue's feature on the Tinder Fungus . We hiked Exit glacier, had dinner at Salmon Bake just outside of Seward attended by a waitress who was tripping on something but made for an entertaining evening, an amazing potluck where Jerome cooked up 2 racks of lamb which was finger licking good, caught a mess of halibut fishing out of Homer, and managed to wrangle some salmon out of the Kenai river in spite of the "banana jinx" on a rainy afternoon. Alaskan botox The stories... this trip had a mess of them. Talk to anyone who went this year and Alaskan botoxask if pepper spray works. We each had a personal encounter. Did you hear, I got the Alaskan botox? I fought the local flying bugs, won the berries and lost my vision for a day or two. Nothing a little steroids couldn't fix. None of us who went fishing will bring bananas on a boat. By the way — I hear the cure for bananas is iron. I need to find me a small iron good luck charm for the next trip. No matter what happens, this foray never disappoints. Thanks Bill, Jerry and everyone who attended. You made the trip for me again. Now to settle down, enjoy grilled halibut and toast topped by a generous dollup of lingon berry (low bush cranberry) jam while perusing this year's Alaskan photos, and reliving the fun all over again. Yep, it was worth it and yes, I most definitely will do it again, given the chance. Editor's note: More photos from this trip were previously available on Google+. However, Google+ was deprecated for personal use in 2019.

The weather was beautiful, and given the lack of recent rainfall, the group of about 30 attendees found a surprising number of fungi: 20 different species! Foraging is normally not allowed within the park, but the FFSC is granted permission to pick during our guided forays, as long as none of the mushrooms leave the park boundary. We are very grateful for the opportunity! Spring is in full bloom in the mountains, so in addition to finding fungi, the group of foragers encountered a wide variety of beautiful flowers and both edible and medicinal plants, all part of the unique and rich habitat of the sandhills in the Santa Cruz mountains. The sandhills are made up of what geologists call “Santa Margarita Sandstone”, which dates to 10 – 12 million years ago, when this part of the San Lorenzo Valley was underneath the ocean. The habitat is also great for finding mushrooms at Quail Hollow, as there’s a wide variety of trees including Redwood and Madrone. Pine and Live Oak can be found here as well, which are known to establish mycorrhizal associations with fungi which produce some of the most sought after mushrooms, Chanterelles and Porcini. Species List Below is a list of the species that we collected: Amanita gemmata Amanita muscaria Amanita novinupta Amanita velosa Amanita vernicoccora Annulohypoxylon thouarsianum Chlorophyllum brunneum Coltricia cinnamomea Coprinus sterquilinus Craterellus cinereus Ganoderma brownii Hygrocybe sp. Hypholoma fasciculare Inocybe sororia Tremella betulina Pluteus sp. Russula sp. Stereum hirsutum Suillus sp. Trametes versicolor Cass Fuentes FFSC Minister of Local Forays

Craterellus cornucopioides . © Ron Lawrence (from mushroomobserver.org) Although there was frost on the ground, the weather was beautiful and the Black Trumpets were virtually everywhere! Everyone who attended went home with some Craterellus cornucopioides . Also spotted were beautiful Waxy Caps ( Hygrocybe flavescens and coccinea ), various Ramarias , Black Elfin Saddles ( Helvella dryophila group ), and Gyromitras ( infula ?), to name just a few. Hygrocybe (not from this foray). Photo by Hugh Smith A big thanks to the all the great folks who participated! - Cass Fuentes Minister of Local Forays Editor's note: The link to additional photos from this foray was broken, so the link was removed from this post. If you have an alternative link, feel free to let us know!

... and TONS of mushrooms popping up all over! Herecium coralloides  (November 2014). Photo by Cassandra Fuentes Some of the highlights were beautiful clumps of Oysters, fresh Lion's Mane, Dyer’s Polypore, carpets of Mycenas, an impressive troop of Jack O’Lanterns, and ominously glowing Death Caps. Below is a partial list of species found; there were various Agaricus, possible Agrocybes, and LBM’s that weren't included (among others). Henry Cowell Habitat Walk Species List - 11.22.14 Agaricus benesii (red staining Agaricus group) Agaricus xanthodermus (phenol smelling Agaricus group) Amanita phalloides Amanita vaginata (group - Grisettes) Annulohypoxylon thouarsianum Aricularia aricula Astraeus hygrometricus Coprinus sterquilinus Cortinarius sp Ganoderma applanatum (group) Gomphidius oregonensis Gymnopus dryophilus Gymnopus quercophilus Herecium coralloides Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca Hypholoma fasciculare Lactarius rubrilacteus Lycoperdon perlatum Marasmius calhouniae Mycena capillaripes Mycena haematopus Mycena pura Omphalotus olivascens Phaeolus schwenitzi Phyllotoposis nidulans Pleurotus ostreatus Pluteus cervinus Ramaria sp Russula brevipes Russula cerolens Russula silvicola (group) Stereum hirsutum Suillus cearulesencse Suillus fusctotementosus Trametes versicolor Tremella aleuria Xerocomellus chrysenteron (and/or Xerocomellus truncates) Xerocomellus zelleri Xylaria hypoxylon Editor's note: Photos from this trip were originally posted on Google+, which was deprecated for personal use in 2019. If you have photos from this trip shared publicly elsewhere, feel free to let us know!

Antrodia sp.  (a small, large-pored species on Santa Cruz Mtn. manzanita). © Christian Schwarz I chose this time of the year because the fall mushroom assemblage is rapidly transitioning into the winter assemblage, briefly bumping up easily-seen diversity during the period of overlap. Hunting had to be spread out over 4 days (eleven hours), but I’m quite sure that all the mushrooms I encountered could have been found on either the 18th or the 21st. I ended up with 270 species (not all identified to species, but recognizable RTUs). To find out what was found in Santa Cruz County on that day in 2014, visit my post on Tumblr: A Pseudo-Big Day in Santa Cruz , Notes of a Mycophile

On Hwy 50 - South Fork American River - a friend with a cabin along the Hwy near Sierra at Tahoe told me they had no rain since a weekend in June. Apparently the storm on the ridge top where Wright's lake is located was an exception. A ranger at the Stanislaus Ranger Office on Hwy 108 said they also had heavy rain the same weekend of June and nothing since. The Sawmill area had a heavy deluge 2 weekends ago - streets had minor flooding. The ground was very wet in the areas I checked around sawmill. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with good Bolete spots there - so no luck for me. Markleeville also had a deluge from the same storms that hit the Sawmill. The State Park adjacent to Grover Hot Springs had only sprinkles - only a few miles up the canyon from Markleeville! The Leavitt Meadows campground host - Hwy 108- told me they were hard hit by the same storm system. Unfortunately the FS road into Leavitt Meadow was locked - smoke from the Rim Fire was appalling that day, so I didn't try to get around it. East side of the Sierras was soaked in spots while the western slopes look like they have been mostly dry since June - the exception - some western ridge tops have gotten an Occasional thunderstorm. Rim Fire smoke was extremely variable last weekend. It completely depended on wind direction. I camped Saturday night next to Sonora Pass and could not see the mountains or breathe! I would have driven straight home but I was exhausted. In the morning, it was all blue skies. No sign of smoke! Apparently, in the afternoon the winds pushed the smoke up to the ridge tops. At night the winds descended and took the smoke back to lower elevations. Sawmill is wet - good luck at Echo this weekend! Mark Gillespie

Although little rain had yet blessed the Sierras, over 35 species were found as we sought out moisture-hoarding locales. Several intrepid participants found enough boletes to fill their dehydrators, and, to many attendees’ delight, Ganoderma tsugae (reishi) were numerous and fresh. A special thank-you to our California Alpine Club hosts, Lee Yamada and Phyllis Cole. A very special thank-you to the following who held up the sky by providing substantial kitchen support throughout the weekend: Friday dinner: Jan Immer’s amazing enchiladas, beans and calabicitas complemented by Sandi Smith’s baked bean appetizer and Margaret Carpenter’s Ensalada Mexicana; Saturday breakfast: Hope and Milan Jukl’s awesome breakfast burrito bar; Saturday lunch: Lisa Leung, Sonata Chan and Margaret’s sandwich bar; Saturday dinner: Gene West’s porcini pasta dinner complemented by Sandi Smith’s brie appetizer and Vernetta McGuire’s Caesar salad; Sunday breakfast: Kitty Elvin and Sue Labiste’s bodacious bagel buffet; With a strong supporting cast of all mentioned above and Richard Rammer, Richard Lyness and Monise Sheehan. Thank you all! Wendy Wells Minister of Long Distance Forays

For the forager/gatherers in the group, I've come across huge patches of stinging nettles in gullies and along streams. Its not quite chanterelles and black trumpets, but none too shabby. Miners lettuce is also in abundance and still moving towards peak.

Gavin McIntyre and Eben Bayer, two students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, grow all-natural substitutes for plastic from chitin molecules found in polypores. McIntyre and Bayer were taking a class from Professor Burt Swersey called Inventor’s Studio. When McIntyre and Bayer took the class in the fall term of their senior year, neither came up with anything very workable at first. Gavin’s idea for a car-exhaust attachment that would burn off emissions with charged plasma was ingenious but probably unsafe. “Like driving around with a lightning bolt in your tailpipe.” Eben’s idea for a no-moving parts turbine that could generate electricity in high winds by means of sound did not impress Swersey at all. Toward the end of their first semester, Eben thought of a previous R.P.I. class, in which he had been given the problem of making insulation panels out of a mineral called perlite. The difficulty with perlite is that it’s loose, like handfuls of popped popcorn, and tends to settle. Eben, who is the product of a one room schoolhouse in rural Vermont, grew up helping his Dad, a maple sugar farmer, on a one hundred forty acre sugarbush farm. Ranks of maple trees rise on the rocky hillsides above the farm. In the spring they would tap thousands of the best trees and connect them to a vat in the sugarhouse by PVC tubes along the steep ground. Father and son built a complicated wood chip burner to process the syrup in the sugar shack, without burning the roof down. One of Eben’s chores was to move the wood chips to the burner from on open bunker made of telephone poles and chicken wire. Though covered with a tarp, the pile of chips sometimes got wet and sprouted mushrooms. Eben noticed how the fine white fabric of their mycelium sometimes grew through the pile so tenaciously that big bunches of chips stuck together in a single clump. Eben ordered a grow-it-yourself mushroom kit while he was home during a break. He took the mushroom spores the kit contained, combined them with water and nutrients in a glass jar, added some perlite, and put the jar in the basement. When he checked a few days later, the jar held a solid white disk of perlite knit together by mycelium strands. With not much else to show for the semester of Inventor’s Studio, Eben brought the perlite disk to class. “He takes this thing out of his pocket,” Swersey recalled, “and it’s white, this amazing piece of insulation that had been grown, without hydrocarbons, with almost no energy used. The stuff could be made with almost any waste materials — rice husks, cotton wastes, stuff farmers throw away, stuff they have no market for — and it wouldn’t take away from anybody’s food supply, and it could be made anywhere from local materials, so you could cut down on transportation costs. And it would be completely biodegradable! What more could you want?” Gavin and Eben worked together for the next year trying all kinds of substrates and  heating methods. Twice, they almost burned the lab at school down. They tried lint from clothes dryers, Jell-o, lobster shells, even hair. (“If it worked we were going to call the product Hairsulate.”) Instead of hunting for venture capital, Eben and Gavin financed their company by winning grants and competitions. They were still proceeding in the Edisonian hit or miss style, when Sue Van Hook, a senior teaching associate in biology and natural sciences at Skidmore College, in Saratoga Springs, read an article in the local Albany Times Union. When studying for her degree in botany at Humboldt State University in California, she took a course in mycology and was smitten. She wrote her graduate thesis on macrofungi and has been studying mushrooms in the field and under microscopes ever since. After eighteen years of teaching at Skidmore, she saw something that changed her life. She called Eben and talked with him for two hours. She asked Gavin if he knew anything about mushrooms. Neither knew much. She asked, “Can we get married?” (In the fungal sense, I presume). Van Hook went on wide-ranging mushroom hunts collecting new species for the company’s archives. At Skidmore’s bio labs, she and her students spent hours cataloguing the finds and recording their characteristics. The most useful mycelium came from a group of polypores. The mycelium of polypores has very strong hyphae. These hyphae can knit a molded piece of substrate solidly together. A single cubic inch of substrate can contain as much as eight miles of mycelium. Bayer and McIntyre’s invention creates natural substances that imitate plastics. The packaging material made by their factory takes a substrate of agricultural waste, steam pasturizes it, adds trace nutrients and a small amount of water, injects the mixture with pellets of mycelium, puts it in a mold shaped like a piece of packing that protects a product during shipping, and sets the mold on a rack in the dark. Four days later the mycelium has grown throughout the substrate into the shape of the mold, producing a material almost indistinguishable from Styrofoam in form, function, and cost. An application of heat kills the mycelium and stops the growth. When broken up and thrown into a compost pile, the packing material biodegrades in about a month. Van Hook retired from Skidmore to work full time with Eben and Gavin at their company, which they call Evocative . She gives lectures to prospective clients and investors where she projects on screen the molecular structures of chlorophyll, starch, glucose, cellulose, lignin, and chitin. “These are the molecules that nature builds with. For us to have a sustainable planet, we must design and build with these.”   The air nearby Evocative often smells of cream of mushroom soup. In a corner of the building a sealed-off space called the Dirty Room receives the agricultural wastes and other substrate materials when they come in. Big white nylon bags filled with chopped up cornstalks, husks, crushed remains of cotton plants, barley hulls, peanut hulls, buckwheat hulls, milo hulls, hemp pith, rice husks, wheat straw and ground up old blue denim. At a conference, Gavin holds up a block about the size of half a stick of butter, lighter than balsa, but as hard as pine, a piece of solid mycelium pure chitin that had been grown from nutrients and without any substrate. He said it had possible applications for aeronautics.  He added that chitin is also an excellent insulator, and explained how he and his colleagues are growing electric circuits on fungal tissue made of the mycelium of household mold. In the presence of toxic materials, certain molds get around the toxicity by sequestering the metals onto their cell walls. Therefore you can put tissue taken from the mold into a copper solution and impregnate the tissue with varying amounts of copper by changing the concentration. In other words, you can make a fungal resistor that can be part of the circuitry in a computer or a cell phone. Then, instead of sending old computers and phones to be taken apart hazardously in the Third World, you can recycle them with the chitin providing nutrients for new tissue and the metals going back into a solution to be reused. In a press release dated September 24, 2013, Evocative Designs announced upcoming production of Myco Foam surfboard core material. Editor's Note:  As of 2025, Evocative has gone on to release numerous mushroom-based meat alternatives, textiles, packaging materials, and construction materials. They're exploring applications in medicine and biotech, as well as computing. The original New Yorker article is now available online. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/05/20/form-and-fungus