News & Stories / Writings Memories of Matsutake I grew up picking matsutake in the pacific northwest with my dad. We joined the first chapter of the Puget Sound Mycological Society and would go on field trips. It is one of my most precious memories and in the Northwest. The whole Japanese community buzzes with matsutake talk in the fall. Wendy Tokuda • March 3, 2016 Tricholoma murrillianum (magnivelare) (matsutake). Photo by Hugh Smith I was struck when I visited Mendocino for the first time because so much of the vegetation there was simliar to the Northwest and felt like it would be good for matsutake. In the Northwest the host plants are blue huckleberry, salal, and doug fir. In California, I'm having to learn about the strikingly different host plants for mushrooms I grew up picking. My mom wrote an essay about them, reprinted below. Memories of Matsutake (September, 1983) Indian summer brings some golden weather but the air has a sharp edge. There is frost on the grass some mornings and windshields have to be scraped. Now is when the Japanese community in Seattle perks up it ears for the first reports of the pine mushroom "matsutake". Thus begins the annual ritual of autumn. "Hear Yamamoto got some matsutake from someone. Must have come from Rainier area. It's only the middle of September.", George says when he comes home from visiting a neighbor. "Oh", I reply but I think to myself that now he won't be able to stay still. Is it going to be this coming weekend? No, we're retired so we can beat the crowd by going Thursday perhaps. "Let's take a run out there since the weather's so nice anyways, " he says. Anyone else?" I ask. "I'll call Bob and John, " he replies. Wednesday night I make some rice balls and teriyaki chicken, and George gets his hiking sticks, compass, and a cotton sack for carrying the mushrooms. Thursday morning, Bob and John come by at 7, old men but they are grinning like little boys that know something. Bob's driving, and we load our gear in his old Buick truck and climb into the back seat. "Too bad it didn't rain a little more last week. I think it's been too dry. We'll try Crystal Spring, they come out early there." "You going to take us to your secret spot this year?" George asks Bob. "No use taking secrets like that to the grave." "I'm taking them," says Bob. They start talking about a neighbor that had a stroke a few days ago. It used to be that so and so's wife ran off with someone or see that new barmaid at Bush, but lately it's talk and isn't so cheerful. Yet I don't feel as upset as I used to get about people getting sick or dying. I guess there isn't time to waste on feeling sorry for those who drop dead when I feel like I dodging bullets myself. George has snuggled into the corner of the seat and is dozing off. I feel it's not fair to sleep when Bob has to drive. "How come Mary didn't come?" "Someone has to work. She's watching the shop today." I forgot that not everyone has retired. "Too bad" I say but already I'm yawning and feeling warm. I try valiantly to go on. "How's your daughter getting along with the new baby?" Bob starts to describe the baby boy, how it looks Japanese one day and Jewish the next, but then despite all my efforts I fall asleep. The car jolts to a stop and both George and I wake up. We seem to have arrived someplace. I glance at my watch and discover it's been an hour and half ride. "Remember this place?" John says. I look out to see a huge mountainside of tree stumps. "Where are we?" I ask. "It's by Blueberry Creek." That beautiful forest and all those mushrooms reduced to an expanse of sawed off stumps. We are silent. Every year some former haunt disappears and a familiar place we're looking for is wiped out. Over and over, to become old is to find ourselves strangers in our own world. "We're not getting any matsutake here." says Bob and he starts up the car. We drive on some bumpy roads by so many beautiful creeks and forests and every place looks good, like it might be a spot we ought to stop and explore. Suddenly John says, "Hold it. I remember this place. Just a little ways in, I know a place." We tumble out of the car, stiff after nearly two hours of riding. I feel for my compass and whistle in my pocket. Bob has opened the car trunk and we grab our walking sticks and bags. I brought a little basket so the mushrooms won't get ground together with the dirt. The men start drinking tea and I have just a sip, holding back because thre are no bathrooms in the forest and I'm with three men. Bob bangs the trunk door down and John is already in the woods. I can see his orange knit cap bobbing up and down as he hurries toward some spot. George holds back to wait for me and he shouts to the other two, "let's meet back here in an hour and a half". We start trudging toward the forest, stepping over bushes and I think about Christmas. I must have stepped on some fir and it's fragrance of the holidays floating through the woods. The brush on the edge of the woods disappears and it's easy walking now. I try to keep up with George as he tramps ahead of me. Already he has forgotten me and his head is down looking for signs of matsutake, trying not to miss any suspicious white cracks in the ground. My vision is always half of his back as the idea of being lost in the woods terrifies me and it's the sight of the trees, the woods, the feeling of being embraced in the world of nature that I seek. Once again I feel at home under the quiet trees, apart from the crush of human entanglements. I press on the outside world drops away. There is only the occasional crack of twigs, the sudden scurrying of a chipmunk, the flash of a bird in flight. George and I are as we were when we first met. I follow in silence and we are suddenly in a clear space covered with bright green moss. Over the moss grows some little white mushrooms. Their caps are white, light, and small. Their thin stems are almost invisible. I feel a sensation of floating. These mushrooms seem to be suspended, motionless, and I understand why fairies are associated with these delicate ethereal mushrooms. I stand for a moment and stare at the lovely sight. I wish my children and parents were here with me now. Eventually the children will enjoy the same trip, some day, but alas, these joys are no longer for my parents. It was on a long ago October day when the autumn skies were gloriously blue and clear like today when I saw Dad for the last time. George had gone mushrooming the day before and I took two matsutake for him. His wrinkled brown face was all smiles, his eyes brightened and I could feel worlds of past memories unfoling in his mind. "George went to the Cascades yesterday," I said and then rushed outside to pursue some errand. As I started driving off, I saw him waving goodbye from the window. That turned out to be the last time I saw him alive. Mom called about 5 o'clock that day and said Dad hadn't returned. After I left them he had taken one of the two matsutake or perhaps the beautiful day must have pushed him on to visit other friends. He walked further and further, finally taking the bus to the Public Market where a friend had a flower stall. Was he bidding farewell to every one? He boarded a bus in the 5 o'clock downtown rush and suffered a heart attack. Do we pick a time to go? I think he did. Tricholoma magnivelare (matsutake) Suddenly as I stand mezmerized by the floating mushroom caps, I see something and I can't believe it. Near my feet there is a crack in the mossy floor and I see that something white is showing under the moss. I hurriedly lift the dirt and moss, and there is a matsutake. The fragrance is unmistakeable as I use the pick of my walking stick to dig it out. I lay it on the green moss and see that this stem is a good inch and a half in diameter and the white shaggy cap, not fully opened, hugs the stem. The first matsutake of the season. It's like seeing an old friend. No other picked or seen later in the season will be as wonderful. Suddenly, I feel alone and I call out for George. There is no answer. I look up and the gently swaying tops of the trees merge together layer after layer into the distance. It is like staring into deep waters. I fumble around for my whistle and realize my throat is dry. I blow frantically so that anyone for miles around can surely hear me but there is no answer. I put the mushroom in my basket and tell myself to stay calm. I take out my compass but realize I hadn't taken a reading on the way in. If only I hadn't stopped. Knowing George's relentless speed I should have kept up with him. I decide to stay put and keep blowing my whistle. Finally I hear a whistle responding but I can't tell which direction it's coming from. "George, George," I keep screaming, repeating, determined not to lose his response. Suddenly I can fathom the direction and I shout, "Don't move," and start trudging in that direction hanging on to my basket and stick. After an interminable mad scramble I catch sight of his red Scottish beret. "Were you lost?" he asks. He hadn't really missed me. "Got one, huh?. That's a beauty," he says. I want to explain to him the terror I had just experienced but he seems to be in a world of his own. Besides there is no time because he starts pushing ahead, always running this way and that to follow up on all the little clues that seem to beckon him from all over the forest floor. I have my one, and I now feel my only interest is not to get lost. It's the first time I got one before he did and I realize his eyesight isn't as sharp as it used to be. He used to have 20/20 vision but lately he's been thinking of getting glasses. Still his mushroom sense is sharp, he seems to smell them out, and my the time this trip is over he'll have far more than I do. He always does. Sure enough at that moment he's stooped down and he's yelling for me to hurry. Climbing over a few logs I reach him by the base of a tree and he's found three, no, it turns out to be five as he uproots the first few. "Only reason I saw it, the deer had eaten the cap off of one and it was sitting there completely exposed." He dusts off the brown needles and the bits of dirt. How different from the old days when he just threw it into the bag, dirt and all, rotten ones and all. Now he admires them, each one, takes time to clean it. Then he pats the dirt down over the disrupted ground and we start out again. "Its going to be a good year, " he says and I notice there are all sorts showing here and there. There are the shiny little orange cups in a line running over the logs. There are the purple ones and those that look like toasted rounds of bread. The brown velvet caps that remind me of animal backs. Once in a while I skirt around bear and deer droppings, reminding me that we humans are not alone. Sometimes I actually catch the scent of deer but I don't recall ever running into one. They must hear us lumbering through the woods from long distances away. I glance at my watch and tell George it's time to start back. "Just that little spot over that log," he says. Sometimes it's harder to get George out of the woods than to find the matsutake. "No, let's give ourselves at least twenty minutes to find our way back. You know how you hate it when others don't get back in time." So reluctantly he pulls out his compass and we start our trek back. But all the while we are trudging his eyes keep scouting all over the ground and indeed he does find a few. "Isn't it funny you walk over the same path and you always find some you missed." I agree but I don't find anymore. When we return, Bob and John are already waiting. The truck is open and they are looking for lunch and beer. I look for the tea and see their matsutake spread out in 2 separate wooden crates, carefully arranged on fresh fir boughs. There are seven in one and three in the other. George and I arrange ours in a box together. There are ten, my one and his nine, some only as big as a thumb. "George, I think it's mother must be crying for that one," I say, pointing to the little one. "Yeh, but look at this one," he says, picking one up that looks like it must weigh a quarter pound. "I found it next to the one eaten by deer." We all pause to admire it. The cap is shiny, as if sheer silk is drawn over it. Some sunlight must filter in, even into these dense woods to give a sheen to the slightly tan cap. The shaggy stem has bits of thick soft veil clinging to it. There are signs of rich black loam clinging to the upper part of the stem but the base is gray with dry dirt. The twisted stem gives the feeling it has struggled to rise out of the ground and triumphed. I sigh in wonder and George is smiling. Tricholoma murrillianum (magnivelare) (matsutake). Photo by Hugh Smith Everyone in the party has found matsutake, a rare and joyous event for a first trip of the season. Of course, we intend to take in a few more spots after a little rest. I think to myself, we all made it again. Together. How nice. I untie the white dishcloth wrapped around our lunch box and pass the rice balls to Bob, John and George. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Lost: The Companions View Writings Reality Check: Dispelling a Myth Writings Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Must-Know to Participate in Long-Distance Forays Please review these tips before participating in our long-distance forays. Amanita muscaria on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Photo by Ron Bader FFSC Long Distance forays are open to FFSC members only. All trips require appropriate physical conditioning. If you have special medical requirements or any condition that might affect your ability to participate in the trip, it is your responsibility to inform the trip leader before departure. If you must cancel a reservation, inform the leader promptly. The deposit or reservation requirements and refund policy of each trip are available from the trip leader. Please obtain and review them prior to making your deposit or reservation. Please note that the leaders of our trips are FFSC members who serve in a volunteer capacity and assume no responsibility above that of trip organizer. While our trip leaders are not paid professionals, they are encouraged to participate in training to increase their mushroom ID and mycology skills. All outings officially begin at the trailhead. Planning for Your Trip Remember to verify any listed dates with the trip coordinator before you make long-range vacation plans. Sometimes dates initially selected have to be changed. The payment of a reservation or a deposit does not necessarily confirm you as a member on the trip. Participants must be approved by the trip leader. After you register for a trip, the leader will notify you of your acceptance in a timely manner. The trip cost normally covers lodging, camping and park fees, and club administrative overhead. The trip leaders are volunteers. Food and camping gear are to be supplied by the participants. Please note that when trip prices are listed before tickets become available, the prices may be tentative. You should understand that activities on this trip (or any trip of this nature) contain inherent risks, including injury, illness, and potentially death. Those who participate in forays assume all of the risks and will hold the FFSC, its agents, and leaders harmless from any and all responsibility, negligence, actions, or suits of any kind or nature whatsoever, for loss or damage to property or personal injuries sustained during these outings. The Foray Ministers, a volunteer committee that governs the Long Distance Forays program, regrets the need for this requirement. Participants make their own carpooling arrangements if desired. Generally a note posted on the FFSC Google Group is effective. FFSC does not provide insurance for carpooling arrangements and assumes no liability for them. Carpooling, ride sharing or any similar activity is strictly a private arrangement among the participants. Participants assume the risks associated with this travel. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC

Photography for ID Purposes When you can't bring in actual mushrooms for our taxonomists to ID, shown below are some tips on photographs and observations to send us, which will help the identifier answer your "what is this" question. Clitocybe odora. Photo by Christian Schwarz Perhaps you’ve noticed some mushrooms growing in your yard, or while you were on a hike? Maybe you were foraging for chanterelles and ended up with a few mystery mushrooms in your basket? Whatever you’ve found, our taxonomists will be happy to help you identify them, where possible. In the past few years, instead of bringing specimens to us in person, a growing number of people are taking cell phone photos for the purposes of mushroom identification. In general, it's more difficult for us to identify mushrooms solely from photographs. Often the taste, odor, staining reactions, tactile and/or other features and tests (as well as habitat details not visible in close-up photos) are often needed to correctly identify many species. Here are tips on how to take photographs for mushroom ID purposes, as well as observations to include with your photos. (These observations are also helpful when you bring certain specimens to us in person!) Photographs to Take in the Field When you first see a mushroom in the wild, even before you dig up the mushroom (or if you're in an area that doesn't permit collection), here are a few photos and observations to capture. Note: Your photos don't need to be beautiful. For identification, the more details we can see, the easier it will be for our taxonomists to identify distinguishing features. It may help if you support your camera on a tripod or a rock, or brace your body against something solid. Consider using a flash or a flashlight to illuminate darker areas if possible (without blowing out the image). Show Us the Habitat Many mushrooms grow on or near specific trees or plants, at certain elevations, in certain temperatures, etc., or they tend to fruit at the same time as certain other plants. Take a few photos of what the mushroom is growing on, and the immediate area surrounding the mushroom(s), such as: The leaves, twigs, grass or dirt immediately surrounding it, or the log or tree (or leaf or bug) it's growing on Nearby trees (including burned or charred trees) One or two photos of the broader habitat, such as trees and plants in the general area Examples of immediately surrounding and broader habitat Try to photograph multiple examples of the same mushroom species that are nearby (or look-alikes if you're not sure). Show different age groups (some old-looking ones, some young-looking ones, etc.) Show us nearby mushrooms that seem similar, of different sizes If you're in the area for a few days, another option is to photograph the same mushroom(s) over time to show how it ages. Examples of the same mushrooms photographed over time Show Us Different Angles If you can't collect the mushroom, take close-up photos of it, and then move your camera to get shots of different sides of the mushroom. Set your camera on the ground to get low angles too. This helps our taxonomists examine the underside of the cap and the features of the stem. Low angles help the taxonomists see cap and stem features Show Us the Entire Mushroom If the area permits collection, dig up a specimen of the mushroom so that you can take photos of the entire mushroom. Take close-up photos (as clear/sharp as you can) showing: The whole top of the mushroom cap The bottom (underside) of the cap. Features of the stem, including the very bottom of the stem. Scratch or cut through the cap, to see if there are any color changes, and photograph what you see. Show Us the Mushroom's Size To help the identifier understand the size or dimensions of the mushroom, you can include another object, such as nearby pine needles, your shoe (keep it on), hand or fingers, or anything (or anyone) else with a recognizable size near the mushroom. (This can be done in the field or after collecting the specimen.) Photos that convey the relative size of a mushroom Observations to Include with Your Photos Many county and government-managed parks and forests do not permit mushroom collection, or you'll need to buy a collecting permit. Be sure to check the location's policies before digging up any mushrooms. Take Detailed Notes If you're not able to collect a specimen (or it won't survive until you're able to bring it in), write down (or photograph) the following details while in the field, and include them when you send in your mushroom photos: The habitat where your mushroom is growing. Is the mushroom on wood or the ground? If on wood, what kind? What tree species is it growing on (or what’s nearby)? (Nowadays many naturalist apps, websites, and even your phone's AI can help you identify trees based on their leaves.) Write down any distinctive aroma you notice while the mushroom is fresh – “mushroomy” is NOT a good descriptor! Create a spore print if time permits. It's easy! The sooner you can start the process, the better. See Part III of our free Learn about Wild Mushroom Identification tutorial for how to create a spore print, or search the Internet for similar tips. Do not eat an unidentified mushroom. If a mushroom ID specialist asks you to taste a mushroom to help them ID it remotely, just take a tiny bite and then spit it out and do not swallow any of it. Some people also prefer to rinse their mouth after tasting a mushroom for ID purposes. Bring Specimens in Person if Possible The most reliable way for our advisors to identify a mushroom is to see, touch, smell, and potentially taste it in person. If you’re coming to an FFSC event in person, we recommend that you store your specimens in a loose, breathable container, such as paper or wax paper bags (not plastic or glassine bags). You can place them on an ID table in a wicker basket, cardboard egg crate, or on a paper plate. People often bring specimens to our Monthly Speaker events , which are free and open to the public, and to our annual Santa Cruz Fungus Fair in January. Photos of specimens in baskets, on paper, et. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC

Baby oyster mushrooms. Photo by Steve Olejniczak Baby Oyster Mushrooms Steve Olejniczak Found these cute baby Oyster mushrooms in the Santa Cruz Mts. in Nov. 2013. I used my old Olympus C4000. Camera Olympus C4000Z Focal L. 7mm Aperture f/11.0 Shutter Sp. 1/300s ISO 100 Flash Fired Photo taken on November 2, 2013 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

News & Stories / Stewardship Soquel State Demonstration Forest Permits We are incredibly fortunate to have this collecting resource available to us. Mushroom gathering is by permit only. Due to increased demand, only a limited number of permits will be issued, so get yours soon, before the permits are all taken. Dan Tischler • October 29, 2024 Mushrooms in the area of the Soquel Demonstration Forest Please do not request a permit unless you plan on going there. Remember that in the winter it can be a difficult drive to get to the forest, and you will need to walk 1/2 mile before entering the legal gathering area. Here is the SDF map and so me forest rules . If you would like to request a permit please, visit the Soquel Demo Forest Website and look for the Mushroom Gathering Permit under "Recreation" and follow the instructions on permit request form. You should recieve your permit by email within a few minutes. Please note that extensive parts of the forest will be closed to access due to recent and ongoing logging activity Please respect all closures areas so that we can contiue using the forest. Mushroom picking is not permitted in any area administratively closed by the Forest Manager whether or not mushroom gathering is specified on closure signs. From October 16, 2024 through May 1, 2025, Corral Trail and Corral Road remain closed, as well as the entire area of the Sulphur Timber Harvesting Plan (except for passage along Hihn's Mill Road and Sulphur Springs Road). See map below for locations. The Sulphur THP area is closed to entry since hazards exist such as loose hanging branches, rough terrain and loose logs. Please stay on roads while passing through the Sulphur THP area and follow any signage you may encounter along roads and trails. You may not wander into the timber area to gather mushrooms- stay on the road! Failure to obey signage may jeopardize the mushroom gathering program at the forest. Look for Area Closed signs, timber operations, crews working, rehabilitation areas, research sites, etc. and obey the closures. For more info on the closures, visit the SDF website . Before going to the forest it is always best to check for updated information at https://www.facebook.com/CALFIRESoquel/ . Remember that this forest is in a remote location with very limited cell phone reception. Please follow all of the rules on the permit and posted at the forest. Remember in particular that the parking area and the first 1/2 mile of the road are private property and no picking is permitted. For additional information, see the Calfire website at Soquel Demonstration State Forest . Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Jackson Demonstration State Forest Permit Changes Stewardship Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Field Reports 2016 March Sierra Report With the warmer weather and rain, it looked like a good time to check out the Sierras. Here are our findings. Sue Labiste • March 23, 2016 Peziza (cup fungus). Photo by Katherine Elvin Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts 2013 Sierra Scouting Report Field Reports Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Mycology & Art News Will Mushrooms Make Styrofoam Obsolete? The May 2013 issue of New Yorker magazine had an article by Ian Frazier about a mycelium-based packaging material destined to make styrofoam packaging obsolete. Here's a shorter recap of the story, focusing on some interesting mycological details. Shea Moss • September 29, 2013 Mycelium 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 held 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 Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Algae and Fungi Team Up--and They're Lichen It... 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News & Stories / Mycology & Art News Microscopy of Gilled Mushrooms For all of you, who are wishing for some information on microscopic features of fungi, Allan Rockefeller has given us a link to a comprehensive article he helped write. Cortinarius • August 10, 2014 Alan Rockefeller with a microscope (image hosted on edibleeastbay.com) This is really the ABC's of micological microscopy... the next best thing to taking a microscopy course. This is one fantastic resource for those who want to take their knowledge and ID skills one step farther. Check it out! https://images.mushroomobserver.org/Fungal%20Microscopy.pdf Thank you Allan Rockefeller for sending the link, and to Mikael NoLine, the site administrator, for permission to use. Also thanks to Marje Young and Debra Johnson for passing it along to me. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Spring Fungi of the Sierra Nevada, 2014 Mycology & Art News Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Amanita muscaria on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Photo by Ron Bader Amanita muscaria Ron Bader I took this photo in Sterling Alaska while on the FFSC Alaska Long Distance Foray at Bill White's Alaska Sports lodge on Sept. 1, 2017. Camera Apple iPhone 4 Focal L. 4mm Aperture f/2.8 Shutter Sp. 1/100s ISO 80 Flash Off Photo taken on September 1, 2017 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Support The following Terms of Use govern all use of text, photography, videos, artwork, audio, and downloadable files (such as but not limited to .pdf, .ppt, .xls, .xlsx, .rtf, .doc, .txt, and any downloadable graphics or video files) (collectively, the "Content"); classes/workshops, forays, culinary events, talks, online forms, and online educational resources and programs (collectively, the "Services"); and T-shirts, posters, stickers and other physical goods (collectively, the "Products") which are available at or through the websites, social media channels, ticketing services and related systems (collectively, the "Platform") which the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz ("FFSC") manages and uses for club operations. The Platform is offered subject to Your acceptance without modification of all the terms and conditions contained herein and all other operating rules, policies (including, without limitation, the Privacy Policy and FFSC Bylaws ) and procedures that may be published from time to time on this site by FFSC (collectively, the "Agreement"). Please read this Agreement carefully before accessing or using the Platform. By accessing or using any part of the Platform, each user or internet bot ("You", "Your" or "User") agrees to the terms and conditions of this Agreement. If You do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this Agreement, You should not access the Platform or use any Services or Products made available via the Platform. (1) Your FFSC Account If you create an account on the Platform, You are responsible for maintaining the security of Your account, and You are fully responsible for all activities that occur under the account and any other actions taken in connection with the account. You must not post content to Your account in a misleading or unlawful manner, including in a manner intended to trade on the name or reputation of others. FFSC may, at its discretion, change or remove any content that it considers inappropriate or unlawful. Please immediately notify FFSC of any unauthorized uses of Your account or any other breaches of security. FFSC will not be liable for any acts or omissions by You, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of such acts or omissions. (2) Responsibility of Contributors If You post Content to the Platform, or otherwise make (or allow any third party to make) Content available by means of the Platform, You are entirely responsible for the content of, and any harm resulting from Your use of, that Content. That is the case regardless of whether the Content in question constitutes text, graphics, an audio file, or computer software. If you created or owned the Content prior to contributing the Content to the Site, and that Content is subject to Intellectual Property rights, you retain ownership of those rights. Unless you specify otherwise when you post Content, you agree to license Content you contribute to the Platform under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license ( CC BY-NC ). If You post Content created or owned by someone else and that Content is subject to Intellectual Property rights, You are responsible for verifying that the original owner has granted You permission to use their creative work to the Platform and that you adhere to the license provided by that Content owner under copyright law. By making Content available, You represent and warrant that: the Content does not contain or install any viruses, worms, malware, Trojan horses or other harmful or destructive content; the Content is not spam and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing); You will post only Content that is relevant to FFSC and its Mission , and at a rate and volume that does not hinder other Users' ability to use the Platform; the Content is not libelous or defamatory, does not contain threats or incite violence towards individuals or entities, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party; Your account details do not mislead others into thinking they represent another specific person or organization (unique pseudonyms are allowed). For example, Your login name is not the name of a person other than Yourself or organization other than Your own; Your content is not getting advertised via unwanted electronic messages such as spam links on newsgroups, email lists, journals and web sites, and similar unsolicited promotional methods. By submitting Content for inclusion on the Platform, You grant FFSC a world-wide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, modify, adapt, and publish the Content solely for the purpose of displaying, distributing, and promoting Your Content via the Platform, and for the purpose of displaying or promoting the Content or FFSC itself in other venues, such as social media or software distribution platforms. We may repackage publicly available information associated with the Content in a machine-readable format for a handful of other parties, including the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History and others. You represent and warrant that (a) You own and control all of the rights to the Content that You post or You otherwise have the right to post such Content to the Site; (b) the Content is accurate and not misleading; and (c) use and posting of the Content You supply does not violate this Agreement and will not violate any rights of or cause injury to any person or entity. If You delete Content, FFSC will use reasonable efforts to remove it from the Platform, but You acknowledge that caching or references to the Content may not be made unavailable immediately. Without limiting any of those representations or warranties, FFSC has the right (though not the obligation), in FFSC’s sole discretion, to terminate or deny access to and use of the Platform to any individual or entity for any reason. (3) Responsibility of Website Visitors FFSC is a volunteer-run organization. While our website volunteers and advisors do their best to review Content when it is initially posted to the Platform and to periodically revisit and update the Content, FFSC volunteers cannot review all of the Content, and therefore cannot be responsible for that Content, use or effects. By operating the Platform, FFSC does not represent or imply that it endorses the material posted to the Platform, or that it believes such material to be accurate, useful, non-infringing or non-harmful. You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect Yourself and Your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. The Platform may contain content that is offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable, as well as content containing technical inaccuracies, typographical mistakes, and other errors. The Platform may also contain material that violates the privacy or publicity rights, or infringes the intellectual property and other proprietary rights, of third parties, or the downloading, copying or use of which is subject to additional terms and conditions, stated or unstated. FFSC disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from the use by visitors of the Platform, any mislabeling by Platform visitors of observations, or from any downloading by those visitors of content posted to the Platform. (4) Inappropriate Use You agree not to use the FFSC Platform, Services, or any Content for any illegal, unlawful, or unauthorized purpose or activity, including but not limited to threatening, abusing, soliciting, spam, harassing, stalking, impersonating, or intimidating other FFSC or Platform Users. (5) Copyright Infringement FFSC respects the intellectual property rights of others, and requests that Users of the FFSC Platform, Services and Content do the same. FFSC does not own the Content that FFSC members and guests (collectively, "Contributors") post here, the Content belongs to the people who created or legally own the Content. Any Content posted to the Platform (including but not limited to this website, the FFSC public Facebook Group, the FFSC Google Group, the FFSC YouTube channel, and other FFSC-managed media channels) may be displayed on other parts of the Platform without notice. FFSC volunteers will do their best to credit the owner of the Content when made aware of such uses. Due to the technical operations and limitations of each online system and/or subsystem, ownership credits might appear directly below the Content, or only when hovering over the Content, or it might be cited at the bottom of the page. Some Contributors to this Platform post Content (such as photographs and recipes) from third-party websites and systems. Such Content is copyrighted by the original creators, and is included on this Platform for non-profit, non-commercial educational purposes only. Please do not download or reprint such third-party Content directly from the FFSC Platform. If you are interested in using any creative works sourced from the NAMA website, see Copying material from the NAMA website . If you are interested in using any creative works sourced from Mushroom Observer, see the License section of "How to Use Mushroom Observer". If you are interested in using any creative works sourced from MykoWeb, see Use of Photographs at MykoWeb . If you are interested in using any creative works sourced from iNaturalist, see Can I use the photos and sounds that are posted on iNaturalist ? If you are interested in using any creative works sourced from other sources, please visit those sources for usage information. If You believe that Your work has been copied on the Platform in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please reach out to FFSC by using the Contact Us form on the Contact FFSC page. FFSC volunteers will respond to all such notices, including as required or appropriate by removing the infringing material or disabling all links to the infringing material (also see below). In the case of a visitor who may infringe or repeatedly infringes the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of FFSC or others, FFSC may, in its discretion, terminate or deny access to and use of the Platform. (6) Intellectual Property All trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with FFSC or the Platform are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz or the Platform's Users or other third parties. Your use of the Platform grants You no right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any FFSC or third-party trademarks for any purposes. This Agreement does not transfer to You any FFSC or third party intellectual property, and all right, title and interest in and to such property will remain solely with FFSC or such owners. (7) Prohibited Use for Commercial AI Training Users may not use any data on the Platform for training artificial intelligence, machine learning models, large language models, or similar networks, algorithms, or systems for commercial purposes. (8) Changes to the Agreement FFSC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or replace any part of this Agreement. It is Your responsbility to check this Agreement periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to the Platform following the posting of any changes to this Agreement constitutes acceptance of those changes. FFSC may also, in the future, offer new Services and/or features through the Platform (including, the release of new tools and resources). Such new features and/or Services shall be subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement. (9) Termination of Your Access FFSC may terminate Your access to all or any part of the Platform or Services at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. If You wish to terminate this Agreement or Your FFSC account, You may simply discontinue using the Platform and cancel Your FFSC Membership. If you wish to completely delete Your Account on ffsc.us , please use the Contact Us form on the Contact FFSC page and choose "FFSC Website issue" as the Topic Area. All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability. (10) Disclaimer of Warranties The Platform is provided “as is.” FFSC and its suppliers, partners and Members hereby disclaim all warranties of any kind, express or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Neither FFSC nor its suppliers, partners or Members makes any warranty that the Platform will be error free or that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted. You understand that You download from, or otherwise obtain Content, Services or Products through, the Platform at Your own discretion and risk. (11) Limitation of Liability In no event will FFSC be liable with respect to any subject matter of this Agreement under any contract, negligence, strict liability or other legal or equitable theory for: (i) any special, incidental or consequential damages; (ii) the cost of procurement or substitute products or services; or (iii) for interruption of use or loss or corruption of data. FFSC shall have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond its reasonable control. The foregoing shall not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law. (12) General Representation and Warranty You represent and warrant that (i) Your use of the Platform will be in strict accordance with the FFSC Privacy Policy , with this Agreement and with all applicable laws and regulations (including without limitation any local laws or regulations in Your country, state, city, or other governmental area, regarding online conduct and acceptable content, and including all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which You reside) and (ii) Your use of the Platform will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party. (13) Indemnification You agree to indemnify and hold harmless FFSC, its contractors, partners, licensors and Members, and their respective directors, officers, employees, partners and agents from and against any and all claims and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of Your use of the Platform, including but not limited to Your violation this Agreement. (14) Platform Code You agree to indemnify and hold harmless FFSC, its code contributors, its its contractors, partners, licensors and Members, and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of publishing or using Platform code or the acceptance of code contributions from outside parties. (15) Miscellaneous This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between FFSC and You concerning the subject matter hereof, and may be modified only by a written amendment signed by an authorized executive of FFSC or by the posting by FFSC of a revised version of these Terms of Use. Except to the extent applicable law, if any, provides otherwise, any access to or use of the Platform will be governed by the laws of the state of California, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of law provisions, and the proper venue for any disputes arising out of or relating to any of the same will be the state and federal courts located within 60 miles of Santa Cruz, California. The prevailing party in any action or proceeding to enforce this Agreement shall be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees. If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. A waiver by either party of any term or condition of this Agreement or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof. You may not assign Your rights under this Agreement; FFSC may assign its rights under this Agreement without condition. This Agreement will be binding upon and will inure (take effect) to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns. Supplemental Information Copyright Concerns & Questions FFSC's ability to adhere to copyright credits and/or infringement notices may vary over time due to these factors: FFSC is a nonprofit club operated by a rotating group of volunteers with a diverse range of skills. Some volunteers who contribute Content to this website might not be able to consistently follow FFSC's standards and processes. FFSC might not have other volunteers available with the right skills or availability to identify and update such Content within Your sense of a timely manner. If you notice that a credit is missing, or a copyright request you submitted has not yet been fulfilled, please try contacting us through any of the means provided on the Contact FFSC page. FFSC uses applications and systems that belong to external platforms (ticketing, shopping, video, etc.) which own and manage their own user interfaces, including the number of characters available for captions and other text. This means FFSC volunteers must provide copyright credits by using the options those systems offer. Therefore, FFSC volunteers must sometimes shorten attributions and credits; and such attributions and credits may be placed in different locations relative to the Content. FFSC has existed for over 40 years, and has operated at least 4 versions of this website on different hosting systems since 2001, as well as online and physical newsletters for many years before that time. This means some of the Content shown today might have been obtained from other sites (such as mushroomobserver.org ) many years ago, and might not contain copyright statements that are included on or with newer versions of those works. If You own a photograph or other creative work which appears to be missing such information, we would appreciate it if you would provide (or share a link to) the latest version of that work, and our volunteers will do their best to replace the older version. Payment Methods FFSC uses PayPal for payment processing on this Platform, and may also use Square for certain events and purchases. FFSC reserves the right to change our payment method choices in the future. For more information about why we use PayPal, visit the Membership FAQ on our Why Join FFSC? page. Returns, Refunds, and Warranties Refunds are determined differently for each event. Before purchasing tickets to any event, please read that event's policies carefully. T-shirts, stickers, or other physical items that you purchase directly from FFSC are generally considered non-refundable, unless otherwise specified. For items sold through third-party vendors, see that vendor's return, refund, and/or warranty policies. Products we sell online are generally non-refundable unless we specify a particular return or refund policy for a specific product. FFSC Terms of Use This website is managed by the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz , an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in the state of California in the United States of Amercia (EIN 77-0085878).

News & Stories / Field Reports Field Report - Nov 2025 Local Foray After scant fall rains, about 30 inquisitive fungiphiles met on a Saturday morning to see what might be popping up in our local fields and forests. Dan Tischler • November 1, 2025 Phil explains why not to eat Amanita phalloides. On a beautiful summerlike day, the mushroom spirits were smiling on us with quite a few porcini and coccora making their appearance, along with a good representation of other local fungi. Login as a member to see the full species list below. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts January 2016 Field Report Field Reports Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

The Glint of Gold (chanterelle). Photo by Sue Labiste The Glint of Gold Sue Labiste Looking for fall chanterelles is like treasure hunt. Fall leaves such as tan oak mimics the yellow and orange colours we seek. And just as you head out, you see this. Camera (Not provided) Focal L. Aperture Shutter Sp. ISO Flash Photo taken on November 16, 2015 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo