Events for 2009

This page contains details for club meetings and events.  Events will be added as they are planned, and minutes and photos are added after the event, so be sure to check this page often!  Updates to this page will be noted on the Home page.

Previous years' events can be viewed by clicking on the links to the left.

If you are looking for Foray information, please go to the Foray page!

Club Meetings

The South Sound Mushroom Club usually meets every 3rd Wednesday of the month from September through April.  We do not have regular club meetings during the summer months.  We also have picnics or potlucks twice a year and participate in other activities.  Below is a list of meetings scheduled for this year, as well as minutes and notes from past meetings.

12/16/09 Meeting "Club Potluck"

Presenters: 

Olympia Thurston County Association Of Realtors
510 Stoll Rd SE
Olympia, WA 98501

7:00PM - 9:00PM

11/18/09 Meeting

Presenters: 

Refreshments: Hannie & Bran Sahaliv

Olympia Thurston County Association Of Realtors
510 Stoll Rd SE
Olympia, WA 98501

7:00PM - 9:00PM

10/21/09 Meeting

Presenters: to be Announced

Refreshments: Richard/Bettye Glass

Olympia Thurston County Association Of Realtors
510 Stoll Rd SE
Olympia, WA 98501

7:00PM - 9:00PM

Meeting Minutes:

After planning and organizing the past two forays (to Lake Cushman and Lake Quinault), Vance Aeschleman has been made the club's new Foray Chairman.  Vance has done a great job so far, and we've had a lot of fun on the forays so far this season.  Congratulations to him as he gets this position, and keep up the great work!

35 people attended the meeting, of which 10 were there for the 1st time.  One couple found out about us at the Lake Quinault foray (they were at the Lake Quinault Mushroom Festival and heard about our group there), and another couple had found us through our website.  Tom Keller (president) noted that the club has been going since around 1975, and is still going strong!

Review of the Lake Cushman Foray (on 10/10):
24 memebers participated on the foray.  Not too many mushrooms were found due to the dryness of the season.  Chanterelles, Sparassis, and some boletes were found.  Vance also commented that it looked like the area had been heavily foraged by commercial pickers.

Review of the Lake Quinault Foray (on 10/16):
26 members attended this event.  There were heavy rains during the weekend, which kept some attendees out of the woods.  Others members spent some time at the Lake Quinault Mushroom Festival, which was also going on that weekend.  Still other members went to the beach and dug razor clams, as clam season had also just begun that weekend.  We had an excellent potluck on Saturday night that I think was the best food we've had an an event so far!  In Vance's words "A good bounty" of mushrooms was found over the weekend. There were mostly chanterelles, as well as king boletes and other species of boletes, many types of conks, and even a very small lion's mane was found.

Richard Gaines announced several upcoming workshops that he was leading.  These will be listed on the News page.  Richard will also be leading a Mushroom Teas class at next month's meeting.  This will be similar to the one he lead at Sizizis a few weeks ago, which was very informative.

Tom Keller (president) lead the evening's presentation, which was two seperate slide shows.  The first was a collection of photos of fall mushrooms.  The presentation was extensive and included the following mushrooms:

Secretary's note: Latin names of mushrooms are probably misspelled or not accurate, as they have not yet been cross-referenced.  I should be able to clean this up soon!

• chrysentereon - cracked top bolote
• mirabalas - admirable bolete
• zellerai
• swillis - edible but not great
• chanterelle
• hynomorcandom - hedgehog mushroom
• capricicis alchohol... - the "alchohol cap"
• coprinus clamatus - shaggy mane
• discina perlata - pig's ear
• "carmine coral"
• gomphidius oregonesis
• "hideous gomphidius"
• helbella laconosha - elven saddle
• melacommono foliciavi - clustered wood lover
• lycophilla mecestes - fried chicken mushroom
• lactarius deliciousa - edible, but not really that delicious
• lactarius rugulus - candy cap
• sulphur shelf or chicken/hen of the woods
• sparassis crispa - cauliflour mushroom
• herissium - lion's mane
• puffballs
• mascius - garlic mushroom
• russula breveceps - short stem russula - edible and plentiful, but not great
• shrimp rusula
• hypoglyces lactofluid - lobster mushroom - edible; this is a parasite that lives off rusulas and other types of mushrooms
• artist's conk
• armallera malea - honey mushroom
• Agaricus augustus - the prince mushroom
• agaricus silviapola
• plums and custard - edible but not great
• aminita muscaria
• aminita pechicola - an edible aminita!

The second slide show was a collection of fairly recent photos of this year's forays.  We were able to see photos of this spring's foray at Roslyn, WA, as well as the more recent forays at Lake Cushman and Lake Quinault.

The South Sound Mushroom Club Calendar project was discussed.  Christine (last name unknown) and Dan Steeby will work on this and have something to present for the November meeting.  If you have any high quality photos of mushrooms that you'd like to have included in this year's calendar, please e-mail us at southsoundmushroomclub@gmail.com or use the Contact form on this website.

The foray for this Saturday at Grayland was discussed.  Not a whole lot was decided, other than that it would happen, and that it would be lead by Tom Keller (president).  Expect to be e-mailed details about this foray later this week.

Anyone interested in doing more forays than what the South Sound Mushroom Club offers may be interested in also joining the Puget Sound Mycological Society, which is Seattle's mushroom club.  They are a large organization and members would be able to participate in many diffent events and forays.

We are trying to come up with programs for next year's meetings.  Past programs have included many topics, including mushroom identification, mushroom toxins, mushroom cultivation, dying with mushrooms, and mycoforestry.  If you are interested in leading a program, please let us know.  Again you can e-mail us at southsoundmushroomclub@gmail.com or use the Contact form.

Interesting fact of the evening: flying squirrels eat truffels!

9/16/09 Meeting

Presenters: Richard Glass

Refreshments: Tom/Karen Keller

Olympia Thurston County Association Of Realtors
510 Stoll Rd SE
Olympia, WA 98501

7:00PM - 9:00PM

Meeting Minutes

Presentation: Mushroom Toxins

Richard Glass led a class program on Mushroom Toxins.  His primary information for the program was the "Bad Bug Book" on the FDA website.  Members are encouraged to visit this website for details on the four groups of mushroom toxins, including examples on mushrooms in each group.  A vigorous discussion followed Richard's very well received presentation.  Some safety points made included:

• Never eat a mushroom if you're uncertain of its identity.
• Toxins can accumulate in the bod over time, leading persons to believe a tasting has been harmless when the body's resistance to effects of the tasting has actually been lowered.  At some point continued tastings may cause sickness.
• All mushrooms contain some toxins and, for ultimate safety, even store purchased mushrooms should be cooked prior to consumption.

Please contact Tom Keller if you're interested in providing meeting refreshments, presenting meeting programs, or leading club forrays.  If you're intersted in joining our club, please contact Melodie Gates.

As always, club members brought in mushrooms they had found to be identified at the meeting.

8/19/09 Event "Club Picnic"

This year's picnic was well attended, and featured delictabel dishes brought by club members.  Dan Steeby led a demonstration on cultivating Oyster mushrooms at home for culinary use, and everyone present was able to make their own mushroom kit to take home with them.  If your kit has grown mushrooms, we'd like to know!  Send us a message with the "Contact Us" form on this site if you'd like to share or ask questions about your kit.

5/22/09-5/24/09 Foray "Roslyn Roundup"

Three days and two nights in Roslyn hunting morels. Checkin Friday 5/22/09 and checkout Sunday 5/24/09.

Location

Roslyn, WA

Cost & Reservations

• Members: $12.00 per night, per person
• Non-Members: additional $6.00 per person for yearly membership
• For reservation information, please contact us.

4/15/09 Meeting "Traditional Use of Fungi in the Pacific Northwest"

Presenters: Loni Jean Ronnebaum

Refreshments: Karen Engvall

Olympia Thurston County Association Of Realtors
510 Stoll Rd SE
Olympia, WA 98501

7:00PM - 9:00PM

This will be an ethnomycology (the study of the historical uses and sociological impact of fungi (a.k.a. "fungi lore") presentation.

3/18/09 Meeting "Hobby Scale Mushroom Cultivation"

Presenter: Dan Steeby

Refreshments: Christina Kurty

Olympia Thurston County Association Of Realtors
510 Stoll Rd SE
Olympia, WA 98501

7:00PM - 9:00PM

Meeting Notes

We had quite the turnout at the last meeting, the room was almost full! I don't have numbers at this time, but I'll try to provide a head count for next newsletter. We had a wonderful presentation by Dan Steeby entitled “Hobby Scale Mushroom Cultivation”. He discussed the tools needed for home cultivation, offered some tips on how to keep you and your delicate mycelium out of harms way, and suggested some varieties of mushrooms that propagate well under home cultivation. He also offered to hold a “cultivation party” sometime in the summer months for those who are interested in trying to grow their own mushrooms but don't wish to invest in the expense of a hobby lab. More on that in the future!

There was brief discussion and voting on the status of the website and how much money the Club wished to invest in establishing a web presence; in the end it was decided that the website would officially be found at www.southsoundmushroomclub.com and that a small fee per year was suitable in sustaining our domain name.

2/18/09 Meeting "Spring Mushrooms"

Presenter: Tom Keller

Refreshments:

Olympia Thurston County Association Of Realtors
510 Stoll Rd SE
Olympia, WA 98501

7:00PM - 9:00PM

Presentation: The Mushrooms of Spring

Our Club President Tom Keller lead a presentation on spring mushrooms.  Besides the very popular morels, the following mushrooms were discussed:

• Agaricus campestris - meadow mushroom, choice edible with brown spores
• Agaricus silvicola - identifiable by yellow stains on the cap (but not the stem), edible with caution, as there is a poisonous look-alike that stains yellow on the stem
• Amanita pantherina - and other aminitas, only a few species are not poisonous, so it's best to avoid all aminitas
• Aleuria praecox - the jelly cup, edible but difficult to collect and insipid in taste
• Agrocybe praecox - edible with caution, there are several poisonous look-alikes, check for a brown spores
• Boletus edulis - the King Bolete or Porcini mushroom, choice edible, this can sometimes be found in the mountains in spring
• Calbovista subsculpta, sculpta, and gigantica - the giant puffballs, large and edible as long as the mushroom flesh is still white
• Collybia dryophila - edible with caution
• Corprinus comatus - the shaggy mane mushroom, choice edible, easy to identify
• Enteloma bloxami - poisonous, has salmon colored spores
• Gyromitra esculenta - one of many 'false morels' or 'early morels', not recommended to eat, as it has poisonous fumes when cooked
• Gyromitra gigas - edible with caution, this one also has poisonous fumes when cooked
• Hygrophorus subalpinus - edible, grows in alpine woods, often right at the edge of the snowline
• Marasmius oreades - the fairy ring mushroom, edible and tasty, it's worth it to pick these mushrooms even though they are small, because often there are many of them in the same area, white to buff colored spores, there are some poisonous look-alikes, but they all have brown spores
• Morchella esculenta - one of the  'true' morels, choice edible, easily recognized as the cap and the stem are all one piece.  Other look-alikes (the false/early morels) have a distinct seperation of cap and stem
• Morchella elata - the black morel, also a choice edible
• Morchella deliciosa - the blond or yellow morel, also a choice edible
  
• Verpa conica and bohemica  - other 'early/false morels.'  These usually appear about 1 month before the true morels in the Puget Sound area.
  
• Pleurotus ostreatus - the oyster mushroom, found on hardwoods
• Straphoria rugoso annulata - the king straphoria or garden giant mushroom, these can be found occasionally in the wild in the Puget Sound area

When mushroom hunting in the spring, good morel habitats can be found by looking for trillum and calypso orchids.  If you find verpas or or other early/false morels, that is often an indicator that it's too early in the season for morels.  Morels will often grow in the same area as these false morels, about one month later.  Early/false morels can be found in the Puget Sound area as early as March 15, and morels and can be found in mid April.

Other items discussed at the meeting:

Ostroms Mushroom Festival, Mushroom Club Cookbook and Calendar

We are planning to participate again in this year's Ostroms Mushroom Festival in Lacey.  This event was very successful last year, and we were able to spread awareness of our club to many people.  This year we hope to also have a few items for sale at the festival to help fund our club activities.  There are plans to make a Mushroom Club cookbook and a calendar.  If you are interested in helping out with either of these, please contact Tom Keller and he'll put you in touch with the folks working on these.

No Fungi Perfecti Tour This Year

We have tried to get a tour of Fungi Perfecti, a local mushroom cultivation lab and company in the area, but unfortunately they are very busy, and booked until 2010 or later.  We are looking for an alternative facility to tour, and will keep folks up to date on what we find.

New Club Officers

Dan Steeby has agreed to serve as club secretary, and will be responsible for taking notes during our meetings and then reporting those on our website.  Anna Horvath will be producing the monthly newsletter.  Be sure that we have your e-mail address for the newsletter, or if you don't have e-mail and would prefer a physical copy of the newsletter, contact Tom Keller and we'll get you on our mailing list.  If you have any articles or ideas for the newsletter, you may contact her at a.s.horvath@gmail.com.

Spring Rosalyn Forray

Every spring the Mushroom Club hosts a forray in Rosalyn, WA to hunt for morels and other spring mushrooms.  This is a big event for the club, and a great opportunity for folks curious about mushroom hunting to try it out, and hopefully come away with some of the most prized and delicious wild mushrooms that grow in the Pacific Northwest.  No date has been set for this event yet, but it usually takes place in May.  We'll keep you up to date on this as the plans come together.

Please Bring Mushroom Photos to Our Next Meeting!

We are working on building an archive of photos from our members of mushrooms found on forays, club members and group photos of previous' years forays, and other mushroom related photos for our website.  If you have photos, please bring them to our next meeting.  We'll have a scanner there so we can copy them on site, and you don't have to leave your photos with us.  If you have digital photos, you can e-mail them to Dan Steeby at wendall_dogman@yahoo.com.  With luck, we'll have a great collection of photos in no time!

1/21/09 Meeting "Club Potluck"

Presenters:

We are starting off the new year with a Potluck.  Our December potluck meeting was cancelled due to snow.  Bring your favorite dish, though if you are a new member do not bring any wild mushroom dishes.  Bring plates, glasses and utensils.  BYOB (wine or beer) only.  We will have a short (informal) meeting and we'll use the time to visit with members, new and old.

Olympia Thurston County Association Of Realtors
510 Stoll Rd SE
Olympia, WA 98501

7:00PM - 9:00PM

Prior Events

• Prior events, dating back to January 2005, can be found by using the left navigation sidebar