Mushroom Workshop

February 25th Friends of Chico State Herbarium Workshop: Introduction into Mushroom Foraging and Identification with Philip Carpenter 9 am - 5 pm. Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve Conference Center.

This workshop will be useful for rank beginners as well as for people with some knowledge of mushrooms. We will start the day with an hour or so of introduction to the subject – how to get started, what you need to be concerned about in doing identifications, and a questionand answer period. After that, we will go into the field to gather mushrooms, following the advice pro-vided in the introduction. When we return from gathering mushrooms we will get into the identification part of the workshop using the field guide Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora. After an introduction to the process of identifying mushrooms, participants will be guided through hands-on use of the book with actual mushrooms to practice the process of identification. The class may close with taste testing of the edibles we find to give participants an idea of how to start cooking with them. With some extra planning, perhaps we can have some bread, cheese and wine to round out the tasting. Participants should dress for being both indoors, and outdoors in field exploration mode – i.e. with boots, hat, etc. – and with rain gear if conditions require. Bring lunch and water. If possible, please also bring a copy of Mushrooms Demystified and collecting containers (baskets, etc, but no plastic bags). This workshop will meet Saturday, February 25, 2012, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve conference center. For directions please visit www.csuchico.edu/bccer/directions.shtml 

The registration fee is $100.00 personal, $125.00 business ($90.00 for members of Friends of the Herbarium). Please register in advance; class size is limited to 20 participants (class canceled without a minimum of 8 participants). For more information about workshop content please contact Philip Carpenter at philandmac@sbcglobal.net. For more information about workshop registration please contact the Biology office at (530) 898-5356 or jbraden@csuchico.edu.