Santa Cruz Mycoflora (SCMF) Wild Mushroom Foray (by Noah Siegel)

Remember the sold-out NAMA foray of 2012: hunting for boletes and matsutake, tables full of mushrooms, walking in the redwoods, enjoying great food and company at the Mission Springs Camp in Scott's Valley? The event is remembered as "one of the best recent NAMA's" by many participants.
 
Now Noah Siegel and Christian Schwarz are back at it, giving you another chance to mushroom in the Santa Cruz Mountains in peak mushroom season with the new SCMF Wild Mushroom Foray, Dec 8-11th, 2016!
 
Whether your interest is culinary, scientific, or artistic, this December is the time to meet central California’s community of local mushroomers as well as many national NAMA members coming from other states to enjoy the CA Season.
Hosted by the Santa Cruz Mycoflora Project; which uses a combination of experts and 'citizen scientist' to document, track and log mushrooms and other in Santa Cruz County, and promote all things mushroom.  http://www.scmycoflora.org/
All of our findings will go towards a greater understanding of the fungi of California. In partnership with the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Mycoflora Project, we'll be making vouchered specimens for the UC Santa Cruz fungal herbarium and sequencing project.

Sign up soon to ensure your place!

 
Details:

The Santa Cruz Mycoflora (SCMF) Wild Mushroom Foray will be held at Mission Springs Camp and Conference Center in Scotts Valley, California from December 8th-11th.

 
Location:
Our conference center is located right in the midst of majestic Redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains, just 8 miles north of the beach town of Santa Cruz, California (beautiful beaches, and rugged coast, Elephants Seals, wintering Monarch butterfly colonies, plus old growth redwoods and numerous wineries in the SC mountains, and lots of Christmas shopping for the non-mushroomer family members in downtown Santa Cruz).
 
Schedule:
Our speakers and lecturers include: Dr. Else Vellinga; world renowned mushroom taxonomist; Dr. Michael Castellano, world expert on truffles; Dr. Britt Bunyard, editor of Fungi Magazine; Chad Hyatt, chef extraordinaire; as well as Noah Siegel and Christian Schwarz, co-authors of the newly published field guide Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast.
 
Our schedule includes lectures, workshops, and expeditions into the local woods to collect mushrooms, truffles and other fungi. Moreover, our invited experts will be accompanied by great food and great company.

Events begin with sign-in at 2pm on the afternoon of Thursday, Dec. 8th through lunchtime on Sunday, Dec. 11th. Each day of the event will include expert-lead mushroom-foraging walks, including a “How to Find Truffles" workshop with Mike Castellano, a Beginner’s mushroom identification workshop and walk with Noah Siegel and a culinary delight of mushroom cooking with Chad Hyatt.

 
Registration and Travel:
For out-of-state attendees; the conference center is only 30 miles from the San Jose airport, and just over 60 miles from both San Francisco and Oakland airports.
 
All of this, plus three nights’ lodging and nine meals in the midst of the Santa Cruz Mountains’ Redwood forests for under $300.
 
Sign up online at:
 
Additional Questions:
Email Noah Siegel at <http://ffsc.us/e?q=UQY2XEpTFjNZSzxid2svZndZa0Y4Uw-3D-3D_596>

Please pass this along to anybody you think might be interested.

Hope to see you there! 
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