MAW holds meetings on the first Tuesday of each month. They are free and open to the public. These meetings usually include three components: 1) a brief period of club business; 2) identification of mushrooms that club members have brought to the meeting; and 3) a guest speaker. Programs for past meetings have included such diverse topics as:
MAW holds at least a dozen mushroom hunting forays each year, from morel season in April until the cool days before the first frost in November. Most forays last one to four hours and are held in local parks and forests, though some are as far away as Front Royal, Va., or southern Pennsylvania. Forays are a great chance to get outside and become more familiar with the natural world. Two or three times a year, MAW holds overnight weekend forays. At the annual Camp Sequanota weekend in September, we usually find and identify nearly 200 distinct species in one weekend!
Culinary events are usually scheduled once or twice a year and are members-only. These programs allow members to share their best mushroom dishes and recipes. If it’s a particularly good year, a tasting might feature porcini risotto, morel quiche, chicken mushroom satay, chanterelle crostini, hen-of-the woods stir-fry, puffball Parmesan, and even candy cap ice cream.
As a member you will receive our quarterly newsletter the Sporophore, which includes great information about mushrooms you're likely to see in our area, and updates on club activities.
Membership is required to attend our culinary events. Some forays are also members-only; others charge $5 to non-members.
Your membership dues will be used to fund club activities, such as bringing in our monthly guest speakers.
MAW is a volunteer-run organization, and we'd love your help! Just send an email to the Board member responsible for the area you are interested in. (To avoid spam, we're showing only the first half of email addresses below. All MAW email addresses end in @mawdc.org.)
Do you want to serve on the board and head up one of these functions? Nominations are generally taken at the November meeting, and voted on at the December meeting. If you're interested in serving, it's best to let the current President know before the November meeting.
The MAW Executive Board positions (with their current occupants) are:
President | William Needham |
Vice President | Elizabeth Hargrave |
Vice President 2 | Jared Urchek |
Secretary | Marisol Perez |
Treasurer | Matt Cohen |
Culinary | John Harper |
Newsletter Editor | Annie Greene |
Foray Chair | Mitch Fournet |
Membership Chair | Rick Silber |
Program Chair | Tom McCoy |
NAMA Trustee | Bruce Boyer |
Science Advisor | Megan Romberg |