Join MAWDC for our May Monthly Meeting! Mark your calendar!
The meeting will be held via Zoom (link below). MAWDC President Elizabeth Hargrave will kick things off with updates on club activities and fungi in the news. Culinary Chair April Thompson will share eye candy and showcase MAWDC’s work with edible mushrooms in her new segment, The Kitchen Table. Send her your pics at culinary@mawdc.org. Program Chair Annie Weissman will lead the virtual ID table, highlighting recent fungal finds from our iNaturalist project.
For our feature presentation, we are excited to welcome Dr. Ted Schultz! His talk is entitled, “The coevolution of fungus-farming ants and their fungal cultivars.”
Ted R. Schultz is a Research Entomologist in the Department of Entomology in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. His research is largely focused on fungus-farming ants, a group of around 250 species that began farming fungi for food around 66 million years ago, and he is particularly interested in the coevolution of the fungus-farming ants and the many fungal species that they cultivate. Ted has authored over 120 publications and edited and authored four books, including (with Richard Gawne and Peter N. Peregrine) the recent The Convergent Evolution of Agriculture in Insects and Humans(2022, MIT Press). During the past 33 years, his research has taken him on 32 field expeditions, excavating the nests of fungus-farming ants in 11 South and Central American countries, including 15 trips to diverse locations in Brazil. Ted received a Bachelor's degree in Biology in 1988 from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Entomology in 1995 from Cornell University. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an Adjunct Professor of Entomology at the University of Maryland in College Park.
Zoom Link:
https://zoom.us/j/96693690911?pwd=YWdyeXh1bHF1N1UyNjNieFovNWFUZz09
Meeting ID 966 9369 0911
Passcode 330827
One Tap Mobile +13017158592,,96693690911#,,,,*330827# US (Washington DC)
Find your local Zoom access number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kQ9hr47WO
Foray Announcement:
Theodore Roosevelt Island, DC
Sunday, May 12th - 10:00 AM
Foray Leader: Serenella Linnares, Tom McCoy
No registration required for this event.
In honor of Mother's Day, Serenella Linnares and Tom McCoy are going to co-lead a walk at Theodore Roosevelt Island, and what fun this is going to be! We'll meet at end of the parking lot near the bridge at 10 am, and no need to bring your collecting baskets, the island is a nature sanctuary. We're just going to take a stroll, and enjoy mother earth on Mother's Day. Can't wait to see you then!
The DNA sequencing team will be at the Mount Rainier Nature Center on Sunday June 30th from 10am to ~4pm.
If you have samples of fungi you'd like to us to perform PCR testing on, or if you'd simply like to learn more about the science and technology, please stop by. It's best if you stop in near our start time of 10am, so we can (potentially) include your sample in our workload for the day. Send any questions you may have to dna@mawdc.org
Jul 28 – Aug 3 — Identification Skills for the New Mushroomer: Foraging for Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms — Greg Marley and Michaeline Mulvey
Registration will open in early Summer
Note: to get started, click the gray "Register" button at the very bottom of this page, below the Registration options.
Join MAW for a mushroom-filled weekend in Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands. Our foray at Camp Sequanota has been an annual event for more than 35 years. It's a great opportunity to advance your ID skills and get to know other mushroom enthusiasts.
Guest mycologists will be prolific field guide authors Alan & Arleen Besette, Kurt Miller an expert on Puerto Rico mushrooms, and Bill Yule a naturalist and fungi fanatic from Connecticut.
Full weekend participation includes 8 meals (Friday evening to Monday breakfast), all forays, and evening programs. Registration closes August 16, 2024.
Note there are scholarships available - click here for more info and to apply.
If you want to carpool, here's the link to add your name as a driver or rider.
A Pre-Foray Walk walk will be held on Friday, September 20th at Cooks Forest, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm with Park Ranger Dale Luthringer. There is no cost or registration to attend the pre-foray walk but you will be responsible for your own transportation and lunch. Driving directions to Cooks Forest: https://wpamushroomclub.org/locations/cook-forest-state-park/
The Gary Lincoff Foray will be held on Saturday, September 21st at Economy Fire Department Banquet Hall , 7:30 am – 6:00 pm. The WPMC club will be selling T-shirts and books (cash and credit accepted). Vendors and a cultivation table will be selling nature-themed merchandise and cultivation kits. Please note that some vendors may only accept cash. Driving directions to Economy Fire Department Banquet Hall: https://wpamushroomclub.org/locations/economy-fire-department-banquet-hall/
Sep 29 - Oct 2 (3 days) — Fall Mushrooms in a Changing Climate — David Porter and Michaeline Mulvey
The Northeast Mycological Federation is holding its 2024 Sam Ristich Foray on Cape Cod and offer walks to a number of gorgeous locations throughout the area. Our esteemed faculty comes from across the country and will offer a number of engaging programs on a variety of mushroom topics. Take workshops, go on walks, study the collected specimens, and enjoy three days with fellow mycophiles.