What You'll Learn

This experiential, hands-on half-day program is all about the fascinating world of fungi and begins at 10:00 am. Learning to forage for mushrooms is an ongoing life path. This program will teach you foundational skills to be able to go out foraging on your own. We will cover mushroom anatomy for identification, symbiotic tree and plant relationships, poisonous and edible mushrooms, and forest safety. It will be possible to find edibles such as chanterelle, matsutake, porcini, lion's mane, blewits, black trumpets, hedgehogs, and more. The program also includes community building, mindful movement, a cooking demo, and a tasting at the end. We typically end between 2-3 pm. 

Where

Sonoma (2.5 hr north of San Francisco) or private land in Santa Cruz. Exact location provided with registration. 

Some of Our All-Star Instructors

Christian Schwarz (he/him) is an itinerant naturalist from California. He is co-author of "Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast” as well as "Mushrooms of Cascadia". Fungi satisfy his curiosity with their endless forms – from the grotesque to the bizarre to the sublime – and provide a rich lens through which to learn about the bigger pictures of ecology and evolution. He loves fish, plants, nudibranchs, moths, and dragonflies, and is passionate about community science.

Alan Rockefeller(he/him) is an acclaimed mycologist renowned for his expertise in DNA barcoding, field photography, and microscopy. With over 20 years of experience, he has documented and photographed more than 2,500 fungal species. Alan has dedicated the past 15 years to studying fungal diversity in Mexico, regularly leading forays and sharing his knowledge with mycology enthusiasts worldwide. Alan is passionate about education and has taught thousands of people how to extract and sequence the DNA of their mushrooms. His contributions include uploading over 700 DNA sequences to GenBank and co-authoring several scientific papers, notably on new species of bioluminescent Mycena and Psilocybe. He has also identified over 400,000 fungal observations on platforms like iNaturalist and Mushroom Observer, contributing significantly to the understanding of global fungal diversity.

Taye Bright (she/her, they/them) - Sonoma - is a mycologist, naturalist, artist, and all-around biophile passionate about fungal ecology, community science, and conservation. Taye holds B.S. in Biology and Environmental Science, certifications in Ecosystem Restoration Design, and is a certified UC California Naturalist. She is currently pursuing her MSc in Mycology at California State East Bay, studying fungal biodiversity of rare and threatened ecosystem types in California. Outside of her research, she leads classes, courses, workshops, and walks around California and beyond, focusing on increasing accessibility of mycological and ecological education outside of conventional academia. She is a board member of SOMA Mycological Society and a researcher for FUNDIS. She is especially interested in allying with fungi to encourage ecological literacy, create life-ways in alignment with bioregional intelligence, and uplift cultural narratives that encourage interspecies reciprocity.

Thea Chesney (she/her) is an expert naturalist and a lifelong Sierra Nevada foothill resident. Her childhood interest in local mushrooms, wildlife, and flora has developed into an unending devotion to studying and understanding the natural world. She earned her BS in forestry from UC Berkeley while pursuing her passion for fungal taxonomy in the Berkeley mycology labs, and since then has spent her time exploring the California mountains and the organisms that call them home. She has worked as a botanist, a forester, and field mycologist. Her fieldwork and her own studies are centered in the mountains of California.

Mikhael Crystallah-Selk is a leading mushroom identifier in California with more than a decade of experience foraging and studying the taxonomy of fungi. He is the Vice President and a board member of SOMA Mycological Association and is a group expert and moderator of some of the largest online mushroom groups.  He leads the identification tables at many of the Northern California mushroom events and leads guided mushroom walks around NorCal. He is Wilderness First Responder and Wilderness First Aid Certified.

See more of our mushroom instructors here.

Ticket Options

• $120 standard adult ticket

• $85 per teen (age 13-17, must be accompanied by an adult)

• $55 per child (recommended for age 7 and older, but you know your child best)

A portion of your ticket fee goes to the Native American Rights Fund.

$10 will be discounted from your total for finding us through Far West Fungi!

This trip goes rain or shine! 

• Event runs 10am - 2pm

•  In case of extreme weather that poses a safety threat, we reserve the option to cancel your date and offer reschedule, refund, or gift ticket

•  Mobility requirements: All participants should be prepared to walk slowly, covering about 3-5 miles on uneven terrain

•  We prefer to teach in small groups, so our groups are capped at 25 participants

•  Fees cover program costs only and do not cover transportation, gear, or lodging

•  You will be required to sign a waiver to participate

•  While we usually do, finding edibles is not a guarantee

• Dogs are not allowed at this or any of our classes

More Important Details

These programs are very popular and often fill up very quickly. We encourage you to register right away if you'd like to attend!

You will receive a registration confirmation once we've received this form + your payment + your signed liability waiver. We cannot hold your spot until we've received all 3.