Over the last several years I may have gone a little overboard with inoculating every log Sandy and I found with some species of mushroom. The list of species included the usual suspects like the Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus), Shiitake (Lentinula edodes), Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus conifericola), and the White Elm Mushroom (Hypsizygus ulmarius). I’ve also used various substrate materials placed into large black nursery pots to cultivate the Garden Giant (Stropharia rugoso-annulata), Maitake (Grifola frondosa), the Almond Mushroom (Agaricus subrufescens), Chestnut Mushroom (Pholi ..read more

Vision Questing with the “Holy Children” – My Journey with OHA Psilocybin Therapy When: Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 7pm Where: In person speaker at the Amazon Community Center Also live stream: CMS YouTube Channel (open and click to set a reminder) Glenda Goodrich, artist, art doula, and practitioner of the ceremony of the wilderness vision quest, will share her recent experience with OHA’s psilocybin therapy program. Glenda will present her journey with psilocybin in the traditional 3-stage format of vision questing: preparation, threshold, and incorporation. She will ..read more

I’d like to count myself as one of the few Homo sapiens to fall into the “no cavities” group. However, my mom told me it wasn’t nice to lie about stuff. On the other hand, most other genera of mammals living in the wild are fortunate enough to be able to brag about their cavityless choppers. Sharks even have this extraordinary and highly desirable ability to simply keep rotating in new teeth on a regular basis. But this article isn’t actually about a bunch of bragging cavityless mammals or toothed fish. Instead, it’s about a toothed mushroom, which can also lay claim to having a flawless dent ..read more

When: Wednesday, February 21, 2024 at 7pm Where: In person speaker at the Amazon Community Center Also live stream: CMS YouTube Channel (open and click to set a reminder) The Roll of Soil Biology in Healthy Ecosystems by Brian Vagg: Discover the beneficial microorganisms residing in soil and their pivotal roles within healthy ecosystems. Our discussion will encompass the soil food web, elucidating the intricate relationships among plants, fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and other soil-dwelling organisms. Exploring the biological mechanisms within soil, we’ll delve into nutri ..read more

If the title of this article seems confusing to you, well you’re probably in very good company. On a recent PBS broadcast of Science Friday, one of the topics of discussion was all about “Dark Fungi”. Now, do not confuse Dark Fungi with Black Fungi, Black Fungus, or Dark Side. Black fungi are an ecological group of melanized fungi (to make dark or black) specialized in tolerating extreme environments and assumed to be among the most stress-resistant eukaryotes (any organism that possesses a clearly defined nucleus) on Earth. Black Fungus , according to WebMD, is a rare but dangerous infection ..read more

When: Wednesday, January 17, 2023, at 7:00 pm Where: In person speaker at the Amazon Community Center. Also live stream: CMS YouTube Channel (open and click to set a reminder) Truffle dogs are gaining popularity in the Pacific Northwest because they can easily be trained to find the native Oregon white and black truffles. What happens when a dog finds more than just culinary truffles? Rye the truffle “diversity dog” will find any truffle with an aroma, good or bad. While truffle dogs are well established as the best method to harvest top quality culinary truffles, their ..read more

When hiking in the woods, it’s not unusual for Sandy and I to come across different species in the genus Ramaria. These stately looking mushrooms are more commonly referred to as Coral mushrooms due to their obvious similarity to some sea corals. While the generic name “coral” is used for a number of different genera, for this article it will only relate to mushrooms in the genus Ramaria. This genus represents quite a large group of mushrooms that come in a wide variety of colors and sizes. The Bureau of Land Management has posted a very nice picture ID guide of quite a few of our western cor ..read more

CMS is sponsoring a Myco mingle and Christmush sale this Saturday at Drop Bear Brewery. Come visit between 5 and 8pm to mingle with other mycophiles and do some Christmas shopping. This event is open to the public, so feel free to invite others. In addition to beer, Drop Bear has cider, kombucha, soft drinks,  and a full service bar to satisfy everyone’s taste.  They also have a kitchen that offers burgers, pizza, salads, mac and cheese, stuffed mushrooms, pretzel bites and more. Their menu includes both vegan and gluten-free offerings. Plus, the Thai Fusion food truck ..read more

When: Wednesday, December 20, 2023, at 7:00 pm Where: In person speaker at the Amazon Community Center. Also live stream: CMS YouTube Channel (open and click to set a reminder) In the mid 1970s Paxton Hoag was living next to 115 acres of bottom land cow pasture in Astoria, Oregon and took up picking Psilocybe semilanceata. In 1975 his family went to the First International Conference on Psilocybin Mushrooms where he met many of the early principals of Psilocybin research. In the fall of 1977 Paxton ran across an unknown Psilocybe mushroom on the shores of Astoria Oregon ..read more

Sandy and I have been out mushrooming several times this fall and each time we’ve only found a few chanterelles. Even though we had good rain in September and October, chanterelles have been shy growers so far this fall. The ones we did find were in perfect condition with no signs of any old, water-logged chanterelles in the area. Others we’ve spoken with have observed the same low chanterelle fruiting we’ve been experiencing. This could mean that chanterelles are just starting late this year or they’ve decided to take a well needed break and just pop up a few now and then. On the other hand ..read more