The Spore You Know

It’s our first fungi workshop and the weather should be perfect: sunny skies and a high of 69 degrees!

That’s this coming Saturday, Oct. 3, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Todd Maggio will instruct, assisted by Dr. Laura Sims. Todd is a fungi aficionado and expert, but his day job is graphic design–both doing and teaching at La Tech. Dr. Sims is a member of the La Tech forestry faculty.

We will spend the day in Ruston, gathering at Ruston Artisans at 203 W. Alabama Ave. for what Todd promises will be a short period of instruction. At mid-morning we will adjourn to one of the various parks in and around Ruston.

The flyer, now available at the Certification tab of this website, says we’ll go to Cook Park but Todd asks us to be flexible. He has been scouting and we will caravan to the area that is most promising for foraging mushrooms. Yay to that!

A few from my fungi photo collection. I’m not good at identifying, but I’m pretty sure the one on the left is an Amanita, the one on the right probably a Russula, and the one in the middle perhaps an oyster mushroom.

In the field, we will search, then regroup to identify what we’ve found on a picnic table or whatever likely spot is available. Dr. Sims is bringing a microscope to assist in that process. I encourage all of you to bring your field lupe.

Todd is big on identifying edible mushrooms, so if that appeals to you, bring a basket and/or some mesh bags to collect into. I’m hoping to go home with a few to incorporate into dinner.

We’ll eat lunch at whatever park we are in at the appropriate time while regrouping to identify. Plan accordingly, and although I am not familiar with these locations, I’m guessing we won’t be terribly far from a fast food joint if that’s your preference.

Register at the Certification tab above or let me know you’re coming and pay on site. Suzanne Laird Dartez is coming, so we will have yellow t-shirts to sell for sure.

See you Saturday!

One thought on “The Spore You Know”

The last presentation I attended was truly inspiring. Long-time Texas birder and conservationist (and old friend) Stennie Meadours had been monitoring American Oystercatcher breeding success on the coast near Galveston, when one of the birds they had banded as a chick died from ingesting a wad of monofilament fishing line. She was inspired to start her master naturalist chapter’s Plastic Pollution Prevention project. It monitors sensitive sites for plastic litter, organizes cleanups, and spreads the word about how damaging plastic (and in particular monofilament line) is to wildlife. An idea she had at the meeting was that maybe something similar to hunting ethics could be taught about fishing. The Texas Stream Team is also starting efforts to clean up and collect data about monofilament litter.

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Руслан says:

October 2, 2020 at 1:27 am

The last presentation I attended was truly inspiring. Long-time Texas birder and conservationist (and old friend) Stennie Meadours had been monitoring American Oystercatcher breeding success on the coast near Galveston, when one of the birds they had banded as a chick died from ingesting a wad of monofilament fishing line. She was inspired to start her master naturalist chapter’s Plastic Pollution Prevention project. It monitors sensitive sites for plastic litter, organizes cleanups, and spreads the word about how damaging plastic (and in particular monofilament line) is to wildlife. An idea she had at the meeting was that maybe something similar to hunting ethics could be taught about fishing. The Texas Stream Team is also starting efforts to clean up and collect data about monofilament litter.

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