• Some notes to pave the way for a great start to our season of walks:
• First, I would like to say “Congratulations” to the winner of our first morel contest, Henning Grentz! Henning sent beautiful photos of morels, found in Rosendale, next to today’s newspaper (authenticating the date found). Henning reports that he found a couple of black morels this past Thursday, May 9 in the Rosendale area.
• The club holds “the first morel contest” every year as a way of tracking when morels appear in our area from year to year. There have been other reports of earlier sitings in Orange, Dutchess and in Ulster Counties. Henning told us that his  friend, Jens Verhaeg, showed him black morels  that he had found last Saturday, May 3^rd, in the New Paltz area. So, if you find the first morel next year, please be sure to send us a picture (one that shows a verifiable date (according to the contest rules that are sent) so that we can keep track.
• The club postponed its usual Mother’s Day walk morel walk this past weekend because none were found in our regular walk location near Poughkeepsie. Jill, our walks coordinator, has been working hard, as always, to schedule morel walks where people attending will actually be able to see and identify morels. Thank you Robert for scouting! It looks like our first morel walks will be this coming weekend. Stay, tuned to our website and your e-mail (members only) for the details.
• Now that we are outside, hiking, gathering morels, other wild edibles, or just enjoying Spring hikes and mother nature, please be careful!! Deer ticks carrying Lyme disease are rampant in our area. It is not worth getting a debilitating disease for a taste of wild edibles or just to walk outdoors. There are many things you can do to prevent getting Lyme disease- a disease that causes neurological and muscular abnormalities. This and other websites have many links on prevention, diagnosis and treatment. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/lymedisease.html#cat57
• Clothing, bug repellants, showering and inspecting for ticks are basic preventative measures. Wear light colored, long pants and shirts, tucked into socks so that you can more easily see ticks. A hat can prevent a tick from landing on your scalp from branches.
• Most sporting stores have net pants and tops that also guard against mosquitos. There are now clothing lines with built in repellants. Bug spray with Deet is the recommended type of insect repellant to apply. You may find information about alternative -less toxic ones on the internet (although efficacy and strength may be based on anecdotal, not empirical, evidence).
• Please also remember to wear appropriate footwear for the terrain to prevent injuries.

• The ecosystems that bring us wild edibles are fragile ones. As   demands for building decrease our wooded land and fields, smaller areas of wild growth are under more pressure just to survive and reproduce. While the mushroom is the fruit of the fungus, and picking it has not been clearly shown to affect the organism, we do know that the latter mentioned loss of habitat places pressure on the future of the fungus.
• Last, but not least, remember to share with others. We have walks to educate each other. As we gain knowledge and expertise we share it with others who want to learn about fungi and safe identification. Remember Do Not INGEST ANY FUNGI that has not been positively identified. If you find positively identified edibles, keep in mind that sharing is not only nice, it is important. It helps others have a positive learning experience.
• Hopefully you will never need this number, but If you ever suspect having mushroom  poisoning call the Poison Control Center hotline at 1-800-222-1222 for all poison emergencies.
• Please respect the areas that we walk. Remember that we use the area to teach. If you are familiar with a walk area, we ask that you leave the area untouched. Do not pick there ahead of a group outing; leave the opportunity for others to see and learn about the fungi there.
• Wishing Everybody Many Happy Moments Exploring Outside,  : ) Lisa

Hi Everyone,
The oyster cultivation is really a joy.  Every time I look at my oysters, they have doubled in size. Thanks, Jill.
Ted, would you please put a few of the attached photos on our website?  I’m sorry I didn’t bring my camera to the workshop and don’t have any photos of the preparation.  When are you coming back to the cold Northeast, Ted?  I have one extra kit from the workshop which I am saving for you.  If you are coming back soon, I will keep it for you.  If you won’t be back for a month or two, then I will start it myself as I don’t know how long the spawn is viable.
Cynthia

Saturday April 26th- Joint walk with Woodstock Land Conservancy
Woodstock Land Conservancy will be showing the film, Now, Forager as part of our Winter Film series, on Wed. April 23 @ 7pm at the Mountain View Studio in Woodstock.
Morel walk -members onlyLate April early May , depending on weather and fruiting*
Sunday June 1 Olana pending their approval (No pick)
Sunday July 6 Winnakee Preserve – Joint Walk with COMA
Sunday 8-17-14 Canoe trip -St0ckport Creek, Hudson – with Naturalist James Herrington-members only
Sunday September 7 Byrdcliffe – Fairly certain we left it at a yearly walk the first Sunday after Labor Day
Saturday September 27 Locust Grove
We also have Minnewaska on Sunday September 21 (No pick)

March 23, 2014 Newsletter

Hello everybody.  Spring is barely in the air (although can’t you just “taste it”!) and the club has so many exciting projects planned for the year, as well as ones coming to fruition.

At our February meeting, Jill led a workshop on mushroom inoculation. We each   prepared a mushroom kit using a simple (non-sterile) recipe. Many of us are enjoying the first fruiting of the oyster mushrooms that we grew using the materials at that workshop. Jill has been collecting data, looking at it how the conditions that we grew our mushrooms affected growth. This information can help us in the future. The workshop was a huge success in many ways and we hope to have more workshops like this.

Our special events continue this week:

Bill Bakaitis will lecture on the topic of safe and unsafe spring mushrooms.  Bill is a professor of mycology, a writer, and founding president of MHMA as well as a contributor to the NY State Museum’s fungi collection. As always, Bill brings a wealth of information to share with club members and we are pleased to have him.

We will also have a brief meeting at which we will hold our annual club elections. As this is an election meeting it is only open to members, but non-members are welcome to join at the meeting. If you act quickly, there is still time to nominate/volunteer for any of our offices. Let Kelly know, ASAP. if you would like to step in and relieve one of our current officers.

I hope that you will take the opportunity to join us for this special lecture and meeting. It will take place on Tuesday, March 25^thpm, at the Marbletown Community Center, 3564 Main St, Stone Ridge, NY.

We will begin promptly at 7PM.

Finally, I am most excited to announce that, thanks to a long team effort, our newly designed website is up and running!!!Ted Shemella has graciously agreed to be our web master. Special thanks to our treasurer, Cynthia Fisher, who coordinated the work to “launch” our website through the final steps.

You can go to MHMA’s site right now at midhudsonmyco.org to see current events, and to get a glimpse of planned ones. With our new design format, we will be able to expand on the current structure, adding new information and links as needed. This will be an on-going   process and leaves us with endless potential for reaching many, informing and educating.

Our members have a wealth of knowledge and varying interests that I hope will be shared on our website. There are so many fascinating aspects of fungi to learn about and share with each other. The list includes identification, uses, ecology, art, book reviews and inoculation, to name a few.

To start, I would like to invite any of our members who would like to write an article about any aspect of fungi that they are interested in- to be posted on our website. I hope to see on-going submissions where we can continually share new information on our website.

The club also welcomes your ideas and participation for future workshops. Let us know if you have ideas and would like to lead a workshop or other event. Right now, Cynthia is planning a wine making workshop which many of you expressed an interest in. I talked to Sheena this week and she would like to teach a basket making workshop this year. Over the past year, many of you have shared your ideas, time, resources, and expertise (in many areas-technical, as well as fungal) to benefit the club, and I thank you. I am looking forward to seeing you all at our many upcoming events and walks.

Yours in “fungal fever”,

Lisa

End of  March 23, 2014 Newsletter

There are several positions that we’d be glad to see you fill.

1. Walks coordinator – Create and manage the schedule of walks by contacting past and potential new hosts.

2. Newsletter chair – Write a monthly newsletter about the experiences you’ve had going on mushroom walks or referencing information from outside sources that is of interest to club members.