Fall Fungi

SEE-North presents a Northern Michigan Fall Fungi Class. Participants will learn how to identify edible fungi as well as poisonous look-alikes. Ideal for beginners yet challenging for the experienced. Instructor Marilynn Smith is a master mycologist who has traveled the world studying fungi and is an expert on Michigan mushrooms. She is an engaging teacher who puts the FUN in FUNGI!

I signed up for this class, taught by a family friend, and now I’m noticing fungi everywhere. Mushrooms big and small, polypores growing from trees, and other weird fungal friends - they're all suddenly extremely fascinating. Between Wednesday night classes and Saturday morning field trips, I’ve been tramping around in the woods with my ID guide, making spore prints and trying to learn the names of at least a few of the more common species. I love the way a new interest opens my eyes to something that was there all along, just overlooked. And Marilynn is not only extremely passionate about fungi, she's quite funny. "Fungi deserve more respect," she insists. "If you're taking a birding course and you see a new species, do you immediately ask the instructor, 'Can you eat it?' Of course not! But that's the first thing everyone asks about a new mushroom!" (However, we did sample chanterelles and giant puffballs during class. And I'm already looking forward to morel season next spring!)

The mushrooms in the photo are shaggy manes, part of the inky cap family. A patch of twenty or so cropped up where Maisie and I walk regularly, so I’ve been watching their progress. They start out like the one on the left. Then the cap auto-dissolves into an inky black goo to release the spores, so they end up like the one on the right. Cool, huh?