An Early June Foray

Story by Israel Tockman and photos by Judi Thomas

Maxine Stone with Judi Thomas' famed Ganoderma martinicense (not found at the foray).

On Saturday, June 4th an intrepid group of fungi-hunters met in the gravel parking lot at Lower Meramec Park near Arnold, MO. Foray leaders Judi Thomas and Dennis McMillan each took charge of half the group, and we all spent an hour-and-a-half wandering around bottomland forest along the banks of the Meramec River. Much of the ground was dry, and mushrooms were not in abundance, but there were plenty of mosquitoes! Despite the generally dry conditions, there were large pools of standing water from May rains. Bug dope was a hot commodity! I was pleased to see gobs of globe sedge (Carex grayi), a desirable, water-loving Missouri native, growing along the trails in the forest understory.

After years of searching for edible fungi, my eye is trained to find the fleshy, mostly terrestrial mushrooms that spell a culinary payload. One of my favorite things about attending MOMS forays is being around people whose eyes are trained to see even the slightest crusts and the micro bits and bobs of the fungal world. One such mycophile in attendance on June 4th was Mark Bower. Mark takes wonderous photos of fungi on his property near Springfield, MO and in Tasmania and has an eye for small splashes of wood-growing fungi and slime molds that I don't tend to see. Mark introduced me to Scutellinia scutellata, aka. the eyelash cup or Molly eye-winker, an orange, wood-growing cup fungus that is rimmed with tiny black hairs resembling eyelashes. Our specimens were quite unassuming until viewed through a hand lens. These cute orange cups transformed into unsettling peepers gazing up at you like something out of a surrealist painting! Mark also pointed out the 'ozonium'-the ultra-shaggy mycelial mat-of the Firerug inkcap, growing on rotting wood like a 1970s orange carpet.

Once everyone had some fungi in their baskets, we repaired to the shade near the trailhead for lunch. Specimens were tabled and identified by the experts. Potato chips, donuts and rainbow carrots from the Lake St. Louis Farmers Market were shared. MOMS forays are always a great time! Sign up for one today! You'll meet great folks and learn a lot from the collective knowledge of this bunch.

Come to MO-NAMA 2022!

By Maxine Stone

Missouri is hosting the North American Mycological Association’s (NAMA) annual foray this fall. It’s not too late to register...I think! Do it fast as numbers are growing. Many MOMS members will be going to MO-NAMA 2022, and you won’t want to be left out!

The event is September 29-October 2 at Trout Lodge, Potosi, MO-located about 90 minutes (81.5 miles) from St Louis.

If you've never been there, Trout Lodge is gorgeously nestled among 6,000 acres of gently rolling Ozark foothills, adjacent to the Mark Twain National Forest. This will be a weekend of forays, speakers and loads of fun. There will be mycologists and mycophiles from all over the US at this annual foray. This year it’s practically in our backyard! There are lodge rooms and cabin rooms, and a bunk house. Campsites are already full, unfortunately. But there are price points for everyone. Here's the link to find out more and to register: https://namyco.org/annual_foray.php

Please join other members of MOMS and NAMA for this very special weekend! Registration is filling fast ... deadline is very soon.

Cook's Corner

Do you have a favorite fungi-centric recipe you'd like to share with fellow mushroom lovers? Please send submissions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

THE INCURABLE EPICUREANS Encounter an Amazing Chef

By Linda Rolby

Bryant Terry, author of Afro-Vegan, Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean & Southern Flavors Remixed, is the celebrity chef the Incurable Epicureans highlighted in their July dinner event held at the Gilberg’s Herbaria. Terry has connected health with history and culture and created a delicious cookbook. He reminds us that our modern world is indebted to ancient Africans for basic farming techniques and agricultural production methods as well agricultural expertise (rice production), cooking techniques (roasting, deep-frying, steaming in leaves), and ingredients (black-eyed peas, okra, sesame, watermelon) that Africans contributed to new world cuisine. Southern food is the original modern global fusion cuisine and African-diasporic people helped define those tastes. A large part of Terry’s mission in writing Afro-Vegan is to move Afro-diasporic food from the margins closer to the center of our collective culinary consciousness and to put its ingredients, cooking techniques and flavor profiles into wider circulation.

Terry feels that his book is for everyone. He loves the idea of feeding a diverse circle of family and friends vibrant and delicious home-cooked food that reflects values around health, sustainability, compassion, and community building. Afro-Vegan's guiding philosophy is a simple one that we would most likely all agree upon: lovingly prepared food with fresh, high-quality ingredients will always make a wholesome and delicious meal.

Enjoy the following recipe as MOMS culinary club did, it is one treat among the 18 others taken from Bryant Terry’s compelling cookbook. Of course, all of you mushroom aficionados know how to substitute any of your own foraged finds for the mushrooms in the recipe.

For more information on Bryant Terry and to purchase his books, go to his website: https://www.bryant-terry.com/allbooks

Photos by Leslie Trautwein

Editor's note: While swatting mosquitoes and scouring the bottoms for fungi at the Lower Meramec Foray in June, I met Leslie Trautwein. Leslie loves to spend time in the woods taking photos of fungi and she kindly agreed to send me some of her favorite shots for the newsletter. Leslie has a keen eye for beauty and her photos highlight the extraordinary expressions of fungi in their natural environment. Enjoy! -Israel Tockman

Basic Mushroom Cultivation Class, August 13, 2 PM

Missouri is hosting the North American Mycological Association’s (NAMA) annual foray this fall. It’s not too late to register...I think! Do it fast as numbers are growing. Many MOMS members will be going to MO-NAMA 2022, and you won’t want to be left out!

Join Mike Snyder from WildWise Botanicals for an afternoon at Scratch Brewery! We will gather for a presentation about the basics of mushroom cultivation and how to produce gourmet mushrooms in your own home or backyard. After the talk there will be a short, hands-on workshop inoculating toilet paper rolls with oyster mushroom spawn. Everyone will get to take home a kit which will grow oyster mushrooms in just a few weeks. Come join us in this unique setting and learn how to collaborate with fungi to provide yourself with delicious and unique fresh food!

Cost is $15 per person for MOMS members. To register: https://momyco.org/events/calendar/st-louis/basic-mushroom-cultivationhttps://namyco.org/annual_foray.php

For additional information contact Stephanie Keil.

Bellefontaine Cemetery Tour, October 22, 1:30 PM

This tour of Bellefontaine will cover about 3 miles of moderate terrain. Some of the tour will follow newly created pathways that lead to more natural settings on Bellefontaine’s 314 acres. Ecological restoration efforts are underway in parts of Bellefontaine to promote more diverse and native habitats within the cemetery. Information on some of those laid to rest will also be included in the outing.

Event is free to members and space is limited. To register: https://momyco.org/events/calendar/st-louis/20221022-foray-bellefontaine-cemetery

For more information contact Stephanie Keil or Judi Thomas.

Calendar:

To see the full calendar of events please click here: https://momyco.org/events/calendar