Resources

It’s always legal to forage for fungi on private land IF you have landowner permission. Public lands that allow it, thought, are few and far between around here. As far as I know, and I only know those within a several-hour radius of Ukiah, the public lands on which one can legally forage for mushrooms are: 

• Point Reyes National Seashore (no permit required, check this page for current limits on take)
• Salt Point State Park (no permit necessary except for group events, limits on take change year-to-year so check first)
• Jackson Demonstration State Forest ($20/season permit required, see download button above)

Local (meat-space) mycophile groups to check out (some are still doing hybrid meetings):

Mushroom clubs (generally include meetings, forays, mushroom-related culinary experiences and/or potlucks, community-building, access to members with institutional/historical knowledge, ID support, etc. Generally a great time/accessible entry point.)

• Sonoma Mycological Association (SOMA), meetings at the Sebastopol Grange with forays at Salt Point State Park
• Mendocino Coast Mushroom Club, meetings in Fort Bragg with forays at Jackson Demonstration State Forest ($20 permit required, see download button)
• Mycological Society of San Francisco
• Mycological Society of Marin County
• Humboldt Bay Mycological Society
• Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz

Other great groups/opportunities

• Bay Area Applied Mycology (Nonprofit for myco/science education on cultivation, DNA barcoding and sequencing, etc. Provide community lab space.), Berkeley

Resources (books, sites, apps) that help with learning about ID and more:

Books (recommended in order of priority based on my own opinions/region)

• Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast (Schwartz and Seigel)
• All the Rain Promises and More (Aurora)
• California Mushrooms (Desjardin, Wood, and Stevens)
• Mushrooms Demystified (Aurora)
• Lichens of North America (Brodo, Sharnoff, and Sharnoff)

FB groups:

• The California Mushroom Identification Forum (ID only)
• Mushroom Hunters of California (social forum)
• The Mushroom Identification Forum (ID only, global)

Apps:

• iNaturalist (it’s not anywhere near foolproof for ID, but gives good suggestions for further investigation and is a GREAT learning resource. Also, the observations YOU upload may be added to a great data set that is adding to our knowledge of fungi)

• Mushroom and lichen dyeing info/education
  • FB group: Mushroom and Lichen Dyers United is a fantastic forum, and usually the first resource I visit when trying to determine dye capacity and process guidance for a specific species. Try searching both the scientific and common names in the group search function to see folks’ results and process details. The group is offered by Alissa Allen of MycoPigments, a goddess living among us imo… if you have the chance to attend one of her events, 10/10 would recommend to a friend! She also has a fabulous resource list to peruse on her site.
  • Book: The Mushroom Color Atlas, Beeler–just came out September 2024. At the time of this writing (9/20/2024), it’s sold out on many sites. Check out Julie’s IG for the links (@mushroomcoloratlas), I got mine from Barnes and Noble.

Materials:

• Dharma Trading Co for dye products (online and brick-and-mortar stores)
  • Silk for dying, most frequently handkerchiefs/scarves
  • Mordants: iron/ferrous sulfate and alum/aluminum sulfate (sometimes aluminum acetate is called for for a specific dye project such as for dying vegetable fibers)

• Knomad Yarn for undyed wool
  • I like the superwash merino fingering-weight “Bianca” 
  • Packs of 10 g mini-hanks, I usually get the worsted-weight merino “Marshmallow”

• Mendocino Wool and Fiber is a local wool mill in Ukiah, a dying (dyeing??) breed

Dyestuff:

• My site’s shop usually has dye kits available for sale
• Billy Sprague’s site frequently has a good variety of high-quality dried dye mushrooms