South Sound Mushroom Club

Hey mushroom lovers, greetings from the South Sound Mushroom Club of Olympia, WA. Did you know our club is celebrating 52 years of service this year, but our parent organization, North American Mycological Association , has been around since 1959! Wowie!
NAMA is holding a membership drive this month, and we can't think of a better organization to be a part of (except our club, of course, but we're biased). If you want to be a part of something bigger, we hope you consider giving NAMA a look. We asked some of our club members what they thought of NAMA, we're going to post some of their responses here over the next couple days.

Spotlight: Melissa
Melissa is our club's wonderful merchandise chair and previously served as club secretary. She's a familar face from all our monthly meetings, campouts, and other special events.

What she loves about NAMA:
"The NAMA regional forays are among the most rewarding aspects of membership for me. Exploring remote landscapes through direct field observation and study not only enriches our collective understanding of mycology, but also furthers the vital work of citizen science. "

In addition to NAMA's continential and regional forays, they produce a fantastic series of Webinars and publish the Mycophile Quarterly magazine and the peer-reviewed journal, McIlvainea. - All freely available to NAMA's members.

We hope you consider joining NAMA today, you can learn more at: https://namyco.org/membership-drive/

Our May meeting is in just a few hours! Please join us tonight, Tuesday May 19th, 7PM.
Presentation summary: Let’s myco-talk about some mycotoxins! In this presentation, we will discuss a few of the lethal toxins that are found in some genera of mushrooms. Find out more about amatoxin’s physiological effects, follow a case study from subjects that consumed lethal mushrooms, and learn how to recognize potentially dangerous mushrooms in the wild.

About the presenter: Amelia Nora has been exploring the fungal kingdom since 2020, where it started as a way to become closer to the world around us– and as a solid way to get something tasty while avoiding people at a grocery store. While working in public health, Amelia has been able to spend time studying mycotoxins and presenting to her colleagues. She originally grew up in the Midwest and had been part of the Minnesota Mycological Society for 3 years. When she moved to the PNW in 2023, she was lucky enough to find South Sound Mushroom Club where she has settled in as the Outreach Chair.

Free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:45PM
Capital Vision Church, 1775 Yew Ave NE, Olympia, WA 98506

Club members have the added option of watching at home via zoom. Not a member yet? Consider joining officially to gain access to all our member exclusive events and content.

Our May meeting is TOMORROW
Tuesday, May 19th at 7pm. We spend a lot of time talking about all the delicious edible fungi out there, but what about the ones that want to kill us (or at least give us a very bad time)? Board member Amelia Nora will answer those questions and more during her presentation about mycotoxins! Plus we'll have a special presentation from our secretary Betsy Knutson-Keller on their recent experience at an SSMC scholarship-assisted foray trip. It'll be an action packed end to the spring schedule that you won't want to miss!

Consider bringing small items to donate to our scholarship raffle. Raffle tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5. All proceeds benefit our scholarship fund.

Doors open at 6:45PM. Free and open to the public. Capital Vision Church, 1775 Yew Ave NE, Olympia, WA 98506

Wow, it's been a whole week since our 2026 Spring Mushroom Festival! Here's some photos from our fabulous keynote speaker Julie Beeler , and her demonstrations in using mushrooms for color in dye, paints and inks. Thanks so much for being a part of the fest this year Julie!

Congratulations to Kim Hicks for winning **First Place** and claiming the title of **Best in Show** for the specimen display managed by QRmushfest crew at the 5th Annual Spring Mushroom Festival hosted by our sister club, South Sound Mushroom Club. 🍄🍄🍄 Your Amanita aprica fungi, truly was the sunshine of the mushroom display. Thank you to all participants that foraged for fungi, moss, plants, the builders, and IDers. We received tons of compliments due to your contributions. 🍄🍄🍄 Hope you enjoy your prize Kim. Will be delivered. Looking forward to more entries for Springfest 2027.

MAYDAY MAYDAY, the SPRING MUSHROOM FEST is TOMORROW!!!
Our culinary team is hard at work processing a whopping 23 pounds of mushrooms to sample to the public tomorrow! WOWZA!
All our samples this year will be vegan and gluten free.
We also have special guests and
See you soon fungal friends!!!