On September 29, Acton Conservation Trust held a Mushroom Forage with Boston Mycological Club (BMC) at Wills Hole/Town Forest. They welcomed about seventy-five people to this joint event.
After a few introductory remarks, people took to the woods, looking for all manner of fungi. Right off the parking lot was a horizontal log covered with bright orange shelves; unmistakably Laetiporus sulphureus, “chicken of the woods” or “sulphur shelf.” One member of Acton Conservation Trust, Carol Place, brought her grandson Luke to the event, as he was researching mushrooms for his sixth grade project at Merriam School. He was excited to find this fungus so quickly!
With little rain through late summer and early fall, mushroom finds were sparse, but after two hours of foraging, participants had two six-foot tables covered in fungi. People also brought fungi they had found during the week to the event, both to share and for identification. “Boston Myco” helped people identify the finds, with identification ongoing for several hours. At the end of the day, all of the fungi are returned to the woods so their spores can repopulate the area next year.
The Boston Mycological Club is the oldest amateur mycology club in the USA, founded in 1895. For more information on BMC go to https://bostonmyco.org/.
Jody Harris is a Board member and Events Coordinator for the Acton Conservation Trust (ACT). She is the Acton Exchange correspondent for ACT.