Stenciling with mushroom spore prints

Gaston Park Vancouver, BC, Canada

This workshop is one of a series, as part of Walking the Mycelial Web. Walking the Mycelial Web is a series of artistic activities inspired by ecology and fungal life, taking place primarily outdoors in three parks of the Renfrew-Collingwood neighborhood, presented by Willoughby Arevalo and Isabelle Kirouac in collaboration with the Collingwood Neighborhood House. Throughout 2021, community members of all ages, cultures will be invited to learn about the fungal biodiversity that exists within their neighborhood and honor fungi through collective, place-based, experiential activities, walks, and art workshops, building healthy and sustainable connections with each other and with nature through art. For more info: walkingthemycelialweb.org

Fungi and Cheese: Friend or Foe, or Both?

VanDusen Botanical Garden 5251 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC

Local dairy-free cheese artisan, Karen McAthy (of Blue Heron Cheese Co.) will present on how fungi are a part of their process. This meeting will be held at VanDusen Floral Hall on Tuesday April 12 at 7:30pm. Masks are strongly encouraged.   Note: This will be a BLENDED MEETING, meaning that we will be live-streaming from VanDusen. This is our first attempt at this process, but we hope that the audio and video will be of acceptable quality, wi-fi permitting. If you prefer to attend via Zoom, please log-in and use the meeting link here: https://www.vanmyco.org/zoom-webinar-access/

Michael Hathaway presents: What a Mushroom Lives For

The Usual: VanDusen, Floral Hall 5151 Oak St, Vancouver, BC, Canada

VMS member Michael J. Hathaway draws from his recently published book What a Mushroom Lives For, the second book in an academic trilogy that began with Anna L. Tsing’s The Mushroom at the End of the World. Moving from fungi as an enigmatic kingdom that transformed the ancient Earth to the realm of the fascinating matsutake mushroom on the Tibetan Plateau, Hathaway reveals the ways these mushrooms are creating their own multispecies encounters, with and without humans. This book challenges a legacy of human exceptionalism and human supremacy that is dominant in Western thinking and offers ways to notice the creative liveliness of all organisms, from mammals to mushrooms. Members: Log-in to attend online via Zoom, or join us in person at VanDusen Floral Hall Tuesday May 10 @ 7:30 PM

Members Night!

The Usual: VanDusen, Floral Hall 5151 Oak St, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Upcoming meeting: September 13 Members Night! Year after year, we are amazed to learn of the different experiences and relationships our members have with fungi. Returning after a four-year hiatus, Members Night is when 3-4 VMS members give short, 10-15 minute presentations showcasing a fungal topic of their choosing (instead of committing to a full length presentation). Join us in person at VanDusen Floral hall @ 7PM, or on Zoom.

VMS Meeting Oct 11: Dr. Mary Berbee on Mushrooms Up!

The Usual: VanDusen, Floral Hall 5151 Oak St, Vancouver, BC, Canada

We are honored to have Dr. Mary Berbee of the Berbee Lab join us for our next meeting on October 11th. Schedule of events: 7 pm: Doors and Mushroom Mingling Come at 7 pm to secure a good seat and chat about mushrooms with our experts who will identify specimens. Be sure to check out what fungal finds are on the table (and bring your own!) 7:30 - 9:30: Guest Talk Our guest speaker, Dr. Mary Berbee will talk about Mushrooms up! UBC's newest collaboration with the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, and BC fungal research. This would be a hybrid meeting, meaning those who cannot attend in person can join us live through Zoom and there will be a Zoom recording in our members' archive:

2022 VMS Mushroom Show

The Usual: VanDusen, Floral Hall 5151 Oak St, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The Annual VMS Mushroom Show returns after a 2 year COVID hiatus!   Join us in VanDusen Gardens' Floral Hall from 11 AM to 4PM on Sunday October 23rd, and witness the range of fungal diversity of the Lower Mainland! We are seeking volunteers who would like to help out with the VMS annual mushroom show: with breakdown & set up, lunch crew, ID help, and more! if you are a VMS member and interested in helping out/more info, please shoot us an email at info@vanmyco.com Eventbrite ticket listing | or $3 cash at the door

$3

VMS Meeting Nov 8 — Kabir Bhalla: Of Maize and Men

VanDusen Botanical Garden 5251 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC

Of Maize and Men: How do fungal pathogens such as Ustilago maydis and Cryptococcus neoformans cause disease? Kabir Bhalla (he/him) is a graduate student in the Kronstad Lab at UBC. He is particularly interested in polyphosphate, a phosphorus biopolymer, and how it contributes to disease in the pathogenic basidiomycete yeast, Cryptococcus neoformans. 7 pm: Doors and Mushroom Mingling Come at 7 pm to secure a good seat and chat about mushrooms with our experts who will identify specimens. Be sure to check out what fungal finds are on the table (and bring your own!) 7:30 - 9:30: Guest Talk Bhalla will be presenting a broad overview of C. neoformans and U. maydis, their disease mechanisms, and some recent work from the Kronstad Lab at the University of British Columbia. Join us in person at VanDusen Gardens (Floral Hall). Members may attend the presentation via Zoom. This would be a hybrid meeting, meaning those who cannot attend in person can join us live through Zoom and there will be a Zoom recording in our members' archive.

March Meeting: Paul Kroeger presents “Darwin’s Elves”

VanDusen Botanical Garden 5251 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC

Paul Kroeger has studied mushrooms for over thirty-five years and is a founding member of the Vancouver Mycological Society. He has been involved in many projects and studies about diverse aspects of mushrooms, gaining knowledge about fungal ecology, biochemistry of toxic, hallucinogenic, medicinal, and edible mushrooms. Years of experience have created unique insights and understanding of fungal life-ways and interactions in temperate ecosystems. Kroeger has many times served as President of the VMS and co-authored ‘The Outer Spores: Mushrooms of Haida Gwaii’ in 2012. He has worked at the University of British Columbia researching the biochemistry of medicinal mushrooms and is a major contributor to the mycological herbarium collections in UBC’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Paul is an entertaining, knowledgeable speaker who gives illustrated talks throughout the Pacific Northwest on subjects such as general mycology, fungal biology, poisonous mushrooms, magic mushrooms, biology, and the mycology of hot springs. “Darwin’s Elves”: Poisonous mushrooms and mushroom poisonings An introduction to poisonous mushrooms and their effects is important for all those who are interested in mushrooms as a hobby. Major toxin types and their effects are described, and a few case studies show how suspect fungi are identified. This presentation presents practical general guidelines for safely […]

October Monthly VMS Meeting

The Usual: VanDusen, Floral Hall 5151 Oak St, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Join us for our monthly educational meeting! Details to be announced!