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:

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 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