When and Where do We Meet?
Members of the South Carolina Upstate Mycological Society meet monthly, except for January, on the first Monday of the month or as the schedule allows.
Check below for specific dates, locations, and speaker information.
Meetings start at 6:30pm, arrive any time after 6:00pm.
The format of the meetings is intended to be casual and social. We typically have a speaker who gives a presentation on a mycological topic of their choice, and also discuss recent fungal finds, arrange the upcoming foray, work on identifying specimens, etc.
All levels of knowledge are welcome!
Meeting place: See individual event for location, it changes based on availability.
Upcoming Meetings
April Meeting
Mark your calendar - our April meeting is March 31. We are fortunate to have Forager Chef Alan Bergo, visiting from Minnesota. Check out his website https://foragerchef.com/ for lots of information and recipes on fungi and plants. He is also speaking at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and the Mushroom Club of Georgia, so we were flexible with our meeting date.
SCUMS monthly meeting: Monday, March 31
Alan Bergo will present:
Current Happenings in the Mushroom World
Interesting tidbits, current events and stories from the Forager Chef
It’s an exciting time to be a mushroom hunter. This will be a casual discussion of interesting things going on in the rapidly changing world of mushrooming and mycology. We’ll cover a broad range of topics including, but not limited to:
· North American truffles
· Everything you need to know about huitlacoche
· Hunting the tuckahoe fungus
· Why I left the mushroom textile industry
· Hunting mushrooms via Satellite / Google Earth
· The most interesting mushrooms I’ve eaten to date
James Beard Award-winning chef, author and forager, Alan Bergo left a career as a professional chef to hunt, study, and cook edible wild plants and mushrooms. He’s appeared on the Today Show, hosted the show Field Forest Feast on Apple TV, and was the winner of Hulu’s Chefs vs Wild foraging and cooking competition in 2022. A respected voice in the foraging world known for his website, he’s a contributing author to numerous published works ranging from cookbooks to field guides.
When: Monday, March 31. Meeting starts at 6:30 pm, arrive any time after 6:00 for specimen ID's, specific questions, and socializing.
In person: Hampton Memorial Library, 304 Biltmore Road, Easley, SC 29640We will be in the 'Meeting Room' - after you enter through the main doors go through the first door on the right, before you get to the lobby.Food and drinks are allowed - bring something to share, if you like (we'll provide tableware and water). Please help us clean up after the meeting : )
NAMA Events Webinars
These events are free for NAMA members or often $5 for non-members.
SCUMS is a NAMA affiliate, so if you choose to join NAMA (wise choice!) you get a discount on your annual membership.
You can check out upcoming webinars and past recordings here: https://namyco.org/events/webinars/
The False Morels (Gyromitra spp.): Everything You Need to Know
Tuesday, February 25th 2025 @ 7PM Central
Join lorchel expert Dr. Alden Dirks for an overview of our latest findings informed by widespread fungarium sequencing, in-depth taxonomic revisions, and cutting-edge phylogenomic analyses.
Thursday, February 27th 2025 @ 7PM Central
It is easy to dismiss any red, fragile mushroom as “one of the red Russula”, but can we do better? There are a few features that can help us to get closer to understanding this genus. By Tavis Lynch
Tuesday, March 4th, 2025 @ 7PM Central
Dr. David Hibbett presents on genera of “lentinoid” fungi and how we came to recognize that they are different.
Dr EC Cline Webinar on Mycorrhizal Fungi in Forests and Metals in the Environment.
Thursday March 13th, 2025 @ 7PM
The History of Women in Mycology by Alisha Millican
Tuesday, March 18th 2025 @ 7PM Central
Join us on a journey through history, as we take a look at the lives and often overlooked contributions of the women who came before us
Virtual Book Club – Olly & The Spores of Oak Hill Hardcover by Glenn Somodi
Thursday March 27th, 2025 @ 7PM Central
What we learned from the Montana Morel Poisonings in 2023: Are morels really safe to eat?
Tuesday, April 29th, 2025 @ 7PM Central
Dr. Cathy L. Cripps will walk us through a 2023 incidents related to eating morel mushrooms, and talk about details of what happened, what we learned, and how it might apply to your own consumption of morels.