SOMA Camp > Instructors
2013 SOMA Camp Faculty Biographies
Karen Aguiar
Karen and Terri Jensen have been making medicines out of wild and cultivated mushrooms for 15 years. They own and operate a small tincture company (The Herbal Apothecary) selling to practitioners around the country. They are on staff at the California School of Herbal Studies, where they have taught the medicine making component for the last 14 years.
Norm Andresen
Norm has a deep seated interest in the scientific understanding of our biological world. A past president of the Mycological Society of San Francisco, he also served as their foray coordinator for 21 years. He has advised on numerous mushroom cultivation projects and conducted mycological surveys. For years now, he has been leading forays and helping ID specimens at SOMA Camp. Ask him about the genus Russula.
Dorothy Beebee
Dorothy is a scientific illustrator and mushroom dyer who illustrated three of Miriam Rice's mushroom dyeing and paper making books. Dorothy worked with Miriam for over 30 years, documenting and illustrating the fungi used in mushroom dyes, polypore paper and mushroom watercolor pigment. She has presented dye workshops and lectures for SOMA, the MSSF, the San Diego, CO, and NM Mycological Associations, NAMA and is the archivist for the International Mushroom Dye Institute.
Shelly Benson
Shelly is current vice president of the California Lichen Society. Studied lichens in northern British Columbia, Canada for graduate studies. Conducted surveys for special status lichens in western Washington and conducted lichen inventories of Pinnacles National Monument and the Presidio of San Francisco.
J.R. Blair
J.R. received his Master's degree at San Francisco State University in 1999 studying with the accomplished mycologist, Dr. Dennis Desjardin. His thesis was Fungi Associated with Arctostaphylos (manzanitas) in Northern California. Since that time he has been an active member of the Mycological Society of San Francisco. He served a two-year term as President and has been the Fungus Fair chairperson four times. He has been teaching identification workshops for MSSF for about five years. Currently he is a lecturer of biology at SFSU and is the director of the University’s Sierra Nevada Field Campus.
Eugenia Bone
Eugenia is an author and veteran food writer, and co-president of the New York Mycological Society. Her forthcoming book, Mycophilia: New Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms (Rodale, 2011), is a narrative nonfiction account of the role of fungi in the natural world and in US culture. Her first book, a cookbook/memoir, At Mesa's Edge: Cooking and Ranching in Colorado's North Fork Valley (Houghton-Mifflin, 2003) was nominated for the Colorado Book Award 2004, and anthologized in Best Food Writing 2005. Her second, a cookbook/memoir, Italian Family Dining: Recipes, Menus, and Memories of Meals with a Great American Food Family, was written with my father, the chef, cookbook author, and artist Edward Giobbi. (Rodale, 2005). Her third, a cookbook, Well-Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods (Clarkson-Potter, May 2009) was nominated for a James Beard Award. A freelance journalist since 1991, she has published hundreds of articles in dozens of national magazines and newspapers, from The New York Times to The National Lampoon. She writes a blog for the Denver Post called "Well-Preserved Colorado."
Marilyn Buss
Marilyn is an enthusiastic student of mushroom dyeing and felting. By popular demand, she returns for her third year as instructor in the Fiber Arts program at SOMA Camp.
David Campbell
David has been collecting, studying, eating, teaching and writing about wild mushrooms for over 40 years. He served more than a decade on council for the Mycological Society of San Francisco (MSSF), including 2 terms as president. Primarily focused on edible and poisonous mushrooms, he leads numerous fungal forays for MSSF and the Sonoma Mycological Association (SOMA). David is active with the San Francisco Poison Control Center for mushroom poisoning incident response in the greater Bay Area. He served as foray leader and event facilitator for several years at author David Arora's annual mycological field seminars. An expert mycophagist (one who safely eats a wide variety of wild mushrooms) and experienced outdoor group foray leader, David Campbell is Foray Director for Wild About Mushrooms Company, guiding organized wild mushroom adventures, locally and afar. He also has his own company, MycoVentures, expanding his horizons to include ever further reaches -- including fungal forays to Oregon and the Colorado Rockies, and truffle tours in Italy.
Darvin DeShazer
Darvin is chairman of the Science Department at St. Vincent High School in Petaluma, CA and for over twenty years has taught Biology and Advanced Placement Biology. In the past, he has also taught Physics, Chemistry and Honors Chemistry. His scientific training was guided by Dr. David Largent at Humboldt State University where he obtained a degree in Biology and teaching certificates in Life Science and Chemistry. He was one the cofounders of the Sonoma County Mycological Association and serves as the Science Advisor. In 2003 he was the mycologist and keynote speaker for the NAMA Regional Foray in Northern California. His expertise in mushrooms stems from more than 30 years in the field and a personal library of over 1,000 mushroom books. His love for hunting mushrooms has resulted in over 6,000 color photos on MushroomObserver.org. He assists local hospitals and veterinarians as the north bay identification expert of poisonous mushrooms and is a consultant for the Bay Area Poison Control Center and the University of California Agricultural Extension Service. Darvin has written keys to over 3,000 species of fungi and coauthored several publications about fungi, including "100 Edible Mushrooms" which is currently available at Amazon.com. He teaches workshops in mushroom identification, truffle ecology and fungal microscopy.
Ryan Ellis
Ryan is the head of Business Development for Back to the Roots - a 100% sustainable urban mushroom farm located here in Oakland, CA. They grow gourmet mushrooms and mushroom kits on entirely recycled coffee grounds - collecting over 20,000 lbs a week as a soil for their mushrooms!
Liann Finnerty
Liann Finnerty is a professional textile designer, who has worked in the fashion and home furnishings industries for thirty years. Her work has ranged from creating printed and woven designs for women's, men's, and childrens clothing, pillows, upholstery, drapery, bedding, and quilts. Sweater knits and embroideries have also been a specialty. This experience made her a natural for playing with surface pattern in Dorothy Beebee's mushroom dye workshops. She is inspired by all the possibilities in the world of natural mushroom dyes, and wants to share the fun with others.
David Gardella
David is an artist and youth and adult educator based in San Francisco, CA. He works in many different art mediums which often include visual, ecological, and physical methods. Presently his intimate 2 dimensional acrylic and oil paintings and 3 dimensional soft sculptures are influenced by a wide spectrum of botanical subjects and ethereal deities. When not creating art, David has been teaching a variety of art courses throughout the West Coast, with students ranging from age 2 to 82, since 2003. David is also a youth gardening teacher in San Francisco and assistant to Ken Litchfield in the Department of Landscape/Horticulture at Merritt College in Oakland.
John Grant
John enjoys the outdoors. He is an avid gardener and hiker. John has backpacked in the Lassen area, Marble Mountains, the Grand Tetons and the Grand Canyon. He became interested in mushrooms four years ago and began assisting Ben Schmidt in his various mushroom classes. He is hoping to transfer the knowledge he has learned from Ben to others.
Patrick Hamilton a.k.a. "Mycochef"
Patrick is a long ago graduate of the California Culinary Academy and has been a corporate chef, executive chef, catering chef, David Arora’s foray chef, guest chef at the Breitenbush Mushroom gathering, guest chef for the 2009 and 2010 Cordova, Alaska, mushroom festivals, and guest speaker and demonstration chef for the Mycological Society of San Francisco and the San Diego mushroom club. This is his sixth consecutive year as the Executive Chef for SOMA Camp. He also has written over 100 articles about hunting and cooking wild mushrooms.
Terri Jensen
Terri and Karen Aguiar have been making medicines out of wild and cultivated mushrooms for 15 years. They own and operate a small tincture company (The Herbal Apothecary) selling to practitioners around the country. They are on staff at the California School of Herbal Studies, where they have taught the medicine making component for the last 14 years.
Dr. Kelly Kjeldsen
Professor Emeritus Sonoma State University, PhD Oregon State University. Teaching Positions at Pacific University, Oregon State University, Sonoma State University - 42 years of Teaching at the Univeristy Level. One year on loan to the Department of Energy, Washington DC Managing Energy Education Grant Program for Secondary Educators. Two 3 year terms as Department Chair of Biology Sonoma State University. Member of Sonoma County Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustments. At present in business with my youngest son as Kjeldsen Biological Consulting conducting special status sp surveys, wetland delineations, biological compliance and mitigation in Napa, Marin, Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.
Ken Litchfield
Ken began his professional career as a naturalist in the early '70s at Texas State University where he taught in the biology and art departments, illustrated scientific papers, theses, textbooks, etc., and worked as a botanist on environmental impact studies. He has since illustrated, written, and taught in the fields of art, science, and health. Currently he is the Cultivation Chair of the Mycological Society of San Francisco and teaches "Mushroom Cultivation," "Growing and Using Healthful Herbs," and "Beneficial Beasts in the Garden" in the Landscape Horticulture Department at Merritt Community College in Oakland.
Mia Maltz
Mia is a Ph.D. student in the Treseder lab at the University of California, Irvine studying about the Role of Fungi in Ecosystems. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, Mia conducted research in plant physiology and microbial ecology labs at UC Berkeley. Mia lived in Sonoma County for thirteen years and has participated in and co-founded several nonprofit ecological organizations including the Amazon Mycorenewal Project, the Rites Project, and the Permaculture First Responder.
Joseph Mangiantini
Joe has been cooking ever since he was able to stand on the little white stool by the stove and assist his mother and grandmother with cooking. He was molded into a framework that stressed the importance of family meals and respect for the ingredients. He grew up in Billings, Montana and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Montana State University in Bozeman. After college, for ten years, Joe was co-owner of Bear Creek Respite Care Center where he was business manager, cook, caregiver, maintenance engineer, bus driver, and gardener. Cooking was such a pleasure for Joe, he left Bozeman to pursue the culinary arts calling at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts on Granville Island in Vancouver British Columbia. After receiving his Culinary diploma he came to California to hone his skills as Chef at the Fetzer Organic Garden Café in Hopland, the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn in Sonoma and the Carneros Inn in Napa. Still not satisfied with his knowledge of all things eaten, he began work as a teaching assistant at the Culinary Institute of America, Greystone, in St. Helena. Six years later Joe is still cooking at the CIA. Now at the Wine Spectator Restaurant there, his main responsibility is preparing and cooking ingredients for the Entremetier station, while training students at the same time.
Anna McHugh
Anna is a radio journalist and mycophile (mushroom lover) from Nevada City, CA. Her first time on the air was as a radio dramatist on KVMR in 1994. In 1999, Anna produced a radio documentary called "The Public Defender," which won the 2000 National Federation of Community Broadcasters Golden Reel Award for Public Affairs. Over the years, Anna gained radio experience working with her father, Joe McHugh. Amongst the projects she assisted with is "The Telling Takes Us Home, A Celebration of American Family Stories," which was aired on NPR and Voice of America with a worldwide audience. Anna also served as an assistant producer on "Omaha Voices," a public radio series produced by young people involved with juvenile drug court about the elders of Omaha, Nebraska. Anna attended the University of Virginia, majoring in history. For five years, she worked as a legal advocate for foster children and at-risk youth in Portland, Oregon. While living in the Northwest, Anna discovered a passion for mycology, and started hunting wild mushrooms, growing gourmet mushrooms at home, and learning botany. She now lives in the Sierra Foothills of Northern California and is working on a book highlighting the stories and experiences of mushroom lovers from all over the United States.
Dr. Todd Mitchell
Dr. Mitchell is a physician in Santa Cruz. He is Board Certified in Family Medicine and Geriatrics and recently completed a 13 month stint as Interim Medical Director for Snowline Hospice of Placerville. In 2007 Dr. Mitchell treated the first American cohort of amatoxin poisoned patients to receive LegalonSIL, a European medication derived from the Common Milk Thistle. He is the Principal Investigator of the first and only FDA sanctioned Clinical Trial regarding the management of Amatoxin Mushroom Poisoning.
Danny Newman
Danny Newman has collaborated with the Amazon Mycorenewal Project (AMP) since July 2008, functioning in the capacity of Parataxonomist, Photographer and Media & Outreach Coordinator. Beginning in January of the same year, Newman has made annual pilgrimages to South America in pursuit of an autodidactic education in tropical mycology, conducted under the guidance of a growing network of mycologists, both foreign and domestic. In the US, he spreads the colorful gospel of the fungi of Latin America and the ongoing work of AMP to an ever- widening variety of venues across the western US. Newman is also seasonal staff for the College Outdoors department of Lewis & Clark College, and a continuing student of mycology, library science and computer science at both San Francisco State University and the City College of San Francisco.
Todd Osmundson
Todd is a postdoctoral researcher in the Forest Pathology & Mycology Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests are in the systematics, evolution, ecology, and conservation biology of plant-associated fungi, particularly ectomycorrhizal and endophytic symbionts. Knowledge about the evolution, dispersal, and interactions of these organisms is critical for understanding ecosystem function and predicting how diversity will be impacted by threats like climate change and habitat loss and fragmentation. Dr. Osmundson's research therefore includes multiple lines of investigation, from species discovery and description to examining the historical and environmental factors responsible for present species distributions, the functions of fungi in ecosystems, and the response of different species to ecological changes. His past and current research experience includes fieldwork in Australia, China, Costa Rica, French Polynesia, Guatemala, Mexico, Svalbard, Thailand, and the United States, in tropical, temperate, arctic, and alpine habitats.
Alan Rockefeller
Alan is a mycologist specializing in the taxonomy of the Hymenomycetes. He has spent the few summers in Mexico collecting and identifying mushrooms. Alan is a network security expert, a moderator at the Shroomery Mushroom Hunting and Identification Forum, and posts all of his mushroom photographs on mushroomobserver.org. When he is not hunting mushrooms Alan spends his time looking at mushrooms under the microscope, soldering electronics, hacking unix and sequencing mushroom DNA.
Elissa Rubin-Mahon
Elissa runs a foraging and gleaning business, Artisan Preserves, that has gained national recognition. Her mushroom classes have been featured in Sunset Magazine's Best of the West. Elissa is past president of SOMA, and past SOMA Camp chef. She is a member of Slow Food USA's Biodiversity Committee, and is working on a mushroom and heirloom food cookbook. She has collected mushrooms for more than 30 years.
Noah Siegel
Noah is one of the premier mushroom photographers in the nation, having won numerous awards for his work. Noah's field mycology skills are extensive; he has spent two decades seeking, photographing, identifying, and furthering his knowledge about all aspects of macrofungi. He has hunted for mushrooms throughout the United States and Canada, as well as on multiple expeditions to New Zealand and Australia. Noah recently worked with Green Mountain Digital as a consultant for the Audubon Guide to Mushrooms of North America Macintosh/Apple application, and supplied over 300 photographs for it. His photographs have appeared on the covers and have been featured in articles of multiple issues of FUNGI Magazine and Mushroom the Journal, the primary mushroom enthusiast magazines in the United States, as well as numerous NAMA publications. He is currently president of - Monadnock Mushroomers Unlimited, (MMU) a mushroom club with about 150 members based out of Keene, NH, and is an active member of the Boston Mycologial Club, Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz, Mycological Society of San Francisco and he serves as a trustee for the Northeast Mycological Federation. He is the region 1 trustee for NAMA and is on NAMA's Photography Committee and Foray Committee. Noah has lectured extensively across America, having given over forty talks in the last two years alone
Ryane Snow
Ryane holds a doctorate in organic synthetic chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. His primary research interests were the chemistry of natural products and their syntheses. He held a postdoctoral position at Stanford University and joined the staff of the biochemistry department studying the syntheses of steroidal hormones, juvenile hormone, and enzyme transition state analogues that have potential as anti-tumor agents. He has studied and collected mushrooms for almost 40 years and has led numerous mushroom forays and identification workshops. He has been a member of the Mycological Society of San Francisco, serving on the Taxonomy and Toxicology Committees. He is presently a member of the Bay Area Mycological Society and the Sonoma County Mycological Association. He has taught botany, chemistry, biology, and environmental issues at the Mendocino Community High School in Mendocino. Additionally Ryane is a staff member of David Arora's Albion Field Station Workshops. Ryane also leads workshops on edible and medicinal plants, and edible and medicinal seaweeds. He is currently a Chinese herbalist.
Fred Stevens
Fred is a past president of the Mycological Society of San Francisco and with Mike Wood co-authors the Mushrooms of California on Mykoweb.com.
Gayle Still
Gayle has been a spinner of fiber, natural dyer and basket maker since the early 70's. She is a member of Spindles and Flyers, Bay Area Basket Makers, Great Basin Basket Makers, and the FunGals (see fungals.net). Her work has been shown and sold at the Gualala Art Center, The Albany Art Gallery, the Maker Faire and Fungus Fair at the Oakland Museum and Lawrence Hall of Science. She has taught basket making at the Mendocino Woodlands Foray the past two years for the San Francisco Mycological Society and will be teaching felting this summer at Feather River Art Camp.
Autumn Summers
Autumn has been studying the medicinal and edible plants including fungi of the North Bay for over 19 years. She has a BA in Anthropology with an emphasis in Ethnobotany. She teaches plant, fungi and seaweed identification at the California School of Herbal Studies in Forestville, CA, and for the Herb Pharm Internship Program and currently lives in Williams, Oregon.
Jeremy Thorsness
Jeremy Thorsness has been a member of SOMA since 2003. As a member of SOMA, he has helped with the mushroom dye and paper making classes at various SOMA mushroom camps, volunteered at the fungus fairs in Alameda county, enjoyed going on many forays and learned a great deal about the wide world of fungus.
Jessie Uehling
Jessie grew up in Boise Idaho. She graduated high school in 2005 and moved to Arcata, CA where she started working on her degree at Humboldt State University (HSU). In 2010 Jessie graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Botany and entered the Master's program in the Biological Sciences Department, also at HSU. She is working on the second half of her project which involves examining the systematics of the Cantharellales from the Guiana Shield. Her research is mainly focused on the systematics of the genus Clavulina (Cantharellales, Basidiomycota, Fungi).
Else Vellinga
Else is a researcher in Tom Bruns' lab at UC-Berkeley, whose work focuses on the beautiful parasol mushrooms. The main questions she tries to answer are: which species do we have here in California, which ones grow in Hawaii, and in Thailand, how do we recognize them and how are they related to each other and to the other members of the family Agaricaceae. She has a keen interest in biodiversity, introduced & invasive species, and in conservation. Else has been co-teaching the popular class on mushrooms of California at Cal. She migrated from the Netherlands in December 1998 and is still an editor for the Dutch mushroom flora. Her working time is divided between the computer, the microscope and the lab bench. In her free time she is found most often with knitting needles and yarn in her hands.
Peter Werner
Peter is a long-time member of MSSF and has studied mycology at University of Washington and SFSU. He has most recently completed a professional certification program in microscopy at Merritt College and is current president of the San Francisco Microscopical Society.
Catherine Wesley
Catherine, a professional RN, has been an amateur mycologist for over 10 years. Her specialty is polypore paper making, which she learned from Miriam Rice. She teaches regularly at SOMA camps and for other clubs including NAMA. Catherine is a graduate of the California School of Herbal Studies in Forestville.
Daniel Winkler
Daniel grew up collecting and eating wild mushrooms. He trained as a geographer and ecologist and works as a researcher and NGO consultant on environmental issues of the Tibetan Plateau and Himalayas. He has published on forest ecology, forestry, land-use, medicinal plants and fungi (see www.danielwinkler.com). Working in Tibet, Daniel realized that mushrooms play a crucial role in rural Tibet. Since 1998, Daniel has been tracking Caterpillar fungus - Cordyceps sinensis as well as researching Tibet's diverse mushroom industry and its importance for rural people. Daniel is also teaching mushroom classes for Seattle's PSMS and lecturing on mushrooms nationwide and beyond. In 1998 Daniel discovered the joy of tour guiding. His enthusiasm, sociability, knowledge of flora, fauna and funga and humor might be the reason that no one quit a tour so far and many returned for more. In 2006 Daniel organized and lead his first "MushRoaming" tour in Tibet. In recent years he has added MushRoaming tours to Europe and Ecuador. (For more info check www.mushRoaming.com.)
Tina Wistrom
Tina has been a SOMA member and fungal fanatic since 2001. She learned mushroom dyeing from Dorothy Beebee. In addition to hunting, cooking and dyeing with mushrooms, she loves California native plants and gardening.
Mike Wood
Mike is a computer consultant by profession, and a mycologist and photographer by obsession. He is a past president of the MSSF and a member of the NAMA education committee. He is the publisher and webmaster for MykoWeb, The Fungi of California, and the Mycological Society of San Francisco (MSSF) websites and former webmaster for the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) website. He has collected and studied fungi for over 25 years, and has led numerous workshops and forays with the MSSF and others.