SOMA Camp > Class Schedule > Instructors
Faculty Biographies
Eleana Hsu and Kevin Gondo
Eleana Hsu and Kevin Gondo are small batch producers in San Francisco specializing in using koji, an ancient fungi, to create newly imagined ferments through their business Shared Cultures. Inspired by traditional fermentation methods, wild foraged mushrooms, and the bounty of Northern California, they are creating farm-to-ferment misos, shoyus, and umami seasonings using the magic of koji.
Cat Adams
Cat Adams is interested in how chemical ecology influences interactions between plants and fungi. For her PhD in Tom Bruns’ lab, Cat is studying the invasive ectomycorrhizal fungus, Amanita phalloides. The death cap mushroom kills more people than any other mushroom, but how the deadly amatoxins influence its invasion remains unexplored.
Previously, Cat earned her M.A. with Anne Pringle at Harvard University. Her thesis examined fungal pathogens of the wild Bolivian chili pepper, Capsicum chacoense, and how the fungi evolved tolerance to spice. With the Joint Genome Institute, she is now sequencing the genome of one fungal isolate, a Phomopsis species, to better understand the novel enzymes these fungi wield to outwit their plant host.
She also collaborates with a group in China, studying how arbuscular mycorrhizae can help crop plants avoid toxic effects from pollution. Their first paper, “Arbuscular mycorrhizae alleviate negative effects of zinc oxide nanoparticle pollution and zinc accumulation in maize plants – A soil microcosm experiment” is published in Chemosphere.
Christopher Adams
hris is the creative mind behind Corvidopolis, The Mushroom Tarot and Sporelust!. Raised in the Pacific Northwest, he has always had a fondness for the outdoors and a love of creating art. After studying architecture at university he began working as an illustrator & printmaker, and has continued down that path for over a decade. In his late 20s he was introduced to mushroom foraging, and sometime around 2014 those two passions collided––the rest is (recent) history! His work merges: youthful influences from skate-punk culture, 60s & 70s counterculture inspiration and an attention to scientifically accurate depiction of mushrooms, plants and animals. Most recently he has begun to find himself in a position of an ‘accidental’ science educator by tricking people into learning about mycology & biodiversity through his artwork, which often utilizes recognizable popular culture references while maintaining key elements of morphological accuracy.
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.
Renee Baumann
Renee is a Catskills-based designer, chef, and nature enthusiast with a passion for wild plants and fungi. Trained as both an architect and a chef, she brings a creative, interdisciplinary flair to everything she does—whether she’s crafting baskets from local plants, illustrating mushrooms in watercolor, or whipping up delicious meals from foraged ingredients. Renee teaches workshops on identifying, cooking with, and even weaving with plants and fungi growing in the Catskills. She’s also the co-author and illustrator of Befriending Fungi, a Pocket Guide (created with Catskill Fungi’s John Michelotti), a visual guide for beginners who want to learn about mushrooms. Find more of her work @renee_makes_things on instagram.
Holly Bazeley
All that wander and wonder may not be lost. If you truly love nature you will find beauty everywhere. Having studied Art, Photography, Drawing, Painting, Oil, and watercolor, (CCA) Horticulture, Mushrooms, Permaculture, as well as practicing Nature Journaling, I discovered the perfect balance between art and science.Taking a closer look, by drawing, painting, photographing, and taking samples in the field, when allowed help to understand and appreciate the diversity without disturbing nature. A lot of my enjoyment and inspiration comes from foraging through the woods.
Ryath Beauchene
Ryath is a mushroom seeker, cultivator, and educator who co-stewards Moon Fruit Mushroom Farm and Symbiiotica in Sebastopol, CA. He is also a trained horticulturist & tree pruner, medicine maker, and estate manager. Ryath studied the intersections of ecology and education at SSU with a BA in Outdoor Leadership. Ryath teaches online, facilitates ecological mushroom walks on the CA coast and has taught through the OAEC, Daily Acts, The Permaculture Skill Center, & the Sonoma County Herb Association.
Dorothy Beebee
Dorothy Beebee is a scientific illustrator and mushroom dyer who collaborated with the late Miriam C. Rice for over 35 years, documenting and illustrating Miriam’s books about using local California fungi to make mushroom dyes, polypore paper, and mushroom watercolor pigments.
Dorothy has presented mushroom dye workshops for Mycological Societies across the USA, taught in International Fungi & Fiber Symposia worldwide, and is active in the Sonoma County Mycological Assn. (SOMA), for whom she organized and instructed mushroom dye classes for over 15 years. She is currently the President and the Archivist of the International Mushroom Dye Institute.
Trent & Kristen Blizzard
This community was started as an effort to connect people. While many things are sacred in the world of wild food forage (especially GPS coordinates :), one thing is usually true – we love to share our experiences and excitement for the hunt!
Self proclaimed “mushroom geeks”, Trent and Kristen Blizzard, live in either Cable, Wisconsin or Reedsport, Oregon - depending on where the mushrooms are fruiting. They also devote time each year to trekking around Western Colorado and chasing burn morels across the Western US. Always accompanied by their crazy doodles Benzie and Lulu. At first a hobby, the hunt for fungi quickly became nothing short of an obsession for these two. They are not mycologists but love to utilize the science behind edible mushrooms to help them locate prime terrain. Beyond mushrooms, you might find them picking feral asparagus, ramps, huckleberries or capturing dungeness crabs.
Kristen was introduced to wild edibles and mushrooms while working at Walking Mountains Science Center in Avon, Colorado. Local friends helped to spread the enthusiasm and when she met Trent, they grew their love of foraging together. She thinks of mushrooming as hiking with purpose, and loves all of the peripheral benefits – stunning vistas & wildflowers, brisk mountain hikes, camping, discovering more of Colorado, honing her macro photography skills and even exercising that nutty dog.
Trent is an avid fisherman, and often ponders whether fishing can be classified as “foraging”. Is a fisherman a modern forager? We say yes – you may see some fishing posts spring up here and there on the site in the future! He is also a master of all things Google, including maps. Both Trent and Kristen are WordPress developers by trade.
Their fondest wish is that in some small way, they can help you discover the same joys of nature that they cherish.
Taye Bright
Taye is a mycologist, naturalist, artist and all-around biophile passionate about fungal ecology, plant-fungal symbioses, bioremediation, ethnomycology, community science and conservation. She is especially interested in allying with fungi to encourage ecological literacy, create life-ways in alignment with bioregional intelligence and uplift cultural narratives that encourage interspecies reciprocity.
Taye works for the Fungal Diversity Survey, the only nonprofit focused on North America's fungal biodiversity and conservation. There, she serves as a field mycologist for the California Fungal Diversity Survey and as co-coordinator for the West Coast Rare Fungi challenge. She is a post-fire bioremediation researcher for the Fire Ecology Network in X-Site Study (FENiXS), a climate adaptation study investigating the effects of microbial and fungal inocula on community resilience and ecosystem recovery. She leads classes, courses, workshops and walks around California and beyond focusing on increasing accessibility of mycological and ecological education outside of conventional academia. Furthermore, Taye is the Education and Outreach coordinator for CoRenewal, on the Conservation and Stewardship committee for the North American Mycological Association, and sits on the board for the Sonoma County Mycological Association and Bay Area Applied Mycology.
Outside of her scientific work, you can find her in the garden talking with birds, experimenting with mushroom inks and dye's, surfing in frigid Pacific waters, reading Scandinavian mythology and writing nature-inspired poetry.
Ken Buegeleisen
Ken is wearing many hats these days: SOMA President, Camp Director, NAMA Foray Chair, FunDiS.org, Walk in the Woods, and holds a full-time remote job with MIT for ERP software support, a 5-acre horse ranch, and has a large family with 5 amazing grandchildren. So, he likes to keep busy!
Ken started on his mushroom journey in 2018 when he found seemingly edible white mushrooms growing around their horse ranch, and his wife insisted he must learn what they were before sampling them! On his first SOMA meeting, the speaker was Rick Kerrigan who identified these mysterious white fungi as the somewhat uncommon Agaricus bitorquis, aka Road Mushrooms, because they like to push up the bricks in the roads. And these are a great edible mushroom! He was hooked after that. Ken now devotes most of his free time to foraging, learning, teaching, and conserving the amazing fungi that often go unnoticed all around us!
Elissa Callen
Since finishing her BFA in Painting from California College of the Arts, Elissa Callen has spent her years straddling the words of art and ecology. She has worked in horticulture with an emphasis on drought tolerant and CA native plants and has continued to research native plants, invasive plants, and fungi to sustainably make natural dyes, inks, and pigments in her art practice. Using natural materials in her work is one of the ways she stays connected to nature an the outdoors, and she seeks to use her art practice to continue to engage others curiosity with nature and environmentalism as well.
David Campbell
David Campbell has been collecting, studying, eating, teaching and writing about wild mushrooms for over 50 years. He served more than a decade on council for the Mycological Society of San Francisco (MSSF), including 2 terms as president, and was the original president of the fledgling Mycological Society of Marin County (MycoMarin). With primary focus on edible and poisonous mushrooms, he has lead innumerable fungal forays for MSSF, MycoMarin, and the Sonoma Mycological Association (SOMA).
David remains on-call with the San Francisco Poison Control Center for mushroom poisoning incident response in the greater Bay Area. He served as a 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 leader, David Campbell is principal and long-time Foray Director for Wild About Mushrooms Company, teaching basic mycology and organizing wild mushroom events and adventures around California and beyond. His international tour company, MycoVentures, expands his horizons ever further with annual Truffle, Mushroom, and Wine tours in northern Italy and Croatia.
Thea Chesney
Thea Chesney is a lifelong Sierra Nevada foothill resident and naturalist. She has had an interest in mushrooms (and plants, and the rest of the natural world) since early childhood, which gradually became an obsession. She studied forestry at UC Berkeley, during which time she found a home and encouragement to follow her passion in the Berkeley mycology labs. She worked on a mushroom survey crew around Mt. Shasta for several seasons, which allowed her to become intimately familiar with the fungal inhabitants and ecology of the area. Since then, she has worked a variety of field jobs, primarily as a botanist. She teaches occasional workshops in mushroom and plant identification. Her fieldwork and her own studies of plants and fungi are centered in the Sierra Nevada and other mountains of California.
Judy Christensen
Judy Christensen has been a member since 1996. Judy has attended most SOMA camps and was camp director, kitchen staff and raffle director for 10 years. Judy was a 2-time SOMA president in 2002-3004. She and her partner, Gene Broderick, lead the forays for 8 years. Judy is joining the fiber arts staff for the first time this year. Judy will teach needle-felting for beginners. Judy is a member of SOMA and MSSF
Darvin DeShazer
Darvin DeShazer is retired from the Science Department at St. Vincent High School in Petaluma, CA where for twenty-eight years he taught Biology and Advanced Placement Biology. In the past, he 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 is one of the cofounders of the Sonoma County Mycological Association and serves as the Club 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 35 years in the field and a personal library of over 1,000 mushroom books. His love for hunting mushrooms has resulted in over 9,000 color photos on MushroomObserver.org.
Liz Duckworth
Liz first learned weaving in childhood with loops on a potholder loom. She also learned sewing, embroidery, knitting, crocheting, and beading. She maintained these skills through college and careers in ski instruction, river guiding, and photography, and then dove into the rabbit hole of spinning, weaving, wool processing, dyeing. She most enjoys being in nature, creative arts, and messing with colors.
Sharon Eisley
Sharon Eisley is a professional artist showing her paintings throughout the US and internationally. She graduated from California College of Art in 2001. She discovered SOMA camp while looking for a mushroom kit for her then 7 year old, Fyn, in 2014 and they have both been hooked ever since. Beautiful mushrooms have been finding their way into her oil paintings and watercolors.
Mayumi Fujio
Mayumi is a fiber artist using natural dye and mushroom dye with the technique called botanical printing which uses real leaves to transfer colors and shapes from plants onto natural fibers. She has been a wild forager since young and studied field botany for edible plants and medicinal plants. The last 11 years, she has foraged and studied mushrooms to eat and to dye. All the materials she uses are ethically harvested from the Bay area. Her art pieces are sold at art galleries, Art Museums in Seattle, San Francisco and other prestigious mushroom and art festivals. She won an artist award at Mill Valley Art show in 2023.
Mario Gabiati
Since 2015, Mario Gabiati has been providing teachers, science professionals, entrepreneurs, and curious individuals in the San Francisco Bay Area access to cutting edge scientific tools to pursue their goals in the biological and physical sciences. With the aim of building robust educational and entrepreneurial communities everywhere, Mario has worked here in California as well as in Brazil, Mexico and France to help people just like you bring science-powered solutions to problems anywhere humans and biology meet.
Mario runs the popular bay area fungal exploration group "Mycelial Mass", the 'East Bay Fungal Genomics' group, and represents the San Francisco Microscopical Society out of his microbiology teaching lab at Circuit Launch, a tech development space in Oakland, CA.
Join us in the main hall of this weekend at our casual microscopy corner, or check out our EB Genomics project Saturday 1-2:30p in Chanterelle. Apply to become a lab resident and move into our lab, or send us an email at Info@mariogabiati.com today to see if we can bring the power of microbiological science to your project.
Ryan George
Originally from Orlando FL, I moved my lab to California to work on spirulina prrojects producing thermostable phycocyanin, protein sweeteners, etc... Prior to that I was genetically engineering Cordyceps with agrobacterium for increased cordycepin levels. I love microscopy techniques and molecular biology! I also enjoy hiking, biking, sailing, and engineering :)
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 because interested in mushrooms five years ago and began assisting in various mushroom classes. He is hoping to transfer the knowledge he has learned to others.
Patrick Hamilton
Patrick has been active in the club for about 25 years beginning with writing a foraging and cooking column for SOMA News, was involved in the very first SOMA Camp as a chef and in 2006 took on being the head chef for 6 years, is on the SOMA Board of Directors, and now has been our Foray Coordinator and chef for several years. He has been cooking and teaching about mushrooms for many years and has his own foraging business called "Patrick's Wild Mushroom Adventures.
David Healy
David Healy grew up in Sonoma County. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Environmental Studies. He has worked as a farmer, nurseryman, and in native habitat restoration. David's passions for plants and ecology started while interning on a farm in Santa Cruz. David discovered a love for plant propagation, seed saving, and taxonomy. His love for plant identification led to a curiosity of mushrooms. David's fascination with mushrooms began while working on a farm during the winter of 2016. It was a wet winter and there were mushrooms everywhere in the oak woodlands adjacent to the vegetable farm. David became obsessed with trying to find, photograph, and identify mushrooms. He started coming to SOMA meetings and forays in 2017, and attended his first SOMA camp in 2018. He has been on the SOMA board since 2021. Today David is an 8th grade science teacher in Santa Rosa. He lives in Cotati with his wife and 2 year old son. Some of his favorite things are camping, cooking, looking for mushrooms, photography, eating pizza, saving seeds, and exploring the world with his family.
Janet Heppler
I had my fiber Business,34 years, in Mendocino Co. Raising award winning Natural colored Merino sheep and Angora Goats. Nebo-Rock Textiles. My wool and mohair was dyed with both commercial acid dyes and natural plant dyes which I collected. 8 years ago I was down sizing on the animals and became very interested in dying with mushroom dyes. I took 2 mushroom ID classes at the Jr college and workshops at SOMA camp and other mushroom conferences. 6 years ago I moved to Woodland WA found homes for the animals and joined OMS and the southwest WA mushroom society and many fiber groups in the area. I have taught mushroom dye workshops for different fiber groups in the Vancouver WA area and for the Oregon Mycological society. I am out in the woods collecting dye mushrooms as much as possible. I dye my yarn to both sell and to weave blankets This has become my passion
Wilder Herbertson
My passion is for co-creating experiences, skills, knowledge, and lifestyle amendments that serve our individual and collective re-membering (coming back into an embodied relationship with) and understanding of our connection with, responsibilities toward, and reliance on the ecosystems in which we live. While I grew up eating of the earth (through foraging plants, tending gardens, and the slaughtering and the often elbow-deep process of turning farm animals into sustenance), mushrooms didn’t enter my life until 2018, when I joined the Sonoma Mycological Association (and later, the Mendocino Coast Mushroom Club). Eventually, I couldn’t keep the joy I find through engaging with fungi and the many other connective practices in my life to myself. In 2020, my project Human Becoming came into reality. Through this platform, I invite others into co-creating experiences that support earth-connection and ancestral skills practices. We play through forays, workshops, and retreats that focus on mushroom and plant foraging, fiber arts, food, and much more! I began offering guided plant or mushroom hikes and workshops that have included: salve-making, wild fermentation, mushroom, lichen, and plant dyeing, making cord out of plants, slaughtering support, and more! Feel free to check out my site at humanbecoming.me to get a sense of my offerings, my own history and values, sign up for my quarterly newsletter, or reach out to me. I’m also on Instagram as @humanbecoming.me, on which I post more regular updates and event opportunities.
Jessica Holloway
Jessica Holloway (she/her/hers) joined LandPaths in the Fall of 2012. As Youth Education Lead, she develops curriculum and programs as a leader in the field. She is deeply committed to sharing her love of and comfort in outdoor spaces with youth of all different backgrounds. Supporting youth in finding confidence in themselves, seeing them learn new skills and knowledge and watching them find comfort in wild spaces is one of her greatest joys.
A longtime Sonoma county resident, Jessica studied at Santa Rosa Junior College before travelling and earning a certificate to teach English as a Second Language from International House in Egypt. Jessica obtained her B.S. in Environmental Science in 2005 from Humboldt State University and has worked in the field of environmental education ever since. She put herself through school working in grocery stores and then running the university’s compost site operations, and she still loves to talk trash and is passionate about turning waste into soil!
Marilyn Hornor
Marilyn fell in love with paper when she taught in Japan many long years ago. Since retirement from teaching she has been experimenting with making paper in her backyard studio each summer. She learned about making paper from fungi at SOMA camp. She loves the possibilities of this medium.
Melissa Jaffray
Melissa Jaffray is a creative artisan with a passion for making things by hand, specializing in fiber arts and sustainable crafting. Her work often blends traditional techniques with modern flair, whether she’s weaving, knitting, or experimenting with natural dyes. Outside of her studio, Melissa is an avid forager, spending time in nature gathering mushrooms and other wild ingredients. This love for the outdoors informs her creative process, as she often incorporates natural materials and organic textures into her projects. With a deep respect for nature, Melissa strives to craft pieces that celebrate both the beauty of handmade artistry and the wonders of the natural world.
Stephanie Jarvis
Stephanie S. Jarvis completed her Masters of Science in Ecology, Evolution (Phylogenetics/Taxonomy) and Conservation Biology (EECB) at San Francisco State University (SFSU) under the guidance of world-renown Mycologists, Dr. Dennis Desjardin. It was at SFSU where she created a taxonomic monograph of the Lycoperdaceae (hypogeous fungi) of California. Her undergraduate years were spent at Sonoma State University studying Mycology, Plant Physiology & Chemistry with Dr. Chris Kjeldsen (founding member of Sonoma Mycological Society) and she was the research assistant to Dr. Richard Whitkus on the Sudden Oak Death task force. While in college Stephanie become a Certified Arborist through the International Society of Arboriculture and created a continuing education (CEU) training program for arborists to learn how to identify fungal plant pathogens for better tree risk assessment. Since 2002 she has been a speaker to various Mycological clubs, schools and plant societies, teaching Mycology, Medicinal Fungi, Truffle Cultivation and various other aspects of the mushroom and arboriculture world. In 2010 she began her consultation company, Pacific Truffle Growers (PTG) due to multiple requests to rehabilitate unproductive truffle orchards. With PTG she manages truffle orchards throughout Northern California and currently assists clients in Oregon, Washington and most recently – North Carolina. Stephanie, as a geneticist & microscopist, analyzes roots, fungal tissues, plant tissues and soils for health, nutrients, presence of mycorrhizal fungi species, as well as tests for mating types in soils. Her newest endeavor is the Urban Truffle Farmer collaborated with growing FOOD FORESTS FOR THE FUTURE. Why grow only truffles for your future generations when you can grow multiple types of food on your property!
For inquiries and questions, please contact her by email or website.
www.pacifictruffles.com pacifictruffles@gmail.com
Daniel Kedan
Daniel Kedan began his professional cooking career as Sous Chef of Il Palio Restaurant in Shelton, Connecticut in 2004. This ignited a passion and excitement, in the restaurant field, for him. Wanting to learn everything he could, he decided to travel to Europe in 2006. Spending time tasting the amazing flavors of France, Italy, and Germany, Daniel felt invigorated and passionate about the culinary arts.
Daniel enrolled at The Culinary Institute of America, in 2006, being part of the school's first A.O.S. program on the Saint Helena campus. While attending school, he began working under Chef Dave Cruz, at Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc restaurant in Yountville, as part of the opening team. There, he spent three years learning what true professionalism, along with love and respect for great ingredients, really was.
Daniel continued his career, in the Napa Valley while working briefly, at Solage in Calistoga. His interest in food sustainability, lead him to become the Chef de Cuisine at The General's Daughter in Sonoma. There he learned not only how to run a restaurant, but how to work and yearly plan, with farmers, plan and execute wine dinners and participate in wine auctions. He, again, was part of an opening culinary team at Cantinetta Piero in Yountville. Still having a strong passion for dealing with local, organic farmers, Daniel found his home at Peter Lowell's in Sebastopol in December of 2010. While working with the restaurant's 2 acre farm, along with a handful of other local farmers and ranchers, Daniel found his home in west county.
In 2012, with his wife and favorite pastry chef, Marianna Gardenhire, he opened Backyard. He has taken his passion for local farmers, house made pastas and charcuterie into flourishing. With their own garden, and the bounties of west county, their menu changes daily with the thriving seasons.
Daniel's passion and skills for the culinary arts, and local sustainability, are held in high regard. He has received high marks from food critics, as well as the community. Daniel is an advocate for local sustainable communities, donating his time to local schools and charities in his community. Daniel's passion and reputation has made him one of the most sought after chefs in Sonoma County.
Paul Lagreze
I first became interested in mushrooms as a teenager, noticing beautiful white shelf-like mushrooms growing on poplar trees in the fall. These oyster mushrooms had a seafood-y smell and a slight licorice flavor when sautéed. Later while living at Dawes Hill, an agrarian commune near Ithaca, NY I was introduced to mushroom basics through a mushroom field guide by Alexander Smith, (a University of Michigan mycologist) I was inoculated by the idea of mycelium and the forms that they took.
After graduating from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in anthropology, I moved back to the Western Massachusetts, where the mushrooms I found piqued my interest again. I decided to take a beginners course in Mycology at UMass Amherst and joined the Boston Mycological Club and the Monadnock Mushroomers Unlimited in southern New Hampshire.
I was hooked!
One particularly dry year, around 2000, when there were very few wild mushrooms appearing I decided to grow shiitake mushrooms on oak and sugar maple logs. I sold the extra shiitakes and wild mushrooms to restaurants around the "Happy Valley". I founded New England Wild Edibles in 2004 and my knowledge of mushrooms kept growing. I began teaching an introductory course on identification and foraging mushrooms at UMass Amherst in 2014 and I am currently teaching mushroom foraging and cultivation at Greenfield Community College in Greenfield MA.
I also grow shiitake mushrooms and other saprophytic (carbon consuming) mushrooms and conduct cultivation classes at Five Springs Mushroom Farm in Heath MA. I lead mushroom forays at the farm and the surrounding woods of Western MA from late Spring to Fall. There is nothing that I enjoy more or that brings me more peace than being out in the woods foraging and cultivating mushrooms.
Ken Litchfield
Ken Litchfield began his career as a botanist, biological illustrator, and instructor as a student in the art and biology departments at Texas State University. Ken is currently a naturalist with a professional background working and teaching in science, writing, technical illustration, computer graphics, photography, lapidary, and human health and fitness. He consults, instructs, and trains at various organizations and institutions and lives and works on a farm. He is also the Cultivation Chair for the Mycological Society of San Francisco, and incorporates the fermentation arts into his activities and teachings.
Brittany Long
Brittany K. Long is a Doctoral Candidate in the department of Plant Biology at UC Davis. She is an evolutionary biologist interested in how different fungal lifestyles evolved: especially those that involve mutualistic symbioses with photosynthesizing partners. Brittany uses molecular techniques to answer broader questions about the ecology, evolution, and biodiversity of these organisms. Outside of the lab, Brittany is an avid hobbyist who enjoys jewelry making, rockhounding, traveling, hiking, camping, and so much more.
Mike McCurdy
Mike McCurdy has been foraging for edible wild mushrooms since the early 1980s. He has extensive knowledge of habitat and habit of wild mushrooms.
Scott McKeown
Scott McKeown is a longtime Sonoma County resident who serves as the Brand Ambassador for Redwood Mushroom Supply. Passionate about empowering others to grow their own mushrooms, Scott is a dedicated educator and advocate for the joys and benefits of home cultivation.
Jill Nussinow
Jill Nussinow is a Northern California nutritionist and culinary educator who has been teaching people the joys of “kitchen play” with whole foods for more than 30 years. She was an adjunct chef instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College in the culinary department. Jill has written 4 cookbooks, Jill has always loved eating mushrooms and has been foraging for them in Northern California for almost 20 years. She learned most of what she knows from attending SOMA forays and meetings. Jill enjoys all aspects of mushrooms so much that almost 5 years ago she moved from Santa Rosa to Southern Mendocino County to be able to spend more time in the forest. She has spoken and done cooking demonstrations at fairs, festivals and has a regular spot at Rancho La Puerta spa resort in Tecate, Mexico. Jill loves simple food, Mother Nature, reading and teaching breath awareness and nutrition to small groups. Her most mushroom oriented book is Nutrition CHAMPS.
Sidnee Ober-Singleton
Sidnee Ober-Singleton grew up in the PNW, and always had an interest in fungi, but was fully sucked into mycology during an undergraduate research program on myco-remediation at Lane Community College. After continuing research and education at LCC, and getting a position studying fungus-growing ants at the University of Oregon he spent 7 years undertaking ongoing research and teaching. He has a special interest in fungal genetics and mating, Morel ecology, fluorescence microscopy, and applied biotechnology to the ends of cultivation, myco-remediation, cellulosics, and use for their diverse metabolites, including finding new uses for fungi that no one has thought of before.
Sandy Patton
Sandy and her husband Ron knew nothing about wild mushrooms when they retired from their tech careers and moved to Eugene, Oregon in 2007. After attending the Mount Pisgah Arboretum (MPA) Mushroom Festival in 2008 they enthusiastically dove in and started learning about and hunting wild mushrooms with the help of the Cascade Mycological Society. By 2015, they were leading forays and teaching a beginning mushrooming class for CMS. When she is not in the woods hunting for mushrooms, Sandy is creating them. She makes and donates to CMS, mushroom earrings, wine charms, ornaments, and magnets. These are sold online and at the MPA mushroom festival to benefit CMS grants and scholarships. She also makes a wide variety of mushroom models for educational purposes. Her latest artistic venture is felting mushrooms. In the past, she has just made them as gifts for her mushrooming friends, but is now starting to make felted mushroom pins to donate and sell. In her spore time, she manages the CMS website.
Rebecca Peizer
All-Things-Culinary is an expression of my 22 years in the culinary world and having the desire to share my knowledge, talent, and passion with all who come my way.
I love developing trends and recipes as well as writing, taping educational videos, and teaching about world cuisines.
For 10 years as a Professor of Culinary Arts at The Culinary Institute of America, I bridged my love of growing the food I serve and building community to the hearts of my students and customers through the Farm to Table Program as well as the Wine Spectator Restaurant.
I was awarded Top 10 Sous Chef in America by Food and Wine Magazine as of part of the opening team at the farm-driven southern French restaurant, Roux, and was an integral part of the filming of the television series and book for Jacques Pepin Celebrates!
I have been motivated to help others achieve their goals by writing the culinary training program at The Salvation Army
and am currently the Culinary Director and educator at Gray Haven, a reentry facility for adults with mental health challenges in the historic Eliza Yount Mansion in Napa.
I have showcased my love of local, sustainable food and wine and provided wine education and food and wine pairing to a host of celebrities, politicians, and food and wine aficionados as various wineries, resorts, and private homes.
No one is born a professional. To be exceptional at something, one has to work hard at it, both through practical work experience and education. Please read my resume to follow my path to where I am today.
Melanie Perkins
I have been working with fiber ever since learning to knit and crochet when I was five or six. I was taught by my grandmother, Caren (Larsen) Pedersen, who immigrated from Sweden as a young child around 1900. We knit Continental, holding the working yarn in the left hand. Since then, I have broadened my fiber arts skills to include spinning, weaving, preparing raw wool for spinning, and just about anything else fiber-related you can think of. After retiring from teaching in 2017, I opened Crockett Fiber Arts Studio, where I teach all things fiber arts. My focus is on promoting and sustaining the fiber arts in and inclusive and welcoming way. I am currently a member of Spindles and Flyers Spinning Guild, and am very active in the local fiber arts community.
Brian Perry
Brian Perry is a Professor of Biology at California State University, East Bay. He received his Master's Degree from San Francisco State University under the guidance of Dr. Dennis E. Desjardin, and his Ph.D. from Harvard University where he studied with Dr. Donald H. Pfister. Brian has been studying fungi since 1995, and has published over 40 papers in scientific journals. In addition to studying the evolution of fungal bioluminescence, he also conducts research on mushrooms and other fungi of Vanuatu, the assembly and biogeography of island fungal communities, endophytic fungi, and the systematics of Mycena and allied genera. Brian teaches several mycology courses at Cal State East Bay and the Sierra Nevada Field Campus.
Maria Pinto
When she’s not in the woods (and sometimes when she is), Maria Pinto is a writer, editor, and educator. She teaches writing and consults for the literary arts nonprofit GrubStreet, where she was a Community Programs Teaching Fellow from 2021-2023. She reads fiction for Peripheries Journal and serves on the board of Hale, an outdoor education and land conservancy nonprofit. Her writing has been supported by the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, the Mass Cultural Council, the Writers' Room of Boston, The Mastheads, and The Garrett on the Green. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Frigg, Necessary Fiction, Word Riot, The Butter, and Dostoevsky Wannabe Cities: Boston, and her nonfiction in Orion Magazine, Mushroom People, Arnoldia, and Roundglass Living. Maria has spoken about foraging, food autonomy, and fungal poetry, among other topics, to Bust Magazine, NPR stations WGBH, WBUR, and WAMC, PBS’s Poetry in America, the website Public Lands, and podcasts including unladylike and Climate Cuisine. She has led workshops and given lectures for the New York Mycological Society, Central Texas Mycological Society, Wisconsin Mycological Society, Mycological Association of Washington, DC, Telluride Mushroom Festival, Boston Center for the Arts, Brown University, Berklee College of Music, and Boston Public Library. She leads regular mycological forays at Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum. Her book of lyric essays inspired by mushrooms, Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless: A Fungal Lens on Hidden Histories and Black Survival, is forthcoming from the University of North Carolina Press in 2025.
Ang Pohle
Conservationist, community mycologist, and studio collaborator for Sporelust!, Ang explores the intersection of art and science through bioillustration and mycoremediation. Her background includes a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Game Art and Animation and international education across 15 countries, where she studied not only art but also the conservation of marine megafauna and oceanography. Ang’s forays into mycology inspire her artwork, her passion for community education, and her dedication to natural practices—gathering mushrooms by hand, processing them sustainably, and crafting art tools free from plastics.（。ˇ ⊖ˇ）♡
Alex Pruessner
Alex Pruessner is the Mycologist at Redwood Mushroom Supply, located in Sonoma County. With extensive laboratory and mycology experience, Alex specializes in mushroom cultivation and strain development.
Cole Pruitt
Cole is an amateur mycologist who leads the East Bay Fungal Genomics project (formerly with SLOPE labs). He holds a PhD in Chemistry from Washington University in St Louis and lives in Castro Valley, CA.
Justin Reyes
Justin is the Director of Sales and Marketing for Mycopia Mushrooms, a specialty mushroom farm located in Sebastopol, California since 1977. Justin is a graduate of Sonoma State University's International Business and Wine Business Programs with additional focus on world history and economics.
George Riner
George started mushrooming in 1990 in New England. President of the Boston Mycological Club from 2001-2006, he has led walks, taught classes and participated on grant-funded studies of fungi in Massachusetts. He moved to the Sebastopol area in 2008 and has been active with SOMA since.
Karen Rusiniak
Nature and art are my two enduring life passions and I love helping others connect with the natural world and their creativity. I specialize in botanical illustration and landscapes, but lately photography, specifically cyanotypes, have gotten my attention due to their painterly aesthetic that is quite poetic with an otherworldly etherealness. They lend themselves to “happy accidents” and can be manipulated in many ways only limited by the artist’s imagination. Also, as a member of a postal correspondence co-op, cyanotypes make great notecards and postcards and make people happy to receive one.
Toni Sardelis
I am completing my final semester at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California, and will begin undergraduate studies in Botany at Cal Poly Humboldt in January. Under the mentorship of Dr. David Largent, Professor Emeritus of Mycology, I work on projects involving the preparation of holotype specimens from herbarium collections for DNA sequencing. My work includes detailed analyses of microscopic and macroscopic features of sequenced fungal collections. Currently,I am engaged in a work-study program at the College of the Redwoods Natural History Museum, focusing on maintaining herbarium specimens by ensuring accurate taxonomy and proper preservation. I am currently working on a project that involves establishing a fungarium within the herbarium, alongside conducting a fungal inventory for the College of the Redwoods campus. This effort, which includes documenting fungal diversity and ecological habitats, contributes to citizen science through platforms like iNaturalist and supports public education by producing educational materials for the campus community. With a strong academic focus on fungi and mycoheterotrophic plants, I am also the proud recipient of a SOMA Scholarship. I am passionate about fungi photography and enjoy exploring the artistic potential of fungi and plants through the creation of natural dyes and pigments
Meredith Scheff-King
Grown feral in the Marin headlands, Meredith was taught to forage and create and always keep a sense of play. She still does. Her art career has included residencies at Autodesk, university of Illinois, Planet Labs, and the Schulz Museum. Her art has been shown at the Exploratorium and DFMoMa, and she’s led workshops and forays around California.
Julie Schreiber
Julie has been collecting, cooking, and eating mushrooms for 30 years. As a professionally trained chef, she has been teaching others about cooking and eating mushrooms for a significant portion of those three decades. In addition to her personal passion for good food and cooking, her formal training in the food and wine industry includes degrees in Hotel Restaurant and Travel Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America, and a Masters Degree in Enology from the University of California at Davis.
She has worked as a chef and is currently a professional winemaker. Additionally, she was on the Sonoma County Mycological Association board for 14 years and the lead chef for culinary events and demos at mushroom forays for David Arora, the Sonoma County Mycological Association (SOMA), the Mycological Society of San Francisco, the North American Mycological Association (NAMA), Wild About Mushrooms (WAM), and Relish Culinary Adventures.
She is a business partner in Mycoventures (https://www.mycoventures.com/wam), a company that organizes local and international mushroom forays. She organizes the events, helps lead the forays, and teach people how to cook cultivated and wild mushrooms. Most recently she has become the Culinary Arts Committee Chair for the North American Mycological Association (NAMA).
Visit her webpage at: https://chezjulies.com/
Mikhael Selk
Mikhael Selk is the SOMA (Sonoma County Mycological Association) Science Coordinator, and a mushroom ID Expert, and handles the Mushroom Poison Control hotline. He is also a very talented chef, and is the Lead Cook at Della Fattoria in Petaluma. His iNaturalist profile "mikhael" has 3000+ observations.
Alexander Sherman
Alex Sherman is a seasoned mycology professional with over 14 years of experience in fungi research and industry leadership. His expertise spans a diverse range of applications, including developing cGMP programs for medicinal mushrooms, scaling production for specialty mushrooms like Maitake, and innovating sustainable practices such as fungi-based plastic degradation. At UC Davis, Alex focused on nutrient cycling in soil systems, with a special interest in mycorrhizal fungi’s role in perennial agriculture and forestry applications. This passion for dynamic farming systems extended into niche truffle farming, where Alex studied under world-renowned mycologists to master truffle cultivation techniques and deepen his understanding of soil science. Alex also served on the Psychedelic Plants and Fungi and Botanical Raw Materials committees at the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), shaping industry testing standards for functional mushrooms. His unique combination of scientific research, applied expertise, and leadership continues to influence sustainable agriculture and the functional mushroom industry.
Noah Siegel
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.
He is one of the premier mushroom photographers in the nation, having won numerous awards from the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) photography contest. His technique and attention to detail are unrivaled, arising from a philosophy of maximizing utility for identification purposes while maintaining a high degree of aesthetic appeal.
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, numerous mushroom books; including the cover shot on Ascomycete Fungi of North Americaas. He is currently working on, along with Christian Schwarz, Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast, a comprehensive field guide for the northern California coast.
He is past president of the Monadnock Mushroomers Unlimited, (MMU) a mushroom club based out of Keene, NH, and is an active member of the Humboldt Bay Mycological Society and the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz.
Noah travels and lectures extensively across America, following the mushrooms from east to west and everywhere in between.
Harte Singer
Harte Singer is an undergraduate student at Cal State East Bay studying cell and molecular biology. He sits on the board of Bay Area Applied Mycology and has taught mycology workshops at Counter Culture Labs, a community science space in Oakland California. He is currently working with fungi to remediate Eucalyptus stumps with East Bay Municipal Utility District, as well as sequencing the whole genome of Omphalotus olivascens. His passion for mycology started during his 15-year career as a chef. Learning to forage edible mushrooms eventually led to an insatiable curiosity about all the ones that didn’t make it into the foraging basket. He began attending workshops at Counter Culture Labs where he learned how to do PCR, tissue culture, and microscopy of fungi from a cadre of renowned community scientists. He strives to inspire and teach other budding mycologists while he is learning from both academia and the community at large.
Jon Sommer
Jon Sommer has led mushroom forays, given lectures on a range of mycological topics, and taught mushroom identification across the U.S. for more than 45 years. He is a well-known speaker and presenter for mycological Societies and Forays across the country. He received a Bachelor’s degree in botany from Humboldt State University and Master’s degrees in botany and plant pathology from the University of California, Davis. He has studied mushroom identification with notable mycologists including Drs. David Largent, Orson K Miller, Jr and Harry D. Thiers. A resident of Colorado for 30 years, and now living on the Oregon coast, Jon has in-depth knowledge of fungi across the US and particularly northern California and Oregon. He is the immediate Past President of the Colorado Mycological Society and is the current Vice President of the Lincoln County Mycological Society.
Janai Southworth
I am a Naturalist with the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. A microscopist, the current president of the San Francisco Microscopical Society and artist. While I am primarily interested in imaging marine plankton I support microscopy outreach by bringing microscopes, cameras, and projectors to a variety of events around the Greater SF Bay Area.
Carrie Staller
Carrie Staller is the founder of Fork in the Path, a forest-to-table education organization based in the Bay Area. She is passionate about designing transformational community-building experiences with nature as the medium and partnering with thought leaders and exceptional educators. She and the Fork in the Path team have decades of experience and have guided thousands through the forest to many joyful moments.
Acorn Steed
Acorn Steed is a self-taught mycologist passionate about open science and equitable access to scientific information and practice. Driven by intense curiosity and a deep love for California’s ecology, they are dedicated to creating tools and resources that empower others and promote collaborative innovation.
Gayle Still
My passion for Fiber Art goes back to the 70's with a spinning wheel, natural dying and basketry. I enjoy exploring techniques that feature the beautiful colors obtained from mushrooms and sharing through teaching and showing at various venues.
Cecelia Stokes
Cecelia Stokes is a Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Department of Botany. She received her undergraduate degree in General Biology from the University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA) and was advised by Dr. Jonathan Horton. During her time at UNCA, she was awarded the University Research Scholar Designation, a Distinction in Biology, and received the Bernhardt-Perry Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. Although Stokes’ first research focused on plant community ecology, she fell in love with the world of fungi after taking a Mycology course and never looked back. After graduation, she worked as a Research Technician in a Plant Pathology lab at North Carolina State University where she researched fungal plant pathogens and their impacts on agricultural systems. In 2022, she began her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, co-advised by Drs. Anne Pringle and Michelle Jusino. Simultaneously, she is a Pathways Intern at the Center for Mycological Research of the U.S. Forest Service. Currently, Stokes is researching the invasion biology and chemical ecology of Amanita phalloides, or the death cap.
Autumn Summers
An avid wild foods forager, herbalist, gardener, and ethnobotanist, Autumn is passionate about sharing her 35 years of experience in an accessible and empowering way. She teaches botany, medicinal plant cultivation and how to safely and sustainably gather and use abundant wild edibles including seaweeds and mushrooms in Northern California. She currently teaches at the California School of Herbal Studies, Berkeley Herbal Center and Gathering Thyme herbal schools and is the lead herbal educator for Herb Pharm.
Damon Tighe
Born in Klamath Falls Oregon and raised in Calaveras County of California, Damon Tighe attended Saint Mary’s college of Moraga California where he worked on local newspapers while earning a Biology/Chemistry degree. He taught High School in Portland, Oregon and moved back to the Bay Area to work on the Human Genome Project at the National Lab’s Joint Genome Institute. He currently works for Bio-Rad laboratories designing curriculum and training educators from Colorado to the coast in biotechnology, and is well versed in local fungi.
Else Vellinga
Else Vellinga is a mycologist who is interested in naming and classifying mushroom species in California and beyond, especially Parasol mushrooms. She has described 20 species as new for California, and works at UC Berkeley for the Microfungi Collections Digitization project. Her main goal is to contribute to the conservation of mushroom species, and for that reason she has proposed several species for the IUCN global database of endangered species. She tries to keep current with the mushroom literature. Else is also an avid knitter and likes to use mushroom dyed yarn for her creations.
Elizabeth Vermillion
I create healing herbal products with homegrown or foraged botanicals in N.California (and maybe a ceramic mushroom 🍄)
Dr. Gordon Walker
Originally from Cambridge, MA, Dr. Gordon Walker moved to California to attend UC Santa Cruz where he developed a passion for scuba diving and home brewing. His interest in yeast and fermentation inspired him to attend UC Davis for graduate school where his doctoral research focused on the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in wine production. Specifically yeast physiology and metabolism as it related to the fermentation ecology. After receiving his doctorate in Biochemistry from UC Davis, Gordon worked at Opus One Winery, isolating wild yeast for wine production and establishing redox potential as process parameter for the wine industry. Beyond his love of yeast, Gordon is an avid mycophile who runs the @fascinatedbyfungi account on Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, and iNaturalist. Besides his obsession with fungi, he enjoys gardening, cooking for friends, and cats.
Peter Werner
Peter is a long-time Bay Area mycologist and has studied mycology at University of Washington and SFSU. Most recently, he completed an MSc degree in microscopy and imaging at the National University of Ireland, Galway, with a thesis project that involved optimizing fungal culture methods for high-resolution live-cell microscopy. Peter has taught microscopy at Merritt College, is former president of the San Francisco Microscopical Society, and is currently active in science education and outreach through Merritt College, SFMS, and East Bay Genomics.
Zachary Williams-Hunter
Deeply impassioned with understanding this planet that we call home, Zach has explored a wide range of topics and draws connections to inspire others here in Earth. With his BS in Geological Sciences, Zach has explored Permaculture, land remediation techniques, wild-crafting, and herbal studies. He has made a name for himself in California with a focus on healing foods, medicinal mushrooms, and understanding the unique flavors from wild-crafted foods. Drawing from the ancient past, and glimpsing the distant future, he believes that we are of one planet, one race, one body, and one consciousness, and that all studies can be united into a Unified Theory of Being Human. At the core of this belief is a message: the world deserves us at our best; let's strive to achieve together.
Classically trained in French culinary education, and raised in New American and Pacific Northwest kitchens, Chef Zachary presents imaginative experiences in the culinary and mycological world, bringing people together through love of food and community. He hopes to inspire others though entertaining lectures and fusion-powered view of regional cuisines.
In 2020, he unexpectedly spent the first year and half of the pandemic in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he lived, cooked and foraged with his fiancé Kimberly. He now lives in Oaxaca, Mexico, where he is involved with local indigenous communities to explore sustainable community-supporting mycotourism. He is the owner of The Fungivore, an aspiring author, mycophagy researcher and performance poet. Follow his adventures on instagram at @the_fungivore.
Links:
- The Fungivore is the culmination of over two decades of foraging, gathering, studying, lecturing on, researching, and loving mushrooms and fungi.
- NAMA‘s Mycophagist‘s Kitchen is committed to the delicious, safe, and interesting preparation of wild and cultivated mushrooms. We offer programs in mushroom cookery and preservation which draw from a wide variety of ethnicities and styles.
- World cuisine, poetry, music & mushrooms. Globetrotting Oregon Native. Mushroom Chef: @the_fungivore
- YouTube - Modern Forager Stories: Zachary Mazi
Daniel Winkler
Daniel Winkler is the author of Field Guides to Edible Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest and California (Harbour Publishing 2011/2012). He grew up collecting and eating wild mushrooms in the Alps and has been foraging for 16 years in the PNW, where he is an active member of PSMS and working as mushroom educator and guide. Daniel trained as a geographer and ecologist and works as researcher and NGO consultant on environmental issues of the Tibetan Plateau and Himalayas (see www.danielwinkler.com). Working in Tibet, Daniel realized that Tibet’s diverse mushroom industry plays a crucial role in rural Tibet and thus has been researching Tibet’s ethno-mycology for 15 years and published widely on the subject, especially on Cordyceps sinensis. With his travel agency MushRoaming LLC he is annually organizing and leading several mushroom focused eco-tours to Tibet and South America www.mushroaming.com
Mike Wood
Michael Wood, a California native, is a computer consultant by profession, and a mycologist and photographer by obsession. He is a past president of the Mycological Society of San Francisco and chair of the MSSF systematics committee. He is the publisher and webmaster for MykoWeb and The Fungi of California websites and former webmaster for the MSSF and the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) websites. He has been an avid mushroom collector, photographer, and taxonomist for over 30 years. His mushroom photographs have been published in many scientific journals, plus numerous books, magazines, newspapers, and websites. He has led numerous workshops and countless forays for the MSSF and others. He is the co-author of “California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide” and is currently collaborating on the forthcoming book “Mushrooms of the Great Smoky Mountains”.
Kathy Yerich
Co-author of the popular and accessible field guide, Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest (Adventure Publications) Kathy Yerich has been hanging out with the Minnesota Mycological Society (MMS) and North American Mycological Society (NAMA) for more than 15 years. Current MMS Vice President, her mission in those organizations is to make learning about mushrooms fun and accessible to everyone! Annual NAMA forays have brought her around the country in search of interesting fungi. Like mushrooms, mushroom enthusiasts are interesting company, and no matter the location or time of year, nothing beats time in the woods.
Rachel Zierdt
SOMA Silent Auction Maestro!
Rachel was on the SOMA Board of Directors for approximately 15 years before moving up to Portland OR to be closer to her family. She still likes to stay engaged with SOMA and the Fiber Arts community, and generously comes down to Sonoma County every year to run the Silent Auction.
Rachel Zoller
Rachel Zoller hails from the enchanting landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, where her childhood was steeped in outdoor adventures. It wasn’t until adulthood that she truly discovered the magic of mushrooms. A chance encounter with a chanterelle opened her eyes to the vibrant world that had thrived beneath her feet, unnoticed, for years. From that moment, she was captivated and her journey into the realm of mycology began. Having grappled with the complexities of mushroom identification and the dense language of mycology, she understands the challenges newcomers face. “Yellow Elanor” was born out of a desire to demystify this fascinating realm and provide a welcoming space for learners of all levels. Through her own experiences and interactions, she recognized the universal need for accessible resources and guidance, sparking her continued desire to educate.