A recent article in The Press Banner warned of the severe consequences of mistakenly eating poisonous mushrooms found in our area. With our early rainfall this season fungi are emerging at a record pace and if you are not an expert at identifying a particular variety of edible mushroom better leave them off the dining table. While there are many wild mushrooms growing in this area that are edible there are just as many that are poisonous. Mistakenly ingesting one can cause death or liver damage so severe that a transplant would be needed for you to survive.

There are over a thousand beautiful fungi to discover in our area. They live in such lovely places. Each year I volunteer as a basketeer for the Fungus Fair that is organized by the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz. It?s held at the Louden Nelson Community Center in Santa Cruz on Friday afternoon, January 13th and continues on Saturday and Sunday, January 14th and 15th from 10:00am – 5:00pm.

Mushroom experts will be available throughout the fair to identify mushrooms you?ve found. Bring yours in a paper bag which keeps them fresher than plastic. You?ve got a week to collect remembering that those in our State Parks are off limits.

The habitat display is what I help put together by creating baskets of some of the hundreds of mushroom species commonly found in the Santa Cruz and neighboring counties. It is one of the main attractions of the Fungus Fair. Volunteers collect different types of tree, leaf and duff material for the tables and main centerpiece that will display fungi by order and family. It?s an easy way to get started learning which ones are poisonous, good eating and just plain beautiful or unusual.

During the fair renowned speakers will talk about mushroom toxicity, identification, myth busting and even mushroom medicine along with cooking demonstrations and tastings of exceptionally good fungal fare. The Kid?s Room which is open on Saturday and Sunday has mushroom arts and crafts, face painting and making dyed fabrics. You can even look at fungi spores through a microscope.

Most foragers enjoy the hunt for fungi as well as eating them in a good meal. Me, I seem to take more photographs than specimens. Getting down at their level as they emerge from the earth, looking to see if their undersides have gills or pores or other identifying features, makes one appreciate our entire ecosystem and how we fit in. In most any meadow or mixed forest you are sure to discover varieties you?ve never seen before.

I recently came across an impressive coral fungi emerging from the forest duff. They are quite distinctive looking and many are edible. My Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms by David Aurora, however, states that even this unique looking family of fungi can be hard to identify. Some are edible while many are mildly poisonous.

Don?t miss the opportunity to see hundreds of fungi up close and personal as well as take in all the talks, displays, food and marketplace next weekend at the Fungus Fair.