Trent Blizzard

Wild mushrooms can be fascinating to study and, in the case of correctly identified edible species, both enjoyable to cook and delicious to eat. But they also demand respect. There

Books can teach you terminology. Photographs can introduce you to species. Apps can help organize observations. But few things accelerate your understanding of fungi like going into the field with

Most fungi spend the majority of their lives out of sight. The mushroom that appears above the soil or on a fallen log is usually only the visible reproductive structure

If you have never attended a mushroom foray, imagine part field trip, part outdoor classroom, part biodiversity survey, and part gathering of people who are especially excited about finding fungi.

You do not need a microscope, a biology degree, or an encyclopedic knowledge of Latin names to become interested in mycology. For many people, it begins with something much simpler:

Mushroom foraging combines exploration, observation and discovery. A walk that might once have been simply a hike can become a search through dozens of tiny habitats, each with its own

Mushrooms make extraordinary photographic subjects. They can be brilliantly colorful or nearly invisible. Some tower above the forest floor while others are only a few millimeters across. Gills, pores, scales,

You do not have to wait for the perfect combination of rainfall, temperature and forest habitat to watch mushrooms develop. You can grow them yourself. Home mushroom cultivation offers a

Finding an interesting mushroom in the forest can be exciting. But what if that discovery could still be useful to scientists decades from now? That is the idea behind a