Mt. Lemmon Mushroom Foraging

Post and photos by Peggy Ollerhead, Cohort 3

Interested mushroom hunters including four Arizona Master Naturalists from the Pima Chapter (Cameron Becker C2, Kathe Sudano C3, Peggy Ollerhead C3, and Tania Morris C4 Maricopa) joined The Desert Alchemist, Hernan Castro, for a mushroom foraging trip to Mt. Lemmon on September 16th. This trip was a follow-up to the August 14th Advanced Training presentation, titled Identification and Medical Uses of Fungi, that he offered at Brandi Fenton Memorial Park. Participants learned to locate and identify mushrooms and their edible and medicinal uses. Hernan taught field identification strategies, likely mushroom habitats, and methods to distinguish edible from non-edible varieties including the use of scientific test kits that can identify specific types.

Thanks to Izetta Feeney, Advanced Training Committee Chair, for organizing these classroom and field trip Advanced Training options!