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• MAW 2025 Mushroom Fair

  • When
    12 Oct 2025
  •  
    12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    Brookside Gardens Visitor Center, 1800 Glenallen Ave, Wheaton, MD

  Join the Mycological Association of Washington for a day of forays and fun at Brookside Gardens Sunday October 12, from 12 pm to 5 pm. Open to the general public, the 2025 MAW Mushroom Fair will feature several mushroom-themed demonstrations, including a walkthrough of interesting mushroom specimens by our club’s expert identifiers, spore microscopy, mycelial sculpting, mushroom cultivation and more. This family-friendly event will also feature kids' activities, including a trio of mushroom-themed books read by the author (MAW’s own AD Gray). Bring cash to purchase mushroom art, photography, tinctures, grow kits, and more from onsite vendors. 

  Mushroom walks will depart every half hour to explore the grounds of Brookside Gardens and Wheaton Regional Park. No registration is required; this event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact vp@mawdc.org. Carpool link for MAW members is here.

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• DNA Lab Day @ Mount Rainier Nature Center

  • When
    19 Oct 2025
  •  
    10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
  • Location
    Mount Rainier Nature Center, 4701 31st Pl, Mount Rainier MD
  • Registered
    Be the first

  Register

  
  

  Join us at Mount Rainier Nature Center at 10am to bring your mushroom samples or at 1pm to ask questions about our process or anything fungi. Our experts are excited to see you! Mark your calendars!

  Mount Rainier Nature Center is located at 4701 31st Place, Mount Rainier MD, 20712

  If you are bringing samples to us, please ensure that the samples have been properly documented on iNaturalist, and that each of your samples has a unique iNaturalist observation number by the time of your arrival. Follow the process below to make your observation:

  MAKING AN OBSERVATION

  PHOTOGRAPH BEFORE DETACHING!

  • Take more than one picture
  • Show where the fungus is  growing from (substrate)
  • • If attached to something living, identify as much as possible. Ex: conifer, deciduous, oak, american holly, etc.
  • Photograph the habit (growing alone, gregarious, in clusters, etc.)
  • Take a picture from the top

  DETACH

  • Take a picture of the underside
  • Cut through the spore producing surface and notice if there are changes in color or secretion of latex. If so annotate and photograph
  • Add any smell or bruising you observe in the notes section

  PREPARING SAMPLE FOR DNA EXTRACTION

  • Place the mushroom on a coffee filter, piece of paper, or wax bag
  • Write the voucher information: date of collection, location, name of collector, field ID (Russula, Bolete, Agaricus, etc) and iNaturalist observation number.
  • Place your sample inside its voucher bag in a dehydrator at 100° until it is dry as cardboard. The timing of his process will vary depending on the size of the mushroom.
  • • If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can place the mushroom in your oven using its lowest setting and leaving the door of the oven cracked with a clothespin. Check on this setting every hour to prevent burning or cooking the specimen.
  • Once the specimen has been dried, wait for it to cool to room temperature and place the voucher bag and the mushroom inside in a closed ziplock bag to prevent rehydration with humid air. 

  Once you have a dried specimen inside a bag labeled with your name, location, date of collection, iNaturalist observation number, and approximate ID, you are ready to bring the sample to us
  

  In the link below you’ll find the slideshow used for the training on how to make observations and how to label your sample bag to serve as a voucher as well.

  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18N69qmR7zaUbveKunJVO6vcwY1hSQoYobPJFaUd2HDk/edit?usp=drivesdk
  

  We will receive your properly documented sample with our deepest gratitude 

  We are excited to see you there!

  -Serenella Linares, Programs Chair & Megan Romberg, Science Advisor
  The Mycological Association of Washington, Inc.

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• Halloween Lichen Foray- Sunday, Nov 2nd

  • When
    02 Nov 2025
  •  
    10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Washington, DC
  • Spaces left
    30

  
  

   

  Foray Announcement: Rock Creek Cemetery Sunday, November 2nd - 10:00 AM Foray Leaders: Dr. Natalie Howe & Tom McCoy

  No registration necessary for this event.
  

  In honor of the Halloween season, MAWDC is hosting a fa-boo-lous lichen identification walk in historic Rock Creek Cemetery with lichenologist Dr. Natalie Howe and Tom McCoy.  Lichens are composite organisms that grow on rocks, e.g. tombstones, so you should definitely stop in for a spell.

  Lichens are best appreciated under magnification, so bring along a hand lens if you have one, but if you don't, no worries, we'll have many available for loan.  Also, be aware that Rock Creek Cemetery is famous for its funerary arts, and we'll have a few pauses to appreciate their beauty as our leaders explain the history and symbolism of a few sculptures.  We're taking a Halloween walk in a famous cemetery to learn about lichens and amazing art.  What fun(gi) we're going to have!

  We'll meet at the gate entrance near the intersection of Webster Street and Rock Creek Church Road.  Finding parking can be challenging, but you may be able to locate a spot on Webster St., or by parallel parking along New Hampshire Ave.  

  Map to the location

  Stay spooky,

  Tom McCoy

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• DNA Lab Day @ Mount Rainier Nature Center

  • When
    16 Nov 2025
  •  
    10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
  • Location
    Mount Rainier Nature Center, 4701 31st Pl, Mount Rainier MD
  • Registered
    Be the first

  Register

  
  

  Join us at Mount Rainier Nature Center at 10am to bring your mushroom samples or at 1pm to ask questions about our process or anything fungi. Our experts are excited to see you! Mark your calendars!

  Mount Rainier Nature Center is located at 4701 31st Place, Mount Rainier MD, 20712

  If you are bringing samples to us, please ensure that the samples have been properly documented on iNaturalist, and that each of your samples has a unique iNaturalist observation number by the time of your arrival. Follow the process below to make your observation:

  MAKING AN OBSERVATION

  PHOTOGRAPH BEFORE DETACHING!

  • Take more than one picture
  • Show where the fungus is  growing from (substrate)
  • • If attached to something living, identify as much as possible. Ex: conifer, deciduous, oak, american holly, etc.
  • Photograph the habit (growing alone, gregarious, in clusters, etc.)
  • Take a picture from the top

  DETACH

  • Take a picture of the underside
  • Cut through the spore producing surface and notice if there are changes in color or secretion of latex. If so annotate and photograph
  • Add any smell or bruising you observe in the notes section

  PREPARING SAMPLE FOR DNA EXTRACTION

  • Place the mushroom on a coffee filter, piece of paper, or wax bag
  • Write the voucher information: date of collection, location, name of collector, field ID (Russula, Bolete, Agaricus, etc) and iNaturalist observation number.
  • Place your sample inside its voucher bag in a dehydrator at 100° until it is dry as cardboard. The timing of his process will vary depending on the size of the mushroom.
  • • If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can place the mushroom in your oven using its lowest setting and leaving the door of the oven cracked with a clothespin. Check on this setting every hour to prevent burning or cooking the specimen.
  • Once the specimen has been dried, wait for it to cool to room temperature and place the voucher bag and the mushroom inside in a closed ziplock bag to prevent rehydration with humid air. 

  Once you have a dried specimen inside a bag labeled with your name, location, date of collection, iNaturalist observation number, and approximate ID, you are ready to bring the sample to us
  

  In the link below you’ll find the slideshow used for the training on how to make observations and how to label your sample bag to serve as a voucher as well.

  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18N69qmR7zaUbveKunJVO6vcwY1hSQoYobPJFaUd2HDk/edit?usp=drivesdk
  

  We will receive your properly documented sample with our deepest gratitude 

  We are excited to see you there!

  -Serenella Linares, Programs Chair & Megan Romberg, Science Advisor
  The Mycological Association of Washington, Inc.

  Show details
• DNA Lab Day @ Mount Rainier Nature Center

  • When
    07 Dec 2025
  •  
    10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
  • Location
    Mount Rainier Nature Center, 4701 31st Pl, Mount Rainier MD
  • Registered
    Be the first

  Register

  
  

  Join us at Mount Rainier Nature Center at 10am to bring your mushroom samples or at 1pm to ask questions about our process or anything fungi. Our experts are excited to see you! Mark your calendars!

  Mount Rainier Nature Center is located at 4701 31st Place, Mount Rainier MD, 20712

  If you are bringing samples to us, please ensure that the samples have been properly documented on iNaturalist, and that each of your samples has a unique iNaturalist observation number by the time of your arrival. Follow the process below to make your observation:

  MAKING AN OBSERVATION

  PHOTOGRAPH BEFORE DETACHING!

  • Take more than one picture
  • Show where the fungus is  growing from (substrate)
  • • If attached to something living, identify as much as possible. Ex: conifer, deciduous, oak, american holly, etc.
  • Photograph the habit (growing alone, gregarious, in clusters, etc.)
  • Take a picture from the top

  DETACH

  • Take a picture of the underside
  • Cut through the spore producing surface and notice if there are changes in color or secretion of latex. If so annotate and photograph
  • Add any smell or bruising you observe in the notes section

  PREPARING SAMPLE FOR DNA EXTRACTION

  • Place the mushroom on a coffee filter, piece of paper, or wax bag
  • Write the voucher information: date of collection, location, name of collector, field ID (Russula, Bolete, Agaricus, etc) and iNaturalist observation number.
  • Place your sample inside its voucher bag in a dehydrator at 100° until it is dry as cardboard. The timing of his process will vary depending on the size of the mushroom.
  • • If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can place the mushroom in your oven using its lowest setting and leaving the door of the oven cracked with a clothespin. Check on this setting every hour to prevent burning or cooking the specimen.
  • Once the specimen has been dried, wait for it to cool to room temperature and place the voucher bag and the mushroom inside in a closed ziplock bag to prevent rehydration with humid air. 

  Once you have a dried specimen inside a bag labeled with your name, location, date of collection, iNaturalist observation number, and approximate ID, you are ready to bring the sample to us
  

  In the link below you’ll find the slideshow used for the training on how to make observations and how to label your sample bag to serve as a voucher as well.

  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18N69qmR7zaUbveKunJVO6vcwY1hSQoYobPJFaUd2HDk/edit?usp=drivesdk
  

  We will receive your properly documented sample with our deepest gratitude 

  We are excited to see you there!

  -Serenella Linares, Programs Chair & Megan Romberg, Science Advisor
  The Mycological Association of Washington, Inc.

  Show details
• December Board Meeting

  • When
    14 Dec 2025
  •  
    4:00 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    https://zoom.us/j/96693690911?pwd=YWdyeXh1bHF1N1UyNjNieFovNWFUZz09

  Our quarter 4 board meeting: Agenda will be made available in the days before.  Presumably this will be an in person meeting.

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