Foragers, naturalists, and enthusiasts, join us for one of the most popular and timeless winter topics in natural history: edible mushrooms. If you’ve ever been stopped on a hike by a curious-looking mushroom and wondered, “Could I eat that?” this presentation is for you. The forests, grasslands, and woodlands of Sonoma County host about 3,000 species of mushrooms, half of which are edible. Local mushroom hunter, Darvin DeShazer, will take us on a visual journey through some of his favorite local fungi fares and even offer some hints on where to find them.


NOTE: No mushroom should be eaten unless it can first be positively identified as edible. Successful identification of mushrooms requires practice and expertise beyond this presentation.

Darvin DeShazer is a retired science teacher with forty years of mushroom hunting. He is one the co-founders of SOMA (Sonoma County Mycological Association) and creator of SOMA Camp, which is the fund raiser for his scholarship program. His love for hunting mushrooms has resulted in over 10,000 color photos of fungi on Mushroom Observer and iNaturalist and contributed to the popular book 100 Edible Mushrooms.