Calendar and Upcoming Events
SOMA Camp Registration Opens
Tickets for SOMA Camp 2026 are now live and the schedule is posted. The event itself is Jan. 16th - 19th, 2026.
Registration opens for Nov 22nd at SPSP
Registration for our upcoming Fungi & Potluck event opens today. This link will not work until 930am on this day.
Please see this page for more information about what to expect, bring, etc.
Amanda Janney’s “Tales from the Small-Scale Mushroom Farm”
SOMA’s (free) General Meeting at the Sebastopol Grange. Please bring any mushrooms you would like help identifying! Doors at 530pm. Potluck around 6pm.
645pm Presentation "Tales From the Small Scale Mushroom Farm - How I started and sustain a micro mushroom farm in Sonoma County" by Amanda Janney
KM Mushrooms, founded by Amanda Janney in Santa Rosa, California focuses on producing premium quality gourmet mushrooms. Amanda began growing food, including fruits, veggies, and mushrooms, while living in Portland, Oregon, in the early 2000s. A long-time volunteer and educator working with food sovereignty non-profits such as Growing Gardens, Cooking Matters, and the Oregon Food Bank, Amanda has a deep passion for connecting with the community through food and education. In 2017, after returning from living abroad in Belgium for several years, Amanda decided to focus on mushroom cultivation knowledge and skills with the goal of one day starting a commercial, community-based farm. The dream has always been to provide the community with fresh, healthy, and exciting foods. "I believe there is a mushroom for everyone," says Amanda, who grows a unique variety of mushrooms, believing that the common grocery-store mushrooms that lack flavor and can often have a rubbery texture contribute to the common dislike of mushrooms.
Today you find KM Mushrooms at farmer’s markets and restaurant menus throughout the Bay Area.
KM stands for Ken$ie Maria, Amanda's loyal pup.
SOMA Fungi & Potluck @ Salt Point State Park
Registration for this event opens Nov 2nd at 930am. This link will not work until 930am on that day.
Please see this page for more information about what to expect, bring, etc.
SOMA @ Westminister Woods
Details to follow - Fundraiser for the Westminster Woods microscopy lab
Registration for Dec 22nd opens at 930am
Registration for our upcoming Salt Point State Park Fungi & Potluck event opens today. This link will not work until 930am on this day.
Please see this page for more information about what to expect, bring, etc.
SOMA @ MSSF Faire
SOMA Tabling with our bookstore all day - come hang with the Bay Area myco folks!
Holiday Dinner Culinary Event & Fundraiser
Sebastopol Grange. Start/End time might change a little bit; details to follow….
SOMA Fungi & Potluck @ Salt Point State Park
Registration for this event opens Dec. 1st, 2025 at 9:30am. This link will not work until that time!
SOMA Camp 2026 at CYO in Occidental
SOMA Camp 2026 tickets go on sale November 1st, 2025. They usually sell out within a couple weeks, so if you plan on attending, get ready now and please buy your ticket(s) as soon as possible.
We have a new planning committee and culinary chair, so this year’s Camp should feel different! We’ll also be collaborating with the CYO culinary team as well as Chef Daniel Kedan of The Culinary Institute of America.
Please see the SOMA Camp page for more info.
Alison Pollack: From Macro to Micro - The Art of Mushroom & Myxo Photography
SOMA’s (free) General Meeting at the Sebastopol Grange. Please bring any mushrooms you would like help identifying! Doors at 530pm. Potluck around 6pm.
645pm Presentation "From Macro to Micro - The Art of Mushroom & Myxo Photography” by Alison Pollack
Alison’s favorite photography subjects are tiny fungi and Myxomycetes (“Myxos” or “Slime Molds”), most so small that you would not see them as you walk through the forest. Alison will describe her evolution and process for creating beautiful photos of mushrooms and Myxos, most barely a few millimeters tall. She will share her techniques for field work as well as studio photography using extreme macro lenses and microscope objectives adapted to her camera. And, of course, she will share some of her favorite photographs from local and distant regions. She will discuss all of the gear she uses as well as some of her methods for shooting and post-processing. She will also discuss how to identify myxos using microscopy.
Alison Pollack is a macro and extreme macro photographer specializing in Myxomycetes (slime molds) and tiny fungi. Her passion is finding and photographing these beautiful organisms, especially the smaller ones, to bring awareness to the spectacular beauty that exists right at our feet as we walk through the forest. Her goal is to reveal these miniature beauties of the forest in a format that is as much art as science. Alison shares her photographs online where she has amassed a large and enthusiastic following from around the world. Her otherworldly images are captioned with information about her subjects, as well as technical details of her photography process. Alison’s photographs have been featured in dozens of print and online publications, including National Geographic, the Sunday New York Times, Der Spiegel and Science Weekly. She has been a top winner many times in the the prestigious Nikon Small World photography competition and is one of the Nikon Masters of Microscopy.
SOMA @ Salt Point w/ Potluck
Registration for this event opens Feb. 1st, 2026 at 9:30am. This link will not work until that time!
Mandie Quark: Mapping California's Fungi with Mycota Lab's MycoMap CA Network
SOMA’s (free) General Meeting at the Sebastopol Grange. Please bring any mushrooms you would like help identifying! Doors at 530pm. Potluck around 6pm.
645pm Presentation "Mapping California's Fungi with Mycota Lab's MycoMap CA Network" by Mandie Quark
Mycota Lab's “MycoMap California Network” is an engaged network of volunteer fungi collectors who are documenting biodiversity across California. This community-driven effort, fueled by collective expertise and grassroots engagement, has uncovered numerous unique and important species. This presentation will highlight some of the most interesting, rare, and remarkable fungi discovered and celebrate the dedicated collectors who found them. Through fieldwork, molecular sequencing and expansive citizen science data streams, we are creating a dynamic, comprehensive map of California’s fungi. Learn how you can help document fungi by joining this collaborative effort that is transforming mycology. This project advances fungal conservation and taxonomy while demonstrating how human networks can mirror and support the intricate networks that fungi form beneath our feet.
Mandie Quark is a molecular biologist and science writer by training and a researcher with a passion for the advancement of community mycology. Now with over a decade of experience studying, professionally photographing, and communicating about fungi to the public, Mandie has edited books and spoken at mycology events across the world. She co-founded Mycena LLC in 2023, and her work has been featured in the Guardian and the New York Times. Mandie lives in the California Bay Area while organizing international mycology events in places like Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica. In her position at Mycota Lab as the California Community Science Director, she is dedicated to building and empowering networks of community mycologists to document fungal diversity in California and beyond. Mandie delivers enthralling presentations that simplify complex topics while showcasing mycological research. Her favorite work entails finding and documenting rare fungi through field photography in under-documented biodiversity hotspots around the world.
SOMA @ Salt Point w/ Potluck
Registration for this event opens March. 1st, 2026 at 9:30am. This link will not work until that time!
Mikhael Crystallah-Selk: Sierra Fungi
Sebastopol Grange. 6000 Sebastopol Ave.
Doors open at 530. Potluck around 6pm. Presentation around 645pm.
Volunteer Appreciation Culinary Event
Where: Sebastopol Grange - 6000 Sebastopol Ave in Sebastopol on Hwy 12
When: 6pm on Thursday, October 23rd, 2025
Our new culinary committee chair Dr. Gordon Walker will curate a casual and comfortable culinary experience with a melange of mushroom-centric dishes that take dietary restrictions into account.
This meal is free for our 2025 SOMA Camp volunteers, specifically to thank them for their service. Guests, including non-SOMA members, are welcome to join with a $20 cover.
Tickets for this event will be available through Humanitix after the morning of October 12th, 2025. You must have a ticket to attend, so we can make sure we have enough food for everyone - please register with the Humanitix link to confirm our head count!
David Healy’s “Mushrooms of Sonoma County”
SOMA’s (free) General Meeting at the Sebastopol Grange. Please bring any mushrooms you would like help identifying! Doors at 530pm. Potluck around 6pm.
645pm Presentation "Mushrooms of Sonoma County" by SOMA Board Member David Healy
Welcome to the “official” beginning of mushroom season in Sonoma County! If you didn’t know, mushrooms can be picked year-round in California if you are willing to travel, but this presentation will focus on when and where to find local mushrooms during this time of year (and the upcoming months), tree types to identify, mushroom stories, edibles, cool and weird mushrooms, and more!
David Healy grew up in Sonoma County. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Environmental Studies. He has worked as a farmer, nurseryman, and in native habitat restoration. David's passions for plants and ecology began while interning on a farm in Santa Cruz. David discovered a love for plant propagation, seed saving, and taxonomy. His love for plant identification led to a curiosity of mushrooms. David's fascination with mushrooms began while working on a farm during the winter of 2016. It was a wet winter and there were mushrooms everywhere in the oak woodlands adjacent to the vegetable farm. David became obsessed with trying to find, photograph, and identify mushrooms. He has been on the SOMA board since 2021. Today, David is an 8th grade science teacher in Santa Rosa. He lives in Cotati with his wife and 2 year old son. Some of his favorite things are camping, cooking, looking for mushrooms, photography, eating pizza, saving seeds, and exploring the world with his family.
Damon Tighe: Urban CA Mushrooms
Please join us for SOMA’s first annual meeting of the season at the Sebastopol Grange welcoming Damon Tighe with his presentation on using iNaturalist to identify mushrooms with a particular focus on urban species.
Sebastopol Grange. 6000 Sebastopol Ave.
Doors open at 530. Potluck around 6pm. Presentation around 645pm.
Learning to identify mushrooms can be a slow process. Books, fungus fairs, and guided outings have traditionally been the best way to learn. iNaturalist, a free app that was developed in the Bay Area, has emerged as a wonderful learning tool. Further. iNat has become the largest community science project in the world documenting species biogeography! This talk will cover how to use the platform to get the most out of it and how to contribute to our global understating of fungal biodiversity. And since it’s September and urban mushrooms are starting to emerge, we will also do a tour, using iNaturalist data, of common urban mushrooms.
Damon Tighe is a biotechnologist and naturalist in the San Francisco Bay Area who first became interested in mushrooms because he ran out of food on a 350 km hike in California's Sierra Nevada mountains; he saw plenty of mushrooms, but didn't have the confidence to eat them. Previously, he worked on the human genome project, single cell sequencing, and now works for Bio-Rad Laboratories supporting teachers in bringing modern biology techniques into their classrooms. He has been involved in community science efforts to DNA barcode fungi for over a decade, is well-known in the mycological community and has helped as a teacher at SOMA Camp as well!
Forest & Farm Pop-up Dinner
Featured event: Join SOMA chefs Julie Schreiber & Jennifer Levine under the stars for a magical evening of mushroom culinary delights at a Forest & Farm Pop-up. A unique dining experience awaits!
Eventbrite registration link here (with all the info you should need.)
Dr. Gordon Walker’s Passport to Kingdom Fungi (+ Morels on the Mind)
Come join us for our last general meeting of the season as we get ready to go morel hunting! We’ll also be celebrating Dr. Gordon Walker’s new book: Passport to Kingdom Fungi!
Gordon is one of SOMA’s board members and our Scholarship Committee Chair, and he will present a fun and broad overview of the fungal kingdom, covering the incredible variety of forms, lifestyles and ecological niches they inhabit worldwide. He will also give tips for hunting morels in the mountains of California.
Potluck starts at 6pm. Announcements and the presentation will follow around 630/645pm.
Sebastopol Grange: 6000 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol, CA 95472
Dr. Gordon Walker is an award-winning speaker, science communicator, published author, and social media star with over 3 million cumulative followers. He has a Ph.D in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Davis where he studied the microbial ecology of wine fermentations and yeast genetics. He is a passionate advocate for mushrooms, fungal conservation, and environmental sustainability. His new book "Passport to Kingdom Fungi" will fundamentally transform the way people learn about mushrooms and fungi, serving as the go-to resource for a whole new generation of mycophiles and people interested in foraging, food, and fermentation.
Zoom Link for remote viewing: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86864067457?pwd=WkovMVlkR3FEbjVCMjZWcWRkMW52Zz09
Meeting ID 868 6406 7457, Password: SOMA
And if the technology gods allow, we try to live-stream to the SOMA Facebook page which has recordings of past meetings. https://www.facebook.com/SOMAmushrooms.org
Mayumi Fujio - Fiber Arts & Botanical Printing
Updated! (Alissa can unfortunately no longer attend.)
Join us with Mayumi Fujio for a presentation about the fiber arts, natural plant and mushroom pigments, and a technique called “botanical printing” which uses real leaves to transfer colors and shapes from plants onto natural fibers (silk, wool, etc.) Mayumi will cover some of the natural pigment mushrooms of the Bay Area and how to extract their colors. She will also include some UV-fluorescent colors from mushrooms and how they are used in her work.
Mayumi is an award-winning fiber artist using natural pigments. She has been a forager since she was young and studied field botany for edible/medicinal plants. For the last 11 years, she has focused on foraging and studying mushrooms for food and pigments, and all of the materials she uses are ethically harvested from the Bay Area. Her art pieces are sold at galleries, art museums and festivals in Seattle, San Francisco and at myco-centric gatherings like SOMA Camp and the Telluride Mushroom Festival.
Zoom Link for remote viewing: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86864067457?pwd=WkovMVlkR3FEbjVCMjZWcWRkMW52Zz09
Meeting ID 868 6406 7457, Password: SOMA
And if the technology gods allow, we try to live-stream to the SOMA Facebook page which has recordings of past meetings. https://www.facebook.com/SOMAmushrooms.org
David Arora for our March General Meeting
David Arora’s Wheel of Fungi
Join us with the esteemed mycologist for a variety of mushroom-related topics across Asia, Africa, and California!
Mycologist David Arora is the author of the very popular mushroom guidebooks All that the Rain Promises and More as well as the epic and humorous tome Mushrooms Demystified. He has traveled across many continents photographing and studying mushrooms as well as the ethnomycological traditions and economies of diverse cultures. In addition to his books, Arora has also authored many articles on topics such as amateur/commercial mushroom hunting, the fungal economic development of rural communities, and some of the conflicts related to conservation that involve mushroom foraging.
Sebastopol Grange. Potluck at 6pm.
Presentation around 630/645pm.
Zoom Link for remote viewing: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86864067457?pwd=WkovMVlkR3FEbjVCMjZWcWRkMW52Zz09
Meeting ID 868 6406 7457, Password: SOMA
And if the technology gods allow, we try to live-stream to the SOMA Facebook page which has recordings of past meetings. https://www.facebook.com/SOMAmushrooms.org
Olga Tzogas, Greece (Zoom)
Zoom Link Here for 630pm, March 6th, 2025
For those of you who joined us in the Grange parking lot in February, here is a version of the presentation Olga would have shared that night under the dim hum of a streetlamp and among the din thump of the DJ’s beats: Olga Tzogas’s Mushrooms + Culture from Greece.
Read more here at Smugtown Mushrooms
Take a visual journey into the diverse and lush natural world of Greece. Ancient forests, traditional land-based living still exists, providing a rich culture weaved within nature itself. Connections to fungi are ever-present and they’re only gaining attention. Take a look into the relationships the locals have with certain species of mushrooms, plants & some of their associated recipes.
Registration opens for 3.22.25 @ Salt Point
This is our last Salt Point event of the season!
Registration for 3.22.25 opens March 1st at 930am: Here is the link, which will not work until the event is live.
SOMA Fungi & Potluck @ Salt Point State Park
SOMA Fungi & Potluck @ Salt Point State Park
Feb General Meeting: Mushrooms + Culture of Greece, by Olga from Smugtown Mushrooms (NY)
Olga will present Mushrooms + Culture from Greece with a cooking demo bonus!
Take a visual journey into the diverse and lush natural world of Greece. Ancient forests, traditional land-based living still exists, providing a rich culture weaved within nature itself. Connections to fungi are ever-present and they’re only gaining attention. Take a look into the relationships the locals have with certain species of mushrooms, plants & some of their associated recipes.
Where: Sebastopol Grange. Here is a zoom link if you’d like to join remotely.
6000 Sebastopol Ave, Hwy 12, Sebastopol, CA 95472.
When: Potluck at 6pm. Announcements at 630pm. 7pm Presentation.
Olga Tzogas started her love affair with Fungi and plants over 15 years ago, with the help and guidance of family, teachers and community. In 2011, Smugtown Mushrooms was started, which provides cultivation supplies to grow mushrooms, indoors or outdoors, for food or for medicine. Olga has taught hundreds of folks how to grow mushrooms, make medicine and learn about the glory of Fungi and the natural world. In collaborating with The Mycelium Underground, Olga helped create the New Moon Mycology Summit in 2018. She was also a core organizer for the 2016 Radical Mycology Convergence and the MycoSymbiotics Festival from 2015-2017. Annually, Olga returns to her ancestral homeland to guide small groups immersed in land based and traditional knowledge of the country of Greece, highlighting the flora and funga!
Zoom Meeting: SOMA’s Scholarship Recipients
SOMA Meeting: Scholarship Recipients Present Research Updates
Fungi @ Westminister Woods!
Register here through Humanitix.
We will not be having our typical potluck lunch, so please bring food/water to nourish yourself through the day. Your mushroom group leaders will also appreciate yummy/gourmet/delicious snacks - food trades can earn mushroomy secrets, by the way.
With this particular offering, we are trying to fundraise to aid Westminister Woods and their microscopy lab upgrades for their annual 10,000+ visits from kids. Mycologize the youth! We did a similar event last year, and it was a success!
Where: Westminister Woods - 6510 Bohemian Hwy, Occidental, CA 95465
When: 930am arrival/parking. See link above for timeline of the day.
Important: by registering for this event, you are agreeing to the Liability Waiver. Please read and review.
You should also know that by joining us for this event you might be exposed to poison oak, ticks, mosquitoes, viruses or other sick-making organisms and more natural wonders of the world that you may or may not enjoy.
Registration opens for Salt Point (2.22.25)
Registration for 2.22.25 opens Feb 1st at 930am: Here is the link, which will not work until it is live.
SOMA Holiday Dinner & Scholarship Fundraiser
Greetings SOMA community!
Please join us for our annual holiday fundraising dinner, an evening of fine food and mushroomy friends! The kitchen crew, led by Jennifer Levine, will begin serving around 6:15pm (menu below.)
We have a few NEW tickets options and are doing things differently this year, please read on!
Potluck appetizers will be served at 5:15/5:30pm. There will be dishes that are vegan and gluten free, so everyone can enjoy the feast!
Register here through Humanitix.
Date/Time: 515pm on Sunday, December 15th, 2024
Where: Sebastopol Grange. 6000 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol CA 95472
Cost: Work-trade - $200 VIP - See below.
And all of our events have an additional donation option for more scholarships and fungal DNA sequencing!
Please select your ticket based on which role you would like to fill - this is a community effort and mycology fundraiser!
If you are bringing a dish, please plan for 15-20++ servings (we will have 45-60 people) and arrive at 515pm for appetizers!
TICKET CHOICES:
KITCHEN Work-Trade:
There are 8 tickets available for kitchen volunteers who want to work-trade for dinner.
Please be in touch with Jen to arrive on time, usually around 12pm.
We prefer those with kitchen experience and/or a necessary willingness to be directed by the chef. This can be a great learning experience and you will see how to prep for a dinner party, learn about mushroom cleaning, cooking, etc!
SETUP + Appetizer/Desssert:
There are 3 tickets available for those who wish to help Setup AND bring an Appetizer (tables, chairs, decorations, etc.)
Please arrive at 430pm.
There are 3 tickets available for those who wish to help Setup AND bring a Dessert (tables, chairs, decorations, etc.)
Please arrive at 430pm.
CLEAN UP + Appetizer/Dessert:
There are 5 tickets available for those who wish to help with Clean Up AND bring an Appetizer (dishes, tables, chairs, etc.)
Please plan to stay 30 minutes afterwards.
There are 5 tickets available for those who wish to help with Clean Up AND bring a Dessert (dishes, tables, chairs, etc.)
Please plan to stay 30 minutes afterwards.
NEW: No cooking asked (but welcome):
There are 28 tickets available for those who simply want to attend (you may bring a dish if you would like!)
NEW - There are 8 VIP tickets available for those who wish to additionally support our mission and this option includes a new and signed copy of Siegel & Schwarz's Mushrooms of Cascadia and perhaps some wine and/or a surprise from the SOMA Store!
2024 MENU:
- Pork Loin Roast (GF) with Mixed Mycopia Mushroom Gravy
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes (GF)
- Sautéed Mixed Greens & Maitake (V/GF)
- Roasted Mixed Squash & Candy Caps (V/GF)
- Beet Salad, Apples, Walnuts, Balsamic & optional Goat Cheese (GF/V + cheese option)
V/GF Entree Option - please let us know if you want/need this when you purchase your ticket!
- Roasted Portobello Cap & Wild Rice, Dried Cranberries & Walnuts with Mixed Mycopia Mushroom Gravy
