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.