Popular outdoor educator and avid forager Stephan Lukacic takes you deep into science, ecology, and methodology of modern mushroom hunting.

There are thousands of mushroom species in eastern North America. Some have strange alien-looking shapes that don’t resemble the mushrooms you find in the grocery store at all. Some look like heads of cauliflower, some like beautiful corals you’d find under the sea, others like soccer balls, bird’s feathers, or dangling icicles that hang from dead stumps and logs, or that burst up from the forest floor through leaves and dirt.

Wild mushrooms have curious folk names like “Dead Man’s Fingers”, “Shaggy Mane”, “Witch’s Butter”, and “Bear’s Head Tooth”; but their scientific names are far more accurate and important. Some turn colours when they’re cut or bruised, others smell like common fruits, taste acrid or bitter, or even glow in the dark at night. Many wild mushrooms are delicious; others are toxic. Most are unpalatable, flavourless, or too tough to eat. A few are even deadly. But how do you know which is which?

This short, intensive class is designed to demystify wild mushrooms, giving you a solid foundation on which to build future identification and foraging skills. The workshop begins with an engaging 90 min seminar. You will receive a 6-page handout covering all the basics of mushroom hunting methodology, and read and discuss its contents thoroughly. Then you’ll do a deep dive right into the forested areas of High Park—putting the knowledge you’ve acquired directly into practice by identifying wild mushrooms the group encounters in their natural habitat.

Mushroom hunting is a fascinating, gratifying, and often misunderstood outdoor activity. Come learn the basics of these fungal wonders of nature, learn tricks of the forager’s trade, and have a blast doing it!

Note: You will not be foraging for wild mushrooms to take home. This workshop focuses on teaching you how to find and identify wild edible mushrooms.

Price: $73

Ages: 18+ years

Meeting Location: High Park Forest School, 375 Colborne Lodge Drive

Please bring:

A pen or pencil

A notebook

Weather-appropriate clothing

Curiosity

Readiness for outdoor learning