Meetings for 2022-2023
Speaker Series: Tuesday, May 17, 2022 7:30 p.m.
Speaker: Kathy Vatcher
Presentation: The Tip of the Iceberg - Discoveries in the world of mycology and its important role in our past, present and future.
Kathy Vatcher, an accomplished visual artist and educator, lives in Toronto but escapes the city as often as possible to hunt for wild mushrooms. She’s been studying them since joining the Mycological Society of Toronto a decade ago, though her interest began 35 years earlier. A frequent foray leader, she’s helped identify hundreds of species collected on dozens of forays and Bioblitzes. Yet she’s always eager to learn more from both mushroom experts and gifted amateurs. She’s taught mushroom identification at the Mycological Society of Toronto, The Kortright Centre for Conservation, Rouge National Park and for private corporations.
Mushrooms also pop up in her art. During the pandemic, she began creating unique decorative plates, many featuring fungi, that may be viewed at Tectonic Plates on Facebook. She also paints mushrooms, landscapes and portraits of pets and people. And recently she wrote Beatrix Potter Tells Her Tale, a play inspired by Potter’s challenges and contributions to mycology that she hopes to present in the future.
“The study of mycology has something for everyone. Anyone interested in the future of our planet should have an interest in mushrooms.” – Kathy Vatcher
Speaker Series: Thursday, October 18, 2022 7:30 p.m.
Speaker: Loni Jean Ronnebaum (from Fungi Perfecti)
Presentation: BeeMushroomed, how Fungi can help give bees a chance
Paul Stamets and Fungi Perfecti, makers of Host Defense, have teamed up with Washington State University to study the effects of fungal extracts on bees. Together our efforts have raised over 5 million towards this important cause! We will discuss our past research, future plans and what, as individuals, we can do to give bees a chance.
Loni Jean Ronnebaum aka Ronnebaumanita loniscaria has long been passionate about fungi. She graduated from the Evergreen State College in 2009 with a BS in Mycology and Natural Sciences. In early 2010 she began working in the offices for Fungi Perfecti, presenting at many events around the great PNW. Loni enjoys playing Ukulele as well as drums for the band Inoculated Minds and photographing #googlyeyefungi in her free time. https://fungi.com/blogs/articles/meet-loni
Updated April 5th, 2022