2014 Fall Forays Summary

1. 2014 Fall Foray Director's Report
2. 2014 Fall Forays Collections Summary

The autumn of 2014 treated us to an abundant display of fungi and their fanciful fruiting bodies. It was a pretty good year for mushrooms! The fall itself wasn’t overly wet, but the summer leading up to it was moist and mild. Miserable as it may have been for many cottagers, it seemed to be the perfect conditions for many species of fungi. They started sending up their fruiting bodies in prolific numbers as early as August, especially a little further north in cottage country, and treated us to a splendid display right through to late October until the frost came heavy and the forest floor was laden with fallen leaves.

As it was in the tradition of previous years, we had our first foray in early September and continued to foray at least once a week right through to late October. In fact, we conducted 12 forays during that time. A couple of the forays were made on a Wednesday, but for the most part they happened on the weekends. Our annual weekend-long Cain foray happened on the 20th of September this year up near Huntsville, and was a great success. Thanks to everyone who helped to make that possible.

Foray participation was up this year, especially in the latter half of the season after a popular website, BlogTO, did a story on the society. We had an average of 24 participants per foray this year, and near the end of the season we had as many as 33 folks out on the 18th in Barrie, and 44 on the 25th at the York region foray. Many of the newcomers had signed up to become members and we look forward to having them out with us on forays in the spring, as well as next fall.

As for our collections this year, we were able to identify as many as 97 species on a single foray, but our average was about 67 species identified per foray. I encourage folks to have a look on the MST website (www.myctor.org) under the ‘forays’ tab, and check out the 2014 Fall Forays Collections Summary for a more detailed overview. You can also find data available from past years, photos, and more!

Thanks to everyone for coming out, being cooperative, and making this a fantastic year! It’s been a lot of fun! Thanks to all the foray leaders and board members who’ve volunteered their time to organize everything and share their knowledge. And thanks to the land, the forests, and the fungi for this beauty and wisdom. Have a great winter and we’ll see you in the spring of 2015!

- David Jenkins, Foray Director

2014 Fall Forays Collections Summary