Our 2025-2026 season is fast approaching! We have so many amazing members with incredible talents, and we would love to get you all more involved! There are opportunities across the organization that fit a wide range of skills and interests. Everything from our core officer roles, to a wide variety of committee chairs and members, or even ad hoc help at events. If you are interested in getting involved, please fill out the elections form here.

Elections Process Update

This year, we will be piloting a new Elections format. In the past, we have typically done elections in person during our November public meeting. This suited us at the time, when we had a smaller group, and most of the attendees were members. However, our little group has grown quite a bit, and there are a lot of non-members who show up at the public meetings.

We will be trying an online election process this year. We will send out a link to the election form via email. If you are having trouble with the form, we will also have an email option to submit your ballot.

We look forward to seeing your submission!

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October 6: Monthly Meeting

Casa del Prado Room 101 in Balboa Park

Free, open to the public

6:45pm Identification
7:00pm Lecture + Q&A with Arik Joukhajian, PhD – Microbiology Award for Excellence in Mycology recipient

Arik Joukhajian, PhD, is a microbial ecologist and co-founder of the International Congress of Armenian Mycologists. Arik earned his BSc in Microbiology at UCLA in 2016 and began his PhD work at UCR in 2020, studying the undescribed arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi of Eastern Joshua trees and the impacts of desert wildfires on the soil microbiome.

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REGISTER HERE

A crash course including both straw mushroom production and pellet tec/hardwood loving mushrooms!

Friday, September 5th
6:30pm Check-in
7-9pm Workshop

$50/person

Casa del Prado, Room 104 in Balboa Park

Eric is a self taught mycologist. He started cultivating mushrooms professionally for a number of restaurants in 1998 from a wild indigenous oyster mushroom he cloned and identified. In 2010 Eric started formulating mushroom tinctures for other companies and since then has been featured in multiple podcasts and recently the L.A. Times. Eric is a mushroom educator and is known to speak at schools about the Marvels of Mycology, Eric is a certified producer with the CA Ag. department and has a commercial kitchen in El Cajon where he produces his line of Medicinal Mushroom Tinctures, Mushroom Jerky. Known for his tabletop mushroom farms, Eric can be found every Saturday at the Vista Farmer’s Market, 8-12am or at Muellersmushroom.com

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REGISTER HERE

Learn how to dye with lichens and take home a scarf!

Monday, August 4th

6:30pm Check-in

7-9pm Workshop

$50/person

Casa del Prado, Room 101 in Balboa Park

Cassandra Ablola has been a member of SDMYCO since 2014 and served as the Treasurer from 2017 – 2021 and since then, has served as the President.

She earned her bachelor’s degree at San Diego State University in Applied Design with an emphasis in Jewelry and Metalwork and was a recipient for the San Diego Creative Weaver’s Guild Scholarship in 2013.

Lichens have been prized for their ability to dye! Let’s learn about their qualities and dye a scarf to take home!

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JOIN US FOR OUR SUMMER SERIES WORKSHOPS!

Fungi Tincture Workshop with Talia Gosiaco of Lacuna Medicinals

Learn how to make your own fungi tincture in this introductory workshop!

Monday, July 7, 2025
7-9pm
$50/person

REGISTER HERE

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Please join us at our next Monthly Monday meeting on June 2nd at 6:30pm for our annual Art in the Park event. We are also having a potluck, so don’t forget to bring a dish or beverage to share!

We ask that you bring your own reusable cup/bowl/plate and utensils, since we are environmental stewards. Let’s help promote and save the environment by using less plastic!

Game of Shrooms is a global annual event in which artists hide their mushroom-themed artwork in public spaces on June 14th for others to find and keep! Join us for an art workshop where we will make artwork for the event. We will have art supplies and projects you can make, but feel free to bring your art ideas and supplies, too. All ages and skill levels welcome! Check out the Game of Shrooms website to learn more about the event. If you want to make some art, but not participate in Game of Shrooms, that is totally fine!

Event Details

June 2nd 6:30-8:30PM
Balboa Park
Casa Del Prado 101

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Monday, May 5
Monthly Meeting Casa del Prado Room 101 in Balboa Park
6:45pm Identification
7:00pm – 8:00pm Presentation, Tasting + Q&A

Join us for a hands-on presentation with our very own Chef Darren Debergh of Border City Ferments! This cooking demonstration will also include tasting of the dishes to inspire your home cooking!

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20 films | 17 countries | 2+ hours

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Britt Bunyard, PhD, is the founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of the mycology journal Fungi, in print since 2008. Britt is a former university professor and has published over 100 academic and popular science papers. He has served as an editor for mycological and entomological research journals, and mushroom guide books.

A popular evangelizer on all things fungal, Britt has given more than 250 invited lectures to
academic and popular audiences across North America and beyond. He has been featured on the BBC World Service’s Newshour, NPR’s All Things Considered, PBS’s NOVA and Wisconsin Foodie television programs; and interviewed or quoted in Discover magazine, The Atlantic, National Geographic, Vox, Vogue, Forbes, Saveur, Eating Well, Hobby Farm, Women’s World, and other magazines and newspapers.

Britt has collected fungi and lectured throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia.
Annually, he leads mycological expeditions throughout the world. One such expedition, was the subject of a documentary film “Look Down Not Up” (2022), produced by documentary filmmakers Alok Siddhi Tuladhar and Dusty Shiva Panthi of Kathmandu, Nepal.

Britt has authored several books, including The Little Book of Fungi (2024; Princeton University
Press), The Lives of Fungi (2022; Princeton University Press), The Beginner’s Guide to Mushrooms(2021; Quarry Books), Amanitas of North America (2020; The Fungi Press), and Mushrooms and Macrofungi of Ohio and Midwestern States (2012; The Ohio State University Press).

Britt has served as Executive Director of the Telluride Mushroom Festival since 2014 and was
awarded the “Dr. Emanuele Salzman Award” for service to the Telluride Mushroom Festival in 2024. In 2021 he was awarded the Gary Lincoff Award “For Contributions to Amateur Mycology,” by the North American Mycological Association—NAMA’s most prestigious honor for American mycologists.

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