The Wild Table: A Forage-to-Feast Celebration of Mushrooms

Join us for a delicious seasonally-inspired feast, complete with wild mushrooms in several dishes, in our Dining Hall on an unforgettable evening to celebrate autumn, community, and our sense of wonder for the natural world. Dinner will be prepared by Chef Jim White and his team, who are passionate about bringing sustainably sourced foods and thoughtful dining experiences to students and adults alike at our School in the Woods.

On this evening, we'll begin with the author talk in our Great Hall learning from mycologist and world explorer, Daniel Winkler.

The Pacific Northwest is rich with wild mushrooms-some poisonous, some bland, and others among the finest edible fungi in the world. In this richly illustrated talk, Daniel introduces choice edibles like chanterelles, morels, boletes, bear's head, and more. You'll learn how to safely identify, harvest, and enjoy these mushrooms, while avoiding dangerous look-alikes. He'll also share insights from his book Fruits of the Forest and add a dash of fungal fun from his ethno-mycological adventures.

This 45-minute talk is accompanied by dazzling photographs, recipes, and other visuals as illustrations for identification, mushroom anatomy, and more.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Daniel is the author of “Fruits of the Forest – Field Guide to Pacific Northwest Edible Mushrooms”, a product of a life time of mushroom hunting, the last twenty-five in the Pacific Northwest of North America. His other field guides are "Edible Mushrooms of the PNW" and "Edible Mushrooms of California" (both Harbour Publishing, 2011 and 2012), Amazon Mushrooms (2014, co-authored and a revised Spanish version, "Macrohongos de la Region Amazonica", 2023), "Field guide to Medicinal Mushrooms of North America with Robert Rogers (2018)", and MycoCards "Boletes of Western North America" co-authored with Gary Gilbert (2021).
Daniel grew up collecting and eating wild mushrooms in the Alps and has been foraging for over 25 years in the PNW and beyond, sharing his enthusiasm as a mushroom educator and guide and as past PSMS vice-president. In his presentations he is combining his stunning photography with an often funny blend of entertaining stories and scientific information; he likes to refer to as "edutainment". Having been in love with mushrooms since early childhood Daniel managed to bend his career as an ecologist and geographer focused on High Asia towards researching rural Tibet's enormous fungal economy. His Cordyceps research has been featured in The Economist, National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, BBC World Service etc. In the last decade Daniel started exploring neotropical fungi. With his travel agency, MushRoaming, Daniel is organizing mushroom focused eco-adventures to Bhutan, Tibet, the Amazon, Colombia, the Austrian Alps and the Pacific Northwest since 2007 ].

YOUR TICKET INCLUDES:

Your ticket price includes dinner, dessert, non-alcoholic beverages, and entry to our author talk, Q&A, and a book-signing. We'll have a no-host bar as well, where we'll be selling wine, beer, and specialty sodas and fruit juices. It will be a fun and spirited evening!

*Children and youth are welcome to attend with you - we support forest ecologists of all ages at IslandWood, however this event is geared towards older children, youth and adults.

We work to ensure that all reasonable accommodations are in place so that everyone can fully participate and learn during their time on our campus. All indoor spaces and many of our outdoor spaces and field structures were built and are continually maintained to meet ADA code, adhering to WAC 51-50. Learn more about the physical accessibility of our campus here.

Service animals only, please.

If you are feeling unwell, please stay home and rest up! We care about you.

Info: Check-in with us, and if you arrive on the earlier end, you can learn a little about IslandWood if you're new! We have a beautiful Welcome Center. Hang your coat, and snag your seat in the Great Hall - we start the author talk at 5:30 PM.

Info: Daniel will share his extensive experience and knowledge as a mycologist, ecologist, and geographer, combining scientific facts with engaging anecdotes and stunning photography. He will have time for a short Q&A, followed by a book sale and signing in our Welcome Center.

Info: Your scrumptious wild mushroom and seasonally-inspired dinner is served in our Dining Hall - including dessert! You may visit our no-host bar to find various refreshments you can purchase as well. Non-alcoholic beverages will be served with your dinner and dessert.

Info: We're so glad to partner with our local bookstore, Eagle Harbor Books, to do a book sale of Daniel's books, and if you so choose - Daniel will personally sign your copy! This is a completely optional part of the event.

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