Thank you for a wonderful weekend!  We appreciate our guests, foray guides, chef, and catering staff for your participation and contributions toward a successful 2011 event.
Best Regards, Lynda & Gary 

New in 2012!  We will offer a choice of two weekends, one in October and one in November. Watch our site for details.

Saturday Dinner Menu

Sous Chef Benjamin Nadolny, Culinary Demonstration

 

 

 

Mushroom Foray – October 14, 15, 16th, 2011

For the Love of Mushrooms….a Weekend Foray©

October in Oakridge is one of the most beautiful times of year. The striking Fall foliage mixed with verdant national forest land make it a stunningly scenic place to visit. Autumn is also prime mushrooming season and Oakridge is ideally situated for mushroom foraging, completely surrounded by the Willamette National Forest, habitat for dozens of edible mushrooms.

Chanterells (Chantharellus formsus) photo by Bruce Newhouse

Join fellow mushroom enthusiasts for a weekend sponsored by the Oakridge Hostel, the first annual Mushroom Foray. Naturalists Bruce Newhouse and Peg Boulay will guide participants on forays into the forest and will offer informative lectures on the subject of edible mushrooms. Our foray guides will introduce participants to the fascinating world of mushrooms, including carnivorous species and varieties often used as subjects for botanical illustrations.  Among the species likely to be found are golden chanterelles, milky caps, lobsters, chicken of the woods, and fried chicken mushrooms.

2011 Weekend schedule and what we included…

Registration includes two nights lodging,  two dinners, breakfast Saturday and Sunday, and lunch on Saturday. The fun begins on Friday afternoon at the Oakridge Hostel for check-in and hospitality. Following an informal social hour and dinner, foray guests will receive an orientation to the weekend that includes a lecture on mushroom ecology, identification, and sustainable harvesting practices.

On Saturday morning, guests will caravan to nearby mushroom-rich environments where they will be guided by our two expert naturalists. A catered lunch will follow at the Hostel and then we head back out to the forest for another brief foray. Upon returning, our guest chef from King Estate Winery, Benjamin Nadolny, will acquaint participants with the culinary use of mushrooms and serve appetizers featuring wild mushrooms.  Chef Nadolny will also discuss wine pairings and present wines for tasting. Saturday evening culminates in a three course dinner including dessert and featuring mushrooms in each course.  Depending on availability, dishes may include:  Lobster mushroom bisque, Chanterelle ragout, Wild mushroom souffle, and several other tantalizing compositions.

Following a Sunday morning breakfast at the Hostel, there will be a wrap-up discussion of the weekend’s adventures. Participants will be given resources on techniques for safe mushrooming.

About our experts

Bruce Newhouse is the principal/owner operator of Salix Associates. He has 29 years of experience in field ecology and natural resource planning in Oregon, including 10 years as a city and county planner and nearly 20 years in private consulting. He is active in both professional and volunteer activities in natural resources and related disciplines. Bruce’s education and experience focus on botany, and ecological relationships between plants, wildlife, fungi and other organisms – including butterflies and other pollinators. He has conducted numerous botanical and multi-disciplinary inventories and assessments as a principal of Salix Associates, and has developed restoration and management plans for several large sites in western Oregon. Bruce has conducted Natural Resource inventories for the City. He is an experienced instructor in botany (particularly graminoids, native plants, and invasive plants), butterfly identification and ecology (host and nectar plant use), and fungal identification and ecology, for universities, community colleges, professional organizations and nonprofits. He is one of four authors of the Field Guide to Sedges of the Pacific Northwest (OSU Press, 2008). His field photography can be viewed by clicking this link.

Peg Boulay is Co-Director of the the University of Oregon’s Environmental Leadership Program. She is a wildlife ecologist with 19 years of professional experience and a broad background in natural resource research, management, planning, policy and conservation. She was co-author, managing editor and implementation lead for the Oregon Conservation Strategy, an action plan for conserving Oregon’s fish, wildlife and habitats. Although Peg has worked most extensively with large mammals and migratory birds, she has experience with a variety of taxa and issues, and she is a well-rounded naturalist with solid familiarity with western Oregon’s plants, animals and fungi. Peg has a diverse teaching background, including undergraduate and graduate instruction, nature guiding, habitat workshops for landowners, and collaboration training for natural resource professionals. Peg became interested in mushrooms in 1995 because they represented the intersection of three of her passions: cooking, hiking and ecology. Along with Bruce and others, Peg co-founded the Cascade Mycological Society in 1999. She and Bruce have led many mushroom forays and have organized the mushroom display at the Mt. Pisgah Arboretum’s Mushroom Festival for several years. Peg created the fungal educational displays for the festival, including the immensely popular “Edible-Poisonous-Lookalike” display.

Click here to register!

“Oakridge Hostel operates under a special use permit with Willamette National Forest, and is an equal opportunity outdoor recreation service provider”