Microscopes • DNA • Soil • Lab work
Science Hub
Practice Mycological skills in a beginner-friendly environment
Mobile Soil Lab
Join Maria Loper during each lunch hour at her mobile soil science lab van to observe soil fungi under the microscope. Learn about the soil food web and how organisms interact to build healthy, living soils.
Bring a soil or compost sample from home!
Rad Mycoblitz
Find mushrooms & contribute to citizen science!
A mycoblitz aims to identify and document all of the mushrooms encountered at a given site within a short period of time. The Rad MycoBlitz is the RMC’s take on this important contribution to citizen science, with attendees encouraged to bring any mushrooms found on Brown Bottle Farm to the centrally-located Blitz Tent for identification and processing.
During the Saturday and Sunday lunch sessions, attendees can stop by the tent to talk with Blitz leaders and get a cooking-show-style demonstration of how to identify mushrooms genetically and to get up-close with the often-intimidating science side of mycology.
Document Wild Fungi
Get A–Z Training Found nowhere else!
Learn more about documenting wild mushrooms for science by joining Friday's 5-part training series where you can learn everything you need to know about documenting wild fungi.
Join Alan Rockefeller and Graham Steinruck over breakfast for back-to-back crash courses on mushroom photography and documenting wild mushrooms with the app iNaturalist. Then join the Mycoblitz foray with Graham and the subsequent genetics workshop with Allison of MiniPCR to process what's discovered. Lastly, over lunch, learn how to process genetic data.
Clone Zone
During lunch sessions, the Clone Zone is where you can try your hand at tissue cloning – a central skill in the cultivation of mushrooms and the preservation of native fungi.
A portable flow hood and essential equipment will be available for experimenting. A limited number of sterile blanks plates will be available for attendees to take home after their cloning attempt. Experienced cultivators are welcome to bring their own sterile media containers for personal use or to donate to the Zone.
