Vancouver Mycological Society

VMS Fall Mushroom Show
2025-10-26 10:00 - 17:00 (America/Vancouver)
Hello VMS! Can you believe we are at our 44th year of hosting the Fall Mushroom Show? We are excited to announce that the big event will take place on October 26th, from 10-5 at the Floral Hall. Expect live entertainment, arts and crafts, guest presentations, and dazzling displays that are sure to impress.
There will be a costume contest for the best mushroom inspired outfit, with some great prizes. You may also check out our ID table with any burning questions or ID requests for experts to handle. Our raffle will feature prizes from all the vendors of the show and some other cool swag.
See Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/share/1FezmKocPE/
Admission is $5 and gets you access to the whole show for the day. Kids under 12 are free and the venue is wheelchair accessible. The poster, which was made from photos from our most recent Manning excursion (big thanks to Pete), is attached below. Please share with your circles!

VMS local foray
2025-11-01 08:00 - 17:00
details TBD

Richmond Nature Show
2025-11-02 11:00 - 16:00
Details can be found here:
https://www.richmond.ca/parks-recreation/parks/aboutrnp.htm

Monthly Meeting: Mushrooms and People
2025-11-11 19:00 - 22:00
Next Meeting: Tuesday, September 11th

I am pleased to announce that our next meeting will feature a special presentation from Paul Kroeger, a founding member of the VMS.

Mushrooms and People

This eclectic talk flows through various ways people interact with mushrooms. The commercial harvest of edible wild mushrooms is discussed with excursions into medicinal mushrooms and ethno-mycology of traditional cultures. We will also learn of some unusual places and ways to look for fungi, and some surprising things found.

About our speaker:

Paul Kroeger has studied mushrooms for over thirty-five years and is a founding member of the Vancouver Mycological Society. He has been involved in many projects and studies about diverse aspects of mushrooms, gaining knowledge about fungal ecology, biochemistry of toxic, hallucinogenic, medicinal, and edible mushrooms. Years of experience have created unique insights and understanding of fungal life-ways and interactions in temperate ecosystems.

Tuesday November 11th, 2025 @ Floral Hall, VanDusen Gardens (5251 Oak St.)
Doors at 7pm, Talk at 7:30pm

As always, we would love to see your specimens at our monthly mushroom table for identification and admiration. Be sure to check out what unique and abundant Fall finds are currently growing around us.

Love the talk? Your VMS membership allows you to access an archive of several past talks on our website for your marathoning pleasure. As always, masks are encouraged in indoor spaces and for all in-person events!

Intermediate Mycomap Foray
2025-11-16 12:00 - 14:00
Announcement will be made at the meeting with more information, this will be an intermediate level foray from 10-12 am starting at Mystery Falls led by Marshall focused on gathering species for the BC Mycomap project. Email foray@vanmyco.com for more information.

Dec 10th Meeting: Jared “Qwustenuxun” Williams
2025-12-10 19:30 - 22:00
Hello VMS members,
Our next meeting will be held exclusively online, with no in-person option at VanDusen this time, and will feature a special talk by Jared “Qwustenuxun” Williams.
Join Qwustenuxun, from the Quw’utsun Nation on southern Vancouver Island, for an evening of learning about the deep relationships Indigenous peoples have with mushrooms and the cultural protocols that guide how we harvest them. Together we’ll explore how mushrooms have been part of our food, medicine, and teachings, and how these practices remind us to approach the land with respect, reciprocity, and care. This talk invites us to reflect on our own foraging, and how we can walk in better relationship with the fungi and the living world around us.
Jared “Qwustenuxun” Williams is a Hul’q’umi’num language speaker, Indigenous chef, Salish culture educator, and consultant from Quw’utsun. Raised in Salish culture by his father and late grandmother, he carries forward teachings of traditional harvesting, Indigenous foods, and community history. After a decade in western kitchens, Qwustenuxun returned home to cook for Cowichan Elders and deepen his knowledge of Indigenous foodways.

Today, he shares those teachings widely from Cooking in Two Worlds with FeedBC to a TEDx talk, national food sovereignty projects, and his role as Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Council to BC’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Whether presenting at the UN World Food Forum or paddling the Salish Sea with his sons, Qwustenuxun’s work is grounded in humility, self-determination, and the relationships that keep culture alive.

Topic: December Virtual Meeting
Time: Dec 10, 2025 07:30 PM Vancouver
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85272250725?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 852 7225 0725
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Love the talk? Your VMS membership allows you to access an archive of several past talks on our website for your marathoning pleasure.

Pokong Dinner RSVP required
2026-01-13 18:30 - 20:30
Hello VMS and happy new year! I am pleased to announce that the annual Po Kong dinner will take place in lieu of our in-person meeting this month on Tuesday, January 13th at 6:30.

The Po Kong dinner is a yearly tradition where members are able to sample many varieties of mushrooms in a communal setting. Po Kong‘s menu is fully vegetarian and features many fungi, including stinkhorn, lion’s mane, enoki, wood ear, and more.

How it works:
Each person orders 1 mushroom dish and all the food is shared family style. After the meal, the bill is divided among your tablemates (usually 10). The individual bill averages $30-40 after gratuities, not including beverages. Cash is preferred to reduce our queue for a card reader.

Before filling out the form, please take a look at the main menu here: https://www.pokongvegetarian.ca/menu

(bamboo pith = stinkhorn, monkey head = lion’s mane, ling chi = reishi)

To streamline the process for the kitchen, please tell us in the form which dish you would like to order and 1 backup just in case there’s many of the same request at your table (ex. C30, E6). If you’d like the lion’s mane/hericium on veggies dish (off menu) please indicate in the form.

The restaurant is located at 1334 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5V 3E4
Street parking is available, but limited.

We will have 50 seats reserved, so please RSVP at this link before they fill up: https://forms.gle/yVyDRNLvZadNKXc58

Hope to see you there as we welcome the new year together over some great food and conversation!

February 10th Meeting: Member’s Night
2026-02-10 19:00 - 22:00
Hello myco people!
I’m excited to announce our first Floral Hall meeting of the year, featuring the return of member’s night, and to share details about a special mushroom presentation from the folks at Nature Vancouver.
Member’s Night:
As per tradition, member’s night is a chance for members of the VMS to put on short presentations on different fungal topics. We have so many amazing experiences and perspectives within the Vancouver fungal community and we love to showcase what people have been up to. Some speakers may choose to talk about academic work, regional species, cooking, or photography to name just a few examples!
We would love to hear from you on what has caught your interest in mycology from the past 2 months.. or 2 years!
Please email president@vanmyco.com to sign up or for more information.
While it may not be peak mushroom season, we’d still love to see any specimens you bring to our monthly mushroom table for identification and admiration.
Love the talk? Your VMS membership allows you to access an archive of several past talks on our website for your marathoning pleasure. As always, masks are encouraged in indoor spaces and for all in-person events!
VMS is still hybrid and we would love to see you virtually if you can’t make it in person!
Topic: February Meeting
Time: Feb 10, 2026 07:30 PM Vancouver
—
Nature Vancouver will be hosting a special virtual presentation (via Zoom):
fire-following fungi– MONIKA FISCHER: Thursday, January 22nd @ 7:30 pm
Monika Fischer is an Assistant Professor of fungal biology in UBC Botany department. Her lab’s research seeks to understand the molecular mechanisms that mediate fungal interactions and drive ecological processes, especially in the context of fire. Her first passion was food and she was a chef for several years before getting bit by the fungal bug while working at a farm-to-table restaurant in Washington. A strong desire to understand how fungi interact with each other and their environment propelled her through a biology bachelor’s degree at University of Washington in Seattle, and then a microbiology PhD and postdoc at UC Berkeley in California, which is where she started studying the genetics and ecology of fire-adapted fungi.
Please see here for more details on how to attend: https://naturevancouver.ca/events/%F0%9F%8C%BFfire-following-fungi_monika-fischer/

VMS meeting – details TBD
2026-03-10 19:00 - 22:00, 2026-04-14 19:00 - 22:00

Bowen Foray (tentative)
2026-04-18

Surrey MycoMap Foray
2026-05-24 11:00 - 14:00
Stay tuned to emails for details. Will be in Bear Creek Park. Email will be sent out with further details.

VMS Meeting at Floral Hall
2026-06-09 18:30 - 22:00 | VanDusen Botanical Garden, 5251 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC
Doors at 6:30 pm
Presentation by Luke Mikler at 7 pm
specimens for the table welcome
Floral Hall, VanDusen Botanical Garden
