SVIMS Volunteer Appreciation Picnic 2025

by SVIMS events
The SVIMS Volunteer Appreciation Picnic (formerly President’s Picnic)  is an annual tradition where we gather with the SVIMS community to celebrate all those who volunteer their time and talents to make it all happen!
 
Please join us for a potluck-style picnic and prize draw! Sign up here.
 
Saturday, June 14th, 2025, 11:00am to about 3:00pm
 
11:00am to noon: arrival and socializing, set up your dish
Noon: lunch
After lunch: prize draw (Butchart Gardens tickets, t-shirts with new logo, edible mushrooms, mini survival kits + more.)

 

Location: Ourdoors, TBA

For: Active SVIMS members +1 guest
 
What to Bring
    • A dish (appetizer, side, main or dessert) for around 6-8 people. Please bring serving utensils and an ingredient list for your dish
    • Your own seating (blanket, chair, etc), cutlery, dishes, cup, napkins, and libations (Coffee, tea, and water provided.)
    • A guest, if you wish
    • Mushrooms to have identified and show off

SVIMS Cowichan Foray 2024

by ForaySVIMS events

Ann McCall and Andy MacKinnon congratuate themselves on finishing the labels.

The annual SVIMS weekend at Cowichan, held again at the Cowichan Lake Education Centre, took place on October 25-27. Overall, it was a rainy weekend, but the showers paused for the morning and afternoon forays on Saturday. The event this year was organized and coordinated by Elora Adamson.

As in other years, there was a dinner at a Cowichan restaurant on Friday night. Some eager SVIMS people did a mushroom flashlight walk. On Saturday, the weekend attendees were joined by many who came only for the Saturday forays, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Bryce Kendrick and Shannon Berch take a closer look at some of the mushrooms.

As the mushroom specimens began to arrive, a team at the display room under the direction of Shannon Berch labeled the mushrooms and arranged them on the tables by morphological groups. Bryce Kendrick brought his microscope and examined the spores and microscopic features of some of the specimens.

More than 150 different species were IDed. The list can be viewed on the svimsinatadmin site. As usual, the totals may change as people from around the world chime in with ID suggestions. 

Sunday morning was the usual sharing event, with people telling about their favourite finds.

The asci of Tolypocladium capitatum seen under Bryce’s microscope.

This year a special attempt was made to ugrade the citizen science component. We were able to record all of the finds on iNaturalist, combining multiple field pictures with IDs made and more photos taken in the display room. About ten SVIMS members took on the tasks of field recording. Approximately 20 of the specimens were dried and sent in for sequencing.

SVIMS 2024 Mushroom Show at the RBCM a Success

by SVIMS events

The annual SVIMS mushroom show, taking place for the second time at the Royal BC Museum, was a huge success. This year the event took place in Clifford Carl Hall, the main meeting space on the first floor of the museum. Short mushroom talks–four of them–were scheduled in Newcombe Hall on the mezzanine. A smaller room next to the RBCM store became the ID room and edibles/poisonous table. Children’s activities and special displays (lichens, etc) were ranged around sides of the room. The RBCM store put on a special display of mushroom merchandize.

SVIMS members under the direction of mycologist Shannon Berch spent Saturday in Newcombe Hall, receiving collected mushrooms, identifying and labeling them, and arranging them on tables by groups and spore colours. The tables were then moved down to the main hall and placed in a large ring. Signs created by SVIMS graphic artist Leya were placed at strategic locations.

Between 10 am and 4 pm on Sunday (October 20, 2024), visitors were able to enter the hall and take in the displays. Because of the multiple entry points to the hall, an exact count of visitors was hard to come by, but one estimate put the number of people at 1200. The four talks in Newcombe Hall were all attended at room capacity (about 100).

Coordinated by show runner Maggy and SVIMS president Mel, the volunteers–about 20 of them–interacted with visitors throughout the day. About ten volunteers staffed the inside of the ring (the “bull pit”), answering questions and rapping about mushrooms. Other volunteers, coordinated by Ai Linh, engaged visiting children in several crafts. Jenny, with the assistance of Ian and Tina, kept the volunteers fortified with snacks. Kem and Mitch spent most of the day identifying mushrooms brought in by visitors. Sinclair fielded endless questions about edible and poisonous mushrooms. Bob, Elora, and Sky took applications for SVIMS membership (a record number of new memberships for a SVIMS event) and sold about 65 of the SVIMS 2025 mushroom calendars.

Visitors took breaks from the mushroom displays and talks to view two mushroom films (Fantastic Fungi, Fungi: The Web of Life) that Alex, the RBCM Theatre Manager, had scheduled in the IMAX theatre.

Kim and Liz and Amina other RBCM staff were on hand for much of Saturday and Sunday to keep the show running smoothly.

SVIMS offers a big “Thank You” to the many RBCM staff and all of the club volunteers who made the day possible.

In the picture are six of the bull pit staff, left to right Richard, Mel, Josh, Sarah, Steve, and Brandon. (All pictures on this page were taken by Elora Adamson and are used with permission.)

SVIMS Monthly Meeting Thursday, September 5, 2024.

by SVIMS eventsSVIMS speakers

NEW General Meeting day of the week and time:

7pm arrivals; 7:15pm start. 

1st Thursday of the month, September to May except January. 

Guests welcome! Bring your mushrooms to be identified.  

St Luke’s Hall

3821 Cedar Hill Cross Rd, Victoria, BC V8P 2M6

SVIMS The Next Generation

An opportunity for SVIMS members to hear from and be inspired by the mycological passions of fellow SVIMS members

And our first speakers of the new season are

Ann  McCall, Mohannah Singh, and Sarah Riley and Josh Wayborn

Ann McCall

“Sequencing Local Mushrooms”

Ann McCall is a mycology enthusiast with a particular interest in taxonomy and ITS barcoding. She joined SVIMS in 2022 to connect with a community of like-minded individuals while advancing her understanding of mycology.

With a background in engineering and a life-long passion for the sciences, Ann finds joy in deepening her knowledge of fungi while actively contributing to citizen science. She regularly participates in citizen science initiatives aimed at documenting all macrofungi in North America, and hopes to make DNA sequencing more accessible to SVIMS members.

When she’s not exploring forests in search of mushrooms, Ann can be found baking tasty treats or adventuring in her self-converted campervan.

Mohanna Singh

“The Process of Mushroom Photography”

Mo is a third year student studying forest biology at the University of Victoria. She has been apart of SVIMS since 2019, and has been doing nature photography since 2017. Her dad and older brother taught her to use a camera, and through lots of trial and error she has slowly improved over the years. She enjoys finding unique species of fungi all over Vancouver Island to photograph. Alongside photography, Mo enjoys reading, writing, and painting.

Sarah Riley and Josh Wayborn

“Ophiocordyceps”

We caught mushroom fever around 2015, having no formal mycology training, we began learning about and hunting mushrooms every chance we got. We moved to Vancouver Island in 2020, largely to chase a longer mushroom season than Manitoba has.
Josh was so fortunate as to come across the first of the Ophiocordyceps on a Western Carpenter ant in 2021 and we later found a large number of specimens at that site.
Treasure hunting for edibles in the forest has been a deep passion for both of us and we hope to have many more mushroom hunting years ahead of us.

SVIMS Stropharia Cultivation Workshop Spring 2024

by SVIMS events

On the weekend of March 16-17, 2024, nearly 40 SVIMS members learned about adding something new to their gardens this spring. The m orning and afternoon workshops were hosted by member Steve Fischer.

The workshops, centred on cultivating King Stropharia/wine cap (Stropharia rugosoannulata) mushrooms, taught the basics of backyard mushroom cultivation, including creating the ideal environment for King Stropharia.

In preparation for the workshop, Steve gathered and prepared the necessary materials, including multiple substrates, mushroom spawn, and pots for members to take home mini stropharia beds. Generous donations of wine cap spawn by Grow Mushrooms Canada and pots by Saanichton Christmas Tree Farm were greatly appreciated!

SVIMS members enjoyed far better weather for this workshop than the last one. The spring day was warm and bright. Each group worked together to build a full-size King Stropharia bed to learn the fundamentals. They then assembled a mini version that they could take home to try their hand at producing these prized edibles.

Mush luck to these new cultivators!


Emma continues to add spawn while Steve describes ideal conditions for mushroom cultivation

Steve demonstrates adding spawn to the mushroom bed

Members take turns adding sawdust to the bed

Steve demonstrates straw bale inoculation

SVIMS Log Inoculation Workshop 2024

by SVIMS events

Approximately 25 SVIMS members gathered in morning and afternoon classes held at Steve Fischer’s home in the Blenkinsop Valley. Their goal was to learn how to create mushroom-bearing logs.

In the days leading up to the workshop, Steve got ready for the class by gathering and cleaning fresh-cut alder, preparing all the equipment, and ordering fresh oyster and shiitake spawn. Steve and his assistants–Andrew Anderson, Bob Jeffs, and Steve Strybosch–drilled the logs and helped participants inoculate them. Steve introduced the group to a new log-sealing technique using bentonite clay.

The weather was quite rainy in the morning, but Steve was prepared for it. He had set up tarps to keep class members relatively dry and comfortable. The rain subsided in the afternoon, but the wind picked up and temperatures dropped. In spite of the weather, everyone left the workshop happy and satisfied, carrying their own logs freshly inoculated with oyster or shiitake spawn.

Steve shows the group his mushroom log collection.
The morning class was thankful for the tarps that Steven had set up.
Leya happily sealing up her inoculated log.
Steve teaches the people the next procedure, the bentonite clay application
Sawdust spawn used to inject into the alder logs.