Foray Details
2024 Northeast Mycological Federation Annual Sam Ristich Foray
October 11 – October 14
This year’s foray will be held in Hyannis, Massachusetts located about a third of the way down the length of Cape Cod, a world-famous sandy peninsula jutting out from the Massachusetts coast. The Cape benefits from prolonged warm weather due to its arm-like projection into the gulf stream. Its soil is generally sandy because it is a terminal moraine remnant from the ice age. The Cape is well known for its pitch pine woodlands and old sand dunes, although there are ample numbers of older forests with oak, beech, and white pine. Hundreds of macro-fungi species will be at peak fruiting during the time we are there, including the unmistakable Suillus salmonicolor the highly sought after Matsutake, Tricholoma magnivelare, and perhaps the exceptionally rare Tricholoma apium.
Location:
Emerald Resort and Conference Center
35 Scudder Avenue | Hyannis, MA 02601
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Hyannis, Massachusetts is about 20 minutes down the length of Cape Cod after you cross the canal separating it from the mainland. It’s approximately 1 hour, 20 minutes from Boston, or about 70 miles. Boston Logan International Airport is the closest airport to the venue: https://www.massport.com/logan-airport.
Carpooling options may be available: please indicate upon registration if you need a ride or are willing to give one.
Hotel Details:
Rooms at the Emerald Resort are well-furnished, typically with one king or two double beds, with balconies or patios overlooking the golf course and fridges and coffeemakers in each room. The hotel has an indoor Olympic sized swimming pool, an exercise room, and free Wi-Fi among many amenities. There are two restaurants with a bar open until 12 AM. More details can be found on their website, https://theemeraldresort.com/cape-cod-irish-village/.
The conference center is in its own wing attached within the hotel complex. Lectures, vendors, workshops, sorting room, specimen displays, and meals will all be held in the same area, making this a very accessible foray for all.
Conference Schedule Highlights:
3 Nights in the hotel including half a day Friday, all of Saturday and Sunday, and half a day Monday,
Friday dinner - Monday breakfast. Vegetarian and Vegan options available. (see registration form).
Registration begins Friday October 11th 12PM – 6PM. Late registration available.
Friday Early Bird Foray at 2:00 PM
Friday Workshops: Two concurrent workshops from 2 to 5 PM.
5 Keynote Presentations
16 Lectures
12 Foray walks
Concurrent walks and lectures during each day
Sunday evening auction- consider bringing an item to donate!
Saturday evening Mycophagy Potluck
Pre-Foray All-Day Photography Workshop:
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Pre-registration is required for this pre-foray all-day photography workshop with Alan Rockefeller on Thursday, October 10th.
Join this immersive eight-hour all-day workshop and learn how to maximize the potential of your equipment, fundamentals of composition, lighting, and spend an extensive amount of time developing field lighting and composition techniques.
Key topics include using a cell phone camera, composition; utilizing macro lenses; focus stacking and a thorough introduction to post-processing techniques using Photoshop and Helicon Focus. This workshop provides a comprehensive toolkit to transform your mushroom photography from ordinary to extraordinary.
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Early-Bird Foray:
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There will be an early-bird foray at the Historical Society of Yarmouth Nature Trails. Please try to carpool and meet in the parking lot near the Conference Entry at 2:00 PM, Friday.
Foray Locations:
Four Ponds Conservation Area, Pocasset
Mashpee Pine Barrens, Falmouth
Otis Atwood Conservation Area, West Barnstable
Marconi National Park, Wellfleet
Beebe Woods, Falmouth
Rider Conservation Lands, Sandwich
Eagle Pond and Little River Sanctuary, Cotuit
Province Land’s Visitor’s Center, Provincetown
Nickerson State Park, Brewster
Shawmee Crowell State Forest, Sandwich
Parking:
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Parking is free and open to all in the large parking area in front of the Conference Center. There is adequate room for some RV’s.
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Weather:
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October on the Cape is typically warm in the days and can be quite chilly in the evenings so the morning walks may start off rather cold. The temperature range averages from 62 to 45 degrees in the days and evenings. Please dress accordingly.
What to Bring:
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Mushroom picking basket, knife, small paper or wax bags, brush for cleaning mushrooms (a disposable paint brush with bristles cut shorter works very well), tackle box for small specimen, clothes for rain (it is the fall rains that make the Matsutake fruit), GPS device (we will have coordinates for all walk available). We encourage everyone to download a map application to their cell phone. We highly recommend the app “maps.me” for easy navigating; it is free, works offline, and works anywhere in the world.
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Sequencing:
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We encourage you to join iNaturalist or Mushroom Observer and learn how to register mushrooms you have found. Download it to your phone and you can use it during the foray. Label mushrooms when you find them, so the location is clear if you find something rare or special. We hope to sequence most of our finds this year, so note which walk you were on and any additional details. You will be able to indicate that on the field ID slips we will provide, and we’ll help you learn how to fill out an ID slip if it’s new to you!
We'll be working with the Mushroom Observer community to test a new way to manage our collection and DNA sequencing data. We'll be sending out more information about this closer to the event.
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Mycophagy Potluck:
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We invite you to bring an appetizer-sized dish for our group mycophagy session to be held Saturday evening during happy hour, 5-6 PM. Dips, spreads, & quiches are appropriate. Dinner will be served afterwards. We will have ample refrigerator space and equipment to reheat items as well as a volunteer staff to reheat, plate and serve your offering. All items must have your name and an ingredient list on them. We reserve the right to refuse some dishes after our chef's review and thank you in advance for making this event a special one.
Donations and Sponsorship:
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Please consider bringing an item as a donation to our auction for Sunday evening. This annual tradition is great fun and helps fund future forays and other NEMF expenses.
Consider making a small donation towards DNA sequencing. NEMF is launching a new effort to sequence all collections at all future events. These efforts will benefit all of us and results will be posted for permanent access on our new website and on Mushroom Observer and iNaturalist.
You might also consider becoming a NEMF Sponsor! We have many levels of donation to defray registration costs for all, from the Puffball level all the way up to the Truffle level. Thanks so much to our current and future sponsors!
T-Shirts:
If you wish to buy a T-shirt, please pre-purchase, as this will greatly help save our funds for the foray itself. We will not have extras available for purchase at the event. You can purchase a T-shirt on our website at any time between now and a few weeks before the foray. T-shirts can only be picked up while attending the event.
T-shirts are 100% cotton with a high collar or V-neck, in sizes S, M, L and XL.
T-shirts will be $25 per shirt. You may indicate size and collar style during registration.
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Date Selection and Yom Kippur:
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After almost 3 months of extensive searching for a location for the NEMF Conference we chose a Cape Cod location which also coincides with Yom Kippur. Please be aware that we looked far and wide for a suitable conference center, from VT, to ME, to NH and throughout MA keeping within a certain radius of Boston. Being on Cape Cod meant trying to coincide with the well-known Matsutake season there. The prices would have been considerably higher if we chose other dates and several alternate dates were not available.
As it is, the event falls on a long weekend, so people do not have to miss more than one day of work to attend. Please be aware there were many factors to consider and please accept our regrets about this holiday conflict. Food options will be available in the evening for those fasting in observance of Yom Kippur. We do hope you can attend, and we expect a highly memorable event.