Master Mushroom Course

Master Mushroom Course. This is a 16 week, Mondays online, starting Monday February 2, 2026.  Take a deeper dive into mushrooms. While the course is designed for general mushroom knowledge, the specific mushrooms we will look at will be the more common ones found in the Aspen Parkland, Western Boreal Forest and the Northern Rockies. Hopefully this course will satisfy your being until the first morels start popping up in May. The multiple topics include:

1. Mushroom lifestyles and ecology.     
2. Should I eat it? A look into edible mushrooms.
3. Poisonous mushrooms, common toxins and remedies.
4. Introduction to medicinal mushrooms.
5. Mushroom Taxonomy, how science sorts out the mess.
6. Morels, cup fungi and other Ascomycetes.
7. Boletes, a look at the different boletes you need to know across the Prairies and Western Boreal forest.
8. Polypores. 
9. Russulas and Lactarius.
   
10. Light spored gilled mushrooms I.
11. Light spored gilled mushrooms II.
12. Dark spored gilled mushrooms I.
13. Dark spored gilled mushrooms II.
14. Inky caps and relatives.
15. The rest of the mushrooms; puffballs, toothed, corals...
16. How to use keys, how to write keys, how to describe mushrooms, keeping good field notes and photos. Tools, that should make your myco life easier.
    

Bonus field day: For those who can attend we will hold a full day Mushroom Foray and ID session on August 15 in the Devon, Alberta area and go through what we learned in class.

Each session varies 90 to 120 minutes including time for questions and commentary. Some evening will be heavier others a bit lighter. After completion any student should have a good working knowledge of the world of mushrooms, its terminology and its tools. 

 The class is limited to 50 participants to allow for more interaction and questions. More specifics and dates to come. Questions? Drop us an email.