Talk at Rice Creek to explore 'Fungi throughout the seasons'

Rice Creek Associates (RCA) will sponsor a talk by Quincey Widger, owner of Fungus Goddess Guiding Service and Enchanted Mountain Mushrooms, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 18, at SUNY Oswego's Rice Creek Field Station.

The talk, titled "Fungi throughout the seasons," is free and open to the public. The session will explore edible and medicinal fungi participants can find around the region during different times of the year.

Widger was born and raised in Ellicottville in Western New York and moved to Montana in 2011, where she lived for nearly eight years. Montana’s wild and rugged terrain is where her affinity for fungi began to flourish. Upon returning home to New York in late 2018, Widger found a renewed sense of love and wonder for her hometown and the surrounding area she had grown to underappreciate. As she re-immersed herself the beauty and splendor that Cattaraugus County has to offer, Widger was inspired to share in the marvels that fungi provide.

Her passion for responsible, sustainable foraging and harvesting has fueled her all of her life. Since spring 2019, Widger has offered guided hikes to locals and visitors alike. The aim of these informative adventures is to invite each explorer to open their mind and eyes to the plethora of fungal species that grow in the area.

Through adventuring with Widger, participants learn how to identify, appreciate, properly use and, if applicable, respectfully harvest and prepare gourmet culinary and adaptogen medicinal species. Widger’s philosophy is rooted in deep reverence for the land. 

In addition to operating Fungus Goddess Guiding Service, Widger is fulfilled by growing edible mushrooms with her greatest supporter, foraging buddy and mother. Enchanted Mountain Mushroom Farm came to life in fall 2020, inoculating three different species of logs using two different growing methods. They grow five strains of Shitake and three strains of Oyster mushrooms and saw their first flush of mushrooms in fall 2021, expecting to yield a larger bounty this year to be sold at local restaurants and farmers markets.

Widger shares her explorations and knowledge on Facebook and Instagram as @FUNgusGoddess.

Rice Creek Associates is a support group formed in 1986 for the purpose of furthering the goals of the field station. It is the intent of RCA to expand the scientific, educational and recreational opportunities through community involvement.

For more information, call the field station at 315-312-6677 or email rcfs@oswego.edu.