Agnes A. Sieger, Editor
Thank you all for giving me the chance to lead PSMSfor the next couple of years. I'm looking forward to getting toknow you and working with you on the many projects and activitiesthat PSMS does. And I want to personally thank immediate pastpresident, Doug Ward, for all the help and advice he's going, togive me, and for leaving PSMS in such good shape.
First of all, hats off to Patrice Benson forproducing this issue of Spore Prints! Our esteemed newslettereditor of 12 years, and 2000 Golden Mushroom award recipient, AgnesSieger, is taking the month off to visit Europe. Spring is here,and soon, we hope, lots of morels, and other spring mushroomspecies.
Here's a little bit about what's going on withPSMS:
Field trips: Thanks to Mike Lovelady, weagain have a field trip chairman! Mike has a good sixth sense aboutwhere to reserve sites, when to look, and is always one of thefirst to find mushrooms. DV Corey has offered to help Mike to findhosts for the field trips (this means you!) and to set up a carpooling experiment. Brian Luther will be recruiting identificationexperts. If you would like to become better acquainted withmushroom ID, attending field trips is a great way to do it.
Lake Wenatchee Survey Project: PSMS iscooperating with the Mick Meuller of the US Forest Service, and NWKey Council, with a Spring Survey of mushroom species in theLake Wenatchee district. Besides adding to the body of knowledgeabout mushroom species diversity, this survey will help to furtherdefine the habitat indicated by the spotted owl. Last month's SporePrints described the study briefly. We still have room for a fewmore surveyors, especially those with some knowledge of mushroomidentification.
Annual Exhibit: The Kingdome implosion maymean a move for our mushroom show. Every year we schedule theexhibit date to avoid Husky home football games. This year and nextthe Seahawks will be sharing Husky stadium and adding to theweekend traffic misery near the Center for Urban Horticulture(CUH). The Seahawks schedule is not out yet, but we expect thatevery weekend in October one or the other team will have a homegame October 13-15, 2000 is the date we have set for the show. It'sreserved as usual at CUH for that weekend. But 'in case we have tomove, we have also reserved a large set of rooms at Sand PointNaval Station for the same time. We have a couple of months beforewe must commit to either space. Mark your calendars for October13-15th
Education: Colin Meyer is our new EducationChair. Thank you Colin! Thanks Lisa for a job well done!
Mailing & Data base: Sometime in thenext six months we will need a new mailing/data base manager. DougWard has been keeping the mailing list up to date and mailing outthe Spore Prints each month for many years (on top of beingpresident). We know he hates to give it up, but travel plans makeit necessary. Talk to Doug about the details, hours per month etc.,for this important job.
CALENDAR
April 11 Membership meeting 7:30 PM, CUH
April 17 Board Meeting 7:30 PM, CUH
April 21 Spore Prints deadline
May 6 field trip
May 9 Membership Meeting 7:30 PM, CUH
May 15 Board meeting, 7:30 PM, CUH
May 13-14 field trip
May 20-21 field trip
May 27-28 field trip
BOARD NEWS March 20, 2000
Welcome and thanks to New and reelected Boardmembers: Joanne Young, President; Lynn Phillips, Treasurer;Trustees: D.V. Corey, Marcia Hiltzheimer, John Goldman, KarinMendell, and Bernice Velategui. The office of V.P. for theremaining one year of Joanne's term will be appointed by the Board.This exciting position is responsible for obtaining speakers forour membership meetings, so if this interests you, call a boardmember before April 17th. Colin Meyer will be taking over asEducation chair from Lisa Bellefond. Thank You Lisa for the greatjob. New Rosters are being prepared by Jean Chin; she hopes thatthey will be ready by the next membership meeting. Frances Ikedawill plan the summer picnic. We are exploring Sand Pont NavalStation as a possible site for Exhibit 2000
MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Tuesday, April 11th, at 7:30 pm at the Center forUrban Horticulture, 3501 NE 41st Street, Seattle
This month a PSMS favorite is back! Our speakerwill be Canadian mycologist, Dr. Bryce Kendrick,author of "The Fifth Kingdom", and of the huge mycological CD-ROMof the same title. He will take us on a guided digital tour of hisCD-ROM which covers all aspects of mycology, and contains over3,000 colour illustrations.
Members who attended the Lake Quinault forayseveral years ago remember Dr. Kendrick's after dinner lecturewhich held everyone fascinated for over two hours. Would personswith last names beginning with the letters L-0 please bringrefreshments for the social hour?
MUSHROOM FONDUE
1 lb. shredded cheese (8 oz Emmenthaler, 4 ozGruyere, 4 oz any Swiss type cheese)
3 Tbs. corn starch
2 cups dry white wine
1 clove garlic
1 lb. mushrooms, whole if small, or cut into1-inchchunks
2 Tbs. Butter or oil
Salt. pepper, to taste
Sauté mushrooms (leave them in large pieceor whole if they are small) in butter or-oil adding shallot afterliquid has boiled off. Set morels aside after shallot has becometransparent. Rub inside of heavy pot with garlic. Heat the wine inthe pot until simmering. Toss cheese with cornstarch and add slowlyto the wine, stirring constantly but slowly. When the cheese ismelted and smooth, add the morels. Keep the fondue over a heatsource at all times to prevent gumminess. Serve immediately withlarge cubes of bread. 'Fondue doesn't reheat well. so eat it allbefore it gets cold. This is a good meal to plan for moreling tripsbecause you can eat it with or without mushrooms. PatriceBenson
FIELD TRIPS Mike Lovelady
Field trips commence at 9 am. Usually coffee is,provided all day. Identifiers are present from 9-4 after which timethere is a potluck. Bring something to share as well as your ownplate and beverage. Two-day field trips are for camping fun;however there will be a mushroom identifier only on the Saturdayand the official fieldtrip is Saturday. Questions? Call206-522-6031 (message) or check the web site www.PSM.org.
Guest editor: Patrice Benson
(Just so that Agnes doesn't catch the blame
for any errors in the April issue...
PSMS E-Mail List Colin Meyer
More than half of PSMS members have emailaddresses. To facilitate communication between members, I havecreated a mailing list. This list can be used to discuss anythingrelated to PSMS or fungi. Announcements regarding meetings andfield trips will also be sent to this list.
Using the list is easy. All communication is donethrough email, using your favorite email program. There are severalimportant email addresses associated with the list:
psms-members-subscribe@onelist.com
In order to subscribe to the list, send an email tothis address. Do this first.
To post a message to the list, send it to thisaddress. Your message will be delivered to everyone who issubscribed to the list. Messages distributed from the list willautomatically be marked with [psms-members] in the subject line.You must subscribe to the list before you may post a message to it.psms-members-unsubscribe@onelist.com
If you'd like to unsubscribe from the list, send anemail to this address.
If you have any questions, please contact me at
Reprinted from OCTOBER 1993 SPORE PRINTS#295
MEET AGNES SIEGER Dick Sieger
Agnes has produced 80* issues of Spore Prints sinceshe became. Its editor in, 1985 and she thoroughly enjoyed workingon every one. She joined PSMS in 1973 and soon became an activemember, working on countless tasks and serving several terms on theboard.
Agnes was reared Idaho, first in Glenns Ferry andthen in Marsing where her family spent their first frigid winter ina house without plumbing. Growing up, she went on camping andarrowhead hunting trips on back roads with her parents. They taughther to hunt and she is skilled at getting a deer from field totable. She worked as a phone company operator, irrigated fields,and cared for horses.
She was graduated from the College of Idaho whereshe studied art. She traveled to Germany one summer.
Agnes moved to Salt Lake City, met her firsthusband, Dick, and then moved to Seattle. She found a job at the U.W. Applied Physics Laboratory where she has worked for 25 years,editing engineering and scientific papers and journals. She is acollaborating author of a monograph about marine corrosion.
Before her two daughters were born summer vacationswere spent hiking and canoeing. The trips included a hike to aremote Colorado lake after a narrow gauge train ride, a two weekhike down the Olympic National Park coast trail, and a three weekwilderness trip in central British Columbia that began with a bushflight.
At home, Agnes may write family history or peck atan antique piano. But usually she is near the heat with a mystery,a bowl of popcorn, and a tabby in her lap.
When mushrooming, Agnes travels back roads in a '60pickup with Dick and a Border collie in front and wine in thecooler. She likes the looking more than the finding andidentifying. She likes the mushroomers best. [Agnes wouldn't printthis but she is away, so .... ]
Editor NOTE: As of March 2000 Agnes has producedover 146 issues of Spore Prints, each one representing a weekend+dedicated to our newsletter. Thanks, Agnes and thanks also to hertrusty sous chef, Dick.