i heard there was a mushroom forest in this region! does anyone know for sure or know where any mushroom forest's in the bay area are?
Morels seem to prefer the company/shade of Oak trees and also elm, ash, maple and even fruit trees. Some people have luck finding the giant white morels in apple orchards even. Morels also enjoy mossy areas, dead tree stumps and semi-freshly timbered areas. But these are all signs of hope. Morels can really be found in the oddest of places. There is a place near us that is nothing but a sand pit, yet we find morels there every year. However, I've personally yet to find any in heavy pine areas with their blankets of needles.
"any mycology clubs in the region?" None of the good kind. It's illegal to ship psilocybn spores to cali, although if you investigate that free spore ring in europe i hear (ahem) that they'll send you something. spring and fall, depending on the weather, there are 'shrooms growing wild, in a lot of the regional parks, and in the summer along the coast, in the regional parks there, in shady areas near the coast or next to streams you can find some. trouble is, there are lots of folks looking for them same as you, so finding any will take some real detective work. what i've heard some people do is start a bulk grow at home, then pick a good location in a regional park near them, and plant them there. most of the regional parks have people on horseback, so once the substrate gets placed, a person might cover it with a layer of dry horse poo and get spectacular results. in theory. strains like B+ have a huge range of temperatures that they can grow in, for what that's worth. as for edible shrooms, there's Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz and Bay Area Mycological Society. if a person were interested in edible and magic shrooms, the Santa Cruz group would be a good starting point i would think.
