Agnes A. Sieger, Editor
Thank you all for giving me the chance to lead PSMS
for the next couple of years. I'm looking forward to getting to
know you and working with you on the many projects and activities
that PSMS does. And I want to personally thank immediate past
president, Doug Ward, for all the help and advice he's going, to
give me, and for leaving PSMS in such good shape.
First of all, hats off to Patrice Benson for
producing this issue of Spore Prints! Our esteemed newsletter
editor of 12 years, and 2000 Golden Mushroom award recipient, Agnes
Sieger, is taking the month off to visit Europe. Spring is here,
and soon, we hope, lots of morels, and other spring mushroom
species.
Here's a little bit about what's going on with
PSMS:
Field trips: Thanks to Mike Lovelady, we
again have a field trip chairman! Mike has a good sixth sense about
where to reserve sites, when to look, and is always one of the
first to find mushrooms. DV Corey has offered to help Mike to find
hosts for the field trips (this means you!) and to set up a car
pooling experiment. Brian Luther will be recruiting identification
experts. If you would like to become better acquainted with
mushroom ID, attending field trips is a great way to do it.
Lake Wenatchee Survey Project: PSMS is
cooperating with the Mick Meuller of the US Forest Service, and NW
Key Council, with a Spring Survey of mushroom species in the
Lake Wenatchee district. Besides adding to the body of knowledge
about mushroom species diversity, this survey will help to further
define the habitat indicated by the spotted owl. Last month's Spore
Prints described the study briefly. We still have room for a few
more surveyors, especially those with some knowledge of mushroom
identification.
Annual Exhibit: The Kingdome implosion may
mean a move for our mushroom show. Every year we schedule the
exhibit date to avoid Husky home football games. This year and next
the Seahawks will be sharing Husky stadium and adding to the
weekend traffic misery near the Center for Urban Horticulture
(CUH). The Seahawks schedule is not out yet, but we expect that
every weekend in October one or the other team will have a home
game October 13-15, 2000 is the date we have set for the show. It's
reserved as usual at CUH for that weekend. But 'in case we have to
move, we have also reserved a large set of rooms at Sand Point
Naval Station for the same time. We have a couple of months before
we must commit to either space. Mark your calendars for October
13-15th
Education: Colin Meyer is our new Education
Chair. Thank you Colin! Thanks Lisa for a job well done!
Mailing & Data base: Sometime in the next six months we will need a new mailing/data base manager. Doug Ward has been keeping the mailing list up to date and mailing out the Spore Prints each month for many years (on top of being president). We know he hates to give it up, but travel plans make it 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 Board
members: Joanne Young, President; Lynn Phillips, Treasurer;
Trustees: D.V. Corey, Marcia Hiltzheimer, John Goldman, Karin
Mendell, and Bernice Velategui. The office of V.P. for the
remaining one year of Joanne's term will be appointed by the Board.
This exciting position is responsible for obtaining speakers for
our membership meetings, so if this interests you, call a board
member before April 17th. Colin Meyer will be taking over as
Education chair from Lisa Bellefond. Thank You Lisa for the great
job. New Rosters are being prepared by Jean Chin; she hopes that
they will be ready by the next membership meeting. Frances Ikeda
will plan the summer picnic. We are exploring Sand Pont Naval
Station as a possible site for Exhibit 2000
MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Tuesday, April 11th, at 7:30 pm at the Center for
Urban Horticulture, 3501 NE 41st Street, Seattle
This month a PSMS favorite is back! Our speaker
will be Canadian mycologist, Dr. Bryce Kendrick,
author of "The Fifth Kingdom", and of the huge mycological CD-ROM
of the same title. He will take us on a guided digital tour of his
CD-ROM which covers all aspects of mycology, and contains over
3,000 colour illustrations.
Members who attended the Lake Quinault foray
several years ago remember Dr. Kendrick's after dinner lecture
which held everyone fascinated for over two hours. Would persons
with last names beginning with the letters L-0 please bring
refreshments for the social hour?
MUSHROOM FONDUE
1 lb. shredded cheese (8 oz Emmenthaler, 4 oz
Gruyere, 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-inch
chunks
2 Tbs. Butter or oil
Salt. pepper, to taste
Sauté mushrooms (leave them in large piece
or whole if they are small) in butter or-oil adding shallot after
liquid has boiled off. Set morels aside after shallot has become
transparent. Rub inside of heavy pot with garlic. Heat the wine in
the pot until simmering. Toss cheese with cornstarch and add slowly
to the wine, stirring constantly but slowly. When the cheese is
melted and smooth, add the morels. Keep the fondue over a heat
source at all times to prevent gumminess. Serve immediately with
large cubes of bread. 'Fondue doesn't reheat well. so eat it all
before it gets cold. This is a good meal to plan for moreling trips
because you can eat it with or without mushrooms. Patrice
Benson
FIELD TRIPS Mike Lovelady
Field trips commence at 9 am. Usually coffee is,
provided all day. Identifiers are present from 9-4 after which time
there is a potluck. Bring something to share as well as your own
plate and beverage. Two-day field trips are for camping fun;
however there will be a mushroom identifier only on the Saturday
and the official fieldtrip is Saturday. Questions? Call
206-522-6031 (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 email
addresses. To facilitate communication between members, I have
created a mailing list. This list can be used to discuss anything
related to PSMS or fungi. Announcements regarding meetings and
field trips will also be sent to this list.
Using the list is easy. All communication is done
through email, using your favorite email program. There are several
important email addresses associated with the list:
psms-members-subscribe@onelist.com
In order to subscribe to the list, send an email to
this address. Do this first.
To post a message to the list, send it to this
address. Your message will be delivered to everyone who is
subscribed to the list. Messages distributed from the list will
automatically 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 an
email to this address.
If you have any questions, please contact me at cmeyer@helvella.org or 206
722 6687.
Reprinted from OCTOBER 1993 SPORE PRINTS
#295
MEET AGNES SIEGER Dick Sieger
Agnes has produced 80* issues of Spore Prints since
she became. Its editor in, 1985 and she thoroughly enjoyed working
on every one. She joined PSMS in 1973 and soon became an active
member, working on countless tasks and serving several terms on the
board.
Agnes was reared Idaho, first in Glenns Ferry and
then in Marsing where her family spent their first frigid winter in
a house without plumbing. Growing up, she went on camping and
arrowhead hunting trips on back roads with her parents. They taught
her to hunt and she is skilled at getting a deer from field to
table. She worked as a phone company operator, irrigated fields,
and cared for horses.
She was graduated from the College of Idaho where
she studied art. She traveled to Germany one summer.
Agnes moved to Salt Lake City, met her first
husband, 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 a
collaborating author of a monograph about marine corrosion.
Before her two daughters were born summer vacations
were spent hiking and canoeing. The trips included a hike to a
remote Colorado lake after a narrow gauge train ride, a two week
hike down the Olympic National Park coast trail, and a three week
wilderness trip in central British Columbia that began with a bush
flight.
At home, Agnes may write family history or peck at
an 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 '60
pickup with Dick and a Border collie in front and wine in the
cooler. She likes the looking more than the finding and
identifying. She likes the mushroomers best. [Agnes wouldn't print
this but she is away, so .... ]
Editor NOTE: As of March 2000 Agnes has produced
over 146 issues of Spore Prints, each one representing a weekend+
dedicated to our newsletter. Thanks, Agnes and thanks also to her
trusty sous chef, Dick.