by OMS board of volunteers chairperson Debra Shankland
Your volunteers in the Ohio Mushroom Society were happy to return to offering in-person forays in 2021. Although we took another year off from large, full-weekend forays, nine limited-participant mini forays were conducted in Ashtabula, Columbiana, Darke, Hancock, Lorain, Perry and Portage counties.
In addition to our own events, our members were informed via email about local mushroom-themed movies and regional events hosted by others, such as a two-hour mushroom ID webinar hosted by OSU Extension.
Our Mushroom Log newsletter had undergone a change in editors in the past year. We appreciate Bob Antibus for taking on this huge task, and thank Dave Miller for his many, many years of putting together this interesting and informative read. We conducted a survey of our newsletter readers to gauge their interest in the Log’s different departments, and importantly, their willingness to receive the newsletter electronically only. A large majority welcomed the change, which will allow us to feature full-color photos, resource links, and even more pages without the limitations of print starting in 2022.
In addition to our formal newsletter, six blogs were posted to this website in this past year, providing recipes, humor and timely tidbits.
If you value all of these services, don’t forget to renew your membership for 2022. OMS memberships run from Jan 1 – Dec 31, and lifetime memberships are offered as well. Another benefit of OMS membership is a discount on the North American Mycological Association membership, saving you $5. You can check out NAMA at https://namyco.org
Finally, I’m going to boast that OMS was listed as an important resource in a two-page color spread in the 6 Oct 2021 issue of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, leading their “Taste” section. We take pride in helping people further their knowledge and appreciation of fungi, and it feels good to be recognized for our efforts.
Ohio Mushroom Society 