Friday, August 24, will bring a favorite instructor, Greg Marley, to Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens for a day-long workshop to forage for and learn about Maine’s marvelous mushrooms. The program in the Education Center and outdoors is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Preregistration is required.

This is the perfect chance to get started learning about the wild mushrooms that pop up each summer and fall. A noted expert mycologist, Marley will help participants build skills and confidence. He’ll show how to identify mushrooms and collect them safely. He’ll talk about the best edible and medicinal mushrooms and how to avoid toxic mushrooms.

The class will also take a foraging hike and collect what mushrooms are fruiting. Marley will then explain how to prepare and preserve the best wild edibles. He’ll talk about the ecology of mushrooms and will even share information about the folklore surrounding them.

Participants are invited to bring mushrooms for identification. They should also bring a bag lunch. The workshop will be held rain or shine.
Marley has been pursuing his passion for mushrooms for more than 35 years. He has led countless walks and classes on mushroom identification and frequently lectures on mushrooms across New England. He has been a mushroom consultant to poison centers for a number of years. He is proprietor of Mushrooms for Health, a company offering healing mushroom supplements, and is author of “Mushrooms for Health; Medicinal Secrets of Northeast Fungi” and the award-winning “Chanterelle Dreams and Amanita Nightmares; The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms.”

Prices for the workshop are $60 for members and $72 for nonmembers. To sign up, call 633-4333, ext. 101, visit www.Mainegardens.org; or stop by the Botanical Gardens, off Barters Island road in Boothbay.