The University of Alaska Southeast-Sitka Campus Office of Continuing Education will host its annual class "Southeast Mushrooms: With Kitty LaBounty" in September.

This course meets three times: twice on Zoom and once for an in person field trip. During the field trip (masks required), Kitty will be on hand to identify the mushrooms students find. If it's safe, students can taste the mushrooms or take them home to cook later.

This three-day class takes place from 7-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 2, and from 7-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 7, using Zoom. The field trip is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4 (check in at the UAS-Sitka Campus for field trip). The course fee is $50 and students should dress for the outdoors, bring waxed paper, a face mask, and a bucket for gathering.

This course is designed to introduce students to the mushroom flora of Southeast Alaska. The focus will be on the use of taxonomic keys for identification of fungi and recognition of both edible and poisonous mushrooms. Cooking and preservation of mushrooms will be discussed. Field trips are followed by in-class identification of collected mushrooms.

Kitty goes beyond mushroom identification by teaching students to recognize the edible (and poisonous) mushrooms they can find while out on the trails. It's prime mushroom foraging season here in Sitka, so don't let this opportunity to enrich your diet pass you by.

For those interested in learning more, books on Alaska mushrooms can be found at Old Harbor Books in downtown Sitka.

There is a maximum of 18 students allowed in this class. Please contact the Office of Continuing Education at (907) 747-7700 for further information.

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