HOW MUCH MUSHROOM... can be properly crammed into an average November? That is the month, after all, when California-based fungi festivities begin to heat up, or rather, cool down, if you think about all of those mushroom-hunting treks that happen in the chillsome forests of our state. The eleventh month can, in short, tantalize, tempt, and, in general, heighten our already high cravings for morels, chanterelles, and the whole lot of earthy gems that make up the mushroom family tree. There's a mondo happening spread throughout Mendocino County over much of the start of November — it's the Mendocino Mushroom, Wine, and Beer Festival, which you surely know — and the fun extends into Hopland, where Saracina Winery will once again have a...
MUSHROOM FORAGING AND GOURMET LUNCHEON... to-do on the schedule. It's all sprouting in Hopland on Saturday, Nov. 11, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 in the afternoon, and the rundown is as follows. First up? You'll "(e)xplore the hills of Saracina Ranch with Owner John Fetzer in a hands-on class in the art of foraging for those sought-after fungi." If learning, walking, pausing, and basking in the (fingers crossed) sunshine stokes your appetite, hang tight: A four-course meal will follow at the party barn, and you can bet mushrooms are the savory stars, and you can bet Saracina vinos will be in the glasses, too. A bonus? Eric "Mushroom Man" Schramm will talk wild mushrooms, as in what you can do with them and so on and so forth and so succulent and so delicious and mmm... wild mushrooms.
TICKETS FOR THE AUTUMNAL OUTING... are $100. Keep in mind that the online registration wraps up at midnight on Nov. 8.
