2025 Mycology Weekend

🍄 Mycology Weekend 2025🍄

October 30 – November 2, 2025 ~ Ozark Natural Science Center

Join us for four fungus-filled days of mushroom magic in the Ozarks!

Whether you're an experienced mushroom enthusiast or simply eager to learn more about fungi, Mycology Weekend at ONSC is your chance to dive deep into the fascinating world of fungi. This annual event brings together passionate experts, hands-on learning, and unforgettable forest adventures.

You'll spend the weekend alongside renowned mycologist Jay Justice and dynamic mushroom educators Mike and Cara Snyder. From guided mushroom forays and specimen ID, to workshops on mushroom cultivation and even making paper from fungi—you’ll get a full-spectrum fungi experience.

Explore the forest by day, enjoy delicious “mycocentric” meals, and stick around after dark for UV mushroom hunts and expert presentations. All meals are included, and overnight lodging or camping is available on our scenic campus.

What’s To Expect:

• Guided mushroom forays & identification

• Presentations & discussions with expert mycologists

• Hands-on workshops: mushroom cultivation, spore prints, mushroom paper

• Optional night hikes & UV demos

• Delicious meals (including fungi-inspired dishes!)

• On-site lodging or camping at ONSC

• Access to our trails, store, and more

Tickets, Lodging, and Add-ons

🎟️Ticket Options🎟️

👣 Full Workshop Ticket (Thurs–Sun) — $150

Includes:

✅ All activities, presentations, and hikes

✅ All meals from Thursday dinner through Sunday lunch→ Best value for the full weekend experience!

🌿 Weekend Ticket (Fri–Sun)— $100

Includes:

✅ All activities, presentations, and hikes

✅ All meals from Friday dinner through Sunday lunch

🧒 Youth Workshop Ticket (Ages 12–17) — $75

Includes:

✅ Full access to activities, hikes, and presentations

✅ All meals during the selected ticket dates

🔔 All youth must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

🛏️ Lodging Options🛏️

Choose from comfortable lodge rooms, our cozy glampsite, or primitive campsites.

💡 Sharing with friends or family? When you book a room with multiple beds, you can add other workshop guests at no extra charge.

🏡 Lodge Rooms — $60 per night

• 1 Twin Bed

• 2 Twin Beds

• 2 Twin Bunkbeds (sleeps 4)

• 3 Twin Bunkbeds (sleeps 6)

⛺ Glampsite — $40 per night

• A rustic yet comfortable outdoor experience

🌲 Primitive Campsite (Platform) — $15 per night

• For the true nature lovers!

⭐ Optional Workshop Add-Ons⭐

✨Optional donation to ONSC

Despite rising costs in nearly every area, ONSC remains committed to providing affordable, high-quality programs that connect people with nature. We are not raising our prices at this time. If you find value in our work and would like to support our mission, we gratefully welcome tax-deductible donations to help sustain our efforts.

📄 Mushroom Paper-Making Class – $10 ~ Join Mike & Cara to learn how to make handmade paper using polypore mushrooms.

🔹 $10 materials fee applies only if you want to make your own paper to take home.

🔹 Observing the class is free!

🌱 Mushroom Cultivation Kit – $15 ~ Join Mike Snyder for a hands-on mushroom-growing session. Create your own oyster mushroom grow kit to take home.

🔹 $15 materials fee applies only if you want to build your own kit.

🔹 Kit will grow gourmet mushrooms in about a month!

All proceeds go to support research, community science, and education at Ozark Natural Science Center.

Tentative Schedule

Thursday

🕓 4:00 – 5:00 PM – Arrival & Settle In

👋 5:00 – 5:30 PM – Meet & Mingle

🍽️ 5:30 – 6:30 PM – Dinner

⏸️ 6:30 – 7:00 PM – Break

🧠 7:00 – 8:00 PM – How to Collect and Document Macrofungi + Highlights from Previous Years – Jay

Friday

🍳 8:00 – 9:00 AM – Breakfast

⚠️ 9:00 – 9:30 AM – Safety Talk – Mike or ONSC Rep

🌿 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM – Mushroom Hunting Hike – Mike & Jay

⏸️ 12:00 – 12:30 PM – Break (+ ONSC Store Time)

🥗 12:30 – 1:30 PM – Lunch

🔬 1:30 – 2:30 PM – Sorting Mushrooms & Setting Up Spore Prints – Mike & Jay

📄 2:30 – 5:00 PM – Making Paper from Fungi – Cara & Mike

⏸️ 5:00 – 5:30 PM – Break

🍽️ 5:30 – 6:30 PM – Dinner

⏸️ 6:30 – 7:00 PM – Break

🔎 7:00 – 8:00 PM – Presentation: Using Macroscopic Features for ID & Internet Resources – Jay

🌙 8:30 – 9:30 PM – Optional Night Hike & UV Mushroom Hunt

Saturday

🍳 8:00 – 9:00 AM – Breakfast

🍄 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM – Mushroom Foray

🥗 12:30 – 1:30 PM – Lunch

🔬 1:30 – 2:30 PM – Sorting Mushrooms & Spore Prints

🌱 2:30 – 5:00 PM – Presentation: Cultivating Mushrooms – Mike

🛍️ 5:00 – 5:30 PM – Break & ONSC Store Time

🍄 5:30 – 6:30 PM – Mycocentric Dinner

⏸️ 6:30 – 7:00 PM – Break

💊 7:00 – 8:30 PM – Presentation: Medicinal Uses of Mushrooms/Fungi – Mike

🌌 9:00 – 9:30 PM – Optional UV Demo of Collected Specimens

Sunday

🍳 8:00 – 9:00 AM – Breakfast

🌿 9:00 – 11:30 AM – Final Mushroom Hunting Hike

🔍 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM – ID & Final Review of Collected Specimens – Mike & Jay

🥗 12:30 – 1:30 PM – Lunch

👋 1:30 – 2:00 PM – Wrap-Up & Departure

About Ozark Natural Science Center 

Our Mission: To strengthen the understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of land, water, and wildlife in the Ozarks.

Our Vision: Everyone should have the opportunity to connect with the outdoors. We inspire and educate our community to protect the Ozarks.

Our Core Values:

• Create clear and engaging educational programs

• Provide hands-on experiences in the outdoors

• Encourage responsibility for the natural world

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What We Do: At ONSC, we help people connect with nature through fun, hands-on science activities. Since 1992, we’ve been the only overnight science center in Arkansas. We’ve hosted more than 100,000 students through field trips, camps, and workshops.

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We also rent out our space—including lodges, tiny houses, an event center, classrooms, and campgrounds—so visitors can enjoy the outdoors.

We believe everyone has the right to receive outdoor education. No matter your background, we are here to help you to explore science and nature!

About the Instructors:

Jay Justice became enthralled with mushrooms and fungi while pursuing a graduate degree many years ago. After completing his graduate degree, Jay joined the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) in 1980. In 1982, he was instrumental in forming the Arkansas Mycological Society and participated in his first NAMA foray in 1985. He has been a prominent member of NAMA, and a well-known mycologist in the decades since. In 2011, Justice was the recipient of the Gary Lincoff Award for Contributions to Amateur Mycology, an award that is given each year by NAMA to recognize service performed by selected amateur or professional mycologists. He has co-authored several research papers in mycological journals. Jay continues to serve as a lecturer and mushroom foray leader for mycological societies and mushroom clubs, particularly in the Southeast. He has recently co-authored the book Amanitas in North America, which was published in June of 2020.

Mike Snyder is a mushroom educator from the Ozarks and has been busy doing talks, walks and workshops about mushrooms in the region for the past few years. He has been foraging and studying fungi for 13 years and has been cultivating mushrooms for about 3 years, focusing on outdoor growing methods. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Missouri Mycological Society and is one of their official mushroom identification experts, having earned the Harry Thiers Certificate of Mushroom Proficiency. He is a proud member of the North American Mycological Association Cultivation Committee as well. Mike and his wife Cara have a small business, WildWise Botanicals. They wild-harvest and cultivate mushrooms and herbs and create micro-batches of various products from them. The focus of their business has shifted to education in the past few years, and Mike has been fortunate enough to teach a great deal of people about fungi in that time. He is a passionate mushroom enthusiast who loves nothing more than introducing people to the wild mushrooms of our region and showing them how to cultivate gourmet and medicinal mushrooms at home.

Ticket Refund Policy

• Refunds up to 1 week before the event: Tickets are refundable minus any applicable fees (processing, administrative, etc.) until 7 days before the event.

• Refunds within 1 week of the event: For refund requests made less than 7 days prior to the event, a 50% refund will be given.

• No refunds within 24 hours of the event: Refund requests made within 24 hours of the event are not permitted, except in exceptional circumstances and only with approval from ONSC administration.

*Please note that all refund requests must be submitted in writing to jill.bowman@onsc.us. Refunds will be processed within 7-10 business days.

Questions? Please email Program Manager, Breana Patterson, at breana.patterson@onsc.us