Slippery jack, bear’s tooth, lion’s mane and chicken of the woods.

Those specimens — in addition to chantarelle and porcini mushrooms — are among the hundreds of fungi known to grow in Central Oregon.

As we enter peak mushroom season, events are cropping up to celebrate the area’s abundance of fungi. Sunriver’s eighth annual Fungi Fest & Mushroom Show is Oct. 12, the same day as The Foraged Dinner at Brasada Ranch’s Wild Rye.

Fungi Fest features hundreds of identified Central Oregon mushroom species, mushroom walks and workshops on cooking and growing fungi.

Mushroom-themed festivities begin in the days leading up to the festival, held at Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory in partnership with the Central Oregon Mushroom Club. Headline speaker Jeremy Collision will lead a presentation on decoding the forest’s hidden messages on Oct. 10, and a five-course dinner prepared by Chef Josh Hendricks will be served Oct. 11 at Sunriver Resort.

Although a lack of rainfall has meant lower mushroom activity in Sunriver, it’s still possible to find edible mushrooms, said Kelli Neumann, community education and conservation manager at the observatory.

Neumann said she expects foraging prospects to improve in October.

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The joy of foraging

Jackson Higdon, owner and chef of Luckey’s Woodsman, said Fungi Fest is a great entry point into foraging.

He recently conducted a practice mission for an upcoming Forage to Table event with Wanderlust Tours.

The first Forage to Table event was held in the spring. It brought 30 people on a naturalist-guided tour, followed by a four-course meal prepared by Higdon with foraged and local ingredients. Dishes included some of the last huckleberries of the season, chantarelles gathered by a local picker and a dish drizzled with rosehip syrup.

Of those in attendance, 20 discovered their first morel, a type of mushroom with a conical, porous cap, that is considered a delicacy.

“I get extreme joy chasing my curiosity with finding new forage-ables. That feeling of finding my first one is irreplaceable. I just want to spread that joy,” Higdon said.

Foraging links humans with a long-lost art form, fostering a deeper connection with nature. It also makes the resulting meal more rewarding.

“Getting out there and doing these forage dinners helps people appreciate more about where we came from,” Higdon said. “It gives you so much more appreciation. You’re so much more grateful for it.”

Higdon hopes to host three Forage to Table dinners in 2025, for which a waitlist is available on the Wanderlust website.

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From forests to fine dining

Brasada Ranch’s executive head chef Karl Holl debuted Wild Rye in June, a restaurant concept rooted in his love of foraged ingredients that tells the story of the High Desert on a plate.

Holl worked at Napa’s Martini House early in his career, where he developed a love for the art of foraging.

“I really grew this kind of love for escaping the kitchen and making time in the woods and having that connection to the food,” he said.

Now, he’s been picking and cooking with foraged mushrooms for almost 20 years. These days, he finds much of his bounty on Mount Bachelor and in the Cascade Range, he said.

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Mushrooms take center stage at the four-course Foraged Dinner and wine pairings are included. Lobster, matsutake golden and white chantarelles mushrooms are on the menu, ending with a maple-essenced candy cap mushroom bread pudding for dessert.

Holl said harvesting a basketful of fungi in the wild is never guaranteed. On occasion, he’s been “skunked,” returning from foraging expeditions with nothing more than pieces of trash he’s removed from the wild.

The first step when foraying into foraging is education, Holl said. He recommends learning about fungi through books (such as David Arora’s “Mushrooms Demystified”) at farmer’s markets or the upcoming Fungi Fest.

If You Go

What: Sunriver Fungi Fest & Mushroom Show

When: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 12

Where: Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory, 57245 River Road, Sunriver

Cost: $14 adults, $9 children for online tickets, $15 adults, $10 children at the door

Contact: fungifest.snco.org

What: The Foraged Dinner by Wild Rye

When: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 12

Where: The Barn at Brasada Ranch, 16976 SW Brasada Ranch Road, Powell Butte

Cost: $125 plus 20% service charge

Contact: brasada.com/experiences