My wife and I would like to gather wild EDIBLE mushrooms. We are total beginners, and will need guidance, so that we do not get toadstools and die. Or get spotted shrooms and hallucinate. If there is a club or group, that can help us, please email cemab4y@hotmail.com

Don't eat the brown acid!

Not into morels? What's involved in immorel mushroom hunts?

Explosives that produce mushroom clouds.

Get a copy of the book by Langdon Cook, "The Secret Lives of Mushroom Hunters", first, just to see what the experience may bring to you. Next, try setting up a weekender Mushroom Hunting interest group using the "Meet-UP Group" sites on the Web. There are hundreds of special interest groups represented on that site, that are looking for additional people to enjoy their chosen activities, and you might luck out and find some folks who hunt mushrooms and actually know a lot about what they are doing. You really do not want to just go out and "pick and eat" on mushrooms unless you really have learned the difference between many look-alikes. Many similar species are deadly if consumed by humans, so watching birds and squirrels munch on them is no guarantee that they won't poison you.

The last thing I would suggest is that if you can find a university with a Botany Department in this region, they will have a course in Mycology that you might be able to sign up for as an "auditing" or regular student. They will also have knowledge of the locals who are already field experts from whom you can also hike around with and from whom you can learn. The Eastern Europeans and Russians do a lot of this, so if you know anyone from those areas, inquire if they know anyone actively hunting over here.

Certain varieties of mushrooms bring in a goodly amount of money by the haughty-taughty restaurants, if you wanted to go pro with this hobby it may turn into a lucrative side job..

Happy hunting!

Where exactly were you planning on doing this? Reston? Herndon? Ha. Sorry to break it to you, but most of Fairfax County is an asphalt jungle.

You'll have to go pretty far to find the undisturbed spots and old dead wood fungi such as morels favor. Riverbend is overrun with people since Great Falls is closed so it's likely already been picked clean.

I recommend buying a kit online and inoculating your own mycos considering you are an absolute beginner.
I did oyster mushrooms a few times and had a shiitake log one year, a little expensive but fun and they're pretty to look at. ..

Try calling or visiting one of the Fairfax County nature or garden centers, like Hidden Pond Nature Center or Green Spring Gardens - their staff or volunteers might be able to help. Meadowlark Botanical Gardens might be a good resource, too.

If you're a first time mushroom hunter with literally no experience in the field stick to the two essentially failsafe varieties--the chanterelles and the black trumpets--google them and read thoroughly on proper identification. Unfortunately though it's a bit late in the season and with the dry autumn not many have survived.

I hear Death Caps are great with a little salt and olive oil. Allegedly.