Our spores spread wide and far during the month of May! Between field trips to the farm and programs in the area we engaged with so many new myco-curious folks! Foraged New York kicked off at the beginning of the month with a flurry of unique culinary experiences across the capital region. Wild flora and funga identification walks and restaurants, bars, and cafes participated to make May truly wild!
Chefs Dave Chaiken and Corinne Carey rolled with the wild harvested theme for our May Dinner on the Farm. We had 21 ingredients gathered from the forests and fields of the capital region: Cow Parsnips, Ramps, Sochan, Spring Water, Candy Cap Mushrooms, Chanterelles, Birch Polypore, Chaga, Dryad’s Saddle, Tremella, Goutweed, Magnolia Blossoms, Violet Flowers, Dandelion Capers, Fragrant Bedstraw, Dame’s Rocket, Onion Grass, Mugwort, Japanese Knotweed, Stinging Nettles, and Ostrich Fern Fiddleheads. Chef Dave even got out in the forest to forage some of the ingredients himself!
We have Kru Cold Brew with Lion’s Mane back in Stock!
The People’s Health Sanctuary did an herbalism workshop and sent everyone home with broth ingredients that included Dryad’s Saddle and Dehydrated Shiitake that we donated. Check them out here: https://www.mediasanctuary.org/initiatives/phs/
We presented for a third time to the Albany Public Library on growing mushrooms at home and including mushrooms into your well care routine. These free programs are offered to residents of the Albany Arbor Hill neighborhood and beyond.
We showcased 4 different grow your own mushroom techniques for gardeners curious to add mushrooms to their home produce production.
Our Fresh Mushrooms can now be found at their farm stand weekly!
The Albany Branch of Girls Inc brought a group of learners over to discover how mushrooms grow. Our favorite quote of the day “Prime drinks are so last week… this week we are drinking Mushroom tea and eating jerky!”
We pushed into the Emma Wilard 9th grade STEAM Research Class to talk about growing, cooking, and eating mushrooms!
Our Mushroom Book Club met to share snacks and discuss the graphic novel “Fruiting Bodies” by Ashley Robin Franklin. Super quick horror work about campers that get attacked by fungally infected survivors in the forest!
The Second Sunday poetry and Prose open mic continues to be a safe space for writers to share their works, sip some refreshing mushroom tea, and relax amongst the mushrooms.
Our R.I.P. St Rose reading gathered alumni and former faculty of St Rose College to celebrate the bonds formed while growing as writers.
You can watch the entire RIP St Rose reading here:
RIP St Rosed Reading at Collar CIty Mushrooms
We briefly hosted what was to be a weekly hour long mental health workshop through the Mental Health Empowerment Project. This will be revisited soon once they have staff dedicated to it again.
Every Wednesday we bring our fresh mushrooms up to the Helderberg Mountain Tasting Room from 5pm until 6:30pm. Making shopping for delicious exotic fungi easy for our hilltown customers. (Follow our Instagram for updates, there are times when we are not able to make the trip)
Psilocybin Corner:
May was a very exciting month for our advocacy efforts. Assembly Member Amy Paulin introduced the bill we drafted to the New York legislature. (Read the below articles to see what people are saying across the country about our model). We hosted Scottie Oceano at our monthly meeting to talk about creating set and setting in a spiritual context. Watch the full meeting here:
NYMHA May 24 Meeting featuring Scottie Oceano
Read the Full text of the bill here: A10735
Avery discussed New York State Policy at a Horizon’s Adjacent Talk with the Psychedelic Sisterhood, Decriminalized Nature New York, Cluster Busters, and Darkhei Rephua. ( https://www.horizonspbc.com/newyork )
Noah Potter, Chair Emeritus for NYS Bar Association moderated a panel:
“Where are we, and how did we get here?”
Coming Soon:
Metal Amongst the Mushrooms, Sunday, June 9th 3:30 – 5:30. All ages show featuring 2 piece grindcore band No End out of Ithaca New York, Compress from Holyoke, and Radiation Blackbody, a two piece instrumental prog-violence band out of Brooklyn. Wizardburger will be on site slinging vegan noms. $10 suggested donation.
New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives Monthly Meeting, Tuesday, June 11th 7pm – 8:30pm. This will be an end of session update with a preview of what the next few months will look like. Join remotely via zoom here:
Dinner on the Farm featuring the Chef Jisung Jeon, Saturday, June 15th 5:30 – 8:30pm. Tickets are going fast! The menu sounds incredible!
(avoid the fee and purchase directly from our farm store)
Tickets available until June 14th.
Allied Brewing Music Festival, Saturday, June 22 We’ll be vending at this festival. More details to come.
https://alliedbrewingcompany.com/
For the Love of Fungi 3 Saturday, July 27. Our friends at Mycohilic are putting together the third year of the For the Love of Fungi Festival in Ashokan at the Ashokan Center! Be sure to check it out!
https://www.mycophilic.net/for-the-love-of-fungi
Music and Creativity Collaboration featuring Artist Rebecca Santosuosso and Psytrance DJ Songsten Saturday, August 31st. 5:30 – 8:30+ (NOTE: DATE CHANGE). Food provided by Pretty Pig Provisions.
Rebecca Giel Santosuosso is an abstract artist working out of Troy, NY with a BFA from the College of Saint Rose, a BA in Psychology from SUNY Albany as well as a pending Master’s in the same subject. She works in mental health, feeding concepts from her clinical work back into her art through themes of identity, divinity, and social justice. You can find more of her work at rebeccagiel.com
DJ Songsten: Old World Old School Old Style. “I like to travel like Doctor Who with all these worlds in my hard drive…”
Adirondack Mushroom Mania 2024 Saturday August 24th 2024. As part of the mania, we will be curating a mushroom dining experience in collaboration with Chef David Stein on Friday, August 23rd, ! Stay tuned for details.
Dinner on the Farm Featuring Chef Kate Ray, Saturday, September 7th, 5:30 – 8:30pm. More details coming soon.
Collar City Mushrooms 