So much can happen in a month, so many starts, so many changes, so much growth.
Our search for a building may have finally yielded success. A beautiful building in the Lansingburgh neighborhood right on the Hudson River. If all goes well, we will be getting keys and signing contracts this month! We may even have found a potential complimentary business or two to share the space with. Creating a true mycorrhizal relationship with our environment and other growing organisms is what we are all about!
While we have been operating primarily out of my small apartment we have been experimenting with growing techniques, spawn grains, and developing our work flows. We successfully grew a small but tasty crop of pink oysters outside, but during the second flush an intense heat wave completely cooked the bucket we had growing. We purchased a couple indoor grow tents and are currently seeing success with our Reishi crop. These beautiful “mushrooms of immortality” were started from a jar of mycelium someone had gifted me that had been lost in my fridge for a year or so. We were able to recover some active culture, and after several transfers to remove contamination, we are now growing 6 5lb bags of “antlers.”
On July 15th we launched our Go-Fund-Me campaign and we’ve already raised $5,540. We are overwhelmed by your generosity and can’t wait to start building in our infrastructure once the zoning board approves our location and the building department approves the code review our architect is creating. You can see the campaign here: gf.me/u/yfmxkz. Please share it with your friends and family members to let them know fresh mushrooms will soon be available in the Capital Region!
One of the most important growth elements we saw during July was adding another member to the Collar City Mushrooms family! Peter J. Raponi has joined us as our Chief Financial Officer. Graduating from Siena College with an accounting degree and working in finance positions the last few years will put us in a position to be more fiscally secure as we establish ourselves and evolve!
Competition Winner
Ed posted a “find the mushroom” picture competition on our Facebook page and Ash Lavigne was the first to respond correctly! She won a small jar of our Black Trumpet Salt. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for our August competition.
July Mushroom of the Month
Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius)
Chanterelle season usually starts in early July in Upstate New York. These delicious mushrooms are found in deciduous forest zones. The grow in relationship with the soil and trees around them and are therefore impossible to cultivate (they have a mycorrhizal relationship with their surrounding forest dwellers)
Coming Soon:
During August, we will hopefully be moving into our building. We will be sending out snail mail postcards with our “coming soon” announcement to local restaurants. We are growing Black Oysters and King Oysters in our grow tents and will be sharing them with a few friends and neighbors. We will be wrapping up our GoFundMe campaign on August 31st so if you want to get in on any of the awesome rewards for donating go check it out! If you are local to the 518, Collar City Mushrooms will have a table at the Helderberg Mountain Brewing Company on August 22nd at 4pm during a Mr .Days outdoor performance. We will have a few coloring books for sale and be talking about our business and how to be involved! Come say hi!
Collar City Mushrooms 