November was an incredibly busy month for the Collar City Mushrooms team! We have been continually expanding our grain spawn and substrate bags. We tapped into the cultures we’ve been collecting and transferred them into grain, ordered 2 new strains from North Spore Mushrooms, and we also took samples from wild foraged mushrooms and created active agar plates from them. The coming months will see quite the blossoming of fungi!
We hosted a Facebook live “meet the team and facility tour” event which is now up on our Facebook page and will be on our YouTube channel once we have enough content to make one!
Ed, Amy, and Avery attended the virtual Mushroom Mountain wild mushroom foraging certification class taught by Tradd Cotter. We are now certified in New York to collect and sell wild foraged mushrooms!
Avery presented to the Troy Planning Commission and got their approval to allow us to proceed with building and opening with the promise of replacing the asphalt curb / sidewalk area with a concrete sidewalk when we purchase the building.
So far we have been selling our mushrooms as soon as they are harvested to local individuals, often by delivery. Delmar Bistro has featured our mushrooms in a few of their weekly specials. On Wednesday evenings, the Helderberg Mountain Brewing Company on Main Street, East Berne has become a Mountain Mushroom Delivery pickup spot. Pre-orders of mushrooms are brought to the hill towns and can be picked up between 4:30 and 6pm.
We spent a Saturday inoculating logs provided by Allen and Rudy Greg Stempel with volunteer assistance from the one and only James Matlock.
Most importantly perhaps, is the fact that construction has finally begun on the four rooms we are building inside the farm building: a sterile lab space, and 3 grow rooms. By Mid December all construction should be completed and we hope to have our official ribbon cutting and opening celebration in January!
Competition Winner:
Mark Esslie won .5 lb of Blue Oysters for his suggestion of “Muqin,” which means mother in Mandarin Chinese.
Mushroom of the Month:
Hericium erinaceus (Lion’s Mane)
This incredible mushroom is not only delicious it is also packed with “Nerve Growth Factor” and has been shown to combat dementia, Alzheimers, act as a memory booster, and assist with other cognitive ailments, as well as facilitate the repair of nerve damage.
Delicious. A link to a vegan lion’s mane cake recipe: https://aubreyskitchen.com/lions-mane-mushroom-recipes/
Coming Soon:
Construction will be wrapping up and we’ll be opening for real within weeks! Keep an eye out for the announcement! We moved some new strains of mushroom into grow tents: Pioppino and Beech Mushrooms, so if you are interested in trying something new, let us know!
Additional announcements can always be found on the internet.
Facebook: Collar City Mushrooms.
Instagram: collar_city_mushrooms
Website: www.collarcitymushrooms.com
Collar City Mushrooms 
Just a question… isn’t it the wrong time of year to inoculate logs? I was under the impression this was best done in late winter/early spring when the sugar content of the sap is highest.
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Yes, Early Spring, or Even late February / Early March is when most people suggest inoculation. That being said, if you get logs, you should inoculate them right away. We’ve had great success with late fall / early winter inoculations.
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