In Like a Lion’s Mane

So much can change in a month.  It really is incredible the seemingly exponential growth we have been experiencing.  Our sterilizers are humming away cranking out unprecedented amounts of grain and substrate bags, our cultures are expanding incrementally, our showroom grow room will be online in a matter of days, and our retail space is being populated with additional products.  

We are now growing in 2 of our 3 fruiting chambers and producing so many mushrooms!  Our Saturday business has been very brisk and we are pretty much selling out every weekend!

All exterior signage by No Name Sign Co in Troy is now complete and installed! (We just have to repaint the wall on the north side of the building when the weather gets nicer.)

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The National Bank of Coxsackie was able to create a loan package for us as a startup to further boost us towards sustainability.

We have established a relationship with a community garden project in Albany’s West Hill neighborhood called Victory Gardens.  They are a grassroots food justice and community building partnership working to transform abandoned plots in Albany into community garden spaces.  They, and a few other local garden projects will be using our spent substrate blocks to create composted soil to grow vegetables for their neighborhoods.

Avery was interviewed by Corrine Carey at the Sanctuary for Independent Media radio WOOC 105.3.  Have a listen here: https://www.mediasanctuary.org/podcasts/mushroom-business-opens-in-troy/?fbclid=IwAR0nBC62F5WpyzLgURXOZdmjWHlhM8xMozhxZZF-fab64FYUMGhEBBqqP9M

Avery participated in the Berne Town Library TEDX event.  Here is a link to his presentation:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV-AyN3su2Y

Mushroom of the Month: 

Pink Oysters (Pleurotus Djamor)

These incredibly gorgeous mushrooms are a bit meatier than their blue and white cousins.  We did a side by side taste test to see how they differed. While both were delicious, and there was certainly a subtle taste difference, I found the major differentiation to be in the texture.  The pinks were thicker and had more substance after cooking.  I would recommend either of them to budding new mushroom adventurers.

Competition winner:

Eric Budesheim won the February Raffle!  A half pound of oysters, the birchcraft bag, porcini salt and a little cork amanita mushroom!

Stay tuned to facebook for our next competition (most likely in April)

Coming Soon: 

March 11th at 2pm is our official ribbon cutting Grand Opening Celebration.  We will be livestreaming it to our Facebook page (where it will remain for future viewing as well).

During the month of April we will be featured in a series of articles in the Troy Record.

We are in talks with Spectrum 9 News to do a spotlight on Founder / Owner Avery Stempel and what Collar City Mushrooms is all about! More details as they evolve!