October was such a full month. From live performances, to cooking classes, to finalizing details for the SPAC dinner, to teaching our Hudson Valley Community College class, to growing mountains of mushrooms, we put our heads down and got it done! Perhaps the largest hurdle we’ve leapt to date also occurred in October: we put in a contract to purchase our farm building! So many things happened and we are still spinning!
We started off the month participating in a health and wellness fair for the employees of Living Resources where we introduced the benefits of eating whole mushrooms and incorporating fungi medicines into your wellcare routine. We also made connections among many industry partners and are talking about some potential collaborations down the road.
Then we hosted our final Metal in the Moshroom Concert of 2023, followed a few days later by Eric-Jon Tasker’s art opening featuring Inch, Sky Furrows, and Wizard Burger!
We even made time to get into the woods for a few foraging trips! We sell private foraging experience gift certificates. They are a perfect holiday gift for a wilderness loving friend or family member. We met these avid outdoors loving mushroom fans at a park in Albany county and showed them a few tips and tricks for identifying mushrooms in the wild. Most importantly: slowing down to find them!
An event at SPAC takes so much planning and coordination and we absolutely could not carry off such an incredible experience without all of our partners. This event is to be a celebration of all things fungal and will engage all 5 senses. Olfactory artist Allie Wist creates mushroom scented perfumes and will be diffusing forest smells throughout the space. Musician and sound artist Lisa Shonberg will have her modular synthesizer equipment hooked to two of our fruiting blocks. Photographer Carol Bell will have pictures she took of our fruiting mushrooms on display. The Ecovative team is contributing mushroom packaging materials for people to touch and interact with. And Chefs Dave and Corinne have curated a series of culinary sensations that will tantalize every taste bud! We wanted to introduce our guests to multiple mushroom farmers across New York so we picked up fresh fungi from The Mushroom Shop in Salem, Tivoli Mushrooms in Hillsdale, and Flowering Sun Ecology in Ellenville as well as providing product ourselves of course. There will be a marketplace featuring items from Catskill Fungi, The Mushroom Distillery, Primo Chocolates, and creatives Myco_Fox and Megzykin. It will surely be a night to remember!
We had a SPAC dinner sculpture making evening at the farm and had so much fun putting pieces together.
The 2nd Sunday Poetry and Prose series hosted by Nancy Klepsch and Dan Wilcox is always an engaging afternoon of words amongst the mushrooms.
With demand for our fresh mushrooms increasing, we have to step up our production! Huge thanks to Devon Gilroy of Tivoli Mushrooms for selling us some of his equipment that he’s outgrown as he scaled up! His farm in Hillsdale is truly a dream to behold! So many growing mushrooms! His is the biggest commercial operation in New York!
Our Farm to Table restaurant partner Scarlet Knife gave us and other local farms they source ingredients from a great shout on National Farmers’ Day!
Musician and poet Naomi Bindman and percussionist Mickey S Carter performed for us amongst the mushrooms.
Avery taught another sold out class through Hudson Valley Community College’s Continuing education program.
Amy and Avery taught a cooking with Mushrooms class at Capital Cooks in Colonie. (Stay tuned to our future newsletters for a class in early 2024).
Our friends at the Helderberg Mountain Brewing Company have noticed mushrooms popping up around their tasting room! We took a look and discovered that a few were edible! We foraged a few young Shaggy Mane mushrooms (Coprinus comatus) and cooked them up as a tasty snack!
Fidens Brewing on Broadway and The Eleven at Lark Hall on Lark Street are two of the new locations serving up our delicious mushrooms! Make sure you check them out!
Amy found several beautiful hens on her adventures in the woods and we’ve been able to share them with our customers and turn them into tasty creations! This umami rich mushroom was perfect to include in our new mushroom gravy mix pouches!
Psilocybin Corner:
Dr. Sunil Kumar Aggarwal spoke at our October meeting. He discussed how Psychedelic Assisted Therapy during end of life care can help give people their lives back by allowing them to be present with their friends and family members during their hospice and palliative care experiences. Two of his patients requested psilocybin treatment during the hospice periods and while the FDA approved it, the Health and Human Services department approved it, the DEA blocked it. So he sued them in appeals court. The first hearing was at the 9th district court of appeals in Arizona on October 20th and the court decided to take the case to trial. If Dr Aggarwal’s team is able to win this case it will have a huge impact across the country for people seeking to use psilocybin to assist in their healing.
We are continually meeting with legislators and assembly leadership as we coordinate the best path to creating a legal system for psilocybin accessibility in New York. Join in to find out how you can help!
Mushroom in the news:
Upcoming:
Saturday, November 11th: 5:30pm – 9:30pm, A Touch of Home Featuring photographs and fabric creations by Susan Jadlos and the musical stylings of LSDaniel. 5:30- 9:30. Suggested donation of $10 is appreciated.
Listen to an interview by Susan on the Sanctuary Radio:
About Susan Jadlos:
I grew up in Troy and it has been my home for most of my life. As a child, I played in my alley in South Troy. My alley was my lab and the orange brick walls fueled my imagination and continue to be an integral part of my foundation.
I’m a photographer and a scientist. Photography is like magic to me. My photographs of Troy and brickwork stitched together in my collages are dedicated to the brickmakers and bricklayers who helped build the walls of Troy, and continue to inspire me.
The photographs on display were taken in my neighborhood, on or around Front St.
The photograph used to make the brick scarves, pillows and sox fabric was taken at my favorite building,The Troy Gasholder Building in South Troy. Built in 1873, it’s on the National Registry of Historic Places.
Joy, exuberance and beauty in the commonplace, and lifting the spirit are what I hope my work brings to you.
About LSDaniel:
Dan Shapiro, or LSDaniel is heavily involved in the DIY music scene. He runs and operates a House Venue in Troy, NY. With the influx of young bands, new energy, and venues popping up in the capital region, there is a lot of inspiration to draw from. Using elements of Indie Rock, Drum Machines, Incendiary Guitar tones, catchy vocal hooks, and Live Samples, he seamlessly blends a variety of styles.
Tuesday, November 14th: 7pm – 8:30pm, New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives featuring Allison Hoots.
Allison Hoots will discuss the right to religious exercise and how this protection extends to use of psychedelic sacraments, such as ayahuasca and psilocybin. There are both guaranteed rights and risks: the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and case law have established legal standards and implied best practices for religious exercise for sacramental ceremony by sincere religious communities.
Allison Hoots, Esq. is an attorney at Hoots Law Practice PLLC. Allison practices in the legal areas of contract, employment, business, tax, and intellectual property. She has experience advising churches on incorporation, operation, corporate compliance, and best practices in the religious use of plant medicines and consistent with the right to religious exercise, such as pursuant to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Allison is on the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines’ Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants. She is the lead author of Chacruna’s Guide to RFRA and Best Practices for Psychedelic Plant Medicine Churches. Allison is also President and a member of the Board of Directors of the Sacred Plant Alliance, an association of churches that collaborate to establish best practices, foster professional development, create accountability, and promote a path of legal security for the safe and ethical religious use of psychedelic sacraments within the United States.
Saturday, December 9th: Dinner on the Farm with Chef Christina Lloyd from Soulistic Vegan! Limited to 24 seats, this mushroom forward dinner will be sure to wow you! Buy tickets now through eventbrite or come right in our shop to purchase and avoid the online fees!
Collar City Mushrooms 
I just scanned your new newsletter and it looks great! I saw the photo of Sally Rhodes reqding at the Second Sunday poetry event and me in the audience. Glad you didn’t identify me because I look much too fat! Maybe adding more mushrooms to my diet will help.
LikeLike
Ha! oh geeze Julie! you look beautiful! but yes, more mushrooms!
LikeLike