November is always such a bittersweet month. The days rapidly get shorter and colder, rain changes to sleet, ice, and snow, and our fungi friends go into hiding in the forests. However, our farm grow rooms remained bursting at the seams, and a few cold weather strains started making a comeback! The shifting weather didn’t slow down our community building and engagement activities either. We began the month with a huge bang up in Saratoga with The Mushroom Experience through the Culinary Arts program at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. We were asked to curate a dinner, and we did, but we took it a few steps further and wove fungi into an event that enticed all 5 senses!
The sold out event seated 130 guests that were served mushroom infused cocktails featuring beer made with our mushrooms from Indian Ladder Farms CIdery and Brewery, Kru Coffee Cold Brew featuring our Lion’s Mane, and mushroom infused spirits distilled in Ithaca, NY by Mushroom Spirits Distillery. The 3 course meal was crafted by the culinary team that has put so many tasty dishes on our farm dinner tables: Corinne Carey and David Chaiken. Artists Allie E Wist and Lisa Shonberg immersed our guests in olfactory and auditory mystery with mushroom perfume diffusers and sounds pulled from the electronic pulses of living mushrooms! Amy, Avery, and a team of volunteers crafted mushroom sculptures that greeted guests as they walked across the SPAC grounds. And screens around the dining room featured photos of our mushrooms taken by photographer Carol Bell. It was such a delight to watch all the fungi enthusiasts enjoy the evening. We even had a huge mushroom marketplace featuring hand crafted mushroom items such as Cheesecakes from New York Vegan Cheescakes infused with mushrooms, Catskill Fungi tinctures, Megzykin art, Carol Bell’s photos Check out all of the photos SPAC posted on their website: HERE.
The HVCC Mushrooms, Mycelium, and More class wrapped up with a discussion on mushrooms as functional adaptogens and how to include them into a healthy wellcare routine.
Our final Music and Creativity Collaboration of the year showcased photographer Susan Jadlos and musician LSDaniel. Susan has taken photos of objects around Troy and has even made pillows, eyeglass socks, and a scarf using a print of bricks from the gasholder building. Her art will be on display through the end of the year.
We participated in the 5th annual Charity Bike Ride and Donation Drive: The Troy Cranksgiving Donation Race! Participants were tasked to hunt down items from several vendors in Troy, purchase them, and donate them to the Joseph House for Thanksgiving meal prep! It was such a fun way to engage the community!
Every Wednesday night we spend time up in the Helderberg Mountains at the Helderberg Mountain Brewing Company. From 5 to 6:30pm you can find a selection of our fungi farm fresh products and sample all the delicious mountain made brews available at the tasting room
Ovenbird Baking has returned to our shop! Eliza had taken her breads to the Delmar Farmers Market and was not able to provide extra product for our shop for the summer. Now that the market is closed she is back! Starting with just pizza crusts, she will be expanding her offerings soon. Starting with bread boules for a December Soup Pop-up (see below for details)!
Shiitake Sunshine Lotion by Groundup Apothecary is finally back in stock!
We celebrated Shop Small Saturday with lots of sales and had so many fungi friends stop in!
New Products have hit our shelves! We finally crafted a Sweet and Savory BBQ Jerky using our King Trumpets and Black Pearl Oysters! We started putting our lion’s mane powder into capsules for ease of consumption. We made an instant Mushroom Gravy Mix that is vegan, gluten free, and delicious! We also expanded our mushroom clothing offerings into Socks, Leggings, aprons, and dresses!
We’re now delivering to two new restaurants in Albany: The Delaware and The Eleven at Lark Hall.
We backed the Mycelium Game on kickstarter and finally received our copy in the mail. It is a beautiful resource gathering game where each player directs their mushlings to travel to the trees in the forest establishing relationships and hunting for nutrients. We are looking to have another mushroom game night next year and this one will certainly be hitting the table!
The 2nd Sunday Poetry and Prose Open Mic amongst the mushrooms is always a relaxing time filled with thought provoking words.
Avery was interviewed by Hudson Mohawk producer Larissa Borglum. Listen in as he discusses using mushrooms for waste stream management.
Psilocybin Corner:
New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives November meeting featured lawyer Allison Hoots. She discussed how religious organizations have been navigating the restrictions on entheogenic substances (such as LSD, psilocybin containing mushrooms, and ayahuasca).
Watch Allison’s discussion here:
The North American Mycological Association’s committee on Medicinal Mushrooms was joined by NAMA president Trent Blizzard in November. We discussed the efficacy of consuming medicinal mushrooms through extracts, powders, and teas. The 4th Quarter issue of the Mycophile will feature Avery’s first article as Psilocybin Correspondent discussing the history of psilocybin use in the west.
Listen to Avery on WIOX Catskill Radio with Spiritual Solutions guest host Erwin Karl as he discusses the state of psilocybin advocacy in New York and steps New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives are taking to move accessibility forward.
Tune in to our next meeting at the farm on December 12th.
Check out the website Psychedelics.com for an archive of articles on healing with Psychedelics.
Coming Soon:
Saturday, December 9th: Dinner on the Farm Featuring Chef Christina Lloyd! A multiple course dinner curated by the Soulistic Vegan herself! This dinner is already sold out.
Sunday, December 10th: 2nd Sunday Poetry and Prose open mic hosted by poets Nancy Klepsch and Dan Wilcox.
Tuesday, December 12th: New Yorker’s For Mental Health Alternatives featuring guest speaker Dr Bill Brennan. Dr Brennan will discuss his latest book and training clinicians in psychedelic assisted therapy.
Bill Brennan, PhD, will be joining us to talk about the EMBARK therapy model of psychedelic Assisted therapy and how it differs from practices currently in place.
Bill Brennan, PhD, is a psychologist in New York City who has served as a clinical advisor at Cybin and Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals. He is a co-creator of the EMBARK approach to psychedelic therapy (with Dr. Alex Belser) and is a core faculty member in the EMBARK psychedelic facilitator training program. He has been a clinical supervisor on several trials of psychedelic-assisted therapy and has authored several psychedelic therapy manuals. He is the co-author of EMBARK Psychedelic Therapy: A New Approach for the Whole Person, which will be published by Oxford University Press in April 2024. He serves as an advisory board member of New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives and has previously served on the ethics working group of the American Psychedelic Practitioners Association. He has written and taught on the topic of relational harm prevention in psychedelic-assisted therapy and is committed to making psychedelic healing more responsive to systemic and collective dimensions of well-being.
Meetings are in person at the farm or join us remotely through zoom here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81854729934?pwd=ZE4xSlJKdm1hbWN0Z3o4UnFBOHJuZz09
For more details:
Thursday, December 14th: Chanterelle’s Kitchen Soup Pop-Up featuring a Hungarian Mushroom soup with cashew yogurt and homemade mushroom bacon with optional bread boules by Ovenbird Baking and Troy Crow Cookies by Corinne. Pre-order through instagram or facebook direct message or email collarcitymushrooms@gmail.com. Soup only $15 (2 servings) Bread Boules $5 each. Crow Cookies $5 each.
Thursday, December 14th: Mushroom Book Club discusses the first half of Chanterelle Dreams and Amanita Nightmares by Greg Marley.
Saturday, December 16th:Ye Olde Makers Market featuring Ovenbird Baking, Doyles cane and Stick Company, and possibly more!
Saturday, January 20th: Dinner on the Farm Featuring Chef David Chaiken Tickets available starting December 21st on eventbrite., Stop in and buy directly from our farm store and avoid the fee.
Saturday, February 10th: Dinner on the Farm featuring Chef David Chaiken. Stay tuned for more info!
Collar City Mushrooms 