We wrapped up another incredible month of mushrooms and closed out 2023 with a few delicious events! 2023 was a huge year for us. So many exciting connections and ways we’ve grown! From grow your own mushroom workshops to large scale dinner productions, 2023 was an incredible year! Thank you all so much for following along!
Chef Christina Lloyd from Soulistic Vegan served up a delightfully filling meal to round out our 2023 dinner on the farm series.
The 2nd Sunday poetry and prose open mic was attended by a sparse but enthusiastic crowd.
Read all about it in Dan Wilcox’s Poetry Blog:
https://dwlcx.blogspot.com/2023/12/2nd-sunday-2-poetry-prose-december-10.html
Avery was a mystery reader in one of our youngest fungi fan’s kindergarten classroom. A Pioppino for Santino was inspired by Santino’s time at the farm before he started school and his classmates absolutely loved it! Avery brought a few fresh and dehydrated mushrooms to share as well! We love fostering a love for fungi in learners of all ages!
We hosted a Shop Small Saturday with a few local creators and served up some tasty treats and mushroom forward beverages.
Albany Ale and Oyster is now carrying our mushrooms! Stop in to check out what they are cooking up!
https://www.albanyaleandoyster.com/
We are now carrying Sandra Penny Pots’ ceramic selections. Bowls, plates, serving dishes, and more!
We’ve started packaging our teas and jerkies in smaller “just a taste” pouches for people that are curious to try or just want a small snack!
Green Sugar Leaf Farms is carrying our teas and jerky at their spot on the concourse down at the New York State Capital! We met Selma and Ruth at the Indian Ladder Farms’ fall market and loved their teas and elderberry syrup! Check out their website here:
https://www.greensugarleaffarms.com/
The City of Troy, The Troy Local Development Corporation, and Troy Now approved and processed our grant award! We are so excited to announce that we are receiving $14,500 in reimbursements for qualified expenses on building infrastructure upgrades and equipment purchases! This has allowed us to acquire new more efficient sterilization equipment and a much coveted mixer bagger! We are so grateful for their support in our endeavor!
Another new product we’re carrying in our shop is winter themed mycelium growing craft kits put together by Grow.Bio. These great educational science oriented kits allow scientists of any ability to watch the mycelium spread through inoculated straw right in the comfort of your home or classroom! Grow.Bio is a subsidiary of Ecovative. Check out their websites here:
The Chanterelle Chef himself, Dave Chaiken, revisited the Hungarian Paprikash soup with bread boules provided by Ovenbird Baking and Custom Crow Cookies crafted by Corinne!
Amy and Avery cooked up a scrumptious Mushroom Bourguignon dish that they will be teaching at their next Capital Cooks class (February 27th – see details below).
Psilocybin Corner
The growing awareness of the mental health crisis around the world has created opportunities for alternative, natural, and ancient methods of healing to gain credence. Psilocybin containing mushrooms is one such medicine that more and more people are turning to for a variety of ailments, from physical pain to depression. At the Federal level, Psychedelic Assisted Therapy for active duty service members has been approved and implementation will soon be underway. Check out this article for details about Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s “Douglas Mike Day Psychedelic Therapy to Save Lives Act.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/14/ndaa-congress-psychedelics-ptsd-dan-crenshaw/
At our Monthly meeting for New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives Bill Brennan PhD, co-author of the forthcoming book, EMBARK, presented how their group at Cybin developed the EMBARK training method, what it means, and how to gain access to it (there’s an open source link on their website to take the training).
Cybin website: https://cybin.com/
EMBARK Free Training: https://embarkapproach.com/
Watch Bill’s presentation and the following conversation on our NYPAC YouTube channel here:
NYMHA DECEMBER MEETING FEATURING BILL BRENNAN PHD EMBARK
In February we will once again be lobbying at the NYS Capitol building to encourage our statewide legislators to act on creating an accessible system for Psilocybin containing mushrooms. If you are interested in joining in our NYMHA meeting on January 9th will include a discussion of the day. (see details below)
Coming Soon:
Tuesday, January 9th: 7pm, New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives meeting. In person at the farm or via zoom at the following link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81854729934?pwd=ZE4xSlJKdm1hbWN0Z3o4UnFBOHJuZz09
Thursday, January 11th: 7pm, Mushroom Book Club (2nd half of Chanterelle Dreams and Amanita Nightmares by Greg Marley)
Sunday, January 14th: 2pm, 2nd Sunday Poetry and Prose open Mic
Saturday, January 20th: 5:30pm, January Dinner on the Farm by Chef Dave Chaiken $75 per seat. Buy tickets right at our farm store or through eventbrite (with extra fees)
Saturday, February 10th: 5:30pm: February Dinner on the farm with chef Dave Chaiken featuring the musical stylings of LSDaniel $80 per seat
Further Down the Pike:
Schenectady County Community College: Mushroom Dinner Experience. Tuesday, February 20th, more details to follow.
Capital Cooks: Pairing Wine and Mushrooms with Amy and Avery. Tuesday, February 27th. Register for the class on their website:
https://capitalcooksny.com/shop-classes/ols/categories/february-classes
New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives Lobby Day Tuesday, February 27th @ the NYS Capitol Building
Hudson Valley Community College Leisure and Special Interest Class “Mushrooms Mycelium and More” Monday evenings April 8 – April 29. Register on their website:
Foraged New York 2024 May 4th – 11th (our 3rd year of bringing wild harvested excitement to the Capital Region)
https://www.foragednewyork.org/
Maine Fungi Festival May 18th – 19th
We have been invited to participate in this year’s festivities by the North Spore team. Details are still being worked out!
https://www.mainefungifest.com/
Rosendale Fungi Film Festival Date TBD
Last Year’s details:
Adirondack Mushroom Mania 2024 Saturday August 24th 2024
Collar City Mushrooms 