September forests fruited prolifically, and so did our farm! It was National Mushroom Month, and boy did we mushroom! We wild foraged so many delicious edibles, and found fun fungi that we had never encountered before! We engaged with our direct community on many levels, and immersed ourselves in the greater national farming movement during the Farm Aid festival at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Read on to catch a glimpse of all our September activity, and what we have planned for the future. There are a variety of ways you can spend time amongst the mushrooms!
Chef Kate Ray made the trek up from Kingston to craft an incredible evening of culinary delights! From the simple tomato mayo (with roasted garlic and mushroom aioli) sandwich to the milkshake dessert, this meal really wowed! This was our final dinner on the farm for us in this space as we push to expand our mushroom growth without expanding into new space, and Chef Kate absolutely sent us off with a bang! Stay tuned for dinner events coming up in off site locations.
Artist Rebecca Giel Santosuosso has set up several of her large scale paintings in our lobby space. Her launch party was an incredible blend of cerebral engagement (the titles of her pieces include “the commonalities between quantum physics, constructivism, and the algorithm” and “whether people are inherently selfish, generous, or neutral”) and visceral movement (Psytrance DJ Songsten provided a constant soundscape of danceable mixes). Chef Dale from Pretty Pig Provisions served up omnivore, vegetarian, and vegan dishes that tantalized the taste buds!
We were featured in the Healthy Living Market’s September Blog! Read all about it here:
Avery taught another round of ‘Mushrooms, Mycelium, and More” through Hudson Valley Community College’s Community Education program. This 4 evening course covers an introduction to fungi, basic identification skills, a visit to the farm with a few lessons on growing mushrooms at home, plus how to incorporate mushrooms as medicine in your wellcare routine.
The Clifton Park-Halfmoon public library has become a bastion of fungal activities! We participated in a mushroom felting workshop by Mixed Media Fiber Artist, Mallory Zondag (check out her website here: https://www.malloryzondag.com/about ) on a Tuesday, then taught a Growing Mushrooms at Home workshop on Thursday! We are working with their librarians to bring a few more programs together in the coming months and next year! Stay tuned to our media and theirs for announcements! (They have a great short film screening this weekend too. Libraries are the best source of free entertainment and education! https://cphlibrary.org/ )
Our regular recurring activities continue to focus on the literary. Every Monday the Mental Health Empowerment Program meets at 1pm for an hour or so to work on expressive writing (STARTING 10/16 the day moves to WEDNESDAY). And every 2nd Sunday at 2 we host a Poetry and Prose open mic. Our next one is 10/13.
Paul Dimm (Executive Chef for The Scarlet Knife in Latham https://www.scarletknife.com/ ) used our oysters and some wild foraged black trumpets in a dish their team made and served as part of the Capital Roots Autumn Fundraiser.
Brian Stempel, Avery’s father, still heats with wood and the pile of logs that was dropped off to be turned into this winter’s fuel was absolutely riddled with a veritable cornucopia of mushrooms! He cut a few samples off to showcase the variety that can grow on a single log.
We fired up Thor and Bubba! This new-to-us-equipment was procured earlier in the year and it took some replacement parts and some rearranging in order to get it into production. But now our block production system is absolutely humming!
Collar City Mushrooms was hired to help bring a new Mushroom farm in Bethel online. This single shipping container farm will be fruiting our Ready to Fruit blocks and distributing mostly to NYC and restaurants local to them.
Albany Ale and Oyster is the latest restaurant to join our regular customer list. They are making a vegan mushroom ‘Po Boy that we can’t wait to try!
In addition to turning our oyster mushrooms into delicious Vegan oyster ‘po boys, Subculture is now also carrying our Kru Coffee collaboration! If you frequent Lark street in Albany, make sure you check them out! https://subculturevegandeli.com/
Nearly every Wednesday (watch our social media on Wednesday mornings) we make the trek up to East Berne to enjoy their tasty cold beers and sling shrooms. We are there from 5pm – 6:30pm, but they stay open until 7pm! Add them to your craft beer trail today! https://www.helderbergmountainbrewingcompany.com/
We spent a few hours tabling at the Knolls Atomic Power Lab in Niskayuna talking to people about mycoremediation, mycofiltration, and the ways certain mushrooms hyper-accumulate heavy metals!
Maitake Madness!! We found so many incredible hen-of-the-woods (Maitake / Grifola frondosa) in the forests in September! Maitake is such a delight. Difficult to cultivate for us, but we enjoy it immensely when we find it and love sharing it with our community.
A super simple, yet absolutely delicious way to serve up maitake is to do a simple sautee (start with a dry hot pan… add the hens and a few splashes of water with a dash or two of salt. Once you’ve cooked them for a few minutes on each side add a dash of oil and cook for a few minutes more until they start to brown. Add some sliced apples and a few dashes of your favorite spices and cook until the apples have nicely browned (adding more oil or butter as necessary).
We were so thrilled to join the Farm Aid team this year in Saratoga. We participated in their advocacy training and forum events, as well as the mixer dinners. Saratoga Winery even served up our mushrooms grilled as part of the Friday night Farm Aid Eve celebration.
Our team got three different mushroom games on the table this month! Fungi, while camping, and Shrooms, and Undergrove. We love mushrooms, and we love games, and mushroom games are our absolute favorite! We’ll be playtesting an upcoming game in November, see our COMING SOON section for details.
Psilocybin Corner:
Our next meeting is Tuesday, October 8th at 7pm. Senator Nathalia Fernandez (D, 34th District) will be our guest speaker. She has sponsored two bills that seek to create a psilocybin-assisted therapy program in New York. In person at the farm, or through zoom at the link below in the COMING SOON Section.
Assembly member Amy Paulin was our guest speaker in September. Watch the entire meeting here:
NYMHA September Featuring AM Amy Paulin 09 10 24
We also discussed creating a coalition of psychedelic adjacent groups called New Yorkers for Wellness Options. Check out our work in progress logo designed by Jake Blaydes.
Do you have an organization that would like to join in support? Let us know!
Indian Ladder Farms will be hosting a NYMHA fundraiser in early November. If you’d like to help plan and or execute this event, let us know! We are forming a committee to get all the details hammered out. The evening will include live music, food, and an auction.
Reconsider and Assembly Member Pat Burke’s Legislative team have put together an event at the Irish Classical Theater Company in Buffalo. It will be Tuesday, October 22nd. We’re still waiting on details.
Our team spent some time talking about psilocybin-containing mushrooms at the Knolls Atomic Power Lab and at the Farm Aid festival.
Avery spoke about our efforts to create legal access before a private house party performance by musician Sean Rowe. Check out his website and music here: https://www.seanrowe.net/
Our team met with Senator Nathalia Fernandez and her team to discuss how A10375 differs from the two bills she is already carrying.
Coming Soon:
New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives Monthly Meeting, Tuesday, October 8th 7pm – 8:30pm. We may have a surprise guest speaker that is yet to be confirmed. Join remotely via zoom here:
Hip Hop Amongst the Mushrooms, Saturday, October 12th 2pm – 7pm. A selection of local Hip Hop Artists will perform. There will also be an introduction to the local Hip Hop Scene by Mic Lanny and remarks about teaching Hip Hop by Amber Jackson. Soulistic Vegan will be serving delicious noms! This event is BYOB. Suggested donation of $10 to support the performers and cover venue costs.
Second Sunday Poetry and Prose, Sunday, October 13th 2pm – 3pm. All open mic for spoken word hosted by Nancy Klepsch and Dan Wilcox.
Mushroom Book Club, Thursday, October 17th 7pm – 8:30pm. Our group will be finishing up a discussion on Mystical Mushrooms. GROUP IS FULL. email Avery if you’d like to get put on the waiting list. collarcitymushrooms@gmail.com
Classic Dishes with a Mushroom Twist, Tuesday, October 29 6pm – 8:30pm @ Capital Cooks in Colonie. Fully vegan cooking class. We will be making lion cakes, crispy mushroom petals, and mushroom corn chowder. See their website for registration details. https://www.capitalcooksny.com/
Mushroom Games Amongst the Mushrooms, Saturday, November 23rd 5pm – 7pm. We will be learning about an upcoming new game called Shroomscape. The design team will be in house and lead groups through playtesting the game. It will launch on kickstarter next year and they are looking for feedback.
Collar City Mushrooms 