It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the end of our time in Lansingburgh. But, every ending is another beginning, we are coming to the close of the story we have been writing at 333 2nd Ave and are shifting our operations elsewhere.  We will continue to offer fresh mushrooms and a variety of our other products nearly every Wednesday evening at the Helderberg Mountain Brewing Company Tasting room from 5 to 6:30pm.  We are also exploring a weekly pickup spot and online ordering.   Our mushrooms will also still be available as ingredients from the myriad of restaurants we support as well as packs from Honest Weight, Franklin Square Market, and Saratoga Healthy Living. Stay Tuned for further updates and announcements.

A Look at November:

The Troy Cyclists celebrated Cranksgiving again this year!  This event is such a wonderful way to engage with the community and give to those struggling with food insecurity.  Participants are given a map and have to race from business to business buying small items that are then donated to a shelter to go towards a feast for residents. With the influx of guests we had an absolute banner day! Even a few purchases of inexpensive items can make a difference to a small business like us.  

We are experimenting with new packs in an attempt to get away from pure plastic.  These are a bit pricier, but hold up really well, and are nearly 100 biodegradable! 

The Daisy in Cohoes is now serving up our mushrooms!  Chef Matt is including our fresh fungi in occasional weekly specials.  Stay tuned to their social media for when our fresh mushrooms will be on the menu.

https://www.thedaisycohoes.com/

We consulted with a few RPI students doing myco-filtration project as part of the WERC Environmental Design Contest’ at New Mexico State University. They are looking for funding to support the development of their project!  If anyone is interested, send us an email .

Another RPI Student came down for advice on using Pestalotiopsis microspora (plastic eating fungi) as part of a sculpture she was building out of foam that she wanted to then decay using fungi!  We love facilitating the inclusion of the funga kindom in unique projects.

We blended Turkey Tail Mushrooms with Dryad’s Saddle for a 3 stage extract of For What Ails You.  Turkey Tail Mushrooms are potent anticarcinogens and Dryad’s Saddle are high in tocopherols which convert to Vitamin E. The combination of these two fungi helps support a healthy immune system, reduces inflammation, and can increase general well being. 

We have a Mushroom Experience Dinner event in the planning stages for early 2025 that will happen at the Arts Center of the Capital Region featuring the light sculptures of Yael Erel from Lightextures.  Yael and her team create incredible mycelial seeming moving light experiences that have been showcased around the area.  She brought some of her students down to get inspired by the mycelium at the farm.

Check out the Arts Center of the Capital Region, and See More of Yael’s work below:

Arts Center

Lightexture 

The 2nd Sunday poetry and prose open mic is always a safe space to share words and feelings amongst the mushrooms. December 15th will be the final reading hosted here at 333 2nd.

Huge Thanks to Flowering Sun Ecology in Ellenville for supplementing our mushrooms with theirs so we could supply the Regeneron Holiday party with fungi ingredients cooked up by Mazzone Hospitality.

Another local mycohooligan experimenting with different ways to grow various culinary mushrooms on his property came to us with a unique request to sterilize and inoculate wooden slats that he will be inserting into some stumps and bolts on his property.

We were interviewed by Kelsey Brown of the Times Union for an article on the difficulties we’ve had securing a loan to buy our building.  You can read the entire article here:

A Troy indoor mushroom farm fights for funding

And now, a message from Avery:

What an incredible adventure the last 4 years have been.  Growing a small agribusiness from an idea to reality is never an easy thing in the best of times, starting during the pandemic and growing during uncertain financial times while people are tightening their belts and cutting expenses has proven very difficult.  The property we occupied at 333 2nd afforded us wonderful visibility, easy access, and opportunity to engage with the community in so many ways.  However, Its limitations and overhead proved insurmountable.  For 4 years we have struggled to find financial solid footing as our expenses continued to increase.  We have thrown every hyphae at the wall and so far none have seemed to fully bear enough fruit to sustain us and so we have had to make the difficult decision to move our operation.  

Our farm was born out of a love of mushrooms and a desire to bring fresh culinary fungi to what we saw as a food desert in Troy.  We immediately got to work growing food, but with the limited runway we started on, we knew we had to work hard to draw people to our space in order to directly market not only our products, and our knowledge, but also our creativity. With my background in both arts and education, we saw the potential to showcase local creatives and educate the curious about the potential impacts a fungal based world could have. So, in addition to farming, we tapped into the agritourism facet of growing food to create immersive experiences amongst the mushrooms which continued to grow and evolve over the years.  We hosted many one off and recurring events: 3 Knitting workshops, 4 years of regular monthly poetry readings, 5 metal in the moshroom shows, 2 all ages DJ dance parties, 12 Music and Creativity Celebrations with 4 accompanying artist workshops, 24 dinners right in our farm’s lobby, 5 mushroom experience dinner events in remote locations, sculpt and sip events incorporating dried mushrooms, several mushroom game nights, and reishi and reiki.

We helped launch an annual region wide wild crafted food festival that showcased foraged spring edibles in dozens of restaurants in the tri-city area.  We facilitated the growth of a statewide advocacy movement to create access to psilocybin-containing mushrooms to benefit millions of New Yorkers.

We employed 18 people, provided learning opportunities for interns from Emma Willard, Siena, and RPI, and had dozens of friends and family lend their hands at various times to move us along.

All of this while growing thousands of pounds of mushrooms and delivering them to 15 markets and 47 local Restaurants, catering companies and food programs as well as offering them direct to consumers from our farm store and various pop-up vending opportunities throughout the capital region.

While we absolutely loved the building we landed in, operating a farm in it proved too challenging. Our plan had been to purchase the building and expand our production to the second floor and into the basement.  Little did we know, the way we structured the business and the expenses of commercial lending would severely hamper our ability to move forward. Because of space and staffing limitations, we constantly knocked our heads against the solid ceiling of capacity in what we were able to produce.  Demand for fresh mushrooms continually grew, but our ability to produce stuttered, and occasionally fell due to contamination and financial constraints.

We are being given a chance to reboot in another location with far less overhead. This new space will be an incredible opportunity to begin anew with a fresh focus almost entirely on production.  We will have far less interaction with the public as we will not have our own immediate storefront.  We are brainstorming ways we can still spend time with guests who may have unique fungi questions.  We will continue to produce farm fresh capital region fungi which will be found at restaurants and markets in the area. Thank you all so much for your support and involvement over the past 4 years.  Stay tuned to our newsletter for details on where you can find our products, and how you can spend time with us amongst the mushrooms. 

I took some time to reflect on all the customers and businesses that have gotten us to where we are today.  What an incredible start we’ve had, I am looking forward to this next phase of growth.

Mushroom specific programs and companies:

Catskill Fungi, Little Village Mushroom, Bowterra Farms, 518 Farms, Bethel Mushrooms, Flowering Sun Ecology, The Mushroom Shop, Tivoli Mushrooms, Wellspring Forest Farm, Flat 12 Mushrooms, Mycophilic, Berkshire Mycological Society, Ecovative, MyForest, Grow.Bio, Bosque Foods.

Restaurants, private catering companies, and other food programs:

Soulfire Farm, Street Taco VII, The Delaware, The Delmar Bistro, Tastechicks, Takk house, meadowlark catering, Dove + Deer, Tatu Tacos, & Tequila, The Hill, The Mud Club, The People’s Pub, Nighthawks, Donna’s Italian, Scarlet Knife, Albany Ale and Oyster, Restaurant Navona, Fiden’s Brewing, Lost + Found, Hamlet & Ghost, Pretty Pig Provisions, Wizard Burger, The Daisy Taco, Finn’s on River, The Little Viking, The Pony Show, Saratoga Winery, Mazzone Catering, Mazzone at Regeneron, Prime at Saratoga National, Brown’s Brewing, Soulistic Vegan, Indian Ladder Farms, Collar City Coldpress, The 11 at Lark Hall, Chatham Grill, Mallo’s,  Wolf’s Biergarten, Defazio’s, Touchy Coffee, Daley’s on Yates, Kite’s Nest, Subculture, House of Jeon, The Hollow, Clermont at Plumb Oyster Bar, We Chef Feasts

Places we (or partner chefs) served up delicious meals or treats

Capital Roots Gala, Albany Food + Wine, Arts Center Paired Provisions, SCCC, Mushroom Mania, For the Love of Fungi, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Epsilon Spires, Indian Ladder Farms, New York State Convention Center Farm Bureau Lobby Showcase, Rensselaer County Farm Bureau Annual Meeting

Companies we partnered with to produce specific products or events: 

Kru Coffee, Primo Botanica, Ground up Apothecary, Capital Cooks, Flowerscout, Meaty Max, CCM East Chatham Branch, What’s Poppin

Markets that have sold our fresh fungi or value added products:

Kleinke’s Market, New Lebanon Farmers Market, Chatham Real Food Market Co-Op, Saratoga Healthy Living, Honest Weight, Franklin Square Market, Fred The Butcher, Pitney Meadows Farmstand, Green Sugar Leaf Farms, Capital Roots Food Hub, Squash Hunger Program, Superior Merchandise, Niskayuna Co-Op, Electric City Co-Op, Comfort Food Community

Places we’ve vended:

Helderberg Mountain Brewing, Troy Farmers Market, Veg Fest, Veg Out, Broome Animal Sanctuary, Indian Ladder Farms, River Fest, Radio Radio X Festival, Allied Brewing, Tugboat Roundup, Farm Aid, River Street Market   

How many taste buds wrapped around our products; how many stomachs drew sustenance from them; how many minds were expanded by a crenellation or two as people spent time amongst the mushrooms?  What a wild trip it has been.

Psilocybin Corner

November was a busy month for our advocacy efforts.  On Tuesday 11.12.24 we welcomed author Eugenia Bone for a discussion of her new book, Have a Good Trip.  You can watch the meeting below:

MONTHLY MEETING FEATURING EUGENIA BONE

You can buy her new book here: 

Book details

On Saturday 11.09.24 New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives Curated the first annual Fall Fungal Frolic Fundraiser!  Indian Ladder Farms graciously opened the doors to their Clear Mountain Room for an evening of education and entertainment.  Chef David Stein crafted some appetizers and a salad, Corinne Carey and Amy Hood made desserts, and the main courses were provided by 4 renowned capital region chefs: Stephen Barret from Lost and Found, Dale Hajdasz from Pretty Pig Provisions, Christina Lloyd from Soulistic Vegan, and Jake Robins from Donna’s Italian.  We presented a 2 phase educational panel featuring Comedian Adam Strauss, Former NYPD Officer Ethan Abend, Former FDNY Joe McKay, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner C.J. Spotswood, and NYMHA Advocates, Mike Avella, Aung Hsung, Andrew Torres, Pammy Jackson, and Avery Stempel. Then the Roadside Assistants took the stage with some live rock n roll followed by a dance party curated by DJ Lucas.  The Evening was a huge success.  We raised nearly $3,000 that will go towards educating law makers and the public about why creating legal access for psilocybin-containing mushrooms is critical work that will improve the lives of thousands of New Yorkers. 

Interviews and clips of the fundraiser will be posted to our website throughout the next year as we edit the footage down to useable bites.  

If you’d like to donate to our cause please feel free to contribute to our Gively account!

NYMHA Gively

Our eternal Gratitude for all the individual volunteers, donors, attendees, and participants! 

Indian Ladder Farms, Indian Ladder Farms Cidery and Brewery, Chef David Stein of We Chef Feasts, Roadside Assistants, Diffusesingularity,  DJ Lucas, Bill Stern, RadioRadioX, WEQX, Carol Bell Photography, Allied Brewing, Helderberg Mountain Brewing, MycoFox, Primo Botanica, Royale Flower Dispensary, Lost and Found, Pretty Pig Provisions, Soulistic Vegan, Donna’s XO, Reconsider, Clusterbusters, Psychedelic Sisterhood, Psychedelic Society of Western NY, Brooklyn Psychedelic Society

Read this great article by Jack Gorlsine in Double Blind on the state of psychedelic legislative change across the country (you have to subscribe to read the full article, It’s free):

The Psychedelic Movement Isn’t Dead

Our Next Monthly NYMHA Meeting (and final one at our farm in Troy) will feature Dr Michael Beug as a guest speaker and we’ll lay out our plans for reaching more New Yorkers in 2025.

As always, for more information see our New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives website here:

NYMHA

Coming Soon

A Mushroom Experience with Chef Matt Olley at Indian Ladder Farms, Saturday, December 7th.  5pm – 7pm.  Another delicious 4 course meal served at Indian Ladder Farms in their Clear Mountain Room.  This evening will also be the exclusive launch date for two new ILFC&B beverages: Fruiting Body, a cider that includes Chaga, and Ganoderma, a Belgian Style saison bittered with Reishi. Ticket Sales end Wednesday, December 4th.  

MUSHROOM EXPERIENCE TICKETS

Sunday, December 8th, 11am – 4pm Troy Victorian Stroll Pop-up at Weathered Wood.  A makers market with multiple vendors right near Monument Square.

Tuesday, December 10th, 7pm – 8:30pm, NYMHA w Michael Beug. Michael Beug taught chemistry, mycology and organic farming at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington for 32 years. He is active in the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) and the Pacific Northwest Key Council; a group dedicated to writing macroscopic keys for the identification of fungi. In addition to this new book, he coauthored Ascomycete Fungi of North America, published in 2014.  His photographs have appeared in over 80 publications. He regularly writes about mushrooms for McIlvainea: Journal of American Amateur Mycology, The Mycophile (NAMA newsletter), and Fungi Magazine. Michael received the 2006 NAMA Award for Contributions to Amateur Mycology and has prepared over two dozen presentations about mushrooms for the NAMA Education Committee. In 2017, mushroom expert Paul Stamets of Fungi Perfecti, created the Mike Beug Scholarship,  in honor of the professor who helped shaped Stamets’ career as a mycologist. 

Sunday, December 15th, 2pm – 3:30pm 2nd Sunday Open Mic Poetry and Prose. (yes this is on the third Sunday) This will be the final Poetry open mic at 333 2nd Ave.  Come share some words with us as we close out this wonderful series amongst the mushrooms and announce the new home of 2nd Sunday in Troy.

Thursday, January 23rd: Troy Public Library Growing Mushrooms at Home 6pm – 7pm. Learn some easy ways to cultivate mushrooms indoors or in your home garden.

Register Here