November is always a bitter sweet month. Wild mushroom season wraps up with the spreading cold and darkness and preparations for the long winter nights get underway, but there are always reasons to be grateful. Our Mushroom Experience Dinner featuring Chef Dave Chaiken was a huge success, we restocked a few popular items, and we found several cold loving mushrooms on the grounds. We will be celebrating 1 full year at Indian Ladder Farms in December! Read on to find ways to join us!
Chef Dave Chaiken’s Mushroom Experience Dinner in the Clear Mountain Room with ILFCB Beverage Pairings was an absolutely gorgeous evening of food, fungi, and fun. Live music throughout the evening was provided by Nick Bisanz with a special guest spot by Jazz vocalist Tonya Abernathy during dessert. ILFCB Beverage Masters Alex and Scott talked about pairing their drink choices with the food selections. Fancy food photography captured by Konrad Ohiambo .
The SUNY Schenectady County Community College School of Hotel, Culinary Arts, and Tourism visited with a few of their beverage specific students. We toured around the entire Indian Ladder Campus and heard from Alex about the cider making process and Scott on brewing beer as well as visiting our mushroom production facility.
RadioRadioX DJ Sara B visited our farm for her show “Live from the 518.” You can see the episode HERE. (We started it at our segment, but if you want to watch her visit Jo’s Joint in Troy, just rewind it).
Some of our outdoor logs have fruited! The Nameko stalled a bit because of a few poorly timed frozen evenings, but before it got too frigid a few Shiitake popped! We’re looking forward to a fruitful spring!
Our Lion’s Mane triple extract got a restock! Our tinctures go through a cold water, a warm water, and an alcohol extraction process in order to maximize the range of active compounds that are bioavailable in each dropper. Lion’s Mane has shown extraordinary effectiveness in improving Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s Disease, and other neurological ailments, as well as improving focus and attention. (none of these statements approved by the FDA).
We will continue to operate a farm stand at the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market indoor market. We’re in the small sub room nook area where the used bookstore used to be just inside the 4th Ave entrance. Fresh Mushrooms and more all winter long. Le, Bree, and Avery and Amy all take turns slinging shrooms, make sure you pop in and say hi!
New Product alert: Dehydrated Mixed Mushrooms. 1 ounce of everything but the kitchen sink. Packs can include chestnuts, nameko, enoki, pioppino, beech, oyster, and shiitake. Basically any of the mushrooms we have cultivated. These packs are perfect for including in soups or stocks, or rehydrate and toss them into any dish!
We also have a limited supply of dehydrated mixed boletes from our late summer wild forage bonanza.
Avery snuck some King Trumpets in the smoker while the Indian Ladder staff had it fired up. They came out so rich and meaty! We certainly will be playing around with this some more next year!
November is a great month to fire up the oven and lay out some piping hot, meaty meals! We revisited one of our absolute favorites: a mixed mushroom shepard’s pie. Give it a try at home! We used a small sweet potato in the mix this time around and all the mushrooms came from our compost pile harvest (Nameko, Chestnuts, and Oysters).
A recipe for you:
We found a few Wood Blewits right in our compost pile as well as our cultivated strains. We’ve identified these before, but we finally harvested and tried it! Delicious! When trying a new mushroom, always go small. You never know if you’ll have an adverse reaction to a wild mushroom. We always try a new fungi friend by cooking in butter with a dash of salt and pepper.
The Shroomwagen is enjoying the last few beautiful nights before getting tucked in for the winter. Our farm vehicle has proven not only a useful utility mover of things, but a real bringer of delight as we drive around campus.
PSILOCYBIN CORNER
November’s NYMHA meeting featured Senator Julia Salazar D, 18th District. She talked about why it is important that we create legal access for psilocybin containing mushrooms for those who use it for pain management. Senator Salazar has high hopes for S5303 and feels support is really gaining for it. Watch the entire meeting HERE.
Visit NYMHA.com for more details.
Our next meeting is Tuesday,December 9th. For details see below.
COMING SOON
Meet the Mycologists, Saturday, December 6th 12-2. We’ll be preparing our mushroom gravy and cooking some mushroom samples. Come chat with our team about different ways to cook mushrooms!
New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives Monthly Meeting, Tuesday, December 09th 7pm – 8:30pm. This monthly meeting will feature Chelsea Coyle, Community Manager at Microdosing Collective. We’ll hear her talk about microdosing and community building as well as the upcoming fundraising dinner with the Microdosing Collective and steps we’ll be taking next year. The meeting will be in person at Indian Ladder Farms in the Yellow Rock Cafe or online via zoom from anywhere. THIS WILL BE THE LAST IN PERSON MEETING UNTIL MARCH 2026.
Join remotely via zoom here:
Meet the Mycologists, Saturday, December 13th 10-12. We’ll be preparing our mushroom gravy and cooking some mushroom samples. Come chat with our team about different ways to cook mushrooms! (There may even be a special guest or two and an additional delightful dish for sale!)
Mushroom Experience Dinner Featuring Chef Jake Robins and Paula Patterson of 1st and Adams, Saturday, December 13th, 5:30pm – 7:30pm.
Get Tickets HERE
Meet the Mycologists, Sunday, December 21st 12-2. We’ll be preparing our mushroom gravy and cooking some mushroom samples. Come chat with our team about different ways to cook mushrooms!
Mushroom Experience Dinner Featuring Chef Kate Ray, Saturday, January 17th, 5:30pm – 7:30pm. Tickets and menu coming soon. DINNER WILL BE AT THE HELDERBERG MOUNTAIN BREWING COMPANY TASTING ROOM IN EAST BERNE.
Mushroom Experience Dinner Featuring Chef Dave Chaiken, Saturday, February 14th, 5:30pm – 7:30pm. Tickets and menu coming soon. Dinner will be served in the Tasting Room at Indian Ladder Farms.
Mushroom Experience Dinner Featuring Chef Ric Orlando, Saturday, March 21st, 5:30pm – 7:30pm. Tickets and menu coming soon. Dinner will be served in the Clear Mountain Room at Indian Ladder Farms.
Collar City Mushrooms 