June was all about education! We engaged with so many young mycologists and wild food curious learners! Always with the reminder that NO MUSHROOM SHOULD EVER BE EATEN RAW! (This suggestion surprises many adults as well, as people have become accustomed to eating raw buttons with their salad. Even Agaricus mushrooms should be cooked before being consumed. Agaratine, a compound in Agaricus mushrooms, is a carcinogen. Read more about it HERE.)
The first educational engagement of the month was at the Heldeberg Workshop for the Voorheesville Elementary School 5th graders. Every year the class reads My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. As a field trip at the end of the year they do a field trip to explore some of the skills that Sam Gribley honed in order to survive for a year in the Catskills. Avery taught the wild foods portion.
The Indian Ladder Farms Barn School class “The Magical World of Mushrooms” introduced 1st through 4th graders to the fungi on the farm. We explored so many aspects of the fungi kingdom. Every participant left as an excited young mycologist in training!
(not a fungi, a super cool slime mold!)
We cooked and ate cultivated blue oysters, wild golden oysters, Cultivated lions mane, log grown shiitake, and wild chanterelles. The chanterelles were clearly a favorite!
We made mushroom bricks to illustrate how fungi can be used as a building material.
Here is a list of the wild mushrooms we identified during our week of exploring the fungi of Indian Ladder Farms. We encountered several others that were not yet positively identified as well!
Candlelight vigil multiclavula mucida
Pulu Jelly Ductifera pululahuana
Pinwheel marasmius Marasmius rotula
Hairy Parchment Stereum hirsutum
Deadman’s fingers Xylaria polymorphia
Green elf cup Chlorociboria aeruginascens
Chocolate tube slime Stemonitis splendens
Turkey Tail Trametes versicolor
Toothed turkey tail Trametes villosa
Blushing bracket Daedaleopsis confragosa
Common Splitgill Schizophyllum commune
Drayd’s Saddle Caeioporus squamosus
Mica cap Coprinellus micaceus
Violet Toothed Polypore Trichaptum biforme
False Turkey Tail Stereum lobatum
Chocolate Milkcap Lactarius fallax
Bitter Almond Russula Russula fragrantiissima
Rosy Brittlegill Russula rosea
Northern cinnabar polypore Trametes cinnabarina
Golden Oysters Pleurotus citinopileatus
Wine Caps Stropharia rugosoannulata
Tinder Polypore Fomes fomitopsis
Tangerine Waxpore Cerporia spissa
Spring Fieldcap Agrocybe praecox
Stalked Scarlet Elfcup Sarcoscypha occidentalis
Cedar Apple Rust Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae
The Bolete Eater Hypomyces microspermus
Yellow-Green Gillgobbler Hypomyces luteovirens
Artist Conk Ganoderma applanatum
Mountain Moss Demon Deconica montana
Attenuate Oysterling Hohenbuehelia augustata
Brown Pored Bolete Boletus vermiculosus
Avery was a guest presenter during the little farmer and friends classes as well. Learners of all ages love getting their hands on fungi!
Two of Avery’s favorite young fungi fans have a golden oyster colony prolifically fruiting from a pile of dead elm trees in the forest behind their house. Pleurotus citrinopileatus is an aggressive invasive that is reducing the local fungal biodiversity of the United States. If you are going to remove it for food from the forest, please make sure you put it in a closed container to help prevent the spread of spores (a paper bag works well) and DO NOT compost any remains.
Another opportunity to educate the fungally naive came during the Moon Bloom Festival. A core group of advocates from New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives talked fungi throughout the festival (more details below). Avery also gave a workshop on using mushrooms for wellcare in a perfect forest setting!
We finished installing 4 garden beds at our farm space in order to grow the herbs and other ingredients that go into making our salts and teas. Our goal is to be as close to self producing as possible!
We found so many mushrooms in the wild! Mushrooms for food, mushrooms for teas and tinctures, and mushrooms just for fun!
We got our second batch of logs out to our laying yard and last year’s batch provided us with an incredible display of huge meaty fruit!
After months of attempts to schedule an inspection, we were finally visited by Ags and Markets for our Small Food Processing License. We can now produce our delicious Mushroom Jerky at a larger scale and fulfill requests from some waiting customers (Honest Weight Food Co-op, and Taste of New York) You’ll soon be able to find our jerky in many more places!
We were also inspected under the Farm Safety Modernization Act. In order to pass FSMA we collected all of the procedures and policies we’ve been using into one binder which pushed us further along towards getting a third party Good Agricultural Practices inspection. We hope to complete that inspection process by next year!
We provided some dried lions mane mushrooms for a beer collaboration between Indian Ladder Farms Cidery and Brewery and Ferdle Turtle. Funkle with the Dunkle is on tap at both ILFCB and Ferdle Turtle Brewing
In addition to the Troy Waterfront Market every Saturday, we also bring fresh mushrooms and more to the Helderberg Mountain Brewing Company Tasting Room (nearly) every Wednesday, and once a month we attend the Wayward Lane Brewery Farmers market. We’ll be there on July 19th this month!
We got to meet the USDA Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Stephen Vaden, at the Swartz Farm as he talked about the changes to the USDA coming down the pike.
We finally got a restock of our two farm made games: Myceliate and Find the Fungi. They are available at the Corner Spore as well as at all our vending opportunities.
We had our second Wild Mushrooms of New York Committee meeting and heard from Connor at Cornell that Ags and Markets had accepted our revisions to the wild mushrooms approved for sale list. This new list better reflects the fungal biodiversity of New York. Once you are certified to forage safely, these are the fungi that can be sold:
Chanterelles (Cantharellus spp. Exception C. persicinus)
Blue chanterelle (Polyozellus multiplex)
Morels (Morchella spp.)
Black trumpet (Craterellus fallax)
Lobster (Hypomyces lactifluorum)
Wood ears (Auricularia spp.)
Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus spp. Exception L. persicinus)
Beefsteak (Fistulina hepatica)
Hedgehog (Hydnum repandum, H. albomagnum)
Lion’s mane / Pom Pom / Bearded tooth / Bear’s head (Hericium spp.)
Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus spp. Exception Pleurotus levis, P. dryinus)
Cauliflower (Sparassis spp.)
Maitake / Hen of the woods (Grifola frondosa)
Blewit (Lepista nuda)
Honey mushroom (Armillaria mellea, A. tabescens)
Blue milky (Lactarius indigo)
Golden and burgundy milkies (Lactarius corrugis, L.volemus, L. hygrophoroides)
Pecan truffle (Tuber spp.)
Puffballs (Lycoperdon spp., Calvatia spp.)
King Bolete (Boletus edulis, B. chippewaensis)
Chetsnut Bolete (Gyroporus castaneus complex)
Butter Bolete (Butyriboletus spp.)
Lilac Bolete (Xanthoconium separans)
Chicken Fat Mushroom (Suillus americanus)
Black Velvet Bolete – Tylopilus alboater
Ash Tree Bolete – Boletinellus merulioides
Matsutake (Tricholoma magnivelare)
Shaggy mane (Coprinus comatus)
Chaga (Inonotus obliquus)
Reishi (Ganoderma spp)
Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)
Dryad’s Saddle (Cerioporus squamosus)
Shrimp Russula (Russula xerampelina)
Corn smut (Ustilago/Mycosarcoma maydis)
The North American Mycological Association Medicinal Mushroom Survey has entered its Beta test phase. We are so close to publicly launching this years long project now!
A fascinating article came out detailing the effort of scientists around the globe to map out the fungal networks that exist! Supposedly they have been able to track 621 TRILLION miles of mycelium infiltrating nearly every biome of the planet! Read the full article HERE.
Cornell Experiments
The Blue Oyster spawn continues to slowly colonize the black walnut shells. These oysters took a long time to figure out how to eat the shells. Because of the hardness of the shells, it takes a long time for the mycelium to colonize. We will be transferring these spawn shells into various substrate bags soon to see if they’ll fruit!
Our next experiment will be using apple pomace as a growth medium! If successful, we will be testing the acidity of the resulting post fruit substrate blocks to see if the pomace has been rendered edible for ruminant animals. We are very excited to be partnered with Cornell to conduct these trials!
Foraged Finds and Fabrications
June was an incredibly bountiful month for wild crafting! The Flora and Fungi of the Capital Region were certainly showing up in style!
We made an elderflower and pineapple weed wine.
And pine flavored lacto fermented syrup
PSILOCYBIN CORNER
During our June NYMHA Meeting, Campaign Director, Corinne Carey, gave a presentation on what the next 6 months of advocacy should look like and the steps we need to take in order to be ready for the 2027 legislative session.
Watch the full meeting HERE.
Follow THIS LINK to fill out an individual Statement of Support for our psilocybin policy efforts.
The Microdosing Collective hosted a psychedelic policy update featuring NYMHA’s Head Policy Counsel, Allison Hoots.
Watch the entire webinar HERE .
Our lobbyist team gathered with a group of veterans and met with the Deputy Counsel at the NYS VA Services Administration. It was a profoundly impactful meeting as the staff of the NYS VA Services heard direct testimony from 4 veterans who have used psilocybin to recover from the traumas experienced during their tours of duty.
NYMHA Sponsored the 2026 Moon Bloom Festival In Coeymens, NY.
NYMHA Board Members Andrew, Amy, Avery, and advocate Victoria talked policy changes and detailed our efforts throughout the weekend.
Avery was given 10 minutes on the main stage before the headliner came on to speak to the gathered crowd.
Psychedelic reporter, Jack Gorsline, published a comprehensive Psychedelic policy update in Psychedelics Today. 41 states have introduced legislation in regards to psychedelics as of 2026. This includes 111 different bills! The conversation is rapidly expanding. Read it HERE .
One of our Cluster Buster Advocate partners, Kevin Lenanburg, who has been an integral part of our core policy team is part of a group who published an article on DMT use in treating Cluster Headache! Read it in Neurobiology HERE.
Here’s a research article on using the whole mushroom instead of extracted or synthesized analogues. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1037187
Avery was invited on to the Legislative Gazette program hosted by WAMC’s David Gustina for a discussion on the progress made during the 2026 legislative session. Listen to the entire program HERE or fast forward to about minute 11 to tune in to just the mushroom discussion.
For our July NYMHA Monthly Member meeting we will be joined by representatives from New Approach and the Psychedelic Science Funders Collective.
Tamar Todd is a lecturer at Berkeley Law, where she teaches psychedelics and cannabis law, and an attorney specializing in legislative drafting, statewide political campaign strategy, regulatory implementation, and non-profit management in the areas of drug law reform, marijuana law, psychedelics law, and public health.
She is the former legal director of the Drug Policy Alliance, where she was responsible for developing and overseeing the organization’s legal work as it related to legislative drafting, policy advocacy, litigation, and public education in local, state and federal jurisdictions. She has expertise in marijuana and psychedelics decriminalization, legalization, and regulation, and she has co-authored many state and local ballot initiatives and statutes, including in California, Colorado, Oregon, South Dakota, Montana, and Mississippi. She authored Colorado’s Proposition 122 in 2022, which decriminalized certain psychedelics and created a regulatory framework for their therapeutic use. She has advised governments internationally on their efforts to legalize the production and distribution of marijuana, and she has testified in numerous legislative and government bodies in the United States and abroad on the issue of drug policy and the intersection of state and federal law. She served on the California Cannabis Advisory Committee, which advised the California Bureau of Cannabis Control on the implementation of California's marijuana legalization law.
Todd received her B.A. from the University of Vermont and her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. After law school, she clerked for the Hon. Emmet Sullivan on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and she spent several years representing people on death row as a staff attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta.
And Sarah Harpold, Community Engagement Manager of the Psychedelic Science Funders Collective.
Sarah serves as the Community Engagement Manager for PSFC, leveraging over 10 years of experience in operations, communications, and event production. Sarah produces the behind-the-scenes efforts that unite our community, such as events, webinars, affinity groups, and newsletters, while also managing our rapidly expanding member base.
Sarah has a dynamic professional background ranging from producing corporate events for The Boeing Company, to managing event operations and communications for Burning Man Project. Her passion for organizational development and creative production stems from her upbringing in Alaska, where she was raised on the values of community, resiliency, and creative problem-solving.
Political Action Committee New Approach
https://ballotpedia.org/New_Approach_PAC
COMING SOON
New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives Monthly Meeting, Tuesday, April 14th 7pm – 8pm. This monthly meeting we’ll be hearing from two country wide funding organizations that have been working to create legal access in several states. Representatives from New Approach and the Psychedelic Science Funders Collective will discuss their efforts.
Join remotely via zoom here:
Mushroom Cultivation Hour, Thursday, July 30th 5:30pm – 7pm Learn about growing mushrooms at home! Event will be in the Indian Ladder Farms Tasting Room. $20. Get tickets HERE . Pair this event with the Buck Moon full moon hike. Tickets available HERE.
A Mushroom Experience Dinner at Scarlet Knife featuring Chef Paul Dimm, Thursday, August 13st, Scarlet Knife in Latham. Multi course dinner with omnivorous and Vegan options will available. Tickets will be live shortly. Pre-purchase only.
A Mushroom Experience Dinner at the Adirondack Experience Museum featuring Chef Matt Olley, Friday, August 21st, ADKx Museum. For tickets: HERE .
What to do with Mushrooms Hour, Thursday, August 27th 5:30pm – 7pm Learn about the ways mushrooms are being used around the world (and in space!)! Event will be in the Indian Ladder Farms Tasting Room. $20.
A Mushroom Festival at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library, Saturday, September 12. This celebration of all things fungi will feature book talks, film screenings, workshops, and foray walks! Mark your calendars now! Stay tuned for details HERE.
New Moon Mycology Summit, Friday, September 11 – Sunday, September 13. A gathering of all things fungi. While this is not our event, it is really exciting to have multiple fungi forward festivals happening in our area!
https://www.themyceliumunderground.com/newmoonmycologysummit2026
Identifying Mushroom Hour, Thursday, September 24th 5:30pm – 7pm Learn how to identify mushrooms! We’ll even go on a walk to find fungi! Event will be in the Indian Ladder Farms Tasting Room. $20.
Collar City Mushrooms 