Now that we are nearly settled into our cottage (pics to come) I’m teaching my first workshop at Seven Arrows! We’ll be tackling a timely topic: Mushrooms! Cultivation of fungi and gleaning the forests and fields for them!
“Mushrooms are amazing! They cleanse the soil. They help to create by aiding in the decay of organic matter. They give incredible flavor to our meals. Some mushrooms even promote wellness in humans and animals. Best yet, they are easy to grow and easy to find growing wild, with a little guidance and good sense.
In this all-day workshop taught by Brooklyn Homesteader’s Meg Paska, we will learn the basics of mycoculture…what fungi are, what they do and why we should appreciate them. Presentations will accompany this talk. We will then break for lunch and then jump headlong into a series of mushroom related projects:
-Growing oyster mushrooms in coffee grounds
-Log stump cultivation with maiitakes (each participant will leave with a mushroom log of their own.)
-Grain, straw and sawdust spawn cultivation
-Foraging for mushrooms safely
At the end of the day, students are invited to book accommodations at Seven Arrows for the night (see “weekend ticket” for pricing), and we will make a supper of mushroom risotto and braised greens before winding down on the front porch overlooking the Navesink River.
Overnight visitors are encouraged to hike in the adjacent Hartshorne Woods Park on Sunday to test out their foraging skills, though all mushrooms must be brought back to the farm for proper identification!
Seven Arrows is a 20 acre shorefront retreat and farm located in Monmouth County, NJ just 45 minutes from New York City. We are launching a CSA featuring pastured eggs and nutrient dense, sustainably grown produce in early 2013.”
Please check out the EventBrite page for more info and let me know if you have any questions!
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