Growing Mushrooms, Soil and Creative Ideas for a Better Tomorrow

I’d like to start by saying THANK YOU Mushroom Shed for donating Oyster Mushroom Growing Kits! These kits, along with short instructional videos made it possible for youth interns, educators, and program participants to grow oyster mushrooms in a 5 gallon bucket or a small table top container. Mushroom Shed’s mission is: Grow, Connect, Gather, Share and that was our plan for these kits. We had so mush fun watching the kits turn into food!

Check out their upcoming kit sale which will provide the funds needed to continue to donate mushroom kits and share in the harvest!

The kits contained everything we needed to grow our own mushrooms. Most importantly, spawn - sawdust inoculated with oyster mushroom mycelium (like the seeds of plants!)- from Sugarshack Mushrooms. The spawn needs food - in this case, used coffee grounds and cardboard, and a container. There were two options- a bucket with holes or a small plastic container, supplies like isopropyl alcohol, and materials to regulate air flow -paper towels, tape, or a lid with pre-made holes. (Note: find more about replicating this at home at the end of the article).

Read on to see the process and learn how this connects to soil building and reducing food waste!

Bucket kit materials

Finished kits

Why grow mushrooms?

They are delicious and good for you! Get the health benefits without the trip to the store. Low- tech methods work well at home for beginners with oyster mushrooms. They are high in protein, low in fat, and contain vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that make them a great addition to a meal.

It’s cheap and environmentally friendly. Grow them on food/agricultural/environmental waste products like coffee grounds and cardboard OR straw, wood chips, etc -there are lots of possibilities! Buckets and plastic quart containers are also re-usable and will give you multiple “flushes” or fruitings of mushrooms.

Reuse the spent kit in your garden to improve soil. Crumble it up and mix into a garden bed to improve your soil or (potentially) to grow a mushroom bed outside in your garden!

Learn all about mushrooms in the process! It’s so fun to watch the spawn turn into what we recognize as a mushroom, and to see how different they can look.

First harvest!

The process:
After the folks from Mushroom Shed dropped off our kits, youth interns and volunteers were given an introduction by staff to the many uses of mushrooms -culinary, environmental, economic, and in the garden - then watched the instructional videos while snacking on mushroom appetizers.

Snacks!

After the videos we went to the kitchen and got to work preparing our materials and buckets! Materials must be pasteurized using boiling water, then layered in the bucket or container, to give the spawn the best chance to take over and grow. Then, you close it up and wait!

The smaller kits went out to participants in our PFP@Home programs and through the Chamber of Commerce’ Workforce Development program via staff. These kits are great because they can work for any situation no matter how much space you have and they are a breeze to put together.

Now for the most fun part! After you put together your kit, the mycelium from your spawn starts to spread through the cardboard and coffee grounds, turning it white, until the mushrooms begin “pinning”. This can take different amounts of time depending on your kit and the temperature of your house. This step is when we got lots of questions about how different they all look. The pins are the baby mushrooms - the first stage of them fruiting- and need lots of water to stay moist (use a spray bottle to mist), but they grow fast. Just a few days later, you have mature mushrooms ready to harvest and cook!

Pinning in small container

Mycelium growing in a bucket kit

Along with the kit came instructions for cooking, and of course our staff and interns took advantage as food lovers. Some youth interns had not tried mushrooms before, but shared that their families were very excited to cook them up! Folks made soup, pasta with cream sauce and chipotles, and simple but delicious sautéed mushrooms with garlic and butter!

We can’t wait for our next harvest to try more recipes. Next we plan to re-use the kits in our gardens and see what will happen.

To watch the videos, learn more, or support this project, follow the links below!

Mushroom Shed Video links:
Bucket Kit: https://youtu.be/Tn-fE1hYwy0
Small Container Kit: https://youtu.be/0tw4EjSMZ2s

You can also make your own kit! Grow oyster mushrooms at home by using the supplies and directions listed in the videos. There are local and larger sources of spawn. Here are a few options I have used:
-Sugarshack Mushrooms (locally available for pick up)
-Fungi Ally (MA - shipping available)
-North Spore (ME- shipping available)
-Field and Forest (Midwest - shipping available)

To Learn More and support…
Mushroom shed is a community based project space for cultivating edible and medicinal mushrooms based in New Paltz, NY. Mushroom Shed is an experimental laboratory for educational workshops, a place to meet up for discussions about nutrition and self care, and a lab where visitors can explore art and the environment.

Mid-Hudson Mycological Association and Cornell Small Farms Program offer classes to teach about growing mushrooms indoors and outdoors, and more!

Hudson Valley Gives Day 2021

This Hudson Valley Gives Day, Executive Director Madeline Henriquez reflects on the groundbreaking shifts and important work Poughkeepsie Farm Project has been able to accomplish, and how your support will help us to sustain and grow.

Growers' Row: Going Green in May

The growers at PFP have green on our minds: an explosion of green in the fields, woods, and in town; and a greenhouse full of thriving vegetable, flower, and herb plants. Especially around this time, with plant sale and the start of CSA, we are all about bringing more green to the world!

Even if you are not traditionally a gardener, consider establishing a small container garden, even if it is just 2 or 3 pots with herbs. It is certainly a privilege to have access to even a small sunny space for this, but having it and using it for plants gives one access to delicious, fresh herbs without the disposable plastic packaging of store-bought alternatives. Basil, parsley, dill, sage, lemon balm, oregano, mint… these and more are being grown now, in the greenhouse at PFP, for gardeners in and around Poughkeepsie! The second plant sale pickup day for 2021 is Saturday, May 15.

It’s probably not surprising that the PFP farm crew is made up of plant lovers. Read below about the plant preferences of PFP’s farmers!

Isabel - ________ Tomato

Isabel chose to show off some gorgeous tomato seedlings. Which variety? It doesn’t matter! The selection changes somewhat each year, but every time we choose to offer our favorite tomato varieties for gardeners. Super sweet Sungold cherry tomatoes, robust heirloom striped German, and yellow-streaked Solar Flare are some of our favorites. Two new varieties for this season: Valencia, an orange heirloom with fantastic flavor and texture, and Tiny Tim, a productive cherry tomato that thrives in a container. Tomatoes on the porch!

André – Okra ‘Jambalaya’

Okra will be returning to the pick-your-own fields this season at PFP, but this delectable, attractive, and yes, slimy, vegetable goes fast, so if you love it and have sunny garden space to work with, grow it yourself! Added bonus: the showy flowers that precede the actual okra fruit are beautiful, as are the dried pods of any fruit that goes unharvested. Such a treat!

Beth – Tulsi / Holy Basil

Tulsi is an amazing plant with spiritual and medicinal significance in Ayurvedic medicine. It is claimed to provide mental clarity and nervous system relaxation and referred to as the ‘mother medicine of nature.’ Holy basil is not a variety of culinary basil (ocimum basilicum) but rather a separate species, ocimum tenuiflorum. A fragrant, calming tea may be prepared from the leaves or flowers, and the flowers invite myriad pollinators to the garden.

Lauren – Catnip

We probably don’t need to tell you that catnip, leaves and flowers, dried and fresh, may cause a euphoric reaction in cats. Reason enough to grow some. Perhaps surprisingly, give a human some catnip tea and they may calm right down; it is known to treat insomnia, anxiety, and headaches! This perennial grows in a similar manner to mint, and its copious flowers, while not showy, will attract beneficial insects.

Germán – German Winter Thyme

At PFP we always have time for a good thyme pun (and for bad ones). Germán chooses his namesake in this case, both for the joy of a good pun and for the pleasure that comes with clipping your own fresh thyme to add to sauces, stews, meats, veggies, and more. This hardy variety is a perennial, so expect it to return each year. Why is everyone always saying there’s not enough thyme?

Pat – Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is truly delightful! A relative of mint, it has broader, bright green leaves and is a beautiful addition to the garden that will return year after year. Containing essential oils imparting a lemon scent and flavor, lemon balm, dried or fresh, makes a delicious tea on its own or blended with other herbs/teas. It is known to be very calming in this form and is a headache soother. Some of my favorite uses are: lemon balm/nettle leaf tea blend, lemon balm/green tea blend, and cucumber/tomato salad with finely chopped fresh lemon balm!

Happy gardening :-)

Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors - Why Representation in Literature Matters

By Chris Gavin, PFP Educator

One of the most formative parts of my identitity development came from learning about the world through the lens of anti-racist literature - although that is not a term I learned until much later in life.  I am a white person and I was educated for 13 years in the Poughkeepsie City School District, which is also where I now engage with youth through my work at Poughkeepsie Farm Project.  And for those of you who are not familiar, PCSD is a BIPOC-majority school district (what does BIPOC mean?).  I was educated and socialized in a school setting in which many educators nurtured positive racial identity development and empathy for those who are different from ourselves.  I was educated by many teachers - especially Black women teachers - who had the audacity and heart to push back against the mainstream narrative that centers Whiteness and upholds values of White supremacy culture.  

And one of the primary tools these teachers used was literature and storytelling.  In elementary school, I did my first book report on a biography of Amira Biraka - the radical Black Muslim poet/playwrite/activist/educator.  I learned about oral story-telling traditions of enslaved people through books like The People Could Fly retold by Virginia Hamilton.  In third grade, my class read Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D Taylor, a story set in 1930’s Mississippi and featuring topics like lynchings, Jim Crow segregation, and Black disenfranchisement from land ownership.  In high school English class (shout out to Ms. Jackson!) I read books like Black Boy by Richard Wright, Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog, Roots by Alex Hayley, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston  and many other stories with affirming representation and centering the lived experiences of BIPOC people and communities.  Sure, we also read books by White male authors like Shakespeare and John Steinbeck and Jack London, but it wasn’t ALL we read.  I can only speak from my positionality as a white person, but it was deeply impactful for me to learn (and relearn) from a young age that my worldview was not the only one, nor was it more valid than any other.  

So why was BIPOC representation in literature so important to me as a young white person being educated and socialized in America? It wasn’t until I attended an elite, mostly white college that I really understood how radically different my literary education had been compared to most of my White peers. They had never heard of these authors let alone read their books - although they were coming from districts or private schools considered far superior to mine.  I had been learning from a young age to use literature as a tool to combat anti-Black racism while my peers had been taught to uphold our mainstream narratives centering the lived experiences of white Americans.  

I recently came across a concept in children’s literature called “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors'' coined by Dr. Rodine Sims Bishop in a paper of the same name. To paraphrase, she asserts that books can be all three of these things - books can be mirrors that show you reflections of yourself, they can be windows that show you worlds and lived experiences different from your own, and they can be be sliding glass doors that invite us to learn about these differences with empathy and respect.  And we need all three kinds of books so that all students can feel valued and affirmed by the stories they read.  As Dr. Bishop says, “When there are enough books available that can act as both mirrors and windows for all our children, they will see we can celebrate both our differences and our similarities.

What if you grow up reading books that are all mirrors, that all reflect and affirm your lived experiences and the characters all look like you? You gain a false sense of your own value and believe that your version of reality is “normal” in a world that is only growing more diverse and colorful.  What if you grow up reading books that are all windows into other worlds and none of the characters look like you? You undervalue your own lived experiences and home culture, assuming that you are outside the norm.  And if we look at mainstream American curriculum, white kids are getting a lot of mirrors and BIPOC kids aren’t getting enough.  As children’s book author/illustrator Grace Lin says in her TED talk, “kids that always see themselves represented need to be able to see things from other viewpoints.  How can we expect kids to get along with others, to empathize and share, if they never see outside themselves?”

At PFP, we deeply value using diverse and multicultural literature in our teaching.  We understand that all children - but ESPECIALLY BIPOC children who are so often under-represented in school curriculum - need to see themselves in the stories they are reading.  Teaching through the lens of multicultural literature increases a student’s sense of self-worth, increases educational equity, promotes cultural pluralism, reduces stereotyped thinking, and builds capacity to empathize with those who are different from ourselves.  We are all constantly immersed in a mainstream culture that upholds White supremacy, therefore we as educators need to be actively anti-racist in our work and consistently pushing back against this system of oppression.  And high-quality multicultural literature can be an entry point to engage children and youth in much needed conversations about race, equity, diversity, and inclusion. 

Ready to dig deeper? Check out this list that includes resources collected and produced by our education team here at PFP, as well as some of my favorite resources that have helped build my capacity as an ant-racist educator and parent. I will leave you with a quote from author James Baldwin that I hold close to my heart as an educator - “If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.”  And the deepest gratitude to all of the educators - especially the Black women educators - that helped shape me, who had the nerve to imagine a better world and make me conscious of the things I didn’t see.  

Multicultural Literature in the Garden - webinar featuring our own PFP Education Director Jamie Levato 

PFP’s Virtual Storytime featuring some of our favorite books 

PFP's Multicultural Book List 

Grace Lin’s TED TALK - Windows and Mirrors of your Child's Bookshelf

Chimimanda Ngozi Adiche's TED TALK - The Dangers of a Single Story 

Embrace Race website 

Read in Color initiative 

Multicultural Children's Literature in the Garden (Webinar)

Learn to use multicultural children’s literature to enhance your garden-based instruction and teach concepts in social studies, science, and nutrition. Discover great multicultural children’s literature and practice developing engaging learning activities that meet the goals of your program or school. Poughkeepsie Farm Project educators will share tips, a book list, and best practices for using literature to center your instruction. In this workshop, participants will learn:
--the benefits of using multicultural children's literature
--how to use high quality multicultural children's literature to enhance garden-based instruction
--about several great children's books and gain an annotated book list

Titles and video links for books discussed during the workshop:

• In the Garden with Dr. Carver

• Rainbow Stew

• Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English

• Lado A Lado (Side by Side)

• Ugly Vegetables

• Lola Plants a Garden

Worksheet from the exercise completed in the breakout rooms (not shown in the recording): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1cqYPZrGTgiwJrGbidXEv28F9xMCh6eliP8yYOAgIOMo/edit?usp=sharing

Learning objective ideas:
Students will be able to:
(3rd)Identify 4 things plants need to grow (sunlight, water, soil, space)
(1st)Name one way your family is similar to the family in the story
(1st)Name one way your family is different from the family in the story
(1st)Name the colors of the rainbow and a vegetable or fruit of each color
(3rd)Name the six plant parts (root, stem, leaf, seed, flower, fruit)
(3rd)Explain the function of each plant part

Other Read Alongs on the Poughkeepsie Farm Project YouTube Channel:

• Charlotte and the Quiet Place

• The Bad Seed

• Right This Very Minute

• Ahorita: Un libro de mesa a granja sobre alimentos y agricultura

Resources for In the Garden with Dr. Carver:

• Sweet Potato Resources

• Learn about Southern Sweet Potatoes (video)

• Make Sweet Potato Salad with Orange Maple Dressing

Thank you to American Farmland Trust and Farm to Institution NYS for collaborating to offer this professional development opportunity.

Poughkeepsie Farm Project 2021-2023 Public Strategic Plan

View our Strategic Plan for 2021-2023 by clicking the button below:

Growers’ Row: April news from PFP’s farmers

April means SPRING! But it can be a challenging time for fresh vegetable growers in northern climates like ours. In recent years, our farm has constructed new infrastructure and systems to serve our members and neighbors not only during the traditional growing season, but from December to March as well with our Winter Share. In April winter is decidedly over, but the earliest outdoor crops, if they can get into the cold ground, are still tiny. We are happy, however, for the second year in a row, to bridge the gap between winter and summer with PFP’s Farm Box!!

Each weekly farm box will feature several vegetables grown right here at PFP, usually including 2 greens (arugula, mesclun, baby mustard greens, kale, spinach), 1 or 2 bunched fresh roots (Hakurei turnips and multiple types of fresh radish with greens), and 3-4 pounds of mixed root vegetables (carrots, beets, watermelon radish, daikon radish, and/or sweet overwintered parsnips). These offerings are possible because our team sowed seeds in late winter for April harvest and also carefully stored fall crops like carrots and purple daikon radish. Finally, overwintered parsnips, and possibly spinach, are added to the mix, with enhanced sweetness following the winter cold.

curly kale in the high tunnel

Expect farm box availability for all of April and into the beginning of May, as supplies last! Each week, anyone (members and non-members) is welcome to order a Farm Box on our Farm Store from Wednesday through Sunday. Then, just swing by PFP on Tuesday between 3 and 5 PM to pick up your box! A staff member will meet you on the upper drive off of Hooker Ave where you will be able to pick up your box (or two, or three!) in a safe and distanced manner.

Here’s peek at other happenings on the farm:

• The first parsnip harvest has occurred! These sweet roots were seeded in late May 2020 and were unearthed on March 17. Enjoy as part of the Farm Box and during the final week of this year’s winter share!

• Farmer training continues! Some of our newer staff learned basic tractor operation and had their first ride, while more experienced folks trained on the important task of managing the large leaf piles that will become our compost.

Isabel turning the compost/leaf piles

• Most of the snow has melted, and the crew is gearing up to spread compost and organic fertilizer, and to prepare our spring vegetable beds. The farm team is sowing seeds and planting seedlings from January all the way into October, each year!

Beth and Germán sowing leek seeds in March

Additionally, plant sale is fast approaching! Similar to last year’s sale, our inventory of Certified Naturally Grown seedlings will be available on our Farm Store. Order from April 12 to April 25 for pickup on May 1, and order from May 2 to May 11 to pick up on May 15! Find Plant Sale favorites like basil, parsley, okra, and plenty of flowers and tomato varieties. New offerings this year include lemon balm, bitter melon, and Tiny Tim, a productive dwarf cherry tomato that thrives in a container.

onions are one of the first crops of the season started from seed

We are also excited to offer, with the support of staff from Vassar’s Ecological Preserve, native perennial flowers grown from wild seed gathered right here on the preserve. Access to these plants allows folks in our community to create habitat for monarchs and many other pollinators, and to do so from seed stock that is genetically adapted to our region. The native flower offerings include milkweed, butterfly weed, Joe Pye weed, yarrow, NY aster, woodland sunflower, and echinacea purpurea. Read more about establishing perennial insect habitat and related topics on the Pollinator Pathways project website.

tiny milkweed seedlings in the greenhouse

From the farm fields and the greenhouse, sharing excitement for the 2021 season and wishing everyone a safe and joy-filled Spring!

Cooking with Chef Brandon Walker of Essie's Restaurant

Chef Brandon Walker is a celebrated local chef who has gained national attention competing on Chopped and has been featured in the book Savor: The Extraordinary Diversity of Black Chefs. He and his wife own and run Essie's in Poughkeepsie's Little Italy, offering elegant, yet casual dining and a menu that incorporates local ingredients and international flavors. Chef Walker talks about the meaning of soul food and shows us how he prepares this Sunday dinner.

In recognition of Black History Month, Poughkeepsie Farm Project teamed up with Essie’s Restaurant, Hudson Valley Farm Hub, and Celebrating the African Spirit to share delicious and locally-sourced soul food with City of Poughkeepsie residents. Many thanks to HV Farm Hub for donating the ingredients and Chef Brandon Walker of Essie’s for preparing the menu - West African roasted chicken, braised winter ale, and Pinto beans with West African poultry gravy. PFP assisted by managing the distribution of this generous gift of food, delivering 100 dinners to residents at the Smith Street Apartments and making home deliveries to some of our elderly or home-bound program participants.

Community members expressed deep gratitude and joy upon receiving the meals , and some also reflected on how the soul food flavors connected them to their family and cultural roots - one person said “I haven’t enjoyed a meal like this since Mamma.” Thank you to the many partners who joined together to make this event such a success.

Learn About Southern Sweet Potatoes with PFP

Join Kathryn and the team at Poughkeepsie Farm Project to learn about the history of sweet potatoes in the southern United States, and the inspirational scientist and farmer, Dr. George Washington Carver. Then learn about a southern sweet potato recipe adapted from farmer Fredando Jackson in Georgia, out of Toni Tipton-Martin’s book, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking: A Cookbook.

The word of the day is scientist! Learn about how scientist Dr. Carver helped create new farming practices to help people and the land.

Relax and get centered with a mindful moment of deep breathing, and a nature moment in the discovery garden where we make scientific observations.

Companion Videos:
Make Sweet Potato Salad - https://youtu.be/i4S-p6sGIP8
Make Sweet Potato Salad - Spanish - coming soon!

Reading of In the Garden with Dr. Carver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q2F6V1Bf5s&ab_channel=HungryWolfReads

Sweet Potato Harvest of the Month page
https://www.farmproject.org/sweet-potatoes

More online learning with Poughkeepsie Farm Project
https://www.farmproject.org/digital-online-learning

Find out more about Fredando’s farm Flint River Fresh: https://www.flintriverfresh.org

Follow us on Social Media
http://instagram.com/poughkeepsiefarm​project
http://facebook.com/farmproject​
http://twitter.com/farmproject​

Credits:
Post-Production Editing by Forge Media
Intro Music: “Upbeat Funk Commercial” by GuitarsState
*license details
Mindful Moment Music: “Sweet Gentle Piano” by water_lily
*license details
Main Music: “Kids Background” by PeacockMusic

Make Sweet Potato Salad with Orange Maple Dressing with Sonya Joy

Make this simple, kid-friendly dish that is both sweet and savory! Before you start cooking, take a mindful moment to breathe and center. Learn about the history of sweet potatoes in Black southern cooking. Finally dive in to prepare and taste test the dish. This recipe is an adapted version simplified to cook with children. It was recommended to us by farmer Fredando Jackson in Georgia, out of Toni Tipton-Martin’s book, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking: A Cookbook.

Jump to the end of the video for the complete recipe. Visit our website for more distance learning videos and seasonal recipes.

Companion Videos:
Learn About Southern Sweet Potatoes - https://youtu.be/8CKJv2R1B-4
Cook Sweet Potato Salad - Spanish: coming soon!

Find out more about Fredando’s farm Flint River Fresh: https://www.flintriverfresh.org

Toni Tipton-Martin Sweet Potato Salad Recipe: https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/sweet-potato-salad-orange-maple-dressing/17210/

Sweet Potato Harvest of the Month page
https://www.farmproject.org/sweet-potatoes

More online learning with Poughkeepsie Farm Project
https://www.farmproject.org/digital-online-learning

Follow us on Social Media
http://instagram.com/poughkeepsiefarm​project
http://facebook.com/farmproject​
http://twitter.com/farmproject​

Credits:
Post-Production Editing by Forge Media
Intro Music: “Upbeat Funk Commercial” by GuitarsState
*license details
Mindful Moment Music: “Sweet Gentle Piano” by water_lily
*license details