8:30am – noon ish

Winnakee Nature Preserve, Hyde Park, NY
4204 Albany Post Rd (Rte 9)
Hyde Park, NY

Sorry for the location change. This spot is just up the road a bit. With all the rain we've had and more coming, we should have a really nice walk!

It's on the North side of Rte 9. There is plenty of parking BEHIND the restaurant.

There are Deer Ticks in this area… It is recommended to wear light colored clothing to help detect them, and to spray yourself with some repellent. Aside from tick spray, don't forget water, a basket for supplies and mushrooms, a knife, your mushroom book, a friend or two…

http://web.me.com/mushroominc/Annual_Mushroom_Conference_at_Breitenbush_Hot_Springs_Website/Welcome.html

This is from their website!

Hyde Park, Culinary Institute of America Main Parking Lot -
Plan to arrive at 8:30 to stretch out, sign in and apply tick spray. This area has lots of ticks!
Introductory Info For Beginners 8:40am & Walk Starts Promptly At 9:00am

It is pretty overgrown in this wood… So, if you have a cell phone please bring it. We all had cell phone coverage so we should be fine if we all swap cell numbers prior to heading into the woods. I will bring a sign in/sign out clipboard for the parking. If you arrive late please sign in so when we all leave we know we did not leave anybody behind.

THIS IS A MEMBERS ONLY EVENT… It is open to existing members and those who fill out club application on the spot that day.

This is the first walk of the year so there will be about a 20 minute introduction for new mushroomers. If you are new to mushrooming please plan to arrive by 8:30 to take advantage of the presentation. Everyone should be suited, sprayed and ready to walk promptly a 9:00am.

The are Deer Ticks in this area… It is recommended to wear light colored clothing to help detect them, and to spray yourself with some repellent.

Directions: http://www.ciachef.edu/visitors/hp/directions/ We will meet in the northern most part of the main parking which is in front of the school along Route 9.

Here is a google maps link with approximate coordinates and satellite imagery…

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&source=hp&q=cia+hyde+park+ny+address&aql&oq&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

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If for any reason there are any last minute cancellations or changes to either event, I will post them on the facebook billboard.

Reminder: Remember to bring any samples of mushrooms you may have to show others, and also remember to invite 5 non-members to every club function so we can grow the group.

Reminder: It is the club policy that only club members may attend the morel walks. Please alert anyone you invite that they should print out a membership form from the website, fill it out, and bring it along with $15 annual membership fee and they can become a member on the spot if they wish to participate. If for some reason, they cannot aquire the form on their own we will have them available at the walk. Anyone interested in signing up on the spot should show up a little EARLY to have time to take care of business and avoid delaying the start for everyone else.

Request: We would like to know which walks are most important to you and why. Please let us know ASAP as we are planning events for the upcoming season! Also let us know if you can be our guide on a new walk.

Request: Keiko would like to publish and we would all like to read your favorite mushroom stories. If you have a good mushroom/mushrooming story to share, please type it up and send it to Keiko for an upcoming newsletter…

Recipes: Reminder to keep your eyes open for good submissions to the club recipe book…See more

See more

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Mid Hudson Mycological Association:  http://www.midhudsonmyco.org and/or Facebook Page

Hudson Valley Food Network:  http://www.hvfoodnetwork.com / Facebook Page

Instructor Marc Eisenson: MarcEisenson@frontiernet.net

If you like to eat mushrooms, you can:
• Buy them
• Forage for them
• Grow them yourself

You know what to do if you want to buy them, and if you want to learn about foraging for or growing mushrooms, I strongly recommend that you consider joining the Mid Hudson Mushroom Club. Applications are available at: http://www.midhudsonmyco.org/

Most members of the club are interested in edible mushrooms, and that's why I assume you're here today. When it comes to eating mushrooms, there are five main categories to consider:
• Inedible mushrooms
• Edible mushrooms
• Poisonous mushrooms
• Palatable mushrooms and, of most interest to me,
• Delicious mushrooms

Three of my favorite Delicious mushrooms are: Oysters, Shiitake, and Wine Cap Stropharia. (For those who want to learn the official names, they are: Pleurotus ostreatus, Lentinula edodes and Stropharia rugosoannulata).

Oyster Shiitake Wine Cap Stropharia

Oyster mushrooms and Wine Cap Stropharia both grow wild in this part of the world, and can be found if you know when and where to look … and are lucky. For Shiitake, your choices are to buy them or grow them.

Today I'll briefly describe how I've grown these 3 mushrooms.

1. Shiitake. These were the first mushrooms I tried to grow. The method is simple (but not easy). All you need are oak logs, an electric drill, a 5/16 inch drill bit, a hammer and wooden plugs with mushroom spawn growing on them. I bought my plugs from Fungi Perfecti, http://www.fungi.com/

The logs need to have been recently cut … about 6 weeks before you intend to “inoculate” them. I recommend you go for logs that are about 3 feet long with a diameter in the 4 to 6 inch range. (The first time I grew Shitakes, we used logs with a much larger diameter. They weighed a ton! )

Drill 5/16 inch holes about 4 inches apart, all around the log (about 50 holes in a typical log). Then hammer one plug into each hole. Put the logs in a shady spot. After that, you basically water and wait. In about a year, Shiitakes pop out!

We’ve been growing Shitakes for around 15 years and at this point, we’re pretty blasé about it. Unless it’s been really dry, we don’t bother to water ours.

2. Wine Cap Stropharia. These are the easiest! They love to grow in wood chips. We try to get truck loads of chips from the various road crews that pass by. Then we spread those wood chips a few inches thick all around our property (they make great mulch). And then we wait.

Sooner or later, Stropharia will grow in such large quantities, we beg friends to stop by and harvest them. To speed up the process, we move some of the mycelium (the part of the mushroom that grows underground) from one location in order to “seed” a new wood chip covered area.

A couple of years ago, we learned that Stropharia also like to grow in cardboard! One fall, we used cardboard covered by hay to kill off some weeds in a new section of our vegetable garden. The next spring, much to our surprise and delight, we were harvesting Stropharia before the plants went in!

3. Oysters. Oysters are one of the easiest mushrooms to grow, and you can even grow them indoors in winter. They’re not too finicky about what they'll grow in: logs, compost, straw, grain … . I've had the most success growing them in straw. For this project you need Oyster spawn (grown on rye berries), which you can purchase from Fungi Perfecti or a number of other suppliers. I grow my own these days on rye berries that I buy at the health food store

You'll also need straw (not hay), a laundry type basket, anti-bacterial liquid soap, lime and gypsum (available from garden supply stores … I got mine from Adams), and a cooler that you don’t mind having full of all of the above.

Growing Oyster Mushrooms in Straw: Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Put chopped straw in a large picnic cooler. (People use lawn mowers and weed whackers inside of garbage pails to chop the straw. These days, I just rip it by hand as best I can as I put it in the cooler.)
2. Fill the cooler with hot tap water, add a couple of squirts of anti-bacterial hand or dish soap, then mix well until sudsy. (Don't burn your hands in the hot water!)
3. Close the cooler, and let it sit for 2 hours. This will “pasteurize” the straw, then empty the straw and water out of the cooler — carefully – they’re hot!
4. Partly fill the cooler with hot tap water stir in 1 cup of lime and add the straw. plus enough boiling water to cover the straw and raise the temperature to between 160 and 180 degrees.
5. Let it sit, covered, for no less than 60 minutes and no more than 90 minutes, then carefully remove the very hot straw and let it cool.
6. Put layers of straw into the laundry basket, followed by layers of the Oyster spawn. The last layer should be straw. Then weigh it down with a dish or tray, etc.
7. Put the basket into a plastic bag with one end open.
8. When the mycelium has spread throughout the straw (you’ll see white “cottony stuff” around the edges) remove the plastic bag.
9. Keep moist, and pretty soon, you’ll see mushrooms popping up out of the sides and top of the laundry basket.
10. Harvest and enjoy.

Please join us for a walk (rain or shine):

Saturday, September 18 · 8:30am – 12:00pm

Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie, NY

This walk is an MHMA favorite often times with beautiful tasty mushrooms, and sometimes if conditions are right in large quantities. The Morse Estate, where the walk is held, is a nature preserve. Our annual walk is the ONLY time at which anyone is permitted to pick mushrooms there. Please do not abuse our relationship with the generous administrators of the estate by picking mushrooms any other day of the year.

We will meet outside of the visitor’s center.

Directions To Morse Estate, Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie, NY:
 

–From The Thruway: Take Exit 18 off the Thruway (New Paltz). Turn right after toll plaza onto Route 299 East. Go 5 miles.  Turn right at the end of Route 299 onto Route 9W South. Go 2.5 miles. Turn right onto the ramp for the Mid-Hudson Bridge. Turn right immediately after the bridge onto Route 9 South. Go 2 miles. Turn right at second traffic light (Locust Grove parking lot).
 

– From Interstate 84 – Take Exit 13 (Route 9 – Poughkeepsie). Take Route 9 North. Go 11 miles. Turn left at Beechwood Ave. traffic light (Locust Grove parking lot).
 

–From the Taconic State Parkway southbound – Take the exit for Route 44 (Poughkeepsie). Turn right onto Route 44 West. Go 8.5 miles. Bear right onto Routes 44/55 West. Go 2.5 miles. Turn right just before the Mid-Hudson Bridge onto Route 9 South (Wappingers Falls). On the exit ramp, bear left to go south on Route 9. Go 2 miles. Turn right at second traffic light (Locust Grove parking lot).

Helpful things to bring/remember: water, snacks, good shoes or boots for tramping around in the woods, a small knife and basket for carrying mushrooms, camera, mushroom field id guide and notebook. Ticks have been prolific this year so tuck pants in socks, spray if you want.

Check out the club’s facebook page: HERE
 

We're still meeting at the Ashokan reservoir at 8:30 am. At 9 am we'll be heading to another location close by. So please try and get to the parking lot no later than 8:45 so we can take "inventory" and we won't leave anyone behind.

Colgate Lake may be penciled in also – stay tuned.

Tickets are $35.00 in advance, $40.00 at the event. Children Ages 6-12 are $15 each, Ages 5 & Under – Donation

The advance tickets are $35 each and must be purchased by July 7th.

Please contact Elmer to reserve tickets

July 17th, Saturday – Wittenberg Sportsman's Club Clam Bake, Host/Leader Elmer LeSuer. Plan to spend the afternoon, as you are sure to enjoy this day! It's all centered around the Wittenberg Sportsmen's Club Annual Clam Bake feast with all the trimming's and live music in the Club's Sheltered Pavillion. Don't forget the pre- and post-event mushroom walks too!

See more info here…

We'll also be using some of the results to finalize the remainder of the walks for the year. Click on the link and have fun!

Click here to take the MHMA Survey

This is the first of two surveys, so keep checking back…