Growing Hudson Valley Mushrooms in 2020

We know 2020 has been a difficult year for so many--we have all experienced significant change and have adjusted to the new normal. For us, this year also proved to be a year of exploration and growth at our small mushroom farm.

We purchased almost 300 logs in February. We had committed to expanding in 2020 and had made all our plans prior to COVID-19. With these logs staring at us in March and most of our helpers, staying home and social distancing, we knew that we had to inoculate these logs ourselves. We had a few brave volunteers help at the start, and we were truly grateful to them. In all, it took us the entire month of March--every free moment drilling, filling and waxing. At the end of the summer, we added even more logs with another 50 logs of oyster mushrooms. All of these logs will be ready to fruit in 2021--adding more shiitake, lions mane, oyster and olive oysterling mushrooms to Hudson Valley Mushrooms. We included some videos below to show our inoculation.

In June we launched our new CSA! During the summer our CSA members enjoyed 12 weeks of freshly harvested shiitakes. Along with the mushrooms, we also introduced weekly recipes for our members to enjoy--you can find all our recipes right here on our site. We extended our season into the fall, offering a fall CSA to new and existing members. We ended our CSA on September 30 and are looking forward to welcoming members back again in 2021. If you are interested in signing up for next year, tell us now. You can use our 2021 CSA Form to save your space.

This summer we also partnered with SPACE on Ryder Farm to offer their CSA members the option to add on to their weekly shares with our mushrooms. We’re grateful for this partnership and thrilled to collaborate with such a fantastic local farm and nonprofit organization. Our shiitakes were also featured in Pawling Bread Co.’s tarts this summer--truly delicious and fantastic to have our shiitakes highlighted through another local business.

We also made our radio debut on Leonard Lopate at Large on New York City’s WBAI. Our very own forest farmer Demetri Papas was joined by Steve Gabriel of Wellspring Forest Farm and of Cornell Small Farms Program. This hour long interview allowed Hudson Valley Mushrooms to be featured beyond our local audience.

With the end of our season upon us, we are excited to introduce our new Grow at Home packages. We started growing for ourselves in 2015 to expand beyond our vegetable garden. We’ve dedicated the last five years to learning all about log-grown mushrooms and are delighted to share this passion and knowledge with others who may want to grow their own shiitakes. Our packages include inoculated logs that are ready to fruit in 2021, consultation on creating your own laying yard, growing guide and more. You can see details and pricing here.