Description: Join the fungi fun during our Log Inoculation Days! If you've ever wanted to learn more about how mushroom logs get made and get some hands-on experience, here's your chance. (And if you've taken one of my workshops and just want more experience, this one's for you!)

Learn the techniques of shiitake log inoculation along with oyster totem building. Discover which wood species work best with which spawn. Use hand tools including drills and modified grinders, thumb and palm inoculators, and wax applicators. Explore how to get your own laying yard started!

Safety:

• We'll be outside in the fresh air (and hopefully sunshine)

• I'll provide safety glasses as well as spray alcohol to wipe them down

• I have plenty of work gloves, but if you prefer, please bring your own pair

• Children 10+ are welcome

Dates and Times:

Saturday, March 16: 2–5 pm

Saturday, March 23: 2–5 pm

Sunday, March 30 : 2–5 pm

Contact: If you're going to drop by, just put your name in the relevant slot here so I can anticipate how many people might be there on any given day.

Description: Learn how to grow delicious, organic specialty mushrooms indoors and outdoors. Starting with a brief overview to help us better understand and appreciate the mysterious mushroom, participants will get an overview of the varieties of specialty mushrooms that can be reliably cultivated in a backyard setting. We will also cover foraging at a high level, including when and where to look mushrooms, along with nutritional information.

At the end of the class, participants can join a short cooking demo and taste the delicious results!

Description: Join the fungi fun during our Log Inoculation Days! If you've ever wanted to learn more about how mushroom logs get made and get some hands-on experience, here's your chance. (And if you've taken one of my workshops and just want more experience, this one's for you!)

Learn the techniques of shiitake log inoculation along with oyster totem building. Discover which wood species work best with which spawn. Use hand tools including drills and modified grinders, thumb and palm inoculators, and wax applicators. Explore how to get your own laying yard started!

Safety:

• We'll be outside in the fresh air (and hopefully sunshine)

• I'll provide safety glasses as well as spray alcohol to wipe them down

• I have plenty of work gloves, but if you prefer, please bring your own pair

• Children 10+ are welcome

Dates and Times:

Saturday, April 30: 2–5 pm

Saturday, May 7, 2–5 pm

Sunday, May 22: 2–5 pm

Contact: If you're going to drop by, just let me know ahead of time so I can anticipate how many people might be there on any given day. Email: falahacenter@gmail.com

Description: As the Northeast mushroom season begins to feel the chill, join South Asian diasporic visual artist, Sneha Ganguly, at the Falaha Center for Spiritual Agriculture, for an intimate workshop exploring papermaking with mushrooms.

Sneha’s creative and spiritual practice work through the intersection of fine art and mycology.  She uses collage and painting, with wild foraged mushroom papers and pigments, to illustrate a modern mythology depicting fungal science, symbiotes, animisms, and teachings from the forest.  Alongside a demonstration covering mushroom-based paper-making materials and techniques, the workshop will weave together topics such as artmaking with mushrooms, foraging wild mushrooms, medicinal polypores, and the emergence of myco-materials. 

If weather permits, we will begin outside on the trail so please come prepared.  Warm up indoors with a cup of mushroom chai and light refreshments.  All participants will receive an original mushroom paper artwork as a gift.  

Sneha is co-founder of POC Fungi Community, a grassroots organization that aims to increase access and representation for BIPOC in mycology.  She is a Teaching Assistant for Indoor Speciality Mushroom Production with Cornell Small Farms.  She is also Community Outreach Coordinator for the New York Mycological Society.

Cost: $60 per person

Instructor: Sneha Ganguly

Group size: 6-person minimum; 10-person maximum

Description: Join the fungi fun during our Log Inoculation Days! If you've ever wanted to learn more about how mushroom logs get made and get some hands-on experience, here's your chance. (And if you've taken one of my workshops and just want more experience, this one's for you!)

Learn the techniques of shiitake log inoculation along with oyster totem building. Discover which wood species work best with which spawn. Use hand tools including drills and modified grinders, thumb and palm inoculators, and wax applicators. Explore how to get your own laying yard started!

Safety:

• We'll be outside in the fresh air (and hopefully sunshine), but masks are encouraged to help everyone feel safe

• I'll provide safety glasses as well as spray alcohol to wipe them down

• I have plenty of work gloves, but if you prefer, please bring your own pair

• Children 10+ are welcome

Dates and Times:

Saturday, May 1: 2–5 pm

Saturday, May 8, 2–5 pm

Sunday, May 16: 2–5 pm

Saturday, May 22: 2–5 pm

Contact: If you're going to drop by, just let me know ahead of time so I can anticipate how many people might be there on any given day. Email: falahacenter@gmail.com

Description: Discover the beautiful relationship of mushrooms to the forest as a whole, understanding how and where they grow in nature, and their many beneficial properties. Then participate in a hands-on session, learning how to safely grow a variety of mushroom species, including shiitake, oyster, and wine caps, in your own backyard using traditional Japanese cultivation techniques, as well as more modern techniques. All tools and materials will be provided.

Cost: $10 per person (cash at door)

Instructor: Aysha Venjara

Group size: 15

Register: Email esbest8@gmail.com

Description: Learn how to grow delicious, organic specialty mushrooms indoors and outdoors using items you probably already have around your kitchen and garden. Starting with a brief overview to help us better understand and appreciate the mysterious mushroom, participants will get hands-on experience in making oyster mushroom grow boxes (indoors) and preparing a wine cap mushroom bed (outdoors). At the end of the class, each participant will take home their own oyster mushroom grow box and a starter kit for wine cap mushrooms. Workshop includes hot beverages, light snacks, and tour of shiitake mushroom log yard.

 Cost: $45 per person (includes $30 instruction fee + $15 materials fee)

Instructor: Aysha Venjara

Group size: 8*

*Class size limited due to COVID-19 restrictions. Participants are requested to practice social distancing and masking during the workshop.

Description: Learn the techniques of shiitake log inoculation. Discover which wood species work best with shiitake spawn. Use hand tools including drills and modified grinders, thumb and palm inoculators, and wax applicators. Explore how to get your own laying yard started!

The Falaha Center was invited by Jennifer Boylan (Teacher, English and Gastronomy at HS Math, Science and Engineering at CCNY; www.foodconsidered.com) to teach her Gastronomy students about mushroom cultivation. A slide presentation covered our spiritual connection to the forest, forest farming in general, fungi, edible mushrooms, and shiitake farming. Students perused relavant books, tasted a shiitake tapenade, and received the gift of a shiitake log for them to try fruiting.

Instructor: Aysha Venjara

Description: Participants will learn about the beautiful relationship of mushrooms to the forest as a whole, understanding how and where they grow in nature, and their many beneficial properties. We'll then learn how we can safely grow our own mushrooms using traditional Japanese cultivation techniques. Each participant will create and take home a Shiitake mushroom log with care instructions and a few delicious recipes!

Cost: $40 per person (includes $30 instruction fee + $10 materials fee)

Instructor: Aysha Venjara

Group size: 8

Description:

11-11:30 | Presentation: Aysha will be speaking about seeing connections in nature, and how we as Muslims have a unique opportunity, and obligation, to help heal the earth.

11:30- 12:30 | Lunch and discussion

12:30 – 1:30 | Activity 1: Making Lactobacillus serum Lactobacillus serum is a versatile natural preparation that has a multitude of household and farm uses. And it all starts with something many of us do on a daily basis: washing rice grains! Participants each take home a quart mason jar of serum.

1:30 – 2:00 | Activity 2: Property walk Guided tour of property with discussion of permaculture principles in action.

Cost: $20/person Includes catered lunch from local Israeli restaurant (Allan’s Falafel, Kosher), materials fee, and instruction

Participants: 8-person minimum, 12-person maximum

Description: Come learn how to make a variety of balms and salves that you can use for lip protection, deodorant, dry skin, skin healing, skin protection, and sore muscles (among other things!). The Falaha Center will host a hands-on workshop where we will learn to make both basic balms (harder) and basic salves (softer) from a few simple, natural ingredients. We will learn how to modify the basic recipes to support a wide variety of personal needs and preferences.  These modifications include different herbs (infused into oil), butters, and essential oils. To take home, we will make one type of lip balm as a class, and you will customize a jar of salve with aromatherapy, learning about and choosing from among 6 essential oils. You will also take home recipes/detailed instruction, as well as information about herbal infusion of oils and aromatherapy.

Cost: $40 per person (includes $30 instruction fee + $10 materials fee)

Instructor: Elise Ferencevych

Group size: 10

Description: Learn the traditional cold process method of soap making: the most ancient, simple, and commonplace method of making professional quality bars of soap. We will be soaping with pure olive oil, and there will be a selection of herbs, spices, goat's milk, and essential oils for you to customize your own batch of soap. You will receive detailed professional instruction, take-home soap making handbooks, recipes, tips and tricks, and you will go home with bars of soap that you have made yourself, during the workshop.

Cost: $40 per person (includes $30 instruction fee + $10 materials fee)

Instructor: Ben Tyler

Group size: 10

Description: Learn to build a traditional herb spiral from the ground up, including site selection, preparing the right soil mix, and orienting the herbs for optimal growth.

Cost: Free

Group size: Up to 10 adults