Event Details

Date

March 29, 2025

Time

1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Location

Biotech Without Borders
43-01 21st St, Suite 319
Long Island City, NY 11101

Host

Cornell Small Farms and Biotech Without Borders


Mushroom Cultivation Demo: Making Spawn for Log Inoculation

March 29, 2025


Learn the fundamentals of mushroom propagation in this demonstration lab session. We'll review the essentials for:
  • sterile lab technique
  • DIY mycology equipment
  • cloning mushrooms to create starter cultures
  • creating liquid culture spawn
  • sawdust spawn development for inoculating logs to grow mushrooms outside
In-person participants will leave with a cloned mushroom sample and a liquid culture syringe of their chosen species.

No prior experience is needed--just curiosity and a love for fungi!

This is the first part of an event series with Biotech Without Borders and Cornell Small Farms Community Mushroom Educators to perform log inoculations across NYC in urban gardens. We will share links to those events here once they become available and also share details during this class.





Upcoming Events

NYS Mushroom Summit

December 5, 2025
9:00 AM - 3:30 PM
New York, NY

The NYS Mushroom Summit, hosted by the Cornell Small Farms Program, will convene a regional network of mushroom farmers and educators from indoor, outdoor, and community production systems; restaurateurs, food creatives and chefs; and extension, government and industry representatives. This diverse group will work together to determine grower research and marketing needs, interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities, and community building initiatives. Group conversations and presentations will be structured around value added products, frontiers in mycology research, and peer-to-peer learning.

Pruning & Fruit Tree Health 101

December 13, 2025
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Cambria Heights, NY

Join us at Cambria Heights Community Garden for a free, hands-on workshop with CCE Harvest NY Urban Garden Specialist Karen Guzman. Participants will learn about basic tree maintenance and pruning techniques. Proper winter care helps trees conserve energy, prevent damage from cold weather, and prepare for growth in the spring.  

Pruning & Fruit Tree Health 101 (Flushing, NY)

January 25, 2026
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Flushing, NY

Join us at Ridgewood Community Garden for a free, hands-on workshop with CCE Harvest NY Urban Garden Specialist Karen Guzman. Participants will learn about basic tree maintenance and pruning techniques. Proper winter care helps trees conserve energy, prevent damage from cold weather, and prepare for growth in the spring. 

Announcements

New York Urban Farms Sustainable Pest Management Fact Sheet Series

Cornell Cooperative Extension has partnered with dozens of urban farms across New York State to demonstrate and evaluate sustainable pest management strategies. Together with farmers, we found success using control methods that prevent or reduce crop losses through exclusion strategies, crop timing, host resistance, the introduction of beneficial organisms, and more. Regardless of management strategy used, common requirements for success include a knowledge of the pest and disease complex, preventative deployment and commitment to the process. The New York Urban Farms Sustainable Pest Management Fact Sheet Series includes case studies highlighting pest management techniques that New York urban farms have found valuable.