Learn to Grow Mushrooms in NYC

July 17, 2019


Both a food and a medicine, mushrooms are easy to grow at home and on gardens and farms, with minimal start-up costs and materials you may already have on hand. Join Cornell Cooperative Extension, Farm School NYC, and Just Food for a workshop where you'll learn to inoculate a shiitake log, grow oysters on straw, and plant wine cap in wood chips. Everyone takes home materials that will produce mushrooms! We will emphasize the potential for growing mushrooms as a small enterprise for community and local markets.

Directions: B14 bus to Dumont Ave & Powell Street and walk 4 blocks up toward New Lots Ave, make a right on New lots Ave to Sachman and you are at the garden. L Train to New Lots Ave, When you Exit walk to the left 2 blocks down and arrive at the Green Valley Garden. 3 Train to Junius Street take right Exit walk to Sachman make a left on Sachman then walk 4 blocks to garden. B15 bus to New Lots Ave & Sachman, cross street and you are at the garden. 

INSTRUCTORS:
Yolanda Gonzalez is Urban Agriculture Specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension Harvest NY and lives in NYC supporting urban farmers.

Jie Jin is a mushroom grower and founder of Curiouseed, an education studio dedicated to cultivating eco consciousness through playful, experimental and hands-on programming and experiences.

Steve Gabriel is extension specialist for Cornell Small Farms Program and a mushroom farmer in the Finger Lakes Region of NY.

COST:
These workshops are FREE due to supportive funding from USDA and Cooperative Extension. We have limited spaces so please only register if you are committed to coming.

TO REGISTER:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NYCMushroomClasses2019

Want to learn more about mushrooms? Find more information on mushrooms or check out the Harvest NY Urban Ag Program on Instagram (urbanag.nyc)

This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number ENE19-156-33243.

How to Grow Edible Mushrooms on Logs

April 12, 2025
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Upper Manhattan, NY

Join Cornell's network of Community Mushroom Educators and the NYRP Urban Ag team to learn how to grow Shiitake mushrooms on logs. This hands-on workshop will include plenty of opportunity to practice drilling and filling logs with shiitake mushroom spawn. In addition to experiential learning, we'll explore the benefits of mushroom cultivation and tour the NYRP log yard, discussing best practices for maintaining a successful outdoor mushroom-growing system.

NOTE: THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL. Waitlist registrations being accepted.

Growing Shiitake Mushrooms at Sunset Community Garden

April 13, 2025
12:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT
Queens, NY

Shiitake mushrooms and lion's mane mushrooms are delicious and easy to grow. It does take time. Join us at Sunset Community Garden (@sunsetgardenridgewood) where we will use the log inoculation method to grow these edible mushrooms!

Compost Café: BioChar

April 16, 2025
12:00 noon EDT

At this virtual event, Karen Guzman, Harvest NY Urban Garden Specialist, will discuss biochar in urban agriculture. Hear about the the history of biochar, explore some of its environmental benefits, and learn how this innovative solution can transform urban growing spaces. Learn how biochar can be used to creatively manage organic waste and enhance sustainability in your own community. 

Community Gardens Soil Testing Program Accepting Applications

Soil testing supports the growth and expansion of community gardens by protecting the health and safety of the food produced in these gardens. CCE Harvest NY, in partnership with the NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets (AGM) and the Cornell Soil Health Lab, is offering eligible, food-producing gardens in New York State the opportunity to send soil samples for testing without charge.

The soil test will analyze samples for heavy metals and nutrient levels. Test results help gardeners make appropriate plans to produce high quality fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Technical support and education for participating growers will be provided by the CCE Harvest New York team. Learn more about the 2025 Community Gardens Soil Testing Program.

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.