Collar City Mushrooms transitioning to Indian Ladder Farms

Collar City Mushrooms have been growing mushrooms for food markets and restaurants for three years. Now, they are not only transitioning their operations to Indian Ladder Farms; Collar City Mushrooms and Indian Ladder Farms say they are excited about working together.

“This is a farm; we grow tons of different things. We love for them to be here growing the mushrooms,” Laura Ten Eyck, Manager at Indian Ladder Farm, said. “It’s something else that we can do here on the farm, and we don’t actually have to provide the staffing or expertise because they’re all bringing everything needed to the table.”

But Avery Stempel, Owner of Collar City Mushrooms, has also been advocating for the medical use of psilocybin, which is a psychedelic version of mushrooms.

Stempel is also one of the writers of a bill that will allow the growth, cultivation, and adult use of psychedelics for the treatment of certain health conditions like PTSD or Parkinsons Disease. The bill will also provide certification of support service providers and licensing cultivators.

According to Stemple, most Western medicines are derived from some fungi. And he has met some oncologists and doctors who have been treating patients with mushrooms for decades. And that the rediscovery of mushrooms is spreading further than the mushrooms themselves in the forest.

“Sun-dried shitake is high in Vitamin D. We make a lotion that you put on your skin and helps absorb Vitamin D. Lions Mane Mushrooms is neutropenic whose active compounds pass the blood-brain barrier and promote neural connections and neural growth,” Avery Stempel said. “None of these statements have been approved by the FDA, but they’ve shown remarkable efficacy in treating Alzheimers, Dementia,  and even Parkinsons Disease.”

The bill is currently with the assembly committee, but Stempel hopes for the bill to be passed within the next two to three years. For now, he is focused on continuing the transition from Collar City to Albany County.

“But while we’re shifting production from Troy to  Indian Ladder Farms, it has been proven difficult,” he said. “But once the farm store here at Indian Ladder reopens after their renovations, the products we had at our store in Troy will be on the shelves here.”