WINDHAM — The Mountain Top Arboretum has an exciting lineup of programs for the month of March including navigating mushroom supplements, a rescheduled lecture with conservation photographer Carla Rhodes, and more.Â
Navigating the World of Mushroom Supplements with Luke Sarrantonio
- Saturday, March 8 at 10 a.m. at the Education Center
Mushroom supplements are hitting the market at an astounding rate these days and the benefits can be life changing for many, but with so many to choose from it’s hard to know what the best or safest product is. Join Mycologist Luke Sarrantonio for a cup of functional mushroom tea and discussion on mushrooms vs mycelium, history of human use, extraction methods, safety, what to look for on a label and what to ask producers to hold them accountable. We'll also touch briefly on the biology and ecology of Morels, as they will be arriving in the coming months.
Registration is free for members and a $10 donation for non-members. Registration is required.
Garden Tool Care 101 with Richard Kilberg
- Saturday, March 15 at 10 a.m. in the Education Center
Even the best garden tools wear down over time, especially those you use most frequently. The cut on your pruners may be getting ragged. Your once pristine shovel seems to be more difficult to push into the ground, or you may find your hoe in the losing battle with some weeds. Your tools need some TLC - that is, cleaning and sharpening - to restore their optimal functioning and prolong their life.
While some people use grindstones or heavy-duty equipment like angle or bench grinders, a simple hand file and other basic supplies frequently found around the house will usually do the trick. This presentation will review essential garden tools and will show you how to sharpen and care for garden shears, shovels, and other tools you’ve been ignoring in the back of the shed.
Richard Kilberg has been gardening in Red Hook, NY for the past 35 years or so, trying to keep up with two pretty substantial kitchen gardens, a small orchard, numerous flower beds – pond-side, terraced, arbored, etc. – and a woodlot. He also volunteers as a Master Gardener in Ulster County.
Registration is free for members and a $10 donation for non-members. Registration is required.
Seed Rematriation: Reconnecting Plants and their People with Shiloh Maples (Webinar)
- Thursday, March 20 at 6 p.m.
Indigenous communities organize towards cultural resurgence, food sovereignty, and climate adaptation, culturally significant seeds and plants play a crucial role. However, over many generations and through many different means, Indigenous communities have been disconnected from their plant and seed kin. This presentation will discuss how return, recovery, and stewardship of these more-than-human kin are essential to adapting to today's challenges and our collective future.
Shiloh Maples is an Anishinaabe community organizer, seed keeper, and storyteller. She has a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Michigan, where she specialized in community organizing. She has also completed programs in organic farming and sustainable community design. During her time as a student, Maples recognized the powerful potential of food systems to heal and transform communities. Since then, Maples has been committed to serving the Indigenous food sovereignty movement and revitalizing her own ancestral foodways. For nearly a decade, Maples worked within Detroit's Indigenous community to create a food sovereignty initiative that increased access to ancestral foods, offered culturally-based nutrition education, and created opportunities for the community to practice their cultural foodways in the urban landscape. Since then, she has worked primarily with Indigenous seed keepers and farmers to advance their food sovereignty and seed rematriation work in their local communities.
In 2021, Maples was a writer-in-residence at Denniston Hill in upstate New York. In 2022, Maples partnered with Whetstone Media to launch her podcast, Spirit Plate—which discusses the social, political, and historical reasons the Indigenous food sovereignty movement is necessary and uplifts the voices of seed keepers, chefs, historians, and community members from across the movement.
Registration is free, but required. Only registrants will receive the Zoom link.
Carla Rhodes: From Comedy to Conservation
- Sunday, March 23 from 1-2:30 p.m. in the Education Center
This event was rescheduled from its original date of Feb. 15 due to snow. Join the arboretum on March 23 for a lecture that is part of 2025’s Wild Side of Mountain Top photography project. The arboretum is partnering with conservation photographer Carla Rhodes on this year-long endeavor to capture the diverse wildlife we don’t often see at the Arboretum. Join them to learn more about Rhodes' work and take a look at photos she has already taken. The New York State Council on the Arts is providing the funding for this year-long project.
After a life-changing encounter with endangered Greater Adjutant storks in Northeastern India, Rhodes, a former comedic ventriloquist, switched gears and dedicated her creative energy to conservation photography. With work published in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post and more, Rhodes’ non-traditional path to helping elevate wildlife through the art form of photography inspires viewers to chase their wildest dreams.
Registration is free for members and a $10 donation for non-members. Registration is required.
The Wild Side of Mountain Top is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Those interested in registering for any of these events can register at mtarboretum.org/events. The Mountain Top Arboretum is located at 4 Maude Adams Road in Tannersville.
