Date: Saturday, September 17, 2022
Time: 9 AM - 12 PM
Location: PEAS Farm and Orchard at Cunningham Elementary
Cost: $5 - Sliding Scale Donation
We can’t wait for fall and the cooler weather! Join us for a family friendly day filled with fungi at the PEAS Farm. In the morning we will go on a nature adventure with authors Melany Kahn and Alisha Gabriel followed by readings from the books Mason Goes Mushrooming and Funky Fungi. You can pre-order the book from us for a special CTMS price and pick it up at the event. Next we will have mushroom arts & crafts and mushroom cooking and tasting demos. Then lastly, we will learn how to grow mushrooms in containers. We will have lots of door prizes and as always, everyone will go home with a mushroom container garden. Family friendly. Kids under 12 are free and must be accompanied by an adult.
9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Morning Nature Walk
10:00 - 12:00 p.m. Mushroom Arts & Crafts, Music, Cooking & Tasting Demos
11:00 - 12:00 p.m. Mushroom Farming Workshop
ABOUT PEAS
PEAS (Partners for Education, Agriculture and Sustainability) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Austin, TX. Founded with the mission to cultivate joyful connections with the natural world through outdoor learning and edible education. PEAS delivers unique, outdoor learning and edible education programs to participating school campuses, operates and maintains a community farm, runs camps, and leads professional development to help teachers bridge key science, nutrition, math and health concepts from the garden to the classroom. Delivering programming year-round, PEAS provides trained outdoor specialists who partner directly with classroom teachers at each school’s campus to lead outdoor and kitchen lessons, increasing students’ time spent learning in an outdoor, hands-on environment. PEAS currently works with 19 schools in the Austin area, engaging more than 3000 students in outdoor learning.
ABOUT THE GUEST AUTHORS & INSTRUCTORS
Melany Kahn is a second generation forager who learned from her parents, the late abstract painter, Emily Mason and the late landscape painter, Wolf Kahn. She attended Wesleyan University (BA, English/Creative Writing). She holds a Masters in Social Work from Boston College, and an MFA in Film from Tisch School at NYU where she met her illustration collaborator, Ellen Korbonski. For the last twenty years, Melany has led mushroom clubs, school and nature center groups on woodland walks to gather and identify edible mushrooms. Her curriculum includes cooking demonstrations, recipes and tastings. Melany lives in New Hampshire and Vermont with her husband, children, 3 cats and 17 chickens. They co-own The Porch Cafe in Brattleboro. You can find her leading mushroom walks or foraging at every opportunity. "Mason Goes Mushrooming" is her first book. Melany’s next project is a collaboration with Ellen Korbonski on their second nature book featuring her daughter, Ally.
Alisha Gabriel is the co-author of Funky Fungi: 30 Activities for Exploring Molds, Mushrooms, Lichens, and More and the author of five other books for children. She loves uncovering little-known facts and even discovering new things in her own backyard! She’s an elementary music teacher in Round Rock ISD and especially loves researching nature and the arts. Learn more about Alisha and how to invite her to your school or library at www.alishagabriel.com.
Sheila Prescott is trained Chef and a former Montessori Guide interested in learning and teaching ways to incorporate mushrooms into our daily lives with art and food. By offering workshops on how to make mushroom art by upcycling recyclable items, recipes and cooking demos, and growing/recycling blocks.