Hawk Meadow Farm, located in Trumansburg, NY near the southern edge of the Finger Lakes National Forest, specializes in log-grown woodland mushrooms using organic methods and sustainable practices. Heather Marold Thomason was among the group of Eat Retreaters that enjoyed an afternoon of mushroom tasting and log inoculation.
Steve and Anne Sierigk welcomed us with warm bowls of miso soup. We wandered through the woods, discussing inoculation and admiring the meticulously stacked logs that make up the forest farm. Greedily, we ate shiitakes plucked straight from the logs. Steve told us of a “windfall” on his land of downed trees that transformed his interest in traditional Eastern medicine into a log-grown shiitake mushroom operation. Anne thought he was crazy, but his shiitakes are now coveted by local chefs who know him only as Shiitake Steve.