Shitake Mushroom Workshop

My husband got to go to a shitake Mushroom growing workshop last Saturday! It turns out that a couple of our friends were signed up for the workshop too. Becky and Joe farm in the spring and summer in New York and live around here in the winter.... Funny, when I saw these guys at the New Years party, I was all questions, mushrooms, bees..... ??? This picture shows a fellow (Andrew?) drilling holes in a hardwood log. He is assisted by Becky. The drill has a mark on it to know how deep to drill the holes.

The holes are then filled with dowel rod plugs which have been inoculated with Shitake Mushroom Spawn. These Dowel Plugs were purchased from a mushroom spawn company. The one lady has a hammer to get the plugs in. And the gentleman to the right is covering the plug filled hole with wax. The wax helps keep the plug in place, and helps keep the spawn area moist.

Here are the logs--- All finished. If you look really closely you can see the wax spots and get an idea how many plugs are placed in the logs.

Josh brought home a really really big log home from the workshop. We are keeping it on the shady side of the Kiln Shed and keeping it wet. This allows the spawn to spread throughout the log. We may get some mushrooms by fall, but it could take a year to fruit. The log will produce mushrooms as long as it is kept wet and shady, and has food left in the log.

I have ordered a few different kinds of mushroom spawn which will be arriving in a few weeks. Oyster, Lion's mane, and Wine Cap-- We will be inoculating dead trees, logs and mulch on my Mom's property and our own. I LOVE MUSHROOMS!