This workshop has a fee for supplies and is limited to 10 people. If you want to be guaranteed a log, please reserve your spot today by paying in advance, online or at the Welcome Desk any Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Build your own shiitake mushroom log at our Mushroom Inoculation Station.
Cost is $20. You will go home with a log, 4 feet long and 4 inches wide, which will weigh about 25 pounds.
Workshop leaders will help you drill holes, inject with mushroom spawn, and then plug them with beeswax. You will then be able to take your log home, where you should plan to put it in a shady spot in your yard where it can get rain. You should expect a crop of mushrooms in the fall, and possibly for several years! (see additional instructions at the bottom of this page).
When you register, we will contact you to schedule a time, either 10 a.m., 11 a.m. or noon on March 7, for your inoculation.
A portion of the proceeds will go to the Power of Produce Club!
Mushroom log care, from this site: https://www.fieldforest.net/product/shiitake-on-logs-instruction-sheet/instruction-sheets
Incubate logs and manage for moisture
Once inoculated, place your logs in a shaded area, protected from the sun and wind, low to the ground (we lay them on pallets or poles), and where they can receive natural rainfall. Maintaining moisture during this phase is the most critical step to Shiitake production success. We recommend your logs receive 1˝ of rain per week. If the weather is not cooperating, you may need to sprinkle your logs with a hose. Logs will begin producing mushrooms when spawn run is close to complete and the conditions for fruiting are ideal. This timing varies, so keep an eye on your logs. Once fruiting commences, they can be re-stacked into a different configuration to make harvest easier.
Harvest mushrooms
Monitor your logs as they fruit. Mushroom development can happen very quickly and it is best to pick them when the edges of the cap are still curled under. Over mature mushrooms do not store as long. Simply grab the mushroom, twist, and pull it off the log. Store your harvest in the refrigerator up to 14 days in a sealed storage container.