As i read more about about gardening and growing food at home, i became increasingly interested in acquiring a kit for growing mushrooms.  Both Andy and i love mushrooms and, depending upon the variety, they can be dead easy to grow at home.

Surprisingly, i had to trick him into trying it.  Why he initially resisted i do not to this day quite understand.

I accomplished this trick by taking him to a “Mushroom May-nia” day put on by the Puget Sound Mycological Society at our local natural history museum in may of 2008.  Not only did the mushroom day include talks and exhibits about mushrooms, but we also got to each make a kit for growing oyster mushrooms — perhaps the easiest mushrooms to grow at home.

This is often the trick with Andy — make it free and right in front of him.  Heh.

Well, those 1st kits of ours never did produce any oyster mushrooms, but by then we were hooked on the idea.  I bought a book.  Ordered a catalog.  Plotted.

In the spring of 2009, Cascadia Mushrooms appeared at our farmers marker.  Ah HA!  I pounced at the opportunity and we came home with an oyster mushroom kit.  This time it worked extremely well and we were able to get several delicious harvests before the extreme hot weather in late july pretty much killed the kit.

For the entire rest of 2009 i checked the farmers market every week in the hope that Cascadia would return.  Finally, in december, there they were again.  No oyster kits this time, tho’ that was fine — now we wanted to try shiitakes.

misshapen shiitake

I’ve been faithfully spritzing our shiitake kit for almost a month now.  About a week ago i started to see little white buds, which was very exciting.  Except they’ve remained at the “little white buds” stage ever since, which has gotten increasingly disappointing.  I want mushrooms and i want them now!

Tonight, because the mushroom block tilts slightly forward, i decided to actually lift the block to make sure i was spritzing it evenly all over.  But the block resisted a little when i tilted it backward.  I looked at the bottom — and there was 1 lone shiitake growing thru’ the rack the mushroom block rests on.  A gentle tug and the shiitake came loose.

The poor thing was basically growing flat on top of its own stem, which is a little difficult to discern from this picture.  You can clearly see, however, the indentation on the cap from where it was starting to grow into the rack the mushroom block was resting on.

I expect it will be no less delicious for being a warped little mushroom.  And i certainly look forward to some of its little friends bursting into fungal flower over the next few weeks.

mushroom growing box

growing. Both the oyster and shiitake mushrooms require a humidity chamber which allows some light to reach the mushrooms.  It’s a myth that all mushrooms need darkness to grow.  They should certainly not be in direct sunlight, but they likewise don’t require complete darkness.  They do require a slightly humid environment.  I’ve found that the most successful box is actually a plastic Rubbermaid/Sterlite storage container with a rack of some sort (currently i’m “borrowing” one of the cooling racks from my baking supplies) in the bottom to keep the mushroom kit from sitting in water.  I spritz the kit once a day and keep the box’s lid closed.

buying.

• Cascadia Mushrooms is the only supplier i’ve purchased from so far, largely because they come to my local farmers market (and, like Andy, if you put it right in front of me and make it impossibly easy, i am way more inclined to do something).  They only sell kits for oyster and shiitake mushrooms.  I’ve been extremely pleased with the crops we’ve gotten from each kit we’ve tried.  The vendor is himself very friendly and easy to approach with questions and for advice.
• Field & Forest Products was the 1st mushroom kit supplier recommended to me, and they look to be an especially good source if you’re interested in mushrooms other than oyster or shiitake or if you’re interested in larger-scale mushroom production beyond just a single counter-top kit.  I want to try some TP mushrooms!

book. The book that was recommended by the Puget Sound Mycological Society way back at the event that hooked us on mushroom growing is The Mushroom Cultivator (Stamets, Paul.  Olympia: Agarikon Press, 1983.).  It is packed with information useful for both large- and small-scale mushroom growing.