Shitakes At Sandhill

As part of our commitment to growing our own food, we've been growing shiitake mushrooms since 1998

Approximately every two years we buy two or more kilos of spawn (grown on oak sawdust) and inoculate 42-inch-long freshly cut oak logs with heartwood anywhere from 3-8 inches in diameters, We drill a hole down to the bottom of the cambium layer (sapwood) and then ram the inoculant in with a plunger

and seal it off with melted beeswax.

In about 18 months the logs will start fruiting mushrooms, which we harvest with a sharp knife. Depending on how the logs are stored, they'll bear for many years. We buy a variety of spawns so that the logs will bear in different temperatures (some like it warmer, some like it cooler), yielding mushrooms in all seasons but winter.

The mushrooms need moisture to fruit. We typically manage them by waiting for rains (less labor), but it's possible to force them by soaking the logs overnight in a tub of water.

We eating most shiitakes fresh, yet we also dry them, freeze them, and sell some to our neighbors.