Mushroom Bonanza

second year shiitakes on sweet gum logs

Growing mushrooms began as a way to use the trees that I was cutting down on my small suburban lot.  I wasn’t sure what I was doing and I didn’t know if I’d be successful.  After a long dry summer last year, the first try at mushrooms seemed mediocre.  I stepped it up this year with twice as many new logs as the year before.  I have over 30 (40″ x 3-6″ dia.) logs of various types, with a few different strains of shiitake and oyster mushrooms.  I was not expecting much out of the two year old logs and I hadn’t tried the oyster mushrooms before.  After a somewhat cool wet summer and an improved stacking method, mushrooms are popping up everywhere. In fact, I am being overrun by mushrooms.  I have been able to sell some, but now it is time to cook up  some good recipes…