Mushroom Garden

In a few weeks, the native morel mushrooms will start to appear in our woods. In the meantime, we started a shiitake mushroom garden.

Our garden started last fall, when I set aside a few oak logs from a tree that blew down into our hayfield. In February, I bought shiitake mushroom spawn from Field & Forest at the Wisconsin Garden Expo. The spawn consists of joinery woodworking dowels, mixed with grain and mushroom spores. These sat in the back of our refrigerator until this weekend, when they made the trip to our woods.

The process is simple - you drill holes in each log, you tap the wood dowels into the holes, and you cover the tops of the dowels with a smear of wax. The holes for shiitake mushrooms are drilled 6 inches apart in rows that are 2 inches apart, creating a diamond pattern around the log. Each log gets around 50 plugs. I bought 500 plugs, so 500 holes needed to be drilled. Three batteries for my cordless drill produced just enough holes.

Plugs of mushroom spawn ready to be tapped home

I built a wood cradle from some scrap wood to hold each log steady as I drilled holes, set onto a pair of sawhorses to creating a comfortable working height. Since we do not own a UTV or ATV, I took a chance and used my Jeep to haul my materials. We had not had rain in a while, so there was no mud or soft ground to get stuck in. Fortunately for me, the Jeep made it to the woods and back safely.

My trusty Jeep out in the woods

It took about 3 hours to get the logs completed, but it was very relaxing. I heard turkeys gobbling in the back woods as I worked, and an occasional sandhill crane in the distance. It was slightly overcast, but warm enough to work without a coat.

Springtime in the woods

I ended up with seven inoculated logs, which will take 8 to 13 months to yield mushrooms. That will be nearly 2 years from the time the oak tree fell. As with most farming and gardening, time is needed to produce results.