anyone else grow/gather mushrooms?

I'm not Canadian so have to wait another month for Thanksgiving, but this weekend I'm very thankful for mushrooms. Thursday we left all our unfinished work for the day and went to hike in the Adirondacks--perfect weather and foliage nearly at peak. We found oyster mushrooms and stuck some into our sandwiches and brought some home to stirfry with snow peas. Today we found shaggy manes in the woods nearer home and I made mushroom soup for lunch with some and the rest are going into supper. The fluctuating temps have upped the production from the oak logs on which we grow shiitake.
I'm always wishing we knew more wild ones to gather but the only ones we're sure of besides those I've mentioned are sulfur shelf and puffball. So I wondered what others have cultivated or have and know to gather wild.

I don't hunt because I don't know my mushrooms. I have to have someone else ID even oysters. There were a few inkcaps in my backyard. Also some other unknowns. Few years ago I did grow shiitake. Used plugs on downed street tree logs and had a few pretty large mushrooms. It took 2 to 3 years before they produced probably because I just left the logs in the shade and let nature take its course. Did not water or anything. I happened to be at the organic grocery this morning and their small ones were $10/lb.

After reading of a Japanese grandmother, who had been gathering and eating wild mushrooms all her life, making the entire family very ill once from mushrooms she had gathered (the granddaughter died, I believe)... I may someday grow mushrooms, but I will not gather them.

I grow shiitake on 3' oak logs

The oldest are 4 years and still producing blooms

I've always approached wild plant identification from a scientific basis, exercising extreme caution.
I like to know a plant in every season before I ever put it in my mouth, and I've always thought it was important to learn how to identify dangerous species first, and move onto edible species only after I was familiar with the most dangerous ones that grew in my area.

I feel reasonably safe with that approach, and treat mushrooms similarly.
But with mushrooms, it's even more complicated since sometimes one also must take into account things like the wood they grow on (ID from the bark of fallen logs if necessary), the color of their spores, etc.

I have identified and gathered shaggy manes, puffballs, sulfur shelf, and chanterelles.
Pretty much, only the easiest ones. :lol:

I have never gathered (too terrified I will mis-identify) but we do have a section of oak that I am hoping is growing some shitakes. Our first 4H meeting happened to be on mushroom growing - including making your own log! Pretty neat! We're on 6 months or so since we set it up... I think we can try to force it at this point by soaking it for 24 hrs in a bucket of water? I need to go back and look at my notes. I kept it propped up against the deck by the water spigot and would throw water on it every few days as I was doing animal rounds...

Grow shitakes on logs, harvest morels from the fields in spring and occasionally puffballs.

Even "safe" identified wild mushrooms has made us sick before. We're cautious and limited in what we gather wild.

Just some follow-up thoughts (and questions ) about mushrooms and about safety

First mushrooms. We didn't find a good on-line forum for them (like RT is for rabbits). Most of the on-line stuff was primarily about using mushrooms for their mind-altering effects and that was not what we were looking for. So our first shiitake logs were a total failure--and we contacted the company we'd bought the spawn from we were told "the guy who knew mushroom stuff has left" Since then we've had successful shiitake logs, but have wondered if there would be a way or a type of spawn that would last longer. We've tried stropharia (wine cup) a couple times but without success. We grew oysters successfully once and then realized that they grow wild in our woods and are very easy to recognize and difficult to confuse with anything dangerous so we just gather what we find. So I'll have some questions for the folks who've also grown shiitake to see what I can learn.

Then safety. We only gather the few mushrooms that are readily identified and with a little attention difficult to confuse with anything harmful. People consider various things we do unsafe. Drinking raw (unpasteurized) milk from our goats. Home canning of our produce. Homeschooling. Preparing and using herbal teas and tinctures. Drinking water from the spring up the road. (our well water is safe to drink but has sulfur in it and we don't like the taste) The spring is an interesting story. Lots of folks have used it for years. A few years ago there was a sign that was put up saying that the water was unsafe. We came home and called the health dept and were told they had had a meeting and decided to put the signs up on all publicly accessible springs--and that anyone wanting spring water should buy it bottled. Then the old gentleman who owns the land told us he'd been approached by a bottling company wanting to buy the spring. Then there was a community meeting with Nestle Waters trying to sell their plan to build a bottling facility in a neighboring town.
Everyone has to make their own decisions about what is safe for them and their families/communities. It interests me how different those views can be.

Mushrooms are powerful, IMO. Much more of a medicine than a food for some strains.

We have only used spring water for 10 years. Of course the spring would be "failed" for drinking, because "to protect ourselves from nature" they have to fail it.

You can always send a sample off for testing for organisms

We have our surface well we use for the livestock and veggi garden tested in the fall and spring to be sure it's not too contaminated for the critters

Dood":3343ppnm said:

I grow shiitake on 3' oak logs

The oldest are 4 years and still producing blooms

Click to expand...

How do you manage your logs--are you soaking them periodically to force fruiting or leaving them out in the weather to fruit when conditions prompt? Or some other way I don't know about? And what spawn did you start with? We've used wide range and cool weather. The logs we've been soaking in rotation this summer are 3 years in and they are fruiting but not consistently (some weeks we soak a batch and get no mushrooms ) Last summer we had more than we could use and dried lots for winter. I wondered if there is any way to even out the production. Would also be interested in anything you have time to say about how it's worked for you, what you've learned.
Thanks. And apologies if this is the wrong place to ask these specific questions.

I got plugs from http://www.fungi.com/shop/plug-spawn-fo ... spawn.html

and

https://www.mushroompeople.com/ I used 510 wide range for better chance of success.

One from each. They both worked. I chose plugs because I felt it's easier to just drill holes and insert plugs. Since I was using downed street tree logs of different sizes and some heavy, I didn't bother with soaking but just let nature take its course. Didn't keep track of the type of trees so I cannot recommend. The trees included Bradford Pear, oaks, and maple and other hardwood. I wasn't into maximizing production but just wanted to try growing it.

The 3' logs are easy to handle and a perfect fit for a rain barrel, and they get soaked overnight to force a bloom every 3 or 4 months (longer over winter)

The rest of the time they are sitting in moist sand on a sheltered north side of the house and watered occasionally in the summer

I mail order plugs and wax shut (with bees wax) one end of the log and all the plug holes

The oak logs are harvested in late fall from our wood lot as the trees contain the most sugar at this time (stored up for the long winter)

The hardest part it starting a log, other than that they are pretty low maintenance so I'm very happy with the results even if they don't always bloom after a soak. They are worth it if you like mushrooms as they are so much more flavourful than commercial shiitake and i need to add store bought mushrooms to make my dishes more mild when I cook for the family

I have 9 logs and 3 more will be started this fall

I soak one at a time, and 2 weeks later another and so on

As soon as I feel there is no chance of frost I start them in the spring, this year that wasn't until April and usually my last harvest is late Nov, early Dec

If a log missed after a soak then then they can spontaniously bloom and in the fall some of the logs who've had a longer rest will bloom but they are usually tiny

I plug and seal them in the fall and stand them with the others outside but try and keep them in the middle so they are more showered - not sure if it makes much difference

Thanks, Dood, for taking time to answer all those questions. One last ? one. Do you use the wide range spawn?
I was thinking that being in Ontario you'd have longer winters than we do here in central NY, but we don't expect to be free of frost until the end of May. And one year we had a frost on June 10. Our last mushrooms are harvested in October--have lots of pins on now but have below freezing lows coming up the end of this week.

This is my supplier - http://mycosource.com

The site says their variety is a wide range

I'm in hardiness zone 7 and with the logs next to the house they are more sheltered from spring and fall frost and I can eek out a few more shrooms

Dood":1uwkf7co said:

This is my supplier - http://mycosource.com

The site says their variety is a wide range

I'm in hardiness zone 7 and with the logs next to the house they are more sheltered from spring and fall frost and I can eek out a few more shrooms

Click to expand...

We're borderline zone 4/5 here. I'd thought you were near enough by so the situations would be more similar. The longer growing season must help not only with the mushrooms but also gathering forage for rabbits. It's challenging to have considerable summer heat but then to have such cold and long winters.
Thanks again for all your answers.

My oyster mushroom and redworm terrarium (filled with spent guinea pig and rabbit bedding) is finally showing some results! Couldn't help it, just had to share.

I've been growing the mycelium all winter from a small oyster mushroom kit I found at a grocery store. I have about a 1/2 of a 50 gallon aquarium full of mycelium now. I think, it's finally time to start sterilizing and inoculating bags of spilled hay and bunny berries.

We started 60 new shiitake logs in March--mostly oak but experimented with some sugar maple this time.

We like the oysters but only cultivated them once and then realized we had lots of them growing wild in our woods so decided to get them the lazy way. Never know how many we'll get or where we'll find them but most years we find enough to dry as well as eat.