If you love mushrooms, why not grow them inside your home!

I would love to add sauteed mushrooms to all my dishes. So like a herb garden, I thought a mushroom farm would be a good addition to my kitchen counter.

I would love to add sauteed mushrooms to all my dishes. So like a herb garden, I thought a mushroom farm would be a good addition to my kitchen counter.

Set-up: For the Shitake mushroom farm, I removed the package bag and set the block (packed saw dust) on a plate. I put in 4 tent polls (sticks) and covered it with a loose plastic bag to form a tent (cut the two top corners about 3” for fresh air).

The Oysters mushroom farm required keeping the package bag on the farm (hard maple sawdust, covered with mycelium) and cutting ½” X marks at 4” intervals. I also set up the tent polls and covered it with a loose ventilated plastic bag.

Care Instructions: The farms are to get indirect sun or incandescent light for at least 8-12 hours of per day. The room temperature should be 60 to 80 degrees.

Water daily with fresh water. Removing the tent to spray. Within 7-14 days mushroom pins will raise up like a thimble. Continue misting until the mushrooms develop to mature size. Cut mushrooms off at the level of the farm.

Results: 

• Day 9: I went away for the weekend and came back to find 50+ Shitake mushrooms caps!
• Day 11 – 13: I cultivated 55 Shitake caps.
• Day 14: First sign of Oyster mushrooms!
• Day 15: The Oyster caps have tripled in size.
• Day 18 – 20: I cultivated 69 Oyster caps.

Multiple Crops: You can get 4 harvests from the Shitake farm. Between harvests dry out the farm for a week before you soak the entire farm in cold water for 6-8 hrs. The weight of the farm should be around 4 lbs. 

Put the farm back on the plate, cover with the plastic tent and begin to mist daily. If green mold develops on the farm during rest, add bleach to the water soak (2 caps of bleach per gallon of water).

When the farm is finished, bury it outdoors in wood chips for possible future fruiting or toss it into the compost bin. It may continue to grow mushrooms, but the block will eventually turn into rich compost.

The Oyster farm will also need to rest between each harvest. Keep the tent on and water once daily. Increase watering when mushroom caps begin to show. When the farm surface beings to look dried out or moldy, it is time to take the farm outdoors in the shade. Depending on the weather, you will be able to continue harvesting.

Mushroom Farming: Field and Forest sells a variety of supplies to enable you to grow mushrooms in many ways. You can grow them on hardwood trees trunks, branches, wood chips, straw, and even on toilet paper (called Tee Pee Farms – a great grade school science project).

The TP farm is easy. Gather toilet paper rolls, dip them in hot water and pour the spawn in the center of the roll (harvest in 4 wks!). The prepared sawdust block farms are neat so you can keep them on a kitchen counter.

Nutritional Value: Shitake (Lentinula edodes) is prized for anticancer effects, immune system boosting and reducing cholesterol. It is also a good source of protein, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron and vitamin D2. 

In Oyster (Pleurotus Ostreatus) protein quality is nearly equal to animal derived protein. It also contains carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins B1, B2, plus minerals, especially iron and an antioxidant.

Shelf Life: Mushrooms stay fresh up to 10 days in the refrigerator. Wrapped them in a moist paper towel and place in an unsealed plastic bag.

Resources: Field and Forest Products.

I purchased the Shitake Tabletop Farm & Oyster Mushroom Tabletop Farm.

For more, visit The Joy of DIY.