Hands-on workshop teaching wood selection, inoculation, and cultivation of mushrooms in forest setting.

Truly fresh, pick-your-own mushrooms, what a delicacy! But picking mushrooms in the wild can be unnerving for amateurs. Solution? Grow your own - then you'll be confident about the species. But how, exactly, do you grow mushrooms? They don't reproduce by seeds. They don't even grow in soil. How the heck do you grow them?

• Learn and practice several different inoculation schemes: bolts, totems, rafts, and stumps
• Observe an operational mushroom cultivation operation
• Learn pros and cons of plug spawn versus sawdust spawn
• Learn how and when to harvest wood for hosting mushrooms
• Select and match correct wood types to mushroom varieties
• Plan for isolation, maintaining humidity, and knowing when mushrooms are possible
• Connect with a community of like-minded humans and experience the Divine within Nature

Required Gear: This workshop involves tool/supply use, including drilling tools, hammers, and hot wax. Optional lifting of logs up to 40 lbs may occur. Please wear weather/work appropriate clothing. If you have safety glasses, please bring them. We have some on hand to borrow. Properly fitting work gloves, optional.

What to Expect: This workshop provides a survey of methods for growing mushrooms on wood logs. Not all methods or mushroom species are covered. The class will take place rain or shine, unless weather is expected to be dangerous. We will be outside in partial sun. Please protect yourself against sun and insects. There are no bathroom facilities; Leave No Trace methods are used. This workshop is offered at a special introductory price of $30-50 in association with WRWA; normally $145. Advance registration only as class size is capped.

Instructed by Matty Adams / Matt Stinchfield, Occupational Safety and Health Professional, Wilderness First Aid Qualified and Insured. Trustee of Windham Regional Woodlands Association.

Event Info

Nov 10, 2024, 3 to 4:30 PM

Nov 12, 2024, 9 AM to 12 PM

Nov 16, 2024, 7:30 to 8:30 AM