DIY king stropharia outdoor mushroom patch (garden giant, wine cap)
After listening to Paul Stamets give a lecture online about the benefits of having fungi in your soil I had to give it a shot. So I ordered a starter spawn of King Stropharia last fall and added it to wood scraps from my woodworking projects and covered the top with a thin layer of dried hay. I haven't harvested any fruiting bodies off this patch yet but the spawn is really starting to take over.
King Stropharia is an edible mushroom. When this patch is done fruiting I can break it up and use it to inoculate several more patches.
Good info.
One of my neighbors has started growing several types of edible mushrooms, such as red wine cap and shiitaki. He uses chunks of freshly cut trees for growing his cultures. I should get some pictures of what he's doing and post them :-)