Shrooooms. We started growning our own!
Let me start by saying that we are not experts at growing mushrooms..... In fact we are very new to the game with this being our fist experiment into the wonderful world of mushroom production! This is not a detailed "how to" post we will do one of those in the future once we are more comfortable with the process and have a few success stories under our belt!We have done our research, watched the 100 videos on Youtube, read the "how to" book so we are now ready to make all the mistakes and start the learning process. As with any new thing we start here on the homestead we start small and as in-expensive as possible. We like to make all our mistakes on a small scale, so we rarely dive right in with a full scale anything, We did not want to buy a kit, we have done that with other projects and you just don't seem to learn as much as when you try and do it from scratch. So in and effort to keep costs down we purchased some Portabella mushrooms from the store rather than by spawn from a supply house
The one thing I learned from all the videos and reading I have done is the same thing you need to do when canning, you can't have your area and tools you are working with clean enough.
So we got started six or seven weeks ago with getting some mycelium going, we boiled our grains and then let them dry to the point that they wont get a Kleenex wet, but they are still damp, then we put them in mason jars with modified lids and pressure cooked the jars at 15lbs for 90 minutes. We leave the jars in the cooker overnight to let cool.The next morning we clean again then get the jars ready to be inoculated, or in our case though a hunk of mushroom in the jar! We broke the mushroom in half ant out a section just above the fins that are on the bottom of the mushroom and place a piece about one inch long in each of the six jars we had. placed the jars on a shelf in my office and forgot about them for a couple weeks.
After about four weeks,
I though we screwed up big time and we would be needing to start over, some grey, what looked like mold to me started to form on top of the grain. So I buried my head in the mushroom book and I found out that Portabella mushrooms can have grey spots in the mycelium, so we were saved by the book, glad I checked rather than just dumping and starting over!With in a couple weeks we had our first jar fully engulfed in myceluim and it was time to transfer it to the growing media. We chopped up some straw we have left over from our straw bale garden set up and pasteurized it in 160 degree water for 90 minutes. then bagged it.
Now we wait!
Hopefully we will be successful and be eating mushrooms in about four weeks. Keep an eye out for updates we will let you know what happens....If you are more of a mushroom expert than we are please comment below and give us some pointers on how we can improve and get to the next level! (Click on the blog title to leave a comment)
Thanks,Bob & Colleen Browning
Serenity Valley Farms
Monticello, KY
Check us out at…..
Follow us on STEEMIT: https://steemit.com/@svfarms
And Facebook: www.facebook.com/Serenity-Valley-Farms-167719676966401/
And on Instagram: www.instagram.com/serenityvalleyfarmers/
Check out our Website: www.serenityvalleyfarms.us
I would like to help! I am also new to mushroom cultivation, but I would like to save you some of the frustrations I experienced trying to grow fungi. First thing, Portobello is a tough one to start and actually, if you don't mind me saying, the technique you'd wanna use would be a lil bit different since they love pasteurized manure but will eat straw too. My recommendation is to do exactly what you are doing since it looks like you have space, resources, materials and plenty of good info......... just switch species. Go to the market/store and do the same procedures you described above, but take material from an OYSTER mushroom. they are MUCH easier to grow, less picky about what they eat, easier to deal with contamination and it will give you the confidence you'll need to feel comfortable with new species; Another that is VERY easy and you can put it outside IN the garden, is called Wine caps/Garden Giant. Just eats woodchips. I did a course with Paul Stamets and I've been wanting to give that information away to anyone into fungi since it was so helpful and fascinating. If you need any help please don't hesitate. I think your project is going to go amazingly well, but I also foresee some challenges you will have to address (just cuz portobello are bit trickier than oyster from what I hear) BUT whatever happens we all LEARN! so you are doing priceless service for us all. I am delighted to see this post! Great job @svfarms and best of luck!
I wish you luck with the Portabellas. Delicious. I've never seen anyone try them at home, only in bigger operations. I've seen lots of people try the shiitake logs, but few seem to have success. I love mushrooms in all kinds of stuff, so it'd be cool to learn how to grow some for myself one day.
Thanks, I think i need all the luck I can get! We will let you know what happens....
Hope it works out well for you. I have no mushroom experiences, as I do not eat them. I know Zach for @mericanhomestead has grown some shrooms, but he did it in stacks of logs in the woods.
Thanks, I believe he grew shiitake mushrooms, they are typically grown in logs. You are missing out on some good flavor. If it is a texture thing you don't like try something we did and still do. We by them on sale and dedicate them and grind them into a powder. It gives soup and stews some flavor with out the big hunks of mushrooms.
I think it is a combination of things, including texture. Here's the weird kick, I make green bean casserole and use cream of mushroom soup, I just can't get past the chunks, I guess lol
That's funny!
I'm going to try and grow this fall. I want to put down wine cap spores and hopefully come spring they will grow 🤞🏻
I hear they are pretty good, the strain I want to try is Lions mane, its supposed to taste like lobster.
It's insane!!! There is another that might grow wild in the woods where you are called 'Shrimp of the woods' a little batter , fried and they taste just like popcorn shrimp.... unreal!
I have to find that one!
Super EASY! plus you can multiply your spawn by 10x or more before you plant it. That way you could do a whole garden! but if you want to just try the normal way to start.... just follow the instructions and make sure the woodchips are correct (species is correct, not too old, not too young etc) and you should have little fun guys popping up in about a year. Delish and your garden will be able to relax a bit underground. It's like giving your soil high speed internet.
Thanks! I can't wait to try this 🍄
oh man i can't wait to see your yield! I am definitely interested in trying to grow mushrooms, so please keep posting!
Will do, thanks for the comment!
mushroom called reishi ir ganoderma depending on species in china is packed with nutritional and medicinal properties. Very good for our benefits as such i say ...More greese to your elbows...Wish success. Thanks for sharing
I will look into those, our after we get done experimenting is to start a small production set-up. I am going to try and follow the seasons as best I can, each type of mushroom likes different temp ranges and moisture ranges. Thanks for the comment!
Reishi would also do well where you are. There is a wild variety that grows on conifers that looks the same but is called Ganoderma Tsugae. You could try to inoculate stumps or do your own logs that get buried in pots with sand. But maybe build up to Reishi. EASIEST Medicinal mushroom to grow is Turkey Tail. Can be used to Eat stumps if you wanna remove them. Or just in logs. It's like myco-wildfire.
Great information, do you mind if I reach out for more info as we move down our path to production? We have a medium sized population of Asian folks here (mostly Filipino) and they are asking me to go some different types down the road. I need to do more research but it would be great to run some stuff by you when we get close figuring it all out.
@svfarms Absolutely! And if you have a community ready, waiting and hungry for something new, all the better. Some folks might also have some useful ideas as well. But I am happy to share any and all resources and ideas with you since I think you have everything you need! You just have to gain some confidence and get over the initial Mycophobia we all go through!!! It took me 2 years of messing around to get comfortable I don't do anything for production though, just stumps at this point. You can cut that time riiight down though, and save yourself a lot of grief. Ready and waiting. If you want to explain your scenario I could write a post as a response to what I would do, and we can think of solutions together as a community, using your project as a beta test. no need to go it alone. See you in the grain of the wood..... @ecoknowme and otherwise we can just scheme together privately as you story unfolds.
Thanks!
Very Good...As a health lover read up my latest post on "How to Treat Ear Problems with Natural Remedies"!
support and comment also. thanks
https://steemit.com/health/@kenhudoy/how-to-treat-ear-problems-with-natural-remedies
Awesome! Good job! Following! Upvoted and resteemed. Thank you, I love mushrooms!
Thanks
I've tried a few times ... contamination all but once and after that first successful flush the contaminants got to them ... pretty tough to stay clean enough. I hope it works because it's amazing to see them grow!
@jayjayjeffery There are some species that are pretty easy to grow and you don't have to worry so much about contamination if you just use common sense (how the hell do they survive in the wild, right?) but My top three for people just starting would be Oyster and Wine Cap for indoor outdoor. Cardboard, coffee grinds and woodchips is all you'd need to start and later you can do the straw thing as shown above. And the Third Turkey tail,which isn't really edible but really good medicine. Though it is also so common, you'll probably just find it if you look around.
Yeah I've really gotta try the Oysters. I've certainly found my share of turkey tails (so gorgeous)
We will keep you posted, thanks for the reply