All About Mushrooms

By Harvey Ussery
The key to success in homesteading self-sufficiency is
learning how to make alliances with other living things.
Were used to working with plants and animals on the
homestead, but dont forget the fungi! Fungi are an
entirely separate kingdom of life that has much to offer.
These fascinating beings can help create a more balanced,
integrated and productive backyard ecosystem.

About Fungi
The thing all fungi have in common and what
distinguishes them from the other biological kingdoms
is they exude powerful enzymes to digest their food
externally, absorbing nutrients directly into their cells.
Reproduction among fungi centers on spores, which are
carriers of genetic information for further generations.
This is similar to the reproduction of plants via seeds, but
on a far smaller scale the billions of spores are
microscopic.

PHOTO: WILLIAM D. ADAMS: Follow

our tips about growing mushrooms on the
homestead, and this healthy harvest of
shiitakes can be on your kitchen table in
no time.

When conditions are right, spores germinate into long strands called hyphae. Each hypha contains half
the genetic material needed to produce fertile offspring. When compatible hyphae fuse, their genetic
material combines and eventually grows into a complicated mass called mycelium. The mushrooms
you see on your walks outside are special reproductive structures grown by the mycelium to release
spores and begin the cycle anew.
Mushrooms are divided into four classes, each with a unique relationship with plants. Parasitic
mushrooms feed on the tissues of living plants, usually killing the host plant or tree; endophytic
mushrooms live within the tissues of plants, trees and grasses without harming them; mycorrhizal
mushrooms form mutually supportive relationships with plants (including many crops) in the root zone;
and saprophytic mushrooms are decomposers that feed on dead organic tissues while breaking them
down into simpler components, making them available to other members of the local ecology and
speeding the formation of soil humus. The saprophytic class includes the easiest species for home
cultivation.

Five Functions of Fungi

Edibles. Mushrooms are packed with nutrition. Theyre
rich in protein, minerals, ergosterols (precursors to
vitamin D), B vitamins, fiber and complex carbohydrates.
Be aware that a few species are lethally toxic, and no
mushroom should be eaten unless you are absolutely
certain of its identity and safety. This caution applies as
much to cultivated as it does to wild species. Shiitake
(Lentinula edodes) and oyster mushrooms, for example,
are easy to identify when they fruit on cultivated logs. A
species such as edible nameko (Pholiota nameko),
however, is a close enough look-alike to the deadly
galerina (Galerina autumnalis) to require as careful
identification on inoculated logs as it does if gathered in
the wild.
Medicinals. Fungi can act as potent synthesizers of
enzymes, as enzyme inhibitors, and as natural antibiotics
used in digesting food sources and defending against
challengers. The pharmaceutical industry is working with
many of these compounds for treatment of a number of
diseases, as well as for preventing cancer and inhibiting
tumor growth. Some species, such as reishi and turkey
tail, have long histories of medicinal use, especially in
Asian medical traditions. Certain mushroom teas and
tinctures can be used daily as antimicrobials and immune
system tonics.
Decomposers. In a world where all
living things die, disposal and
renewal are paramount. Bacteria
leap onto easily broken down
organic materials such as dead
annual plants and manures, using
them as food energy. The bacteria
pass some energy on to other
players in the soil food web, and
eventually help convert organic
wastes to soil humus. We see this
process in a compost heap. Most
decomposers, however, are stymied
by the extremely strong chemical
bonds that make up cellulose and
lignin in dense, high-carbon tissues
such as leaves, bark and wood. Far
too often, we send such materials
off to choke our landfills instead of

LYNN KARLIN: Lions mane, pearl and

pink pearl mushrooms will look as
beautiful growing on your homestead as
they will on your dining room table.

BILL BEATTY: Take caution! The deadly galerina mushroom is

a close look-alike to some edible species, including nameko, an
Asian variety now cultivated in North America.

recycling them right on the homestead. Enter the saprophytic fungi the preeminent decomposers
who specialize in harvesting food energy by breaking down tough materials to their component
nutrients, adding to soil humus. You can use fungi as helpful allies to build soil fertility.
Bioremediators. Sadly, many landscapes are
polluted by the castoffs of industrial production.
Many species of fungi can cleanse sites of heavy
metal contamination, spilled oil and other toxic
wastes. Heres one application that might be of
interest to homesteaders: Burlap bags filled with
wood chips can be inoculated with appropriate fungal
species and laid like sandbags across pollutant
pathways, such as a runoff area from a livestock
operation. The runoff, heavy with nutrients from
manure and urine that act like toxins in natural water
systems, is blocked by the bunker spawn levee,
which absorbs it. The fungi feed on the nutrients,
cleansing the flow and protecting the quality of
downslope streams.

MARK JONES: Wine cap stropharia

mushrooms will grow wonderfully in a mulch
bed, perhaps as a companion to your
asparagus.

Psychoactives. Mushrooms with psychoactive

properties could offer solutions in psychotherapy and
the treatment of addiction. While scientific research
along these lines has been severely restricted in the
past because the possession of psychoactive
mushrooms is illegal, federal regulators recently
began allowing controlled experiments with some
species in medical research.

Growing Mushrooms

Starting With Spawn. Though wild fungi survive threats due to their sheer number (billions of spores
per mushroom), cultivating them requires near-sterile conditions in a clean room protected from
bacterial and fungal contaminants. After fungi mycelium has its defenses robustly in place, it can be
grown as starter spawn in sawdust, wood chips, wooden dowels, cardboard, and even burlap sacking
and natural fiber rope.
Most homesteaders choose to leave the heavy lifting of starting sterile cultures and spawn to
specialists able to create the right environment, but it is possible to transplant the mycelium of
identified wild species into compatible substrates on the homestead. For approaches to starting fungi
using natural, homegrown methods, see Paul Stamets book Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can
Help Save the World.
Adding Spawn to Logs. The natural menu of various species will determine to a large extent which
substrate you use to grow them that is, which organic materials you inoculate with spawn to grow
mushrooms while speeding decomposition of the materials to soil. Many species are wood lovers, a
prime example being shiitake, one of the easiest mushrooms to grow. Because shiitake colonize
recently dead trees rather than those already decomposing on the forest floor, you can cut shiitake
nursery logs from living trees preferably young, healthy trees that need to be thinned anyway. Most

hardwoods make excellent substrates for growing shiitake

(oaks are generally considered best).
Its best to cut logs in the dormant period (after leaves have
fallen or new growth has stopped, usually during winter).
Tight bark helps protect the growing mycelium, whereas if
you use a log cut after sap has begun moving in the
cambium layer, the bark may slough off, leaving the
mycelium exposed. In about mid-March, I drill numerous
holes in the logs and plug the holes with purchased
spawn either sawdust or wooden dowels in which
shiitake mycelium is actively growing. I then daub the
plugged holes with melted wax to seal the spawn and
prevent it from drying out and dying. I rack the prepared
logs out of contact with the ground to prevent potential
contamination.
The spawn run, or incubation period, can take a year,
meaning harvest begins the following spring. In the driest
part of summer, I soak the logs with a sprinkler about as
often as I need to water the garden. After the incubation
period, fruit logs by soaking them in a tub, imitating a
prolonged period of rain, which in the wild triggers
mushroom (spore) production. Soak time depends on the
condition of the logs and how dry the weather has been,
ranging from overnight up to a couple of days.

MARK JONES: Oh, the options! You

can inoculate many species of
mushrooms on logs, including these
pretty oyster mushrooms.

Tiny mushroom buttons start forming a couple of days after

the soak, usually at the inoculation sites. From that point the
mushrooms grow with amazing rapidity. Ideal time to harvest
is just after the veil covering the gills has pulled away from
the stem, but while the caps edges are still incurled instead
of flattened out. After fruiting, a shiitake log needs about six
weeks of recovery while the fungus stores energy and prepares
for another round of fruiting. For a steady supply of
mushrooms, I divide my total number of logs by six and fruit
one batch per week. When managed as described here,
shiitake logs will typically produce harvests for three to four
years.
Ive grown shiitake for many years, and now Im
experimenting with other species spawned onto logs,
including oyster mushrooms, reishi, turkey tail, maitake and
lions mane. These logs dont need to be racked like shiitake
logs, but can be laid right on the ground, half-buried
horizontally, or buried vertically one-third their length in the
soil, totem-style.
WILLIAM D. ADAMS: These huge
shiitakes are about ready to be
harvested!

Adding Spawn to Other

Substrates. Saprophytic fungi
consume a wide variety of
fibrous and woody materials,
from undigested plant residue
in manure to wood chips to
shrub and tree prunings. You
can choose from many
species, spawning to the type
of organic debris you want to
assist in its return to earth.
One easy-to-grow saprophytic
mushroom is Stropharia
rugosoannulata, or wine cap
stropharia. I cultivated a patch
of stropharia as a partner to
my asparagus. The rapid
breakdown of the straw
HARVEY USSERY: This white, stringy mycelia in wood chips will
mulches by the fungus
fruit into harvestable mushrooms.
nourishes the asparagus,
which aids the fungus in turn by keeping it cooler and more humid in the dense shade of the fronds.
Along an interior edge of my asparagus beds, I scraped away the mulch and covered the soil with a
layer of clean, perforated, soaked cardboard. I then interspersed layers of fresh wood chips and a gallon
of stropharia spawn, topping off the inoculated bed with another layer of soaked cardboard. Finally, I
covered the inoculation site with straw and gave it a final soaking. Soon, folding back the cardboard
top revealed vigorous growth of stringy mycelium throughout the chips.

The Wild Enters the

Garden

HARVEY USSERY: Starter spawn in wooden dowels can

easily be added to drilled holes in logs.

If you maintain mulches or pathways

of wood chips or other organic
residues, as in a forest garden (see
Plant an Edible Forest Garden), a
host of mushroom species will
emerge in them. Even unidentified
little brown mushrooms do the
important work of building fertile
soil, but some, such as blewitt or
wine cap stropharia, can be
harvested for the table a case of
reaping where you didnt sow! As
always, consult a field guide to
ensure proper identification.

Fungi Fundamentals and Spawn Sources

Books. One of the most trusted sources of information for
understanding fungi and working with cultivated species
is Paul Stamets of Washington state, who has written
many books, including The Mushroom Cultivator and
Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms. If youre
going to buy only one book for perspective on working
with fungi on the homestead, it should be Pauls latest,
Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the
World. For help with shiitake cultivation (one of the
easiest species to grow), see Growing Shiitake
Mushrooms in a Continental Climate by Joe Kozak and
Mary Ellen Krawczyk and Shiitake Growers Handbook
by Paul Przybylowicz and John Donoghue. For help with
identification, check out North American Mushrooms: A
Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi by Dr. Orson K.
Miller Jr. and Hope H. Miller.
Organizations. Joining a local mycological society to
learn from enthusiasts with more experience can be
helpful. In my area, the Mycological Association of
Washington, D.C., is a magnificent gathering of
mycophiles. Its an affiliate of the North American
Mycological Association, which lists more affiliated clubs
on its website.

DWIGHT KUHN: Chicken mushrooms

have a unique shape and beautiful golden
color.

Spawn Sources. A growing number of businesses sell

started spawn you can use to cultivate a wide variety of
species. In
addition to his books, Paul Stamets sells spawn, accessories and
supplies. Field and Forest of Wisconsin offers spawn,
workshops, books and cultivation tools. Mushroom People
offers spawn for half a dozen edible and medicinal species, plus
aids for growers who want to step up to working with sterile
cultures. Gourmet Mushrooms offers indoor and outdoor
growing kits, spawn and books. The Morel Mushroom Hunting
Club provides lots of fun products to get you started in your
mushroom eating and growing adventures.
Find a Mentor. Try to find a local expert who can get you
started and give you tips. I was lucky to meet Mark Jones I
think of him as Virginias Paul Stamets who has been a
tremendous source of information, inspiration and started
spawn. He offers spawn, workshops and mushroom cultivation
kits through Sharondale Farm. You may get strains better
adapted to your climate and conditions if you find a local
source.
BILL JOHNSON: Turkey tail
could go well in a poultry soup!

HARVEY USSERY: To grow fungi on logs, plug drilled holes with starter
spawn.

HARVEY USSERY: The final step in growing fungi on logs is to soak

them in a tub to trigger fruiting.

HARVEY USSERY: Utilize the resources listed in our article, and

you could be harvesting a bountiful crop of shiitakes like these.

ISTOCKPHOTO/VLADIMIR
SEMENOV: Theres nothing like a
ISTOCKPHOTO/VLADIMIR
skillet sizzling
with golden
SEMENOV:
Theres
nothing like a
mushrooms
grew
in your own
skillet
sizzlingyou
with
golden
backyard.
mushrooms you grew in your own
backyard.
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