What types of mushrooms do you offer?
We currently offer shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes) and Nameko mushrooms (Pholiota nameko). Stay tuned as we expand our production to offer other types as well.
How are the mushrooms grown?
The mushrooms are grown on reclaimed wood from treecare companies. The logs are cut, inoculated with mushroom spawn, and tended for a year as the mycelium develops through the logs. When the mycelium run is complete, mushrooms bloom and fruit.
We use only “waste wood” or reclaimed logs from trees cut by legitimate treecare professionals and land managers. We don’t cut down trees solely to grow mushrooms. Cutting a tree down solely to use the wood as a substrate for mushrooms is a poor ecological trade. Please check out our philosophy page for more on this.
Where are the mushrooms grown?
The mushrooms are grown in our farm space near the south side of the UW Arboretum in Madison, Wisconsin.
How often are your fresh mushrooms available?
Spring, early summer, late summer, and fall. Since the mushrooms are cultivated and grown outdoors, they are dependent on the weather, temperature and humidity to fruit. Please sign up for our availability mailing list or follow us on social media to receive a notification when a fresh crop is available.
Are your mushrooms Certified Organic?
Our growing operation is not USDA certified organic, but the mushrooms are “spore-ganic” — i.e., grown from USDA organic certified spawn. No pesticides or chemicals are applied to the logs or the mushrooms – physical control of pests is more than adequate.
Do you follow sanitary handling precautions?
Yes. The mushrooms are harvested by hand by a worker wearing nitrile gloves, and are deposited directly into paper bags where they are stored in refrigeration.
How can I pick up my mushrooms?
Your fresh mushrooms will be available at our pickup site which is open Wednesdays 3 PM to 8 PM and Sundays 10 AM to 5 PM. The pickup site address and instructions on how to pick up will be emailed when you place an order. If you need to pickup at a different time, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate–we are flexible.
Why do my mushrooms have dirt, bugs, tree bark, etc. on them?
Our log-grown mushrooms are cultivated outdoors in a natural setting where they are frequently inhabited by insects and arachnids, encounter soil and mud, and press themselves up against and out of tree bark. We do our best to remove these collateral adherents before packaging the mushrooms for you, but if you run into them, just shake or brush them off gently before cooking. Generally, there is no need to rinse the mushrooms, but we do recommend it with certain mushrooms we offer, such as Nameko, which grow low to the ground, and can pick up sand.
How should I prepare my mushrooms? Can I eat them raw?
We recommend slicing the stems off of shiitake and slicing up the caps before you bake, fry, saute, simmer or roast them. Shiitake stems are often too woody to eat but may be boiled to create a mushroom soup stock. Nameko stems are edible and can be cooked and eaten.
We do not recommend eating shiitake raw or undercooked, as it has been known to cause an allergic reaction known as shiitake dermatitis in some people.
For some of our favorite recipe suggestions, please visit our recipe page.
Do you offer inoculated mushroom logs?
Yes–we carry inoculated mushroom logs in our online store that are guaranteed to produce mushrooms. We offer verified logs — logs that have been cared for for a year or more and have been verified as successfully producing blooms– and also freshly inoculated logs that are still developing but have not yet been verified.
What is your Verified Inoculated Log Guarantee?
We guarantee that the verified inoculated mushroom log you purchase will produce edible mushrooms for you if it is cared for properly. Understandably, many are hesitant to purchase an inoculated log that may not produce. Once inoculated, logs may take a year or more, sometimes two years, before they produce mushrooms. If you give your log the proper shade and moisture and it does not produce blooms within a year of the purchase date, you may return the log to us with the original tag still on it, and we’ll refund your money, or provide you with a replacement log of equal size.
Do you offer bulk discounts on inoculated logs?
Yes. If you buy 5 or more logs, please take 15% off your total log price. If you buy 10 or more, it’s 20% off. If you buy 15 or more, we offer 25% off.
How often do inoculated mushroom logs produce mushrooms?
Inoculated shiitake logs may produce anywhere from 1 to 2 to 4 times a year when it’s warm–spring through summer. Two blooms in spring to early summer and two blooms in later summer to fall is fairly standard for young logs. When a myceliated log sends out mushrooms, it’s looking to propagate itself by ejecting spores from the fruiting body (the mushroom) — when those mushrooms are harvested by us humans, the log needs a period to recharge before it feels like sending out mushrooms again — generally around six weeks.
Logs can also be force fruited by soaking them in water overnight.
How long do inoculated mushroom logs last before they stop producing mushrooms?
It depends on the size of the log, but generally, when well-cared for, they last for years. Larger logs take longer to be digested by the fungus, and smaller logs are finished more quickly. We currently offer shiitake logs for sale in small, medium and large sizes. As an illustration, we currently have a number of medium to large sized oak shiitake logs inoculated in 2017 that are still producing edible mushrooms as of 2024.
Do I need a special spot to keep a mushroom log in my yard? Can you provide specific care instructions for my inoculated mushroom log?
The keys to keeping an inoculated mushroom log happy are moisture and shade. We recommend that you have a relatively shaded spot in your yard to keep your mushroom log, low to the ground, but not on the ground. At least 8 hours of full or partial shade is ideal to maintain moisture levels in the log. If your mushroom log gets too much sun, it can dry out and die. Natural rainfall goes a long way to keep mushroom logs moisturized and happy, but watering logs with your garden hose once or twice a week when the weather is hot and dry also works fine.
In the wild, saprophytic (tree-eating) mushrooms thrive on trees and dead logs in forests with plenty of shade. Probably the happiest place these types of mushrooms can live is on a cool, humid forest floor, half covered with leaf litter. If you want to place your mushroom log on the ground, that is fine, it just may decompose slightly faster, and it runs a risk of being invaded by competing fungi. Mushroom mycelium is surprisingly resilient–we’ve had old shiitake logs that appear dry and dead still produce mushrooms after a heavy rain or after being placed low to the ground and covered with leaves.
A printable info sheet on log care can be found here.
Can you provide care instructions for my DIY Coffee Grounds Oyster Mushroom grow kit?
Yes, that’s located here.
What does Mu mean?
It’s derived from an old Zen koan.
“Mu” is also the sound uniquely made by a certain domesticated quadruped herbivore common to Southeastern Wisconsin.