Mu Mushrooms uses reclaimed or “waste” wood to grow edible mushrooms. We source our logs from responsible tree care professionals who generously provide us with free wood. Our business aims to be a benefit to the local community as much as ourselves. These are our “rules of the road” by which we conduct business.
1. We prioritize reclaimed wood as the primary mushroom growing medium.
As opposed to other growing mediums, inoculated logs can produce mushrooms for years before they finally break down, so to us, using wood that may be dumped or burned for fuel is wise recycling. Mushrooms logs are uniquely convenient in their “set it and forget it” quality — once they’re inoculated, they only need to be kept shaded and damp, without much major upkeep.
2. We don’t cut down healthy living trees to grow mushrooms.
We’re looking to grow mushrooms on quality wood that may otherwise go to waste, but we’re not looking to cut down healthy living trees to make a quick buck. We source trees that have already been marked for cutting by a qualified tree care specialist or by a responsible forest or land manager. The long-term ecological benefits of having adult trees in the ground are factored in equally alongside the short-term benefit of feeding people.
3. We want to teach others and share quality information.
Even in the gardening-crazy upper Midwest, many people don’t consider incorporating mushrooms into their garden or home-grown food supply. This may be because mushrooms seem like too much trouble, or perhaps it’s because they’re “out of sight, out of mind.” We aim to change this by showing people how easy it is to grow mushrooms, and to get kids excited about growing them.
4. We wish to open source our shrooms.
We want our modus operandi to be reproducible and replicable. With climate change on the horizon, people need resilient food options, and the training of the next generation to grow inexpensive, organic, locally produced food should be happening as much as possible. In this regard, we aim to be transparent and educate on our methodology.