Local mushroom cultivation

Paul Stamets new book Mycelium Running has definitely inspired me to grow mushrooms outdoors. I have taken a mushroom cultivation course at U.C. Davis and have grown lots of different mushrooms in a controlled environment. But Mycelium running encourages the growth of mushrooms outdoors in non sterile, nor controlled environments. We are very fortunate to be surrounded by large forest tracks, which happen to be home to some very tasty delicacies. Oyster, Sulfur Shelf, Shaggy Mane, and Lion's mane are some of the local saprophytic mushrooms. I have cloned all of these species and started the mycelium running on corrugated cardboard. Once I could see that the mycelium had grown quite extensively then I added more substrate to each clone. Finally once the mycelium had grown quite vigorously I added a new kind of substrate to each one. Some have wood chips from the neighbors fresh pile. Others i used fresh sugar pine sawdust to inoculate. I also soaked wooden birch dowels in water and then inoculated them. As of 4-25-08 they have been undergoing cold incubation. The mycelium is slowly growing onto the substrate I have provided them. I think I will continue growing the mycelium until I have a lot of it before I induce it to fruit. Stay tuned for more information and photos of my project.