It is the time of year when harvests from the garden begin to taper off, Halloween decorations go up and a girl's thoughts turn to fungus. It was this time last year that I was trying my hand at growing shiitakes on my breakfast bar.With the success of last year's shiitakes under my belt, I wanted to expand my repertoire this year and grow some Elm Oyster Mushrooms also.My first grow out of my box kit was productive and I am resting the kit for it's second grow now.
The 'grow your own mushrooms from a kit market' has exploded in the past couple of years and there are many great vendors out there, but I have to give a shout out to the wonderful and personal customer service from 100th Monkey Mushrooms. I love the helpful videos, the quick and helpful response via email for questions and their outstanding customer service - when I placed my order online for my Shiitake blocks and the Elm Oyster box a couple of weeks ago, Jimm called to let me know that the Shiitakes would not ship for another month and to see if I wanted to receive them together or separately.I am still waiting to see what (if anything) will happen with the 2 morel kits I ordered from Gourmet Mushrooms last fall. The information on the website and included with the kits' instructions said to not really expect a harvest until the second year which is finally less than six months away! I have been diligently adding compostable organic material to their separate 2'x2' raised beds to feed the mycelium for a year and a half and have my fingers crossed that in spring 2016 I will have the Holy Grail of forage mushrooms growing in my backyard!