Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Cultivation, Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News

Attention Mushroom Farmers!

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Mushroom growers and farmers…now is probably our last chance to complete fall projects for spring flushes! I still have some plugs to put in logs and will get them completed soon. From what the mushroom growing literature says, October is the last month to inoculate outdoor projects in this area.

I will make sure my mushroom beds have have plenty of cover and are well watered. The Garden Giant mushroom bed has not flushed yet, although I know the mycelium is distributed throughout the wood chips. It will flush next spring when waterd well, unless I get a surprise flush before then! The Oysters continue to flush off and on from the coffee grounds, mushroom bed with woodchips and they even flush out of the bottum of my compost bin.

Garden Giant Mushroom BedMushroom Bed Closeup

Oyster Mushroom BedOyster Mushroom Bed

So if you are like me, you have to get these things in order before the snow REALLY settles in.

Cultivation, Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News

Eating and Storing Oyster Mushrooms

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After successful harvest of oyster mushrooms grown on coffee grounds, the enjoyable job of  cooking and storing the harvest begins!

Oyster Mushrooms Growing on Coffee GroundsOysters Growing on Coffee Grounds

The first thing to do was to eat them and see how they taste. Oysters change flavor a little when grown on different hosts, and I was curious how the coffee would affect it. The mushrooms were torn in small strips and fried in canola oil.

Oysters frying in oiloysters in oiloysters on platefryed oyster closeup

They were delicious! I think they were a little sweeter than the others I have eaten. The texture was firm but not woody at all. We decided to try them dusted with flour and cooked with a little butter added to the oil.

fryed oysters with flouroysters fryed with flour

They were delicious also and held up to the process very well. We will cover saving the excess next!

Cultivation, Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News

Oyster Mushrooms On Coffee Grounds

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Was headed out camping and walked by my  coffee grounds bucket, and was shocked by what I saw!

This what the project looked like in April.

Oyster Mycelium On Coffee GroundsMycelium and Mold Battle

I had been around this area earlier in the week and didn’t notice anything!

Oyster Mushrooms Growing on Coffee GroundsOysters Growing on Coffee GroundsOysters Growing on Coffee GroundsOysters Growing on Coffee GroundsOysters Growing on Coffee Grounds

Beautiful luxurious Oyster Mushrooms! They are growing quite well, and I can’t wait to eat them. This marks a growing success for me, because this was the Oyster growing project I was most interested in.

Tons and tons of coffee grounds are wasted in our landfills each year. This proves that food can be produced using this waste product. Not only does it keep this valuable resource out of our landfills, but the mushrooms also neutralize the caffeine in the grounds.

Once again the process was low cost and not labor intensive. The spawn was just simply mixed into the coffee grounds and left to grow on it’s own. I can see a real use for these mushrooms in poor countries with shortages of food, and plenty of waste.

Thanks again to Wild Joe’s for the organic coffee grounds, and Garden City Fungi for the spawn.

Cultivation, Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News

Oysters on Cornstalks Update

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I was checking on my mushroom beds and thought I should check on my cornstalk project. This project (check former posts on cultivation) was an experiment to see if oyster mushrooms could be grown on cornstalks cheaply with minimal work. The project started out in a tub in my garage and got booted outside because of fungus gnats. It had already fruited proving that it is feasible. The project was outside in the cold and snow when the tub, cornstalks and all , was tipped over in a snow bank. After the snow left, the tub was removed and the project was left to the elements. It did not look very good, but was left to see what it would do. The weather has cooled a little, and the wild oysters are flushing, so it is a good time to check on oyster projects.

Oysters on CornstalksOysters on CornstalksOysters on CornstalksOysters on Cornstalks

As you can see, it is hard to get a good mushroom down! These were a little past prime, but they survived, and the pile will be used to start some other projects. Notice that it looks like something else found them before I did. Those sure look like bite marks on the close up!