Mushrooms 101

Let’s dive deeper into the science behind mushrooms. Mushrooms are the fruiting body of the fungi organism. The balance of the organism lives inside the log (for us it’s the log, but mushrooms grow lots of other places) in a form called mycelium. The mycelium, which look like white cobweb like networks of cells, grow throughout the log and are the balance of the mushroom organism. Mushrooms and the mycelium bodies of mushrooms are some of the largest single organisms on the planet.

We inoculate our logs in the spring. The shiitake mycelium grow throughout the log during the incubation period. For our logs this usually takes from six to twelve months. When the mycelium has extended throughout the log, fruiting begins. And when conditions are right, the mycelium produce fruiting bodies which is the way mushrooms sexually reproduce. The fruiting bodies produce spores which contain all of the necessary materials to form a new fungus. 

Different mushrooms have different looking fruiting bodies. Below you can see lions mane, golden oysters and shiitake, all grown by us. Next year, we will also have olive oysterlings—you can see what they look like here.