Mushroom farming

[FarmerChick]

I did the portabella kit for Tony as a joke Christmas present one year. They do not keep producing...they will play out.
BUT while it grows they are DELISH! We enjoyed doing it...it was fun!


I checked into commercial mushrooms for the farm. WOW WOW I could not do it. Temp requirements, humidity, the compost needed, frame shelving, compost flats, yea---I couldn't try dabble in it. It is kinda true commitment for a real business. I wasn't going there at all.

I came close to doing ****ake on the logs, but I sat down and figured the cost to labor ratio and all that stuff---big labor to plug those logs and decided there was no money in it worth it for the farm business.

I just buy mushrooms whenever they are on sale. I eat them up by the buckets!!!!
YUMMY

 

[Sherrynboo]

I bought two ****ake mushroom logs to give as Christmas gifts this year. One of the girls I gave one to said they are delicious. From what I read, they only produce about 2 rounds or cycles before they are done but it is still a pretty interesting and unique gift for $20 a log. Wish I had gotten one for myself!

Sherry in GA

 

[Wifezilla]

One of these?
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Creek-Mushroom-Farm-10LGNOTRAY/dp/B000BWSL6W

Looks cool

 

[kstaven]

Have any of you ever tried using manure and straw and then innoculating it?

 

[Zenbirder]

Have any of you ever tried using manure and straw and then innoculating it?

I'm working on it. I just found this link:

http://www.americanmushroom.org/agaricus.pdf

and this is the company that makes the kits, they list how they make the compost:

http://www.mushroomadventures.com/compost.html

I can see from this that my original try will need to be changed up a bit today, I have too much manure and not enough straw.

 

[Zenbirder]

I have been doing a lot more reading. It is very important to have no ammonia smell to the compost before inoculating it with the spores. The mushrooms actually get a lot of their nutrition from the dead bodies of the bacteria that converted the ammonia out of the compost. It is going to take pasteurization, but on my small scale I can use my oven for batches. This is my idea of fun, a real challenge

(My DD just rolls her eyes when I tell her the things I do for fun, growing fungi, getting more chicks, bringing home a load of manure, making yogurt and NOT going shopping!)

 

[Wifezilla]

If I told my mom I had ducks she would roll her eyes at me...LOL

 

[Zenbirder]

I had to promise DH not to get ducks....

 

[Wifezilla]

I had to promise not to get a dog. LOL

 

[FarmerChick]

hey sufficient

are you currently selling at any farmer markets...just curious?

I posted earlier about value added products to add to the farmer market table and got some great responses I am pondering over.

are you doing markets also?