It took less than two weeks after flipping my experimental shiitake logs over before the second side of the new round was well colonized. At this point, the two logs and the cardboard sandwiched in between were all fused together with mycelium, and I had to tug gently to break them apart.

I'm assuming that means the new round can now take care of itself, with the mycelium moving in from each direction to colonize all of the wood in the middle. So it's time to see if I can force fruit my mini-log using common kitchen items. First, an overnight soak in a tupperware container full of water, then a few days in the fridge to simulate winter. If all goes as planned, we could see mushrooms beginning to bud on the log surface as early as next week, about ten weeks after inoculation.

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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