Oregon Mushroom Class

Last weekend we went to a mushroom class here in town with a few of our friends. To be honest I was a little skeptical that the class would be worthwhile, but it was only $25 and you got to pick a mushroom variety to inoculate a log with!

The class was about what I expected - a lot of hippies gathered in a room, the mushrooms instructors speaking flowingly about the amazing healing powers of mushrooms, etc, etc. I'll give it this - the lecture portion was incredibly entertaining if not exactly educational. By far the best part was getting the chance to try to cultivate some different varieties of mushrooms for ourselves. There were four of us at the class and we all made sure to choose a different type of mushroom - I'm not sure I remember them all: While Elm, Beech, Lion's Mane, and...  nope don't remember the last one.

We were each given a packet of dowels that had been soaked in mushroom spores and a log to drill holes into. Once you've drilled the holes and hammered in the dowels you paint melted beeswax over them to help keep other microorganisms from getting into the log. Then you leave them outside and wait - about 6 months I think. We'll see if we actually end up with any mushrooms this fall, but it would be kind of neat!

This is high on my list of the most Oregonian things I have ever done. (I'm not sure what else is on that list actually - but this one definitely is).

-C