We ended up not paying as much attention to these logs as we would have liked, and were concerned about maintenance of log moisture and signs of a competitive fungi. From our reading, we knew that it could take a full year for the first mushrooms to appear, though it was possible that a few mushrooms could show up in the fall of the first year. And that's just what has happened. A few weeks ago, shiitakes started appearing (triggered by September rains) and we've enjoyed several small flushes of early mushrooms since:
Joanna has never liked mushrooms, while I love them. This was my best chance to prepare really good mushrooms in a way that might convince her otherwise; we've often found that we learn to like a previously scorned food when it's sourced fresh from the farm and prepared well. I've gotten much more tolerant of zucchini and asparagus, while Joanna becomes ever more fond of meat.
A nice collection of truly fresh mushrooms like these, only minutes off the log, can be prepared in a variety of easy and excellent ways. Sliced or chopped and sauteed in butter, they're just the right texture with a great flavor; the stems add great flavor to stocks and soups. We used a batch on fresh pizza where they really stood out, and also made an excellent shepherd's pie of fresh potatoes, parsnips, carrots, onions, and mushrooms with a scratch-made biscuit topping. Heaven.
These logs should produce mushrooms for 3-5 years with proper maintenance. We still have a lot to learn about the details of outdoor shiitake cultivation, but it's nice to have a literal taste of success. Having seen that we can produce something with a manageable amount of work, we're now intending to double the number of logs next spring and work toward building up a market-worthy quantity. That would be a nice diversification of income, but at the very least it's another source of on-farm food for a minimal investment of money, relying mostly on farm-sourced materials and labor. Just our style.
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