Mad for Mushrooms

By Linda Hepler Beaty
Sun contributor

One of the most welcome sights for farmers market goers come springtime is the appearance of morel mushrooms. This intense, earthy fungus, a natural for pasta, omelets, quiches and pizza recipes, can be found at markets during the month of May.

But if you’re thinking you have to wait a whole year to buy fungi at the farmers market again, you’re in luck, because you’ll be able to find a variety of mushrooms at Dana Boomer’s Still Point Market stand in Glen Arbor, Leland, Northport and Empire markets all summer long.

The mushrooms—shiitake, oyster, wine caps, mukitake, lions mane and comb tooth—are a recent farming venture for Dana’s dad, John Boomer, a second-generation farmer and owner, along with wife Marijane, of Still Point Farm in Empire. According to Dana, about two years ago, while thinning their sugar bush (Still Point Farm is a commercial maple syrup producer), he felt there must be something better to do with the harvested maple logs other than using them for firewood. After talking with fellow farmer Jim Moses of Forest Garden Foods, who has been cultivating mushrooms for more than 30 years, he decided to try his hand at growing fungi himself.

Mushroom cultivation is relatively easy, said Dana, particularly when supplies like wood and straw are readily available, and there are 250 acres of land to work with. And you don’t have to wait as long for production as with cherries, she added, something that appeals to her dad, who spent many years cultivating his cherry farm. “Dad loves it because you inoculate the logs, and a year later you’ve got full production,” she laughed.

Mushrooms can be grown on wood or straw, depending upon the variety. The Boomers grow all of their mushrooms on hardwood logs, with the exception of some of the oysters, which are grown in straw. Logs are typically cut in the early spring, and inoculated with mushroom spores—called “spawn”—relatively soon after cutting, when there is plenty of moisture and sugary sap present for the growing mushrooms to feed on. To inoculate the logs, said Dana, holes are drilled at intervals (about 20 per log), the spawn is placed inside, and the holes are then covered with a thin coat of melted food grade wax, which helps to retain moisture and keep parasites and competitive fungi out.

The “spawn run,” or incubation period, takes at least one warm season, Dana explained, so logs that are inoculated in the spring won’t produce until the following spring. The inoculated logs are placed in the shade and protected from drying out by occasional watering, but otherwise, need little care. Following the winter (the mushrooms remain dormant during this time), natural fruiting will begin to occur, and at this point, said Dana, the logs are soaked to stimulate greater production (forced fruiting).

Oyster mushrooms grown in straw take less time from inoculation to production. The process involves placing the spawn in pasteurized straw inside a heavy-duty plastic bag, then poking holes in the bag at intervals. (The Boomers use an arrow to do this—the perfect tool, according to Dana.) Bags are hung inside of their pine and locust shed (this wood repels mushroom spores so the structure won’t be inadvertently inoculated and destroyed by feeding mushrooms), milled by Josh and built by John of their own trees. Inoculation is staggered so as to have a steady supply of mushrooms, which begin to appear after about eight weeks, although Dana admitted that they’re still working on perfecting the process, as mushroom growth isn’t always predictable from inoculation, and at times many of the mushrooms grow at once despite different inoculation dates. Mushrooms are harvested the night prior to market, said Dana, and packed in cardboard or wood for best storage.

When questioned whether fresh mushrooms are well received at market, Dana gave a qualified yes. “While they’ve been really popular, it definitely takes some education,” she said, as many people are unfamiliar with some of the mushrooms, particularly the hericiums (lions mane, comb tooth), which can be off-putting when it comes to sales.

But that is the job of a farmer/vendor, she acknowledged—to explain what the mushrooms are, how they’re stored, cooked and preserved.

A last question for Dana about the mushroom operation is what the family does with the extra mushrooms when there’s a bumper crop, too many for farmers market sales. “We eat them,” she laughed. “Or trade them, or preserve them.”