see us at Ithaca Farmers Market or in our online store to order a starter kit!

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Inoculation Process for Stropharia

Wine Cap or Stropharia are native to North America and are often found fruiting in lawns, woodchip beds, and along forest edges. They are a wonderful garden or plant companion, as they grow very well alongside many fruits and vegetables, provided there is mulch (straw or wood chips) and good moisture. Inoculation can occur as early as April or as late as September, with spring being the preferred time as it often results in fruiting in the same season.

Supplies you will need:

(mostly) hardwood wood chips or straw or sawdus

Stropharia grow kit

A garden bed, pot, or plastic bin

soil or compost

hardwood sawdust or shredded cardboard (optional)

Shovel and Rake

The steps to growing Stropharia Mushrooms

1. Measure out a spot to plant in a bed or lay out your pots or bins for planting. Your kit is about 1 pound and will inoculate about 4 square feet of space; you can inoculate one continuous section, or multiple smaller areas that should merge over time.

2. Remove organic matter down to “bare soil” in a bed, or layer 1 - 2” of soil or compost in your bin/pot. Add about 1/2” of hardwood sawdust or shredded cardboard and spread evenly - if available.

3. Layer the spawn on top, breaking it up into fine particles. On top of this, add 2 - 4” of wood chips or straw. Soak the bed thoroughly with water. You can also pre-soak the materials ahead of time if water is limited.

4. Wait 4 - 6 months as the mycelium moves through the substrate. Once mycelium is established, fruiting often occurs after heavy rainfalls or drops in temperature. It is important to properly identify Stropharia mushrooms before harvesting as there are many mushrooms that can emerge from mulched areas.

5. Stropharia require little maintenance and can live and fruit for many years. In dry seasons water the patches as you would plants in a garden. It is best to add 2 - 4” of fresh wood chips or straw in the fall to provide fresh food and protect the mycelium from damaging frosts.

Once a patch has covered an area for one full season, the mycelium can be divided into multiple handful-sized chunks and spread into other areas of the garden or into new containers with the same method above.

IDENTIFICATION

Identifying wine cap mushrooms (Stropharia rugosoannulata) include observing key physical characteristics and habitat conditions. Look for large, burgundy to reddish-brown caps that can range from 2–12 inches across, often becoming lighter and more tan as they age. The gills start pale gray, turning dark purple-brown as spores mature, and the spore print is distinctly dark purplish-brown. A hallmark feature is the thick, white stem with a prominent, wrinkled ring (annulus) left from the partial veil. Wine caps typically grow in wood chips, straw, or garden beds, often in clusters. Always compare multiple characteristics rather than relying on a single trait, and avoid harvesting specimens that are overly old or decomposed, as features can become distorted.

Cap: Dark burgundy that becomes more red as the cap opens

Gills: lilac-grey, black, turns lighter as cap matures

Stem: Fibrous white/beige stem with distinctive ring

Spore print: very dark purple brown (make on white sheet of paper)

Other key characteristics: A distinctive ring (annulus) around the stalk that has a jagged edge (like a crown)

Growing habitat: Stropharia is found growing on wood-chip or duff layer debris in forests, pastures, and lawns.

Possible lookalikes:
Mushrooms with a reddish cap and/or ring around the stem could be confused for stropharia.

In over-mature stages it could be confused with Agrocybe praeox.

Russula emetica or Russula xerampelina

Links:
http://themushroomforager.com/2010/10/27/the-sun-loving-king-stropharia/
http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/King_Stropharia_identification/

By that point, mushrooms had already been part of my life for nearly a decade. I had been growing them, teaching about them, and selling them as food. I understood their role in forest ecosystems and in healthy diets. My interest was largely practical and ecological—edibility, marketability, nutrient cycling. When students asked whether mushrooms were “medicinal,” I would nod in agreement, acknowledging the idea without getting too specific.

It was only after the sudden illness of someone I loved deeply that I plunged headlong into the complicated world of medicinal mushrooms. Sure, I knew mushrooms were medicinal. But knowing that something is true and understanding how it works are very different things. I quickly learned that navigating the medicinal mushroom world is anything but straightforward.

What follows is not a set of instructions or medical advice but rather a framework, a way of thinking about medicinal mushrooms that respects both what we know and how much we still don’t. Our farm has been on a long journey of learning, testing, and refining our approach, always striving to offer the best possible conditions for mushroom medicine. We expect this journey will continue to evolve long into the future.

Three biological forms of mushroom medicine

Before getting into the nuances of medicinal mushrooms, it helps to begin with a basic tour of their biology. A mushroom is not the organism itself. It is the fruiting body of a much larger organism known as mycelium—the true body of the fungus. Like an apple tree, there is the body (the tree) and the fruit (the apple). The fruit is produced for reproduction, not for sustaining the organism day to day.

Mushrooms reproduce through spores rather than seeds. These microscopic particles are released from gills, pores, or teeth, often with surprising force. For medicinal purposes, spores are generally not relevant. What matters far more is the distinction between the fungal body (mycelium) and the fruiting body (the mushroom), and how each expresses different compounds.

This biological distinction is foundational. Before talking about powders, tinctures, or extracts, it’s important to distinguish which part of the fungus is being used. Medicinal mushrooms are first defined by biology, not by processing.

1. Fresh mushrooms

Fresh mushrooms, the fruiting bodies we cook and eat, are the most familiar form and often the most overlooked from a medicinal standpoint. Consumed regularly, they provide a complete amino acid profile, significant minerals, fiber, enzymes, and meaningful amounts of polysaccharides and other compounds associated with immune regulation and gut health. In this form, they are not a targeted therapy, but they form a powerful foundation for health.

One point demands emphasis: mushrooms must be cooked. Their cell walls contain chitin, which our digestive systems cannot readily break down. Cooking for five to eight minutes on moderate heat dramatically improves bioavailability. This applies to all mushrooms, regardless of how often they may be served raw in salad bars across North America. Fresh mushrooms are food first; but good food is often the quietest form of medicine.

2. Mycelium

Mycelium is the living body of the fungus: a branching, responsive cellular network that grows through wood, soil, or other substrates. In medicinal products, mycelium is commonly cultivated on sterilized grain, then dried and powdered if being used for medicinal products.

Mycelium does contain biologically active compounds, and it remains an area of genuine interest. However, compared to fruiting bodies, its medicinal chemistry is far less studied, and many well-characterized compounds appear in lower concentrations.

The process matters. When mycelium is grown on grain, the final dried product contains both fungal tissue and grain starch. Consumers are often unaware that they may be purchasing a product composed largely of grain when making an expensive purchase.

Extracts from mycelium are very different from this dehydrated product. In these cases, the mycelium is used as a living biochemical factory, rather than as a dried material. Through controlled growth conditions, selective substrates, and extraction processes, specific compounds can be encouraged, concentrated, and isolated from fungal tissue itself rather than from the grain it grows on. There is real promise in some of these approaches, though they remain less standardized and less studied than fruiting body extracts.

3. Fruiting bodies

Fruiting bodies, the mushrooms themselves, are where the majority of traditional remedies and modern medicinal mushroom research have focused.

Across both traditional medical systems and contemporary scientific studies, fruiting bodies consistently show higher concentrations of well-characterized compounds such as beta-glucans and triterpenes. Because these compound classes are relatively easy to measure, extract, and correlate with immune outcomes, they have shaped the direction of research for decades. As a result, fruiting bodies form the backbone of most clinical and pre-clinical studies and remain the most clearly documented form of mushroom medicine.

This focus, however, reflects a narrowing of inquiry as much as it reflects superiority. By centering research on polysaccharides and triterpenes, science has naturally gravitated toward fruiting bodies, where these compounds are most abundant. Yet these are not always the compounds one is seeking. In Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus), for example, much of the interest lies in neuroactive diterpenoids such as hericenones and erinacines—some of which are produced preferentially, or in different proportions, in mycelium grown under specific conditions. In such cases, mycelium may offer distinct advantages, not because it is “stronger,” but because it expresses a different chemical vocabulary.

This does not make fruiting bodies inherently superior in all cases. It does make them better understood. Both forms have value, and neither is universally “better” in every context; the current evidence hierarchy simply favors fruiting bodies due to historical use, biochemical accessibility, and methodological momentum. As research expands beyond a narrow set of target compounds, that hierarchy may continue to evolve.

From form to preparation: powders versus extracts

Once we distinguish which part of the mushroom is being used, a second layer of decision-making emerges: how that material is prepared. This is where much of the confusion (and deceptive marketing) enters the picture. Broadly speaking, preparations fall into two categories: dried or powdered forms, and extracts.

Dried mushrooms and powders

Drying mushrooms (whether fruiting bodies or mycelium) is the simplest and oldest method of preservation. Once dried, mushrooms can be stored whole or ground into powders and added to food, capsules, or beverages. In this form, mushrooms retain fiber, minerals, and a wide spectrum of compounds in roughly their natural proportions. They are shelf-stable, accessible, and easy to integrate into daily routines. When comparing like for like, dried whole fruiting bodies generally contain a greater density and diversity of beneficial elements than dried mycelium grown on grain, which necessarily includes a substantial portion of substrate.

That said, drying alone does not automatically make mushrooms medicinally available. Many of the compounds most often associated with therapeutic effects, particularly polysaccharides such as beta-glucans, are locked within the fungal cell wall. These structures evolved to provide strength and resilience, and our digestive systems are not especially good at breaking them down unaided.

For this reason, preparation matters. In our own practice, we often shred and freeze mushrooms prior to dehydration, a step that disrupts cell structure through ice crystal formation. This is followed by a brief exposure to steam at high temperatures, which further weakens chitinous cell walls before final drying. This multi-stage preparation increases the accessibility of water-soluble compounds, without fully isolating or concentrating them, sitting somewhere between raw food and true extraction.

Extracts: from traditional to modern

Extraction is a way of selectively isolating and concentrating certain compounds from mushroom tissue, making them more bioavailable. In most cases, mushrooms benefit from a dual extraction utilizing both hot water and a high-proof alcohol.

Hot-water extraction via and low and long simmer or decoction is the oldest and most widely studied method. It is particularly effective at extracting polysaccharides, and forms the backbone of both traditional Chinese medicine and much of the modern scientific literature. Alcohol extraction pulls out a different suite of compounds, including triterpenes and other alcohol-soluble constituents. Dual extracts combine both approaches in sequence to capture a broader chemical profile.

Not all extraction methods are equal. More traditional methods that rely solely on time can yield less consistent results, while modern techniques such as pressure extraction, ultrasonic pulsing, or refined concentration processes, can increase efficiency and repeatability. These methods do not fundamentally change the goal: extracts concentrate compounds and make them more accessible for the body to absorb.

For us, the journey of refining our extraction process has been long, shaped by both practice and study. What began as a slow, patient approach, making medicine for ourselves with time as the primary ingredient has evolved as we’ve engaged more deeply with research and tested a wide range of protocols.

Today, we focus on an efficient and consistent method that incorporates ultrasonic pulsing. This allows us to increase the amount of mushroom material represented in each bottle by running water and alcohol fractions through multiple rounds of extraction rather than relying on a single pass. The goal is not speed for its own sake, but repeatability and density, getting more of the mushroom’s chemistry into the final extract while maintaining control over the process.

All of the mushrooms we extract are grown by us under Certified Naturally Grown standards, using substrates and inputs we can fully account for from start to finish. We extract in small batches, keep careful records, and prioritize transparency over claims. In a field where it is easy to promise certainty, we aim instead to offer well-made medicine, rooted in good biology, careful process, and an honest understanding of what mushrooms can, and cannot, do.

The current industry: cheap, quick, and dirty?

In the United States, mushroom-based medicines occupy the supplement category: outside formal pharmaceutical approval, lightly regulated, and heavily shaped by marketing. Every product comes with a story, special extraction method, a proprietary formula, a lineage of knowledge. Some of these stories are grounded in real science and long traditions of use. Many are not. For consumers, it can be difficult to separate clarity from salesmanship.

Some of the most common issues include:

• Cheap imported powders sold as tinctures, where powders are simply dissolved into alcohol without true extraction
  

• Dehydrated, grain-based mycelium used as filler, offering minimal benefit when sold as medicine
  

• Unclear or undisclosed sourcing, with real risks of heavy metal or environmental contamination
  

• Unknown amounts of mushroom material in the final product
  

• Overemphasis on isolated compounds, particularly beta-glucan percentages divorced from context of the whole mushroom
  

• Promises that outpace the evidence, in a field where outcomes remain highly individual and situational
  
  

What to look for - and why it matters

After years of working with mushrooms as food, medicine, and farm crop, a few guiding principles rise to the surface again and again:

• Context and timing matter

• Local, known origins

• Transparency in processing methods

• Diversity—and approaches you can actually sustain
  
  

Context and timing matter

Mushrooms do not work in isolation from context. The same mushroom that may be helpful during recovery may be inappropriate during active chemotherapy. Antioxidants can protect healthy tissue, or blunt the intended effects of radiation or certain cytotoxic drugs. This is why broad claims about “anti-cancer mushrooms” are misleading. Cancer is not one disease, and treatments vary widely. Bodies in turn, respond differently to.

During my wife’s chemotherapy, one of the clearest challenges was maintaining white blood cell counts, particularly neutrophils. In that specific context, Maitake extract appeared to support immune resilience, and her counts remained remarkably stable throughout treatment. Was this solely due to mushrooms? Of course not. Diet, physical conditioning, stress, movement, medical care, and luck all played roles. Mushrooms were one part of a much larger picture.

Local, known origins

Mushrooms are powerful accumulators. That is part of what makes them ecologically valuable, and why sourcing matters so deeply. Heavy metals and contaminants can concentrate in fungal tissue, particularly when substrates and growing conditions are unknown. Whenever possible, source mushrooms and products grown close to home, by people you can talk to, on substrates you can understand. Transparency reduces risk and builds trust.

Processing transparency

Whether mushrooms are dried, powdered, or extracted, the method matters as much as the material itself. Clear information about what part of the mushroom is used, how it is processed, and how much ends up in the final product allows for informed decisions rather than reliance on branding.

Diversity and practicality

All forms of mushrooms offer some benefit. What matters most is integrating them into routines that actually fit your life. Consistency, more than intensity, allows their effects to accumulate. There is no ideal protocol. The best approach is varied, modest, and repeatable, one that lets mushrooms become part of the background rhythm of nourishment and care.

More to come!

As with many aspects of health and healing, what we do not know still outweighs what we do. Mushrooms do not offer certainty, but rather promise and potential - grounded in biology, tradition, and a growing body of research.

As chronic disease becomes more prevalent, mushrooms may play an increasingly important role as adjuncts to conventional care. For this to happen responsibly, we need good education, access to clean and local products, and continued research.

Even with these limitations, mushrooms deserve a place in a diverse, integrated approach to health and healing. My hope is that this article provides clarity in a complex landscape, and serves as a foundation for deeper exploration in the future.

In the coming posts we will outline more specific strategies for certain conditions and also more deeply profile the unique compounds and benefits of individual species.

Our farm shelves are stocked with canned soups, tomatoes, salsa, and the freezer jammed full of lamb, chicken, and berries. Perhaps most abundant of all are the jars of mushrooms from the season, with specimens of lions mane, oyster, and shiitake we grew this year, as well as hunks of wild-harvested chaga and dried reishi, waiting for hot winter tea brews on the wood stove to awaken their potent medicinal compounds.

While the stored harvest brings a sense of security and abundance, in many cases processing foods means a drop in nutritional or medicinal value. As we dehydrate, can, and freeze, we can do our best to preserve the potential of food, but inevitably some of the value with fresh and live foods is lost. Curiously, with mushrooms, one could argue that dried product is not nutritionally inferior when compared to fresh, but simply different.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is hard to find in food, yet it plays a critical role in overall health. Specifically, the vitamin is converted in the liver and kidneys into its biologically active form, where it supports maintaining blood levels of phosphorus and calcium while also promoting bone mineralization and the absorption of calcium. It is also linked to supporting a healthy immune system and the regulation of cell differentiation and growth.

Common sources of vitamin D include sunlight, oil-rich fish, and some dairy products, though many foods are fortified with vitamin D. Fortified foods provide most of the vitamin D in the American diet, as relatively few foods naturally contain significant amounts. Almost all of the U.S. milk supply is voluntarily fortified with approximately 100 IU per cup.

Deficiency in vitamin D is linked to rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Those at risk for deficiency include infants who are exclusively breast-fed, seniors, people with limited sun exposure, and individuals living at northern latitudes where winter sunlight is insufficient for vitamin D production in the skin.

Vitamin D & Mushrooms

Despite the popular assumption that mushrooms want to be grown in dark, dank caves underground, they actually need light to fully develop fruiting bodies. Mushrooms starved of necessary UV light frequencies will appear shrunken or pale in color. Even more remarkable is that mushrooms can synthesize vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light, whether natural or synthetic.

Vitamin D is often described as a vitamin, but it functions more like a prohormone—a compound that sunlight stimulates organisms, including people and mushrooms, to produce. In humans, this compound is later converted into its biologically active form in the body.

One study from Penn State examined the use of pulsed UV light to increase vitamin D content in button, crimini, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms. The results demonstrated that after a very short exposure time, vitamin D₂ content could be increased from very little to upwards of 100 percent of the daily value per serving.

Paul Stamets further explored this relationship and compared synthetic UV exposure with natural sunlight. While UV lamps resulted in greater overall vitamin D conversion in mushrooms, natural light, as he notes, is “a convenient source…whereas setting up a UVB light chamber is not.” Natural sunlight still resulted in more than a 400 percent increase in vitamin D content. Stamets found that sun-dried shiitake increased from approximately 100 IU per 100 grams to nearly 46,000 IU per 100 grams. This rate is more than sufficient for normal consumption, as recommendations from the Institute of Medicine encourage a daily intake of 600 IU for people up to age 70, and 800 IU for those over 70.

Additional research has shown that vitamin D₂ formed in mushrooms through UV exposure is bioavailable and can raise vitamin D levels in the body when consumed as food. Importantly, once formed, vitamin D₂ remains relatively stable through common processing methods, including cooking and drying. While the degree of vitamin D accumulation varies by species, exposure time, and surface area, studies consistently demonstrate that even brief exposure to sunlight or UVB light can result in nutritionally meaningful increases.

Storing Sunlight

With winter, sunlight is at a premium. In many parts of the United States—especially the Northeast—it is actually impossible to naturally produce vitamin D from the sun during winter because the sun does not rise high enough in the sky for ultraviolet B (UVB) rays to penetrate the earth’s atmosphere. This phenomenon is known as the “Vitamin D Winter.”

For much of the northern United States, vitamin D winter typically begins in early to mid-November and extends through late February or early March. People living north of approximately 37 degrees latitude are at greater risk of deficiency, a boundary that includes roughly half of the continental U.S.

During this period, we rely almost entirely on the stores of vitamin D already present in the body. Vitamin D can be stored in fat tissue for approximately two months, and when consumed via supplements or food sources (including mushrooms), it circulates in the blood for roughly 24 hours. This means that vitamin D produced or accumulated during late summer and early fall may help buffer deficiency into early winter, but those reserves gradually decline.

It is reasonable, then, to calculate that while one might enjoy the benefits of summer sunlight for the first part of winter, vitamin D deficiency is most likely to emerge in mid- to late winter, often beginning in January or February, as stored reserves are depleted. During this time—when sunlight cannot replenish vitamin D levels—the regular consumption of vitamin D-rich foods becomes especially important. Even modest amounts of sun- or UV-exposed mushrooms could potentially provide days or weeks’ worth of vitamin D during a season when few natural food sources are available.

Practical Ways to Increase Vitamin D in Mushrooms

Mushrooms offer a rare opportunity to capture and store sunlight as food, but the conditions of exposure matter. Vitamin D production in mushrooms requires ultraviolet B (UVB) light, the same portion of sunlight responsible for vitamin D production in human skin. There are two main methods to achieve this:

1) Direct Sunlight

For consumers, the most reliable way to increase vitamin D in mushrooms is through direct, unfiltered sunlight. Fresh mushrooms can be placed gills facing upward on a plate, tray, or screen and set outdoors in full sun for just 30–60 minutes before cooking or preservation. During this time, UVB rays stimulate the conversion of ergosterol in mushroom tissue into vitamin D₂.

It is important to note that standard household windows block nearly all UVB radiation. As a result, placing mushrooms on a sunny windowsill behind glass—while bright and warm—will generally not result in meaningful vitamin D production. For sunlight exposure to be effective, mushrooms must be placed outside or otherwise exposed to sunlight without glass in between.

Breaking mushroom clusters into smaller pieces, slicing thick caps, or turning mushrooms once during exposure improves results by increasing gill and tissue exposure. After sun exposure, mushrooms may be cooked, refrigerated, frozen, or dried as usual. Vitamin D formed during this process remains stable through cooking and preservation.

While simple and effective, this method is also weather- and season-dependent of course - you have to catch that sun while it shines!! But this is a very accessible option, and can work with ANY fresh mushrooms you purchase.

2) UV-B Light Exposure

For farms growing mushrooms indoors or operating during seasons with limited sunlight, controlled UV exposure offers a reliable alternative.

A simple UV exposure cabinet can be assembled for well under $100 using a UVB light source, an enclosed box or cabinet to prevent light leakage, reflective interior surfaces, and a basic timer to control exposure duration. Harvested mushrooms are placed in shallow trays—ideally in a single layer with gills facing upward—and exposed to UVB light for 20–45 minutes, depending on species and handling.

Once exposed, mushrooms can be dried, powdered, or sold fresh. As with sun exposure, vitamin D₂ produced through UV treatment remains stable through dehydration and storage, making dried mushrooms and powders particularly effective ways to store sunlight for winter use.

A meaningful dose

With these methods, the question naturally becomes: how much vitamin D can mushrooms reasonably accumulate, and what does that mean for everyday use?

When mushrooms are exposed to direct, unfiltered sunlight for 30–60 minutes—laid gills up outdoors—studies and on-farm experience suggest that vitamin D₂ levels can increase several-fold. Under good summer conditions, a typical serving of fresh mushrooms may provide a few hundred international units of vitamin D, often in the range of 200–600 IU per half- to one-cup serving. This amount is enough to meaningfully contribute to daily vitamin D intake, particularly when mushrooms are eaten regularly through the winter months. Breaking clusters apart, slicing thicker caps, or simply turning mushrooms once during exposure improves these results by increasing the amount of tissue exposed to UVB light.

When harvested mushrooms are exposed to UVB light in a simple enclosed cabinet for 20–45 minutes, vitamin D₂ levels tend to be more consistent and, in many cases, higher than those achieved through sunlight alone. In this context, a fresh serving of UV-exposed mushrooms can reasonably provide several hundred to over a thousand international units of vitamin D, depending on species and handling. The advantage of this approach is not necessarily higher peak levels, but predictability—an important consideration when sunlight is scarce or inconsistent.

Once formed, vitamin D₂ typically remains stable through cooking, drying, and storage. Drying mushrooms removes water but leaves vitamin D intact, concentrating it in the final product. As a result, relatively small amounts of dried mushrooms—on the order of a tablespoon or two—can provide a substantial portion of daily vitamin D needs.

When mushrooms are further processed into powder, this concentration becomes even more pronounced. A quarter to half teaspoon of vitamin D–enhanced mushroom powder may deliver several hundred to over a thousand international units, offering a simple, food-based way to support vitamin D intake during the darkest months of the year.

Taken together, these methods suggest a useful seasonal strategy: fresh mushrooms offer a meaningful boost when eaten regularly, while dried and powdered mushrooms provide a reliable way to carry the benefits of summer sunlight deep into winter. In this way, mushrooms allow us not just to preserve food, but to preserve sunlight itself—stored in a form we can return to when the sun is at its weakest.

Our pledge

Our commitment goes beyond growing and selling mushrooms. We see our role as stewards of both land and knowledge, and we believe that good food carries more value when it is accompanied by a deeper understanding. This includes our ongoing learning and improvement of mushroom production to provide the best results for the wider benefit of the people who consume them.

Our tinctures and powders are already crafted as high-quality, whole-mushroom medicines, produced with care from cultivation through extraction.

Looking ahead, we plan to begin instituting a UV enhancement system in early 2026, allowing both fresh and powdered mushrooms to carry the added benefit of enhanced vitamin D.

As always, we will share what we learn along the way—offering not just products, but the information and practices that help people make the most of them, especially during the long, dark months when nourishment matters most.

References

Beelman, R. B., & Kalaras, M. D. (2008). Vitamin D₂ enrichment in fresh mushrooms using pulsed UV light. Journal of Food Science.

Cashman, K. D., et al. (2016). Vitamin D deficiency in Europe: Pandemic? The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Holick, Michael F., & Chen, Tai C. (2008). Vitamin D deficiency: A worldwide problem with health consequences. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87(4), 1080S–1086S.

Johnson, Lana R. (2010). Vitamin D insufficiency due to insufficient exposure to sunlight and related pathology. Student Pulse, 2(12).

Kalaras, M. D., Beelman, R. B., Elias, R. J., & Erdman, J. W. (2012). Effects of UV light exposure on vitamin D₂ content in mushrooms. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Kurihara, Kenzo. (2009). Glutamate: From discovery as a food flavor to role as a basic taste (umami). The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 90(3), 719S–722S.

Magee, Elaine, Ed. (2015). Vitamin D deficiency: Symptoms, causes, and health risks. WebMD.

National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. (2004). Vitamin D: Health professional fact sheet. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/

Ohlson, Kristin. (2012). Umami: The secret flavor. Experience Life Magazine. https://experiencelife.com/article/umami-the-secret-flavor/

Penckofer, Sue, Kouba, Joanne, Byrn, Mary, & Ferrans, Carol. (2015). Vitamin D and depression: Where is all the sunshine? Issues in Mental Health Nursing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2908269/

ScienceDaily. (2011). Vitamin D deficiency common in cancer patients. American Society for Radiation Oncology. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111003132353.htm

Shroff, Rukshana, Knott, Craig, & Rees, Lesley. (2010). The virtues of vitamin D—but how much is too much? Pediatric Nephrology, 25(9), 1607–1620.

Stamets, Paul. (2012). Place mushrooms in sunlight to get your vitamin D. Fungi.com. https://www.fungi.com/blog/items/place-mushrooms-in-sunlight-to-get-your-vitamin-d.html

Sugahara, T., et al. (1975). Contents of 5′-nucleotides and free amino acids in different varieties of dried shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes). Journal of Food Science.

Tavera-Mendoza, Luz E., & White, John H. (2007). Cell defenses and the sunshine vitamin. Scientific American, 297(5), 62–72.

Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus species) and Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus) are both wood-loving forest mushrooms, but they grow in slightly different ways. For our grow-your-own kits, we’ve done the hard work for you. We prepared the material, inoculated it, and managed the growth of the mycelium for 3–4 weeks. Your kit is ready to fruit in the next 8 - 12 days after you set it up.

Oysters are fast-growing, highly adaptable mushrooms that form clusters with caps and stems. They tolerate a wider range of conditions and are often the easiest mushroom to grow at home.

Lion’s Mane grows more slowly and forms a single dense fruit with cascading white “teeth.” It prefers higher humidity and fewer fruiting openings, but rewards patience with a beautiful and delicious harvest.

Our goal in offering these kits is not just mushrooms, but a learning experience—an introduction to how these organisms respond to their environment.

Until you are ready to fruit, you can store the bag in the fridge for up to one month, placed inside a paper grocery bag to keep it dark.

Finding a Good Spot in Your House

Think first about where mushrooms grow in nature: the forest.

They thrive in:

• High humidity

• Moderate temperatures

• Fresh air

• Low, indirect light

Good places in a home often include:

• Kitchens or bathrooms

• Basements (as long as they’re not too cold or stagnant)

• A shaded shelf near (but not directly in) a window

Avoid:

• Direct sunlight

• Hot appliances

• Dry air from heaters or wood stoves

Making the Cut

When you’re ready to fruit, make one cut in the bag:

• Oyster mushrooms: Cut a small “X” (about 2 - 3 inches across) in the center of the bag

• Lion’s Mane: Cut a single diagonal slit (about 5 - 6 inches long) from one corner to the other

Humidity & Misting

Option 1: Simple Misting

• Hang or place the bag in your chosen spot

• Mist 1–2 times daily around the cut area

• Avoid soaking the opening—think humid air, not wet surfaces

• Watch closely once you see small “pins” forming; this is the most important time to maintain moisture

Option 2: Humidity Tent

• Loosely place a clear plastic bag or clear plastic bin over the kit

• Don’t seal completely - they need oxygen to develop!

• Use chopsticks, skewers, or pencils to keep the plastic from touching the mushroom

• Mist the inside of the plastic bag once or twice daily

• Leave some gaps at the bottom for fresh air

This method creates a mini forest climate and is especially helpful for Lion’s Mane.

When to Harvest

Oyster mushrooms: Harvest when caps are open but the edges are still slightly curled under.

Lion’s Mane: Harvest when the mushroom is full and firm and the “teeth” are about ¼–½ inch long, before yellowing.

After Your First Harvest

You have a few options:

1. Leave the bag where it is and keep misting the opening

2. Place the bag in the fridge for 24–72 hours, then return it to fruiting conditions to encourage another flush (usually in 7–14 days)

3. Move the block outdoors to a garden bed or shaded area where it will feed the soil and may produce again - even in winter, the bag may fruit once spring arrives!

If you try for a second indoor flush, we recommend retiring the block outdoors afterward.

What to Expect

Most kits produce 1–2 pounds total over multiple flushes.

Fresh mushrooms can be stored in the fridge for up to one week.

Mushrooms are sensitive and responsive organisms. If something looks off, don’t panic—observe. Ask yourself: What are they telling me about humidity, airflow, or temperature?

If It Doesn’t Work

We can’t guarantee results due to the many variables of growing mushrooms at home. That said, success is very likely with basic care. We track batches carefully. If a batch showed contamination on our end, we’re happy to replace the kit for pickup or ship it if you cover shipping.

If you’re having an issue, email stevegabrielfarmer@gmail.com with:

• A photo of the tag on the bag

• The purchase date (ideally a pic of the tag)

What to Do With the Bag

Spent or struggling blocks are perfect for the garden and will feed soil life.
Sometimes they even recover and fruit outdoors.

If only part of the block is contaminated (blue-green mold), you may carefully separate healthy white mycelium from the affected area (gloves recommended).

There are many variables involved—transport, storage, airflow, humidity, and plain luck.
Don’t blame yourself. We’ve had plenty of successes and failures over 18 years of growing mushrooms.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why did my block grow one huge mushroom instead of many?

That’s normal — and usually a good sign.
Mushrooms tend to concentrate its energy where conditions are best. By cutting a single slit or “X” in the bag, you’re intentionally directing the block to produce one large, high-quality fruit rather than many small, low-quality ones.

If you allow mushrooms to grow all over the block, you’ll often get:

• Smaller, misshapen fruits

• Browning or aborting mushrooms

• Lower overall quality

Why do small mushrooms start on other sides of the block and then turn brown?

Those are called side pins or abortive fruits. They form when the block senses moisture and air inside the bag but doesn’t have enough space or airflow to finish growing.

This is typical if:

• The bag is intact except for one slit

• Humidity is high inside the bag

• Only one opening provides room to expand

Best practice is to ignore side pins and let the block focus its energy on the main fruiting opening.

Should I open the bag more to let the other mushrooms grow?

No — opening the bag further usually causes problems.

Opening too much:

• Dries the block out

• Reduces humidity

• Leads to many small, poor-quality mushrooms instead of one good one

The bag’s job is to hold moisture and concentrate fruiting where you want it.

Why does the back of the block look like white moss or fuzzy growth?

That’s healthy mushroom mycelium. It means the block is alive and active.

If it’s fuzzy but not producing mushrooms:

• There isn’t enough space to fruit there

• Airflow is limited

• The plastic is doing its job by restricting growth

This is normal and not a problem.

How does the block get moisture if the bag is mostly closed?

Moisture comes from two places:

1. Stored water inside the block (most important)

2. Ambient humidity from misting

You’re not “watering” the block like a plant — you’re keeping the surrounding air humid so the mushroom can grow without drying out.

Should I spray water directly onto the mushroom or block?

Lightly mist near the slit, not aggressively into it.

Best approach:

• Fine mist once or twice daily

• Aim at the opening and nearby plastic

• Avoid soaking the block or blasting water inside

Direct, heavy spraying can cause:

• Browning

• Bacterial issues

• Misshapen fruits

Why did my block stop producing after the first harvest?

The most common reason is drying out.

This can happen if:

• The bag was removed after the first flush

• Humidity was too low

• The block wasn’t rehydrated

Once a block dries too much, it often won’t fruit again.

Can I rehydrate a dried-out mushroom block?

Sometimes — it’s worth trying.

Rehydration method:

• Submerge the block in clean water for 1–2 hours

• Drain well

• Return it to a humid environment (bag, tote, or humidity tent)

• Resume light daily misting

Results vary, but some blocks will produce another flush.

Is it okay that I only got one mushroom?

Yes — especially for Lion’s Mane.

One large, dense fruit:

• Tastes better

• Has better texture

• Is exactly how commercial growers aim to produce it

Many small mushrooms usually means conditions weren’t focused enough.

What’s the single most important thing to know for beginners?

Resist the urge to “help” too much.

Most problems come from:

• Opening the bag too much

• Over-misting

• Trying to grow every mushroom that appears

Simple, consistent conditions beat constant adjustment.

MORE QUESTIONS?
Email stevegabrielfarmer@gmail.com for the fastest response.