I added Mushroom logs to my offerings in the winter of 20/21 thinking it would be a few weeks of fill in work between seasons. Since that time, it has been consuming more and more of my working time. Sometimes it even puts me in a bind with other clients and work.
Many folks ask me what Mushroom logs are. Well I don’t grow mushrooms, but I have learned quite a bit about them, and especially about the logs (For details GO HERE). One thing I have learned for sure is that if you want to grow mushrooms for yourself, you need a bit of education, which is fairly easy to attain. Many buyers come to me having read a little bit, and have a bit of understanding, but not quite all they need yet. I am happy to point them at good references for information and learning such as Cornell Small Farms or Catskill Fungi. I just do logs and try to get folks off to a good start.
In the summer of 2021 I was asked to help on a project organized by Cornell Small Farms program to get 300 logs to NYC for cultivation. That project is summarized on the website and was quite a journey with a lot of hard work. You can follow the entire project on this page below. There are 9 videos covering the path of these logs from where I cut them to where they wound up. I will add that it was a pleasure meeting and working with Captain Sam Merrett and the crew of the Schooner Apollonia on this project. Shipping products from the woods of the Catskills to NYC via cargo Schooner on the Hudson River is something that has not happened in well over 100 years and I was proud to play a small part.
The video below is my little contribution.
In 2021 I cut and supplied well over 1,000 logs to many growers ranging from hobbyists to working farms, educators, and community garden projects. Along the way I have gained a lot of knowledge that is not available anywhere because very few cut and sell logs as part of their regular income. CLICK HERE for the Cornell log supplier map and you can see there aren’t many suppliers. This is an interactive map, updated as needed. You can see from the map that there are not many active suppliers, so I do the best I can to satisfy the need.
With all the questions I routinely receive, I have created a few pages to cover many of those questions. Please select the page below that interests you. If you are going to buy logs please read the buyer’s guide, it should save you some time.
Back in the fall of ’21 I appeared on the ‘From The Forest’ show on WIOX radio in Roxbury. That show is available in a podcast now, and we talked about Mushroom logs and other things. You Can LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE.
Lastly, working closely with John Michelotti, Founder of Catskill Fungi I have developed a Log Drilling Bench which is proving quite popular with growers. This bench is available for sale, but I have a hard time keeping them in stock. I also have a full Log Inoculation System available which was also developed for and with Catskill Fungi. Links to each of these are just below and include full details and pricing. Please call if you’d like to see or order one. You can also attend one of the Catskill Fungi log inoculation workshops to try it out in conjunction with the processing systems that John and I have developed exclusively for his classes. (More on that in the coming months.)