Grow Your Own Shiitake Mushrooms

This hands-on workshop is an introduction to log grown shiitake innoculation and identifying some mushrooms in the wild. A short walk will introduce you to some trees and mushroom species to look for and to avoid.

Participants will learn theory of stacking, soaking and proper log and mushroom harvesting. You will drill and inoculate your own log to take home and learn methods for forest cultivation.

Presented by Michael Akers of Red Moon Herbs

Michael began his wildcrafting career at the age of 4 with the family tradition of wild mushroom harvest. He grew up in Prague, Czech Republic and enjoyed weekends and holidays at the family cottage in Uvaly outside Prague. The local forest beside the family getaway provided many adventures with friends and a diversity of mushroom foraging. He picked apples from an abandoned orchard and found creative ways to make a little spending money as a teenager, also picking currants, gooseberries, cherries and other herbs in the meadows, sometimes working alongside his family in their own garden. He brought his passion to the U.S. and Michael currently forages reishi, turkey tail, usnea, maitake and other forest products for Red Moon Herbs. He currently works on his mushroom log production, small culture lab and sustainable wood harvesting business. His goals for the near future are expansion of challenging wild-simulated mushrooms such as lion’s mane, maitake and inoculated birch trees with chaga plugs for a more sustainable harvest. Michael’s go-to herbs are Mushroom Elixir and green wonder salve for cuts and burns on human and beasts.