The Oyster Mushroom Workshops are the result of a grant to the WMMA from
AERO, the Alternative Energy Resource Organization. The goal of these
workshops is to educate landowners as to how they can propagate these
mushrooms, which are delicious edibles and native to Montana's riparian
cottonwood zones.
Glen Babcock of Garden City Fungi produced the spawn used for these
workshops from spores collected by Larry Evans. These two men taught the
one-day workshops which were held near Whitefish, Corvallis, Helena, and
Condon, Montana this September.
Participants first watched a slide show that described the biology of the local oyster mushroom, (Pleurotus ostreatus, now recognized by some authors as a separate species, P. populinum) and described other related and similar looking species.
Next we had a brief cooking demonstration, where oyster mushrooms
were used to create a tasty pate, or simply fried in butter and passed
around.
Then we proceeded to the field, where participants donned latex
gloves and wiped down the tools with disinfectant.
Sledges and wedges were used to split apart the dead or dying cottonwood trees, and oyster mushroom spawn was introduced into the cracks.
Then the wedges were removed and the cracks sealed over. A single bag of spawn was used to inoculate from 5 to 20 logs.
Other techniques were also tried. A notch was cut with a chainsaw
in one log, then spawn was introduced, and the wedge nailed back in place.
Each of these logs usually produce from 1 to 5 pounds of mushroom
every fall and/or spring for years after inoculation. The WMMA and the
Teller Wildlife Refuge have conducted a pilot project where mushrooms have
been growing since 1992. 
For more information, email us from the website - fungus@fungaljungal.org. We will be sponsoring more workshops in the years to come. If you have a cottonwood riparian zone on your property, you may wish to host a workshop yourself.
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