Growing Lion’s Mane Mushrooms at home and in the food forest

The very first Lion’s Mane mushroom we grew at home from a kit.

We started growing shiitake mushrooms about nine years ago after buying a couple of already inoculated logs at the farmer’s market in downtown Staunton. It was nice to have these mushrooms and it was a great first experience to grow our own at home. More recently, we became interested in growing Lion’s Mane mushrooms after reading about the health benefits and the taste. https://www.forbes.com/health/body/health-benefits-of-lions-mane/. We were so glad we did as they are delicious. The taste mimics crab, scallops or lobster. We sauté on high heat in a dry pan for 10 minutes then add olive oil salt pepper and garlic. Then we eat it on its own or with salads. We have heard they make great “crab” cakes. We will try this soon.

This Root Mushroom Farm grow kit was great. It came full of mycelium and ready to grow. We were so successful with it, we ordered plugs inoculated with Lion’s mane, Hericium erinaceous. Weeks ago, we cut down a beech tree from the farm and we aged the logs a few days. Then we drilled holes for the plugs.

The inoculated plugs and beeswax bars for growing our Lion’s mane on beech logs at home and Saint Andrew’s Forest Farm.

Drilling the holes for the plugs.

We filled the holes in with our inoculated plug and then put warm beeswax to seal it in and keep moisture. Now we wait for the mushrooms to grow!

We are going to also inoculate logs at the farm to continue to diversify the already thriving mycelium in our soil.

We are heading back out to the farm later today to inoculate some of our hardwood logs.

Lion’s mane mushroom and spinach salad with walnuts and Dijon vinaigrette

Our supplies needed to drill holes and inoculate the logs at the farm.

We built a simple stand for tulip poplar logs in the forest at the farm and are inoculating them with Lion’s mane spawn plugs. We hope to add Hericium erinacious to our home grown mushrooms. They are native to Virginia.

Foraging and Cooking with wild edible mushrooms from Saint Andrew’s Forest Farm

We found quite a few Lactarius indigo or Indigo Milkcap mushrooms during the summer and early fall of 2023.

They were so pretty and just amazed us each time we saw them. They are michorizal with a number of deciduous and coniferous trees including pine and oak. We found them in a number of places. Up top along the driveway, along South Trail and in the forest in multiple locations.

We’ve learned to cook our wild mushrooms very well on high heat (7ish) for 20 minutes. We start cooking them in a dry already hot skillet. After 10 minutes, we add some olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.

While they cooked they smelled a little bit of fish. Once cooked, this wasn’t detectable in smell or taste. We used these to top our pizza pie.

Baked French Onion Soup

Good onion soup takes love and devotion. The onions take at minimum an hour, and often two hours, to get to the right stage of carmelization. I start with 5 or 6 large onions. Sometimes I get different types to mix together. They’re all delicious once they’ve been cooked forever. I slice them lengthwise and into half rings. Wide slices are fine. Cook them over medium heat — stir frequently for uniform cooking, and to prevent sticking —  until they’re dark brown but not burned and black. Add beef stock and red wine. You can thicken it with flour but I don’t.

Besides cooking the onions with lots of attention for over an hour, the other most important thing that I’ve found with onion soup is your choice in cheese. I used to just use Swiss cheese of any kind, but in the past few years I’ve realized that gruyere or emmenthaler is best. Mixing them is even better.

This is just before they are ready to have the stock and wine. I usually deglaze the pan with wine while the onions are cooking too..

This is what they look like more up close when they’re done.

When you add the broth, they are kind of opaque instead of just translucent and shiny.

Then add about 8 cups of beef broth and a splash more of wine. Simmer a bay leaf for 15 minutes.
Cut a slice of crusty or hard bread and put the gruyere and/or the emmenthaler cheese on top. Broil it until bubbly and light brown.

good eggs

We always start our eggs by adding butter to a nonstick pan with poblano peppers or mushrooms or both. We throw in fresh herbs. Tarragon has been a favorite lately, but in the Summer when it’s plentiful, basil is the usual choice.  We shred cheese, usually a sharp cheddar. We found a 3 year cheddar at a local cheese shop recently. It makes a difference to use special cheese. Feta adds even more yum.

We let the cheese get good and melted. We both like it when it gets crusty with cheese around the edges and wherever it’s leaked out.  We fold both sides over a bit and voila! A delicious treat morning, noon or night.