He purchased the spawn from a catalog, which also provided instruction on producing a crop of mushrooms. For the oyster mushrooms, he placed the spawn on cut and stacked aspen stumps, between which he had layered sawdust. The stumps were covered in plastic in a room of his home. The logs were then taken outside and buried about six inches in the ground. The mushrooms fruit when it rains.
Oyster mushrooms look similar to oyster shells and grow in layers.
But after finding wild oysters, he said he doesn't bother growing them. Instead, he said, he's turned to growing shiitakes. The shiitake mushrooms are grown on oak or red maple logs, which have had the ends sealed by wax. Holes are drilled into the logs and pegs containing the mycelium are inserted into the holes. The mushrooms usually fruit one year later after a wet period in the spring.