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Under the Canopy
On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, former Minister of Natural Resources, Jerry Ouellette takes you along on the journey to see the places and meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and Under The Canopy.
Under the Canopy
Episode 156: Mushroom Grow Kits Made Simple
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Fresh mushrooms don’t have to be a grocery store gamble. We’re talking with Corey from Mushrooms of the Valley, tucked near the Madawaska River in Ontario’s Hastings Highlands, about what it really takes to grow gourmet mushrooms at home and why a simple sawdust block can turn into a legit harvest on your kitchen counter.
We get specific about the mushrooms he’s growing and selling: pink oyster mushrooms, white oysters, golden oysters, and the Phoenix oyster that holds its colour in warm weather. Corey explains what a mushroom grow kit is, what “spawn” means, and why consistent hardwood fuel pellets make his substrate more predictable. If you’ve been Googling mushroom grow kits, how to grow oyster mushrooms indoors, or how long mushrooms take to fruit, we lay out the practical timeline and the conditions that matter most.
We also touch lion’s mane, including why it’s more seasonal (cooler spring and fall conditions), and how Corey makes lion’s mane powder by dehydrating and processing the mushroom so people can cook with it or use it in homemade tinctures. We talk realistic yields from a five-pound block, what a “flush” is, how many flushes you might get, and what to expect in that first 1 to 2 weeks after you bring a kit home. Finally, we cover mushroom spores, when they’re just a bit of white dust, and when serious growers need to think about respirators and airflow.
If you like practical outdoor skills that you can do year-round, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend who loves food and the woods, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What mushroom would you try growing first?
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Under The Canopy Theme Setup
SPEAKER_09As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear. But they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Ola, and I was honored to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as Chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal applications used by indigenous peoples all over the globe. After nearly a decade of harvest, use, testimonials, and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession. And I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of this strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. So join me today for another great episode, and hopefully, we can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy.
Listener Feedback And Life Updates
SPEAKER_09All right, well, we want to thank all our listeners as always. Appreciate you taking the time and to respond. Actually, we had some good responses on the uh in regards to the fir tree die-off with the root competition with David uh last uh last week's program, so that's gone over very well. And it's nice to get responses from people to know that uh they're listening and that it actually had an impact as the the the one Halliburton individual was very receptive to to uh the information because they couldn't figure out why all their furs were dying off. So that's good that's good information. And and I I should have asked David a couple of other questions like can you fertilize to minimize the die-off of the furs? Because the furs at our place they they kind of provide uh, you know, um uh out of sight, out of mind sort of thing at the cottage, the camp. So anyways, we'll figure that out and I'll get in touch with them. And if I get an answer from David, I will let you know. But as always, we appreciate the listeners all across Canada, the states, etc. etcetera, through well, Ghana, the Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, the Caribbean, our friends in the Bahamas, Bermuda, and all the other listeners. But if you have any questions, let us know. If you got any suggestions for a show, let us know as well. We see what we can figure out for you. And I gotta tell you that uh Gunner, Ensign Gunner, my chocolate lab, lately he's been he's been getting along pretty good with uh my son's uh and daughter-in-law's uh uh dog Bell. And he um he uh actually they're they're kabitsing around and playing a lot, which is kinda nice to see. At first they were at odd ends and they distance themselves from each other, but now they're like long lost friends, which is great. But he's teaching her bad things too. So now guess who else wants her teeth brushed occasionally? She'll uh when Gunnar comes in and stands between the sink and me, she'll come in at the end of the the the bathroom with the doors open and she'll look down like, what's going on down there? And yeah, I can brush her teeth and she doesn't mind, so now I'm brushing two dogs' teeth to see if I can make a difference for 'em. But that's okay. And other than that, I think everything else is is doing well. I mean, the bugs aren't bad, and we're getting wood cut and split and hauled and and uh working on a getting a gas-powered weed or to clean out the area where we go in and do a road trip in to get uh into where we do a lot of cutting on Rolly's property. But uh a lot of uh down trees in there and and also where else the other places where we go as well. So that's good. Okay.
Meet Corey And His Farm
SPEAKER_09So today we're gonna talk mushrooms with Corey, who has the business mushrooms of the valley. Welcome to the podcast, Corey.
SPEAKER_10Oh, thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, no problem.
SPEAKER_10Where about are you located? Uh we're located uh just off the uh Madawaska River on uh Hastings Highlands there, kind of nestled away uh alongside the river, uh in a nice uh forested spot.
SPEAKER_09Okay, so from Toronto, because our international listeners wouldn't know roughly whereabouts are you from Toronto?
SPEAKER_10Oh, we're about a three and a half hour drive. Uh that would be uh I guess uh uh north northeast northeast? North northeast, yeah.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, of Toronto, about three and a half hours. All right, Corey. So I now you've I you've got a setup here with all kinds of different mushrooms, like you got some pink oysters here.
SPEAKER_10That's right, yeah.
SPEAKER_09And tell us about the mushrooms that you grow.
SPEAKER_10Well, uh, we grow uh you know a variety of mushrooms there, uh primarily mushrooms that grow uh on wood there, so we can do a lot of different variety
Oyster Varieties And Grow Kits
SPEAKER_10with that. Uh, and also uh keep things uh simple that all grow the same, uh as well as uh having uh you know a little bit of versatility on uh and uh options what we can grow for mushrooms.
SPEAKER_09So you got pink oysters and what uh what if ones are these here in the bags?
SPEAKER_10So these are uh pink oysters here. Uh we also have for the uh mushroom grill kits there's uh a white oyster or an alum oyster, and uh we also have the golden oyster. Yep. Uh uh sometimes we bring out uh our lion's main mushrooms, uh, and also a couple other uh varieties of mushrooms that are kind of uh uh seasonal, that that like cool temperatures.
SPEAKER_09All right, so now these grill kits, um Corey, what's what's a grow kit so our listeners uh know what what a grow kit is?
SPEAKER_10Uh a grow kit is uh basically it's uh sawdust block, uh which is uh uh sawdust, which is the uh gross medium, yeah. The medium there that the mushroom uses to uh um uh feed off of there. Uh there's most little soy holes in there for uh added nutrition so uh we can get uh better yields. And then uh we also add uh mushroom spawn uh to the sawdust block there to inoculate them.
SPEAKER_09Okay, so you inoculate these blocks and this this bag, how big would this classify as this here?
SPEAKER_10Uh these are five-pound uh blocks, is what they call them there. So it's uh you know it's a nice uh nice size standard block there that we use.
SPEAKER_09And and what now you've got uh pink oysters and white oysters here. That's right. Yeah. What other ones uh do you carry in the in the blocks, Corey?
SPEAKER_10Uh we uh we offer uh lion's main mushrooms in a block or yeah, in a block. In a block. Uh we also have uh chestnut mushrooms. Okay. Um and prime primarily that's uh that that's what we have there. We also have another uh it's a king oyster variety, which is called uh Black Pearl King. So it's uh it's a nice hardy mushroom growing for its stem. And uh yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_09Very good. So now lion's mane mushroom, uh, I've been promoting a lot of lion's mane and I send a lot of people over to, but the growing conditions got to be right to be able to get those, correct?
SPEAKER_10Uh that's right. Yeah, the lion's mane mushrooms they primarily like when it's cool. So it's uh more of a spring and fall mushroom. Right. Uh it's not a kit that I offer uh, you know, in the peak of summer there, just uh being it's a little bit warm uh for their liking. So uh, you know, we we tend to do those ones uh more seasonal just so we can kind of uh make sure our customers uh have success and on uh what what they grow.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, and I noticed in Fungal Pharmacy the book where it goes into details about how lions may actually reconstitute neural pathways in the brain and spinal column. So supposedly it's supposed to assist individuals that have whether it's concussions or whether it's uh neurological disorders, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, dementia, and things like that. But uh it also stated that you needed to consume it for about three months of regular consumption in order to start to see a benefit. And then if you drop off using it, then it drop, then it reverts back. So, and now you've got so you've got, I see you've got uh which one's this one here, a yellow?
SPEAKER_10Oh, let's see here. Yeah, there's the golden oyster. So that's a mixed bag there of uh different oyster varieties in there. So and you have mushroom powder, I see, as well.
SPEAKER_09So what's the powder?
SPEAKER_10Uh well this is the uh the lion's main powder here that you were just talking about here, with uh it's uh you know, we offer it in a dehydrated uh form here. So uh you know it offers uh we you know for its medical uh benefits there. Uh so it's offered in just uh pure mushroom uh powder. So I just dehydrate them, uh run them through the food processor and package it like this. So uh gives people uh the option to uh use it for uh cooking, uh or you can also use it for uh you know making your your homemade uh uh alcohol extracted uh tinctures to get you know uh all the uh all of what the mushroom has to offer, all its benefits. Very good. Very good. So Corey, how did you get into mushroom growing? Um it's I would say um it's kind of always been something that I've been interested in. I've been interested in uh uh mushrooms uh you know since I was uh you know, probably in my early 20s, and it was just uh just a fascination of the uh you know the nature uh of the mushroom and its uh role in nature. And uh, you know, just uh we'll we'll say some of the uh the lessons I've learned along the way from my mushroom experience. And yeah, we'll leave it leave it at that, I I guess.
SPEAKER_09Sure. So and this here, is this um an artist conch, or is that looks almost like a rishi?
SPEAKER_10What is that? This is uh it was actually gifted to me uh by uh uh one of my customers there. So they're uh yeah, they're a good customer, and uh one day they said they they uh they decided that uh you know this uh nice artist conch uh with these uh cool artistic designs uh yeah would look good on the table. So I was happy to receive that.
SPEAKER_09Very good. Okay, Corey, how long uh have you been in uh doing mushrooms? You said about your 20s, so how long you've been doing this?
SPEAKER_10Um well I've been kind of interested in mushrooms for I would say probably uh you know uh 20 years, uh, you know, on the business uh end of things. Uh this is my uh fifth year uh you know doing doing the mushroom business.
SPEAKER_09Right. So and so how long do these um so how long does it take for mushrooms to grow? So you've got somebody buys this grow kit that you have for sale here. Yeah. Either the uh pink oysters or the white oysters, yeah. They take it, what do they do with the grow kit?
SPEAKER_10Uh basically I uh you know recommend uh to put them uh you know in the highest kind of humidity uh spot that they have. Uh, you know, if it's whether it's you know uh in the garden or you know, if you're not running nacy in your house, you can put on the counter or or your kitchen table. Now do you because you've got like sealed bags here, right? That's right. Yeah. Do you open the bag up? Yeah, I recommend uh look. I like to top fruit them there. So I just recommend uh cut the top of the uh the bag off and and uh you get um you know just a nice uh bouquet of uh you know mushrooms, kind of like we're looking here uh at on the table right now.
SPEAKER_09Yeah. So which is probably, you know, like a uh good size, what, a six-quart basket, maybe sort of kinda out of one flush here.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, I'd say uh on average, you know, on a five-pound block, uh, you know, with uh supplemented nutrition like we do, we get uh, you know, about a we average a pound and a half, you know, and uh
Lion’s Mane Uses And Powder
SPEAKER_10some of the some of the blocks are uh you know, they'll put out two pounds, uh two and two pounds plus uh sometimes.
SPEAKER_09Okay. Okay, so you've got these blocks, and and how many flushes would you get out of a block? Now that's what you call basically when they come out of flush, right?
SPEAKER_10Yeah, yeah. So uh what we're looking at right now is the first flush on the pink oyster here, and uh uh really I just uh I I advertise them as uh you know uh you get a couple of flushes there, but uh I mean if you take good care of it, you can get uh you know uh three plus flushes there. But uh, you know, uh you have to kind of take fair care of it there. So I don't want to kind of advertise it more more than it uh more than oversell.
SPEAKER_09That's right, yeah. And under yeah, under uh to provide for people. Okay, and so from the time that people get these mushroom kits, how long does it take for it actually to start to produce when you get it home?
SPEAKER_10Uh I say usually uh a week to two weeks. Uh there's a lot of different things that uh you know play into it, like uh you know the variety of mushroom, uh the moisture, the humidity, and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, primarily the temperature too. You know, when it's a little bit cooler, uh the mushrooms kind of tend to slow down uh, you know, uh when it's cooler, uh, when it's warmer, uh they tend to fruit a little uh a little faster.
SPEAKER_09So right. So when would you so what you do is you you have a bag here, yeah, and you put uh your uh your growth median in. That's right. Yeah. And then you inoculate it with uh um spore. Is that what you use or is it a mycelium inoculation? No, well we we use uh spawn there.
SPEAKER_10So uh we we go from uh uh uh cultures like a liquid culture. Uh we make spawn uh with from our cultures there, and uh we just use uh spawn bags to uh to spawn uh sawdust blocks there. Okay.
SPEAKER_09Yeah. So and is it any particular type of sawdust?
SPEAKER_10Uh I use it's uh they're hardwood fuel pellets there, so it's something that is uh uh it's uh consistent there. I know what I'm getting. Uh it's not kind of hit and miss there. So it's uh yeah, it allows us to be uh more consistent and uh know what we're gonna be getting.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, I know, and so uh with the Chaga, it does grow in other trees, but birch is the one where all the medicinal studies are because it extracts something very specific out of the birch bark being triterpenes
Flushes Yields And Home Setup
SPEAKER_09and then converts it into things that are beneficial to people. Um and I just wonder sometimes uh is because lion's mane, you've got quite a bit of lion's mane. And I see a lot of lion's mane growing on beach in the wild. But uh is it particular just using hardwood spawn uh or blocks to grow your lion's mane on?
SPEAKER_10Uh yeah, I just uh well the lion's mane it uh grows pretty standard with our uh oyster mushrooms here. So it's uh it makes uh luckily it makes everything convenient there, so uh we can just treat the uh you know the lion's mane mushrooms, uh, you know, like how we uh we treat the oyster mushrooms. They can just grow side by side with the uh same uh growing methods there, which uh makes makes things easy there for us.
SPEAKER_09So when you get um the uh the the like this pink oyster from your block um and it releases spores, is that something that people need to worry about?
SPEAKER_10Uh I don't think it's too big of a concern uh unless you're ha you have a lot of uh you know you're growing a lot of you know mushrooms, sir. Yeah. Uh but I think just uh you know if somebody wants to buy a kit and bring it home and uh if it if it does uh spore light on them, I think they're okay. Uh it will leave uh you know uh you know a white mess of spores around where you keep it. But I think really the only uh the only problem is if you have uh a lot of spores or you know, if you're you have a grow room where you know uh you have um you know shelves of them there, and it's uh it's not recommended to uh you know hang out in there uh without uh you know a respirator, uh definitely when your your mushrooms are uh spore lighting there.
SPEAKER_09So yeah, yeah, I know with the Chag I have a a curing room and I have air purifiers in there constantly going to uh to to reduce the amount of potential spore that's in the atmosphere. So uh and that's constantly going all the time. So see, so you've got give us a rundown, uh Corey, of all the different types of mushrooms that you carry.
SPEAKER_10Okay, well uh what we got here is uh let's go from uh we'll go from right to left here. So we have uh you know the classic uh lion's mane mushroom here. Yep. Uh this here is this is uh this is a new uh mushroom that I'm carrying here. It's uh it's an oyster mushroom variety, and it's called the Phoenix Oyster mushroom. Phoenix. Phoenix oyster, yeah. So it's uh it's a nice uh warm weather, warm-liking uh oyster mushroom that uh it tends to keep its uh nice gray color uh when you know other gray varieties like a pearl oyster tend to uh fade and become a little bit more white. So it's uh it's that's a nice uh a nice mushroom. Uh some other stuff here we have is we have the classic uh pink oyster mushroom, uh, which is definitely a nice eye catcher here for at the farmer's market, along with the uh the golden oyster or the the uh yellow oyster mushroom, which uh also is uh a nice uh eye-catching mushroom.
SPEAKER_09Oh yeah. Yeah, and um so what other ones do you know? You just had a a lady here that uh mentioned about some of the mushrooms that the other ones that you had here that aren't on the table from before foraged ones?
SPEAKER_10Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes uh uh you know we uh head out into the forest, uh, you know, and uh we have a couple of uh uh chanterelle uh patches there that uh we like to go and uh uh uh forage and uh and pick. Uh yeah, and sometimes uh if people are lucky we can uh get some bags of uh chanterelles uh out on the table as well as uh you know there's uh sometimes we have porcini uh mushrooms. Um haven't come across any black trumpets here. Okay, to be honest here, but uh maybe we'll get lucky this season.
SPEAKER_09Uh we'll we'll see. But with mushrooms, you've
Spores Safety And Substrate Choices
SPEAKER_09got to make sure what you're getting because uh there a lot of times there's look-alikes that can be very problematic, right? That's that's definitely right. So something to be do careful with. So, um, Corey, how can uh people find out more? Or are you online to sell mushrooms and do the these sort of things ship and stuff like that?
SPEAKER_10Uh well we we are online. Uh, you know, I have uh Instagram and uh Facebook page there. So if anybody wanted to uh check the page out or uh reach out, I uh urge people uh to go on to Instagram or Facebook. And my my business is uh called Mushrooms of the Valley, but uh we're we're under uh mushrooms and wood. Uh so you'll want to look for that name and the logo is uh it's a um a pink oyster mushroom there, so it's a nice pink oyster mushroom logo there, so which it should stand out, and uh yeah, we're we're we're pretty pretty easy to find. Sounds good.
SPEAKER_09Okay, Corey, you mentioned uh that uh um where you can actually uh you have your website and stuff like that. But where can people see you, like where we are right now?
SPEAKER_10Uh well uh we can uh we can be seen over in the uh Halliburton uh market on uh Tuesdays from uh uh 10 till 2. Okay. Do you other do other markets as well? Uh we're located in uh Deep River, and that's on uh uh every second Saturday, and that's from uh 10 till 12 30. So uh the last Deep River market was last weekend, so this coming weekend uh we're gonna be off and then uh on again on the on the next coming Saturday. Okay,
Foraging Finds And Lookalike Risks
SPEAKER_10good.
SPEAKER_09Now, uh Corey, you do some other stuff here. You got some specially wood stuff here, which is kind of kind of interesting. So kind of give us a rundown of of some of the woods that you have here and what you do with them.
SPEAKER_10Uh well, we got a different variety of wood here. So uh most of the wood I uh I uh harvest and uh mill myself at the chainsaw mill. So we got everything from uh uh cherry, uh uh cherry burl, uh there's apple wood, uh we got spotted maple and uh walnut, but I uh I sourced my walnut from uh down south there. Oh yeah, where it uh grows naturally. We don't have that up here. So uh and uh and and that's the majority of what we got for uh for our wood species here.
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SPEAKER_11How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges? I'm your host, Steve Fitzwicky, and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor Journal Radio Network's newest podcast, Diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people. Share their stories of our trials, tribulations, and
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SPEAKER_02Meanwhile, we're sitting there bobbing along trying to figure out how to catch a bass, and we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing job.
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