Berea College Mushrooms

Website: www.berea.edu/gardensgreenhouse/

USDA Certified Organic

The Berea College Mushroom team includes Micah Johnson, Miranda Hileman, Sarah Kuhn, Camille Hyberger, Meike Schleiff, and Karen Josephson under the direction of Andrew Oles, Assistant Farm Manager and Dr. Sean Clark, Associate Professor of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Chairperson.

Shitake Mushrooms at Berea College
Our mushrooms are organically grown in a shady grove next to our organic gardens. The logs on which the mushrooms grow are harvested by students, staff, and foresters from the college forest where trees are thinned out for a healthier forest and we get our mushroom logs at the same time. We inoculate the logs ourselves by hand with shitake mycelium and then the mushrooms logs are stored in the greenhouse and watered daily over winter. In the spring they are stacked like log cabins under trees and bear crops in spring and fall. The mushrooms are harvested by hand, sorted carefully and packed fresh on market day for sale to local customers.
Shitakes are a meaty, full-flavored mushroom great for grilling, sautéing, or putting in stews. Use shitake mushrooms on pizza, in calzones and sandwiches, in a hearty stew, or stuff them with your favorite mushroom stuffing. Shitakes are best in spring and fall when they are fresh and tender.
-Meike Schleiff, Mushroom Team