There’s a lot to be said for converting low-value materials into high-value products. This is commonly known as “upcycling.” In spring 2022 a group of Clay County producers met with University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension to learn how to transform cull trees into gourmet-quality food.  

Of course, the trees themselves are not a human food resource, but by inoculating the trees with edible mushroom spawn growers can reliably harvest high-quality mushrooms from small diameter. As an added bonus, producers don’t have to use good timber trees for this endeavor. Trees used for mushroom cultivation can often be harvested as part of ongoing forest stand improvement operations. This is important for several reasons.

First, approximately 85% of Clay County is in forest. Any agricultural enterprise should take advantage of the land’s existing resource, and Clay County has lots of forest. Second, while the county has lots of trees, many of these trees are of relatively low timber quality as a result of past management and wildfires. Edible mushrooms can be a good way to increase the value of low-grade trees. Finally, cultivation of edible mushrooms on logs has low startup costs and relatively rapid cashflow. This can be important for producers who want to minimize the financial risks inherent with beginning a new farm enterprise.  

Over the course of two sessions, 36 individuals participated in the 2022 mushroom cultivation workshops hosted by Clay County Cooperative Extension. Attendees received marketing advice and growing tips from Extension personnel and experienced growers, and were then provided an opportunity for experiential learning by getting to inoculate their own logs. Workshop participants inoculated approximately 90 logs. Additionally, all workshop participants were allowed to take inoculated logs home, which will allow them to gain further experience with mushroom development and harvesting.

We conservatively estimate the logs inoculated during the course of this workshop should produce approximately 300 pounds of mushrooms over the next 3 to 4 years. The main harvest from this project, however, was the educational value gleaned by the program participants.