We grow mushrooms commercially indoors in Buckhannon, West Virginia. But the most interesting mushroom growing we do isn't in the fruiting room. It's the eighty feet of forest edge behind the farm where we've been planting spent ShroomBag blocks for three years.

Appalachia is, climatically, one of the best places on earth to grow gourmet mushrooms outdoors. Humid summers. Mild winters. Hardwood forests full of oak, maple, beech, and tulip poplar, exactly the wood that oyster and Lion's Mane mycelium evolved to eat. If you live anywhere from the Catskills down to the Smokies, you have a backyard biome that wants to grow mushrooms for you.

Here's what we've learned. Most of it applies anywhere with humid summers and hardwood trees, not just the mountains.

Site selection

You're looking for somewhere that stays consistently damp and consistently shaded.

Good sites:

North-facing slope under hardwood canopy
The shady side of a building, especially near a downspout that keeps the soil moist
Inside an established woodchip bed (path edges, around shrubs)
The base of a north-facing stone wall
Under a deck if the soil below stays moist

Bad sites:

Anywhere with afternoon sun
Lawn (grass roots compete and dry out the surface)
Cedar chips or under cedar trees (cedar fights fungi)
Compacted soil where water pools and stagnates
Anywhere you mow regularly

The single best predictor of success is moss. If moss is growing there naturally, mushrooms will grow there too.

Three ways to plant a spent block

1. The wood chip bed (easiest, fastest)

This is what we do for Pink and Blue Oyster.

Lay down a 2-inch base layer of damp hardwood chips. Soak them overnight if they're dry.
Crumble the spent block onto the chips. Break it into pieces the size of golf balls.
Cover with another 2 inches of damp chips.
Top with a layer of leaf litter to hold moisture.

Water it weekly during dry stretches for the first month. Then trust the weather. Expect first outdoor flushes in 4 to 8 weeks if conditions are right, or in the next cool-and-wet shoulder season.

2. The log inoculation (best for long-term)

For Lion's Mane especially, freshly cut hardwood logs (oak, beech, sugar maple) are the right home.

Cut a log 3 to 4 feet long, 4 to 8 inches in diameter, from a living hardwood tree. Let it rest 2 weeks (sap needs to flow out).
Drill holes in a diamond pattern, 4 inches apart, 1.5 inches deep, around the entire log.
Pack each hole with a crumb of the spent block.
Seal each hole with melted beeswax.
Stack the log in deep shade, sitting on a couple of rocks so it doesn't touch the ground directly.

Logs fruit in their second year and can produce for 4 to 6 years before they're consumed.

3. The direct burial (laziest, surprisingly effective)

Dig a shallow trench in a shady mulched bed, lay the broken-up block in, cover with 2 inches of soil and mulch, and forget about it. We've had this work in unlikely spots just because the conditions happened to be right.

What to expect in each season

For West Virginia (USDA zone 6b/7a). Adjust for your climate.

Spring (April, May): First major outdoor oyster flushes after winter dormancy. Lion's Mane is silent.
Summer (June, August): Mostly dormant. Too hot for most gourmet strains. Water during droughts to keep mycelium alive.
Fall (September, November): The big show. Pink Oyster, Blue Oyster, and Lion's Mane all fruit in the cool, damp weeks. This is the season to harvest.
Winter (December, March): Dormant. Don't dig anything up. Let it sleep under leaf litter.

What we love about growing this way

We started this farm because we believe mushrooms are the most efficient way to produce nutrient-dense food at home. Indoor kits are one chapter of that story. The other chapter, the longer, slower, more beautiful chapter, is that you can take a $30 grow kit and turn a corner of your yard into a perennial food source.

In Appalachia we have the rare luck of living in a climate that wants to do this work with us. But this approach is not exclusive to these hills. If you live anywhere with hardwood trees and humid summers, your yard is ready. You just need to plant something into it.

We sell live ShroomBag kits across the country and answer questions about outdoor expansion at grow@mayamushroom.com. We will absolutely talk to you about your specific yard.

Growing mushrooms in Appalachia: a field guide for backyard fruiting