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can predict the mushroom harvest. In fact, we know that a log will bear about a year after it is inoculated with the spore and a week after we soak it thoroughly in water for 24 hours.”
Like Bryan Hiromoto of Maui, Hawaii, and Torben Humie of Cubjac, France, the Ulfs subscribe to the Shiitake News, a publication of the Minnesota Forest Resource Center. Through the News, they learn of developments in the young science, find out about workshops and seminars and identify other growers. They visited William Hale of nearby Madison, who is now marketing dozens of pounds of shiitake a week.
From Hale and the Shiitake News the Ulfs were convinced of the importance of soaking the logs to control moisture. One couple in Wisconsin, in earlier days of shiitake research, threw all their logs in the pond and rounded them up with a rowboat. Hale, a dairy farmer, had a better way. He soaked his logs in a hog-scalding tub, a few at a time. The Ulfs use a large tub, too. This is just one of the steps in a laborintensive process resulting in the valuable shiitake. Ulf explained the steps.
“The trees are cut in February. You could cut them any time in winter when the sap is down,” he said.
In March, or any time after the logs are ready, inoculation begins. Shallow holes are drilled, the spore “planted” in the holes and a cellulose plug inserted to protect the spore.
The Ulfs stack their logs in various ways. One method, used for centuries
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