Mushrooms, such as shiitake, oyster, and morel, are perhaps the most well known edible non-timber forest product. Long-valued for their culinary and medicinal properties, specialty mushrooms have been enjoyed locally and they are widely used.

For generations, many forest landowners have supplemented their income by gathering or cultivating special forest products (SFP) or non-timber forest products (NTFP) from forest lands. These products offer numerous new opportunities for increased income generation for forest landowners. However, without adequate planning these enterprises may have risks and may foster economic growth without assurances that forest resources are managed in a sustainable fashion.

Before exploring new business opportunities, there is an urgent need to examine the markets for these products and to integrate these products into forest stewardship plans. Native Americans traditionally used plants and plant products for food and medicine, and shared this knowledge with early settlers. These traditional forest products had become an integral part of rural economies. But for the most part, this knowledge has been ignored or forgotten.

Click the "Resources" tab above to explore the mushroom enterprise opportunties.

University of Maryland Extension Publications

Western Maryland Research & Education Center:  Rural Enterprise Series – Shiitake Mushroom Series
http://www.naturalresources.umd.edu/Pages/RES_11Shiitake.pdf

Shiitake Mushroom Production and Marketing – although in draft, this document will give you a lot of information including names of varieties.
http://www.naturalresources.umd.edu/Pages/Shiitake.htm

Other State Extension Links

See link “Throw and Grow Mushrooms”
http://www.extension.psu.edu/cnregion/hort/newsletter/hort_jun02.htm#Throw

Mushrooms
http://panen.psu.edu/snap/material/mushrooms/mushroom_newsletter.pdf

Mushroom Vocabulary
http://mushroomspawn.cas.psu.edu/Glossary_Final.pdf

Growing Button Mushrooms
http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/9490/2/Button%20Mushrooms.pdf

Mushroom Production Basics
http://hwwff.cce.cornell.edu/learning.php?unit=4&section=Mushroom%20Production%20Basics

Mushroom Blog
http://hosts.cce.cornell.edu/mushroom_blog/?page_id=4

The Virtual Gardener – Fun with Fungi
http://ecgardening.cce.cornell.edu/email/May07/PageThree.html

Agencies, Associations and Government Links

National Arbor Day – Backyard Woods Education Program – See Chapter 11 “Grow and Collect Special Forest Products”
http://www.arborday.org/backyardwoods/guide.cfm

Maryland DNR:  Indian Springs Wildlife Management Area – “Gourmet cooks from far and wide come to collect fresh edible wild mushrooms.”  Located in Washington County
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/indiansprings.asp