Educators from 9 schools across Windham County gathered at Wild Carrot Farm in early May to learn about mushroom cultivation from farmer Jesse Kayan and recently retired 3rd-grade teacher from Oak Grove Deb Pierotti. Not only is mushroom cultivation relatively simple once you have the right materials, but the connections to learning standards come easy, as demonstrated by past students’ work Deb brought to share. 

Mushrooms can look otherworldly and inspire awe. Their unique properties spark curiosity. One example is the Barometer Earthstar fungus, a few of which Deb brought to share. This mushroom opens or closes depending on its moisture level. Deb’s passion demonstrated that engaging lessons are those that not only captivate the student but the instructor as well. 

Learning scientific observation skills, writing and composition, and history through the lens of fungi helps make the content stick as well! Tara Davis, a parent at Oak Grove School, brought her son’s Mushroom Journal from when he was in Deb’s third-grade class, sharing that it had not only been a highlight of his year but his entire time at Oak Grove. 

Jesse helped make it easy to bring the workshop back to participants' schools. Along with Caitlin Burlett, Jesse’s wife and farming partner, they prepped logs, a wax station, and had pre-purchased spores to inoculate the logs. 

Each participant got to try out two different cultivation techniques: a “totem” method used slices of logs with shiitake spore sandwiched between them, and a “plug” method, where many holes are drilled into a log and filled with oyster spore. 

The main lesson learned was that it’s all about location. Armed with their two inoculated logs and some lesson ideas, Jesse tasked the participants to find a cool, dark, damp forest spot for their logs and to wait patiently for the mushrooms to emerge. In the meantime, we’re excited to see what new lessons and units grow out of this workshop!