Bountiful mountain pilot project 2005
The purpose of this project is to look closely at the feasibility of cultivating and marketing shiitake mushrooms as an alternative enterprise to generate income for underemployed individuals.
The project undertook very limited-scale cultivation of mushrooms to be sold at local farmers’ markets. It afforded an opportunity to identify partnering groups to link Global Homestead with potential cultivators (see Bountiful Mountain project description) as well as partners who may sponsor the eventual larger project through funding or other support. The pilot’s success will be evaluated in October 2005, with the possibility of seeking funding for its expansion in 2006. Because the production of mushrooms requires a year and a half to yield real results, and because the existing supply of inoculated logs at Slipperyslope is on its last and weakest year of production, it became necessary to engage in some sort of pilot operation to achieve continuity of even limited crop.
The pilot project involved two volunteer cultivators, suppliers, managers and marketers. Ten (five-foot) logs were established to be soaked and harvested to provide limited production in 2006. The existing 45 logs (inoculated in 2000) were soaked and harvested for 2005 production and sale.
