Hi all,
I moved to the South of France to start a small permaculture farm. I currently am focusing on mushroom cultivation and am having a ton of trouble finding correct substrates and local mushroom knowledge in general in this region ( I am up in the French alps, about 30 min from Monaco, there are zero mushroom cultivators out here for some odd reason! )
I purchased shiitake and oyster plug spawn recently and was hoping to find a good tree species locally to inoculate. Also, I have been cutting off the butts of some local mushrooms (store bought) and attempting to create mycelium over the winter indoors. My problem is which substrate to inoculate after. Turns out there are VERY few trees available that are not pine. I am currently organizing cutting a small oak tree down, but it's become very complicated finding any options that are not A.extremely expensive B. ALL pine or Olive tree. I was considering straw, but straw is VERY expensive here and I don't have a spot to pasteurize it currently. I know there are a ton of other options to use for substate, but I am feeling a bit confused on what is best. I have a ton of goat poop, but it I am hesitant to attempt to inoculate it, as I have only heard of people using horse and cow poop. I also have 6 compost piles that I till every other day.
Does anyone have any substrate suggestions for me? OR any suggestions in general of different ideas that include less wood/straw and more compost/creative substrates?