As more and more people are making the effort to grow food in their homes and gardens, it has becoming apparent that all home food plots are not created equal. Sunlight and space are precious commodities in our urban environments, and typical homegrown fruits, veggies, and herbs need prime real estate to thrive.

For this reason, more and more urban farmers and eco-home enthusiasts are trying their hand at mushroom log cultivation. Buildings and trees often shade free space to the point where it is impossible to grow fruit and vegetables--but edible and medicinal fungi can be grown on logs where there is only marginal sunlight. Plus, if properly cared for, mushrooms logs can provide many years of nutritious food.

Mushrooms don't require contact with soil, and can be grown indoors. According to the book Toolbox For Sustainable City Living (A Do-it-Ourselves Guide) by Scott Kellogg and Stacy Pettigrew, mushrooms can be successfully grown on fire escapes, rooftops, or even hung by ropes from the sides of buildings, and only need to be protected from wind and intense sun. They can be kept moist with occasional watering.

So why grow mushrooms on logs? By cultivating mushrooms on logs, you are mimicking the natural process of fungi growing on dead trees. You can 'plant' mushrooms into a log by drilling holes into the wood and inserting plug spawn (find more information about plug spawn here), inoculating the log. Eventually, the fungi colonize the entire log, and mushrooms will begin to grow on its sides within six months to two years.

Here is a concise list of some common mushrooms you might want to try, as found in Toolbox For Sustainable City Living (A Do-it-Ourselves Guide):

Edible/Medicinal:

Oyster

Shiitake

Maitake, or Hen of the Woods

Chicken of the Woods

Lion's Mane

Medicinal:

Reishi

Turkey Tail

Chaga (grows only on birch trees) 

 Photo credit: rarebirdfinds.typepad.com