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As with anything one needs most when deciding to grow something for profit, one really needs good solid knowledge from the “Specialists”.
About 10 to 12 years ago Carl and I went to a place called “The Farm” in Summertown, Tennessee to take a workshop to learn how to grow Shitake Mushrooms.
I do not even remember how I came across a workshop about this and it just seemed interesting so we drove over there to find it in the Oak/Hickory Forests of Tennessee. At one time it had been a large commune started in 1971 mostly with students from the San Francisco area being in a wooded area of about 125 to 150 acres or perhaps more and the idea was to start a utopian society which came under the eye of J. Edgar Hoover from 1971 to 1991.
Needless to say between the time it started in 1971 there was a major increase of people coming there until it reached about 1000 people and by the mid to late 1980’s there became a decrease and by the time we drove in to the workshop in the woods which were loaded with the remnants of the old school buses and other makeshift dwellings such as geodesic domes that were slowly wearing out and falling apart as a result of abandonment, there seemed to be a sadness about the place.
We arrived at “The Farm’s” remaining buildings with its small remaining group of people who were giving this workshop and I believe today in 2008 The Farm supports about 250 men, women and children who continue to live in spiritual harmony and conduct the Shitake Mushroom workshop and who raise Shitake Mushrooms for profit.
This place is a great place to go to should you really wants to learn how to organically raise Shitake Mushrooms commercially and for profit. They teach you how the mushrooms are raised on logs about 3 feet long stacked in tripod piles or in layers with mushroom spore put on them. The wooded area greatly helps these stacks of wood to grow lovely mushrooms quickly.
The workshop was $50.00 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and included lunch. Currently in 2008 the price and schedule is still the same. You can Google the words The Farm, Summertown, Tennessee and come to their website to learn more.
It was a truly worthwhile experience and we came away knowing exactly how to do it and we heartily recommend this place as “The Experts” in this field simply because they not only have the “know-how”, but will sell you spore, books, manuals and whatever you need to start a profitable Shitake mushroom business in a small wooded area.
This is an interesting place to go to because they teach other workshops on other things and from the look of their website they have upgraded themselves greatly and seem to be coming back again to what was considered at one time the largest and most successful commune in the United States.
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site.”
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