Yes, I love talking about it! I should say upfront that we're in the Chicago area, so what you'd be able to grow outside may differ depending on where you live.
*What kind of mushrooms are you growing?
We have the following set up: shiitake (logs), lion's mane (logs, bags with substrate), chestnut mushrooms (logs, bags with substrate), blue oyster (logs - made last weekend), snow oyster (logs - made last weekend), and winecap mushrooms (woodchip beds outside).
*Which ones did you find to be a better deal based on the effort/output ratio?
We have gotten a TON of winecaps from the woodchip beds. You'll need to add fresh woodchips periodically but otherwise, take a look after a good rainfall when the weather is cool/not too hot, and see what's growing. We have started putting wire cloches on top when we see them starting to grow. That way they can get bigger without being nibbled by chipmunks before we harvest. The next largest/easiest output is shiitakes growing on logs.
The least great so far is our chestnut mushroom logs... we're still holding out hope but it's a trickier type to grow anyway. The bag of chestnut mushrooms are doing well.
And ones we tried that did not work for woodchip beds: morels (such a long shot anyway), blewits. They might have worked under other circumstances, so I don't want to give them a bad rep.
When we hear about someone losing trees, or if there's a storm and a lot of limbs have fallen, we go out and collect logs of the right size.
My partner and his mom had a large growing tent with bag after bag of lion's mane, which produced a lot, but their method was a bit more intensive. I mean, once they set up the humidifer, etc, it was less so.
*How do you handle spores? Do you wear any protective equipment so you don't breath them in?
We have played with growing from spores some, but those are trickier because you need a truly sterile environment to make sure other fungus and other microbes aren't invading your substrate. We had one batch that worked well (our first one, woe to our humility) and then a few failed batches. My partner would lock himself in the shower, wear a mask and gloves, spray everything with alcohol to sterilize the environment and then handle the inoculation into the grain bag.
Generally we buy plug spawn or grain spawn, where the mycelium has already fully colonized.
We haven't worried about spores from growing mushrooms inside - not sure if that was your question! We don't generally wear any protective equipment while tending or harvesting them. We sterilize equipment between batches and after harvesting though.
*Are you able to propagate or you have to buy spores all the time??
With the bags, you can get perhaps up to three flushes before the mycelium eats through the substrate. Even then, the mycelium could survive if you transfer it to something new to grow in.
The logs last up to several years - we haven't burned through our first ones yet (from 2-3 years ago?), as they're still producing. Last weekend we held a "workshop" and invited friends to come help us make new logs, so we can keep the cycle going.
We haven't harvested spores from ours, though it is possible.
*Where did your original stock come from?
We got most of our stuff from NorthSpore, which is an online retailer. They have loads of information and videos and say how easy/difficult the various types are to grow.
