Wholly Shiitake Mushrooms

Well, looks like it's not just Italian Oysters that are being grown by NTFP students. This weekend, our class had the extreme pleasure of visiting local shiitake mushroom expert, Steve Sierigk. 

He welcomed us to his beautiful home with open arms, and taught us how to inoculate logs with shiitake mushroom spawn. We all took turns with the power drill (woot, power tools), the spawn inoculators, and the hot wax to seal the moisture in. We inoculated over 20 logs! Look below to see what this process looks like:

Each hole that was drilled was filled with shiitake spawn mixed with sawdust. These holes were covered with hot wax. 

Steve was very informative and enthusiastic about his work. Although the weather was quite cold, our hearts were warmed by Steve's passion. We were joined by his loving wife, Ann, and his two lovable dogs. We were fed the most delicious shiitake soup, venison chili, chocolate brownies, and carrot cake--all homecooked, of course!

This soup was the shiit...ake.

Steve gave us a tour of his entire shiitake farm, which was part of his 100+ acre land. It was incredible to see how much manual labor is put into this process. Steve told us that this year, they are inoculating 500 logs! Although many logs are used, he prefers to use oak logs for shiitakes. The logs that we inoculated this weekend will begin to fruit in April...2013!

A glance at part of Steve's shiitake farm.

 All in all, it was an amazing experience. We thank Steve and his wife so much. The coolest part is that growing shiitakes isn't even Steve's main profession! He works as an artist for a local eco-friendly paper products company called, Acorn Designs. Check them out! And feel free to contact Steve if you're interested in helping out with the shiitakes this summer!

The class showing their inoculated logs off (Steve is in the back right with the blue hat)!

DID YOU KNOW: Our professor, Jason Hamilton, informed us that "shii" means "oak," and "take" means "mushroom." So the literal translation of shiitake is "oak mushroom." No wonder Steve prefers to use oak logs!

What's the Buzz?

What kind of bee drops things?

A fumble bee.

What did the bee say to the flower?

Hello honey!

Who is a bee's favorite singer?

Sting.

Why so many bee jokes? 
BEE-cause...bee season is starting!


The NTFP class is beginning preparations for our bees. This year we are making some changes/improvements to our hives so that we can produce more products (bees wax, propolis, honey, and more!)


BEE prepared for a lot of silly bee puns and jokes this upcoming month!

This little honey is one of our very own!

Sappy Poem

The end of syrup season's here,
for all, it's a sad time of year.
We had so much fun,
but alas, sap is done,
so now the Sugarbush is clear.

We loved all of your support,
whether you bought one bottle or a quart.
And from your kind money,
we'll make tasty shrooms and honey,
of which you can make into a nice torte?

We also thank the maple trees,
for they give us products with such ease.
And if it weren't for their sap,
that they allowed us to tap,
we'd be poorer than a homeless dog's fleas.

So as we continue to move on,
to bees and other mushroom spawn,
we'll keep in our brains
the syrup and its remains,
and how we no longer have to stay up till dawn!

Raisin' the Roof at the Open House

Yesterday, March 31, 2012 - a date which will live in infamy - the South Hill Forest Products class hosted the best maple syrup open house this world has ever seen!!

Maybe it's the maple syrup talking, but never has there been such a great mix a people enjoying some of nature's sweetest product. There was sap, there were pancakes, there were fires (that were safely contained in our fire pits)...we had it all! So this post goes out to everybody who made this event such a big success! We truly appreciate all of the support we've received from the Ithaca community. It was such a pleasure meeting/seeing you all and we hope you had as much fun as we did!

Check out some of the pictures from the event:

Two of our wonderful tour guides--guiding our guests through the Sugarbush

Another tour group checkin some buckets for sap

...but not as much as our syrup!

Our pancakes were a big hit

Please sir, can I have some more?

Friends and family came from all over...

just to have some syrupsiously sweet liquid gold.

So, as sad as we are to see the end of the syrup season, some would call it a bittersweet time--because now we have more time to focus on mushrooms and bee products!

(bee on the look out for more updates)

Now, Let's Review

South Hill Forest Products members would tell anyone that our mushrooms are the tastiest, most palatable, scrumdiddlyumptious mushrooms around, but what do our customers have to say about them? Josh Eckenrode is the owner of Ithaca's very own Cafe Dewitt and had some extremely kind words to share about the mushrooms he purchased from us:

"All of the chefs at Cafe Dewitt have been so thrilled by the quality and consistency of the oyster mushrooms from South Hill Forest Products. When I first opened the bag, I could not believe how beautiful the mushrooms were. Once I started cooking with them, I was even more pleased. We have been using the oyster mushrooms in omelette fillings, particularly with bacon, red onion and gryuere cheese. I have also used them in risotto with asiago cheese, and fresh herbs. The texture is so delicate and the flavor so full that I cannot wait to use them in more of our specials. Thank you South Hill Forest Products for the wonderful job you are doing; I cannot wait for the shiitakes!!!"

--Josh Eckenrode

Thank YOU, Josh...and everybody at Cafe Dewitt!

We are so glad that people are enjoying our products and we wouldn't be in existence if it wasn't for our beloved customers! More mushrooms are soon to come!

Double the Power!

New and exciting news! We now have 2 boiling pans which means... we can boil twice as much syrup and go 2x as fast! This means that there will be more syrup for everyone. Also, don't forget, our syrup comes in a variety of types and sizes: Light amber and medium amber in 16oz and 8.5oz containers.

A Sweet Week Ahead

Maple syrup production is in full swing, with boils happening every weekend for the past few weeks. Which means...we have lots of delicious syrup to sell, labored over for days (not kidding) and hand-bottled and labeled with love by real IC students!

We're happy to announce that we're selling our syrup out of our headquarters in CNS 282, and we will also be tabling in Campus Center this week. Starting tomorrow, Tuesday March 6th, you can stop by our syrup-selling station in front of Grand Central Cafe from 9am-3pm and buy some of our delicious syrup in pretty bottles that come in two sizes. We'll be tabling Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9-3, so come by and pick up a bottle for yourself, and another to bring home to the family for Spring Break!

Mushroom Spawn of the Dead

Alright, so "mushroom spawn of the dead" sounds like a movie about giant man-eating mushroom zombies...starring Simon Pegg.

What mushroom spawn of the dead is actually referring to is the pounds of oyster mushrooms that have recently spawned from the dead, decomposing organic matter (we use straw) in our indoor mushroom farm (in other words: we got mushrooms)!

Q: What's the most common mushroom pick-up line?
A: Baby, I'm no Fred Flintstone, but I'm a fungi who can
make your Bedrock.

They're delicious, they're nutritious, they're auspicious...and not at all fictitious! South Hill Forest products will be selling these delectable treats to the public as soon as we start getting a few more bags to fruit.

The really exciting part is that there are some wonderful restaurants in the area who want to purchase them! Some of the restaurants include: Fine Line Bistro, Cafe Dewitt, Bandwagon Brew Pub, and Felicia's Atomic Lounge (who just bought a couple pounds of our dried mushrooms!). So not only will you be served amazing food, but you will be supporting our local business!

Rochon Gets his South Hill Groove-On

When the Sugarbush was vandalized some weeks ago, one of the things that got ruined was our heavy-duty cart that we relied on to transport items to-and-from the syrup site. When Ithaca College's president, Tom Rochon heard about this, he graciously offered to pay for a replacement. This helps us out immensely because not only are we now equipped with a new cart, but it saves us a lot of money that we can now put towards ensuring more products of the utmost quality.

So this post is dedicated to President Rochon--defender of the Sugarbush--giving a new meaning to a Presidential Sweet.

Tom Rochon. What a guy.

Can't Keep The News Bottled Up

It's official. As of 7pm on February 11th, our first real batch of maple syrup has been boiled, bottled, and soon to be bought!

We got 22 bottles of sweet, delicious goodness and will be selling them as soon as they are labeled.

Check out some of our photos from the indoor boil:

The screening process is more intense than auditions for a Martin Scorsese film.

Syrup business is serious...the smiles are meant to intimidate...

Bottler? I barely even know her!

Cooling racks sure are...cool.

The final product (humans sold separately).

If You're Sappy and You Know it...Tap a Tree

Ithaca College's sugarbush is back in action. We managed to get ourselves out of a couple "sticky" situations and are now making products like it's 1999.

Although our first batch of sap accidentally burned to a crisp, we successfully ended our second outdoor boil last night! Right now we have about 2 gallons of sap that need to boil for a bit more in our indoor facility (so that we can control the amount of heat and carefully measure the sugar content of the sap).

Group of students using sandpaper to clean our badly burned pan. 

(it now looks brand-spankin-new)

We are also expecting our first batch of oyster mushrooms to fruit any day now.

AND, tomorrow (February 10th), a few members of the class will be attending a bee seminar, presented by the Finger Lakes Beekeeping Club to prepare us for our upcoming bee season. If you would like to know more about this event, click here!

That's all for now, but bee prepared for more updates!

Sad News...We Need Your Help!

This morning, some of our team went out to the sugarbush to find that the site had been vandalized. The metal hooks holding up the buckets were cut, with buckets lying on the ground, and the taps were pulled out of some 40 trees and stolen.

Luckily we had enough spare parts to re-tap all of the trees and great team of people that came to help get things back to normal. We're still going to have our first boil this weekend as planned!

One of the vandalized trees, with a red arrow pointing to a hook that was clipped off. Sap running down the tree :(
Photo Credit: Ireyena

Close-up of a clipped hook.
Photo Credit: Ireyena

Now we're just working on getting the word out about the vandalism and planning on talking to neighbors in the area to let them know and see if we can get any information. If you have any information about the incident, please contact Ithaca College Public Safety. They have an anonymous tip line you can call at (607) 274-1060. Thanks for your support!

And if you want to check out our interview about this incident with the Ithacan, click here!

Back in Action!

Taking advantage of the unusually warm winter with some recent day temperatures in the 50s, we have begun our sap collection early this year!  The sap is flowing, and on February 1st we began tapping our 75 sugar maples. There will be enough sap to boil by the weekend!

Sap dripping from a tapped tree.
Photo Credit: Sachiko

More to come soon!