Jim spoke of the 'mushroom surveys' that his organization, SOMAmushrooms.org offer here in Sonoma County, finding and cataloguing all the species of mushrooms on a given piece of land.
After his talk I asked if he could recommend a local mushroom supplier, who sells substrate sealed in large perforated plastic bags, the type used for commercial mushroom growing.
When I described the oyster mushroom grow in the Mediamatic tower systems, he told me that he had heard such things exist in Europe, but had not seen any photos of the bags growing.
He said that commercial operations here typically boil entire bales of straw to use as substrate in 55-gallon drums full of water for 4 1/2 hours to sterilize them, then set the bales in a sealed room in a building and spray them with spores.
Treasure those substrate bags that can be bought by the pallet load, people!
I'll be forwarding him photos of our mushroom substrate bags and harvest, perhaps they will someday also be offered for sale over here.
Sonoma County Mycological Associations' URL: