Toshi has been growing shiitake for over 50 years. When I visited him in April 2024, he showed me the early stages of the growing process.

In these photos, he is drilling boreholes into aspen logs before inoculating them with a pneumatic spore gun. Finally, he caps each hole with a styrofoam plug.

After that, he took me to his greenhouse, where the mushrooms spend a few weeks growing in ideal conditions.