North Spore

Mushroom Cultivation, Foraging, and Education What began as a love for mushroom foraging has developed into an obsession with all things fungi.

Our mission is to provide access to the mycological world through innovative mushroom cultivation, spawn production, and research. North Spore is the brainchild of three college friends with an admiration for all things related to the mycological world. That passion for foraging has evolved over time: these days any of us are likely to be found in our cultivation rooms growing oyster mushrooms, sh

iitakes, lion's mane, chestnut mushroom, king trumpets, and pioppinos, or tincturing the myriad medicinal polypores that grow in the Maine woods. Maybe we are at Fork Food Lab in Portland sautéing sh*takes with mirin and tamari; or perhaps it's the dried porcinis and chanterelles from our last mushroom walk that are taking the stage. North Spore produces 100% of the spawn used at its facility and also makes sawdust, plug, and grain spawn for other commercial and enthusiast growers. We take our commercial spawn customer's needs seriously and are fortunate to have both a mycologist with a Master's Degree in the field and a trained lab technician overseeing our in-house laboratory, culture bank, and spawn production. Regardless of whether we are sharing our favorite mushroom dishes, our knowledge of mushroom foraging and cultivation, or simply our overwhelming admiration for this often overlooked biological kingdom, we are striving to be a community hub for fungi enthusiasts; a place where people learn to love mushrooms as we do.

06/08/2026

Experienced foragers spend as much time studying habitats, weather patterns, and seasonal changes as they do looking for mushrooms. Different species thrive in different environments, from grazed pastures and forest edges to wood-chip beds and coastal dunes. Learning where a species grows, when it fruits, and what conditions trigger its appearance can turn an ordinary walk into a successful hunt. The best foragers aren't just searching for mushrooms, they're learning to read the landscape.

Read the full article on Substack: https://northspore.substack.com/p/where-in-the-world-do-psilocybin

The preview is free, but full access requires a subscription. Substack subscriptions allow us to keep producing independent, research-backed content on the topics that matter most.

Join our community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4289850731233580/

Join our community on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/northspore/

This post is for educational purposes only.

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06/07/2026

Shady garden corners and unused spaces are perfect for Plant & Grow Mushroom Starter Blocks.

Since mushrooms don't rely on sunlight the way plants do, they can help you get more production from areas that might otherwise go unused.

Black King mushrooms like these are known for their thick stems, meaty texture, and impressive yields. For even better results, growing them in a MycoSphere garden bed helps maintain the humidity and fresh air they need to thrive while offering protection from the elements.

Get started here: https://northspore.com/collections/plant-grow-mushroom-garden-blocks

06/05/2026

Have you grown your own Enoki mushrooms yet?

Enoki is one of the most unique gourmet mushrooms you can grow at home. Unlike most mushrooms, Enoki prefer it cool (45–65°F / 7–18°C), which means summer growing does require a little planning. The easiest solution is an air-conditioned room or basement. If you can keep your space comfortably cool, you're already halfway there. Humidity is the other key factor: they need it high when the first tiny pins (baby mushrooms) are forming, then just slightly lower as those pins grow into full mushrooms. An automated grow chamber like a Boomr Bin or BoomRoom in an AC-cooled space is a great summer setup, giving you control over humidity and airflow while your AC handles the temperature.

Check out the link here: https://northspore.com/products/organic-golden-enoki-mushroom-grow-kit-fruiting-block to get started!

Video by Jenna Nimri

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06/04/2026

A single dose produced sustained nerve pain relief in mice for up to a month, long after the drug itself had left the body. Rather than simply blocking pain signals, the compound appears to physically restructure the brain's pain-processing networks, resetting them to a healthier baseline. When researchers administered gabapentin (a widely prescribed nerve pain medication that fails 30-50% of patients) weeks after, it suddenly worked far more effectively, providing relief lasting up to four days. In untreated mice, gabapentin's effects were dramatically weaker.

Scientists believe this "priming" effect could offer a new treatment strategy: a single psychedelic dose that makes existing, non-addictive medications work the way they were always supposed to.

Read the research: https://neurosciencenews.com/psilocybin-brain-pain-neurology-30750/

Learn more: https://northspore.substack.com/s/the-psychedelic-room

Join our community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4289850731233580/

Join our community on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/northspore/

This post is for educational purposes only.

06/03/2026

Ready to take on a new container gardening method?

Growing mushrooms in buckets is a simple and effective way to increase your food output at home. A mushroom bucket setup like our MushBucket uses straw, a container with ventilation holes, and mushroom grain spawn.

Buckets can be kept outdoors or placed in more controlled environments such as greenhouses or grow tents like our BoomRoom, where temperature, humidity, and airflow can be managed more easily. Once you understand these key factors of mushroom cultivation, you’re already well on your way. These setups usually get 2-3 flushes of mushrooms on their own, and more if you replenish straw and/or spawn.

Get started here: https://northspore.com/products/mushbucket?variant=42869856075878

Photo by customer Joy

06/02/2026

Liquid Culture is a nutrient-rich solution where mushroom mycelium grows and multiplies in suspension - and a little can go a long way.

In this video, Mycrodex shows how to make and clone liquid culture to expand genetics and prepare inoculant for grain bags, jars, etc.

And to celebrate all you Fungi Fathers out there - our Father’s Day sale starts now. Grab a liquid culture syringe while they're Buy One Get One Free: https://NorthSporeCreator.sjv.io/B5bAX0

05/31/2026

During a psychedelic session, music acts as a "co-therapist," guiding patients through emotional breakthroughs that predict long-term mental health outcomes better than almost any other measurable factor.

Research shows music is the stimulus most reliably proven to evoke emotion in humans, and the specific qualities of the music like tempo, timbre, and emotional arc, can shape which parts of the psyche a patient accesses. Despite decades of use, almost no research has focused on which music works best, and for whom - a gap this new thesis from the University of Colorado Denver is working to close.

Read the research: https://www.proquest.com/openview/e72a5be637a4d42eb625824108359d7e/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y

Join our community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4289850731233580/

Join our community on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/northspore/

This post is for educational purposes only.

05/28/2026

Ever wondered what it looks like to grow magic mushrooms at scale?

We recently visited Lost Garden Labs and Therapeutics in Colorado to document their cultivation practices. Since 2025, they have been licensed in the state of Colorado to produce natural medicine in accordance with the Natural Medicine Division.

Special thanks to Josh Walker for sharing his story with us!

Check out the full video on our YouTube channel and let us know what you think! https://youtu.be/yXkRHVWkbY8?si=Yq1uO3XtQFuoMGHe

This video is for educational purposes only.

05/27/2026

"Is it bad if mushrooms grow in my garden? How do I get rid of them?"

🛑🛑🛑

Consider what those mushrooms are actually telling you. They're the fruiting bodies of fungi whose mycelial networks run silently through your soil, breaking down dead organic matter, recycling nutrients, and connecting plant roots in ways that actively support everything growing around them. Healthy fungi mean healthy soil. And even better, if you choose which mushrooms are growing in your garden, you can also have more food!

Wine Caps thrive in wood chip beds and improve soil structure as they grow; Oyster Mushrooms will happily decompose that old stump you've been meaning to deal with. Rather than getting rid of them, learn what you have - a good field guide or local mycology group can help you identify your visitors safely. Your garden isn't under attack, she's thriving.

Choose your garden mushrooms here: https://northspore.com/collections/all-outdoor-mushroom-growing

Join our gardening with mushrooms communities to connect with other growers and get support and advice:

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1253859376681007/

On Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/gardeningwithfungi/

05/26/2026

Why do some mushroom strains fruit like crazy while others barely produce?

The answer lies somewhere most growers never think to look: genetics. Fungi are unlike anything else in the living world, as they carry two genomes at once, with thousands of mating types and evolution playing out in real time. Understanding this biology can change how you source, select, and grow.

Read the full article in Substack: https://northspore.substack.com/p/the-growers-guide-to-mushroom-genetics

Join our community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4289850731233580/

Join our community on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/northspore/

This post is for educational purposes only.

Address

921 Riverside Street
Portland, ME
04103

Telephone

+12073520264

Website

http://www.northspore.com/

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