SUMMARY 

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In June of 2026, I travelled with my family to Moonlight Mountain Farm in Roxbury, Vermont. The farm is run by Kristen and Nick Laskovski, who produce meat, flowers and log-grown shiitake mushrooms on the land they are stewarding. 

Nick has been growing shiitake mushrooms for over 20 years, and the opportunity to spend time with him on the farm was an enormously valuable experience – and one that left me feeling prepared and empowered to take what I learned back to Epiphany School. We had arranged for a special consultation that covered all aspects of the cultivation of log-grown shiitake mushrooms, and especially as it relates to their production in the Northeast. 

What was appealing about partnering with Nick and Kristen is that they both have experience with teaching and translating these skills into a group setting through events that they run on the farm. I was particularly interested in how their knowledge could help me bring these skills into a school setting, with multiple participants and the need to arrange for different rotating stations – all connected to sawing, drilling, inoculating, and plugging the shiitake logs. 

Our workshop included a tour of the farm’s commercial operation, which allowed me to see the various elements that they’ve developed, including a logyard where the shiitake logs are in various stages of rest and preparation for fruiting. This was followed by a hands-on inoculation session, which involved the opportunity for me and my family to participate in each step of making a fully inoculated shiitake mushroom log. We completed six logs that are now included in Epiphany’s own collection. 

The learning and practice that took place on Moonlight Mountain Farm left me feeling really prepared to run a workshop through Epiphany’s Grads in the Garden program in July. Funds from the Fellowship allowed us to purchase all of the tools that would be necessary to run a successful operation, including the all-important shiitake mushroom spawn from Field and Forest Products in Wisconsin. And after traveling to New Hampshire to harvest a fresh Red Oak tree, we were finally ready to run our own workshop at Epiphany in July with our graduates. 

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Epiphany’s Grads in the Garden program is composed of twelve of Epiphany’s high school aged graduates. Running six weeks over the summer, it was the perfect opportunity to have the time and space that’s necessary for a project of this kind. On July 28th, we completed a workshop that allowed our grads to participate in the full process of shiitake log inoculation – cutting, drilling, inoculating and sealing. It was lots of fun, and I was really impressed with how much the students learned and with the questions they asked. Although it will be a year before the logs they made are ready to fruit, I’m already excited to see them again next summer for the chance to do some cooking! 

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Experience Summary 

1. How have your knowledge, skills, and capabilities grown? 

 

Even though I had prior experience with shiitake mushroom log cultivation, this opportunity greatly expanded my confidence and skills in terms of running a workshop here at Epiphany School. It resulted in a much more coherent inoculation process, and a learning experience for the students that was better grounded in the ecological connections and science behind it all. 

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2. As a result, in what ways will your instructional (or other) practice change? 

 

My hope and ideal next step is to run a workshop with Epiphany’s middle school students in the coming school year. That will require some additional adjustments from what we did this summer based on age, but I feel excited and ready to expand the program in this way. In particular, we did not have time to cook shiitakes this summer with the students, and that is a major goal for our work going forward. 

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3. What is the greatest personal accomplishment of your fellowship? 

 

My greatest accomplishment is the sense of connection that was made with Nick and Kristin at Moonlight Mountain Farm – and to have reconnected with the process of inoculating shiitake mushrooms in a school setting. It’s wonderful to now be equipped with the tools and materials to grow our program with additional workshops and with new students in the future. 

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4. How will your experience positively impact student learning in new ways? 

 

With shiitake mushroom inoculation, it’s really hard to imagine a more ideal hands-on learning experience and opportunity for students. It encapsulates a huge amount of science, ecology, and history in a single activity, and it results in an “artifact” – the inoculated logs themselves – that can extend the opportunity to learn far into the future! 

 

5. What are your plans to work collaboratively with colleagues? 

Shiitake Mushroom cultivation presents a very unique opportunity to work across the curriculum and within multiple departments – and also of course through our Garden Program. My hope is to be available to share this learning with other teachers at Epiphany, and to run additional workshops in as many school settings as possible. 

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6. Are there issues or challenges in your school, community or the world that you feel better prepared to address with your students? 

 

Growing shiitake mushrooms is one of many ways that Epiphany can connect students with all of the benefits of growing your own food within our Garden program – an opportunity that schools can’t always realistically provide. From building links to history, culture, cooking and to food sovereignty, these activities are hugely empowering and can translate into skills that students can take with them wherever they go next. 

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7. How would you describe to a friend the most fundamental ways in which your fellowship has changed your personal and/or professional perspective? 

 

Being introduced to Nick and Kristen at Moonlight Mountain Farm – and the opportunity to travel to Roxbury, Vermont – was an overall amazing experience. More than anything, this fellowship underscored the beauty of making connections far outside of your everyday context. It was also a nice reminder for me about bringing a “beginner’s mind” to growing shiitake mushrooms – something that I already had some experience with. Working with Kristen and Nick and seeing their operation opened my eyes to so much more than I could have anticipated or imagined. 

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