North Spore
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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, shiitakes, 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.
09/24/2026
Every flower you've ever smelled has almost certainly been quietly colonized by fungi science hasn't named yet. A team in northern Thailand collected 54 fungal strains from 31 kinds of flowers and discovered sixteen brand-new species of Aureobasidium - a genus best known for producing an industrial polysaccharide and for showing up, uninvited, on human skin and building materials. Sixteen new species from one small region, more than quintupling what was previously known from the country, is a striking reminder of how much fungal diversity remains uncatalogued in plain sight. It also raises a genuinely interesting question: what are all these fungi actually doing inside a flower?
Read the research here: https://imafungus.pensoft.net/article/188009/
Join our community of mushroom growers here: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1DdXPCfjQq/
09/23/2026
You asked and we listened - the colonizing lid is now available for use with your Boomr Bin!
Colonization is a delicate window, and every time you crack open a tub to check on things, you disturb the environment your mycelium is working hard to establish. This lid solves that. It's clear, durable design lets you track progress at a glance, so you can watch your substrate colonize without letting humidity escape or introducing unnecessary contamination risk.
Less guessing, less disturbance, more confidence in what is happening beneath the surface.
Check out the lid here: https://northspore.com/products/boomr-bin-colonizer-lid
We believe the best mushrooms are the ones you grow yourself! It starts simple: our spawn, a drill, a log, some wax and a hammer. From there, patience takes over because good things on a log take time to become good things on a plate.
After about a year, those logs are ready for a soak. That's when the first pins emerge, followed by a flush of mushrooms worth the wait.
The first fruiting is always the longest stretch. But once a log gets going, it'll fruit a few times a year for years to come. Small effort up front, seasons of mushrooms in return!
Check out more log information here: https://northsporecreator.sjv.io/WOQA9J
Video by Spore to Fork
09/21/2026
Growing mushrooms in containers is one of the most underrated creative outlets in home cultivation! Just about any clean, contained space can become a fruiting chamber, from repurposed totes and buckets to birdcages, teacups, laundry baskets, and even an old shoe (we’ve seen it!). The mushrooms do not care how the container looks, only that it holds moisture and lets in fresh air, which means the design part is entirely up to you!
Container growing also makes mushroom cultivation approachable no matter where you live. Small apartment, dorm room, back porch, it does not matter. A few holes for airflow, a humid environment, and a little patience are really all you need to get started.
So grab something unexpected around your house and give it a second life as a growing space. Half the joy of container cultivation is seeing what you can dream up!
Get started here: https://northspore.com/pages/limited-time-offers
Photos by , , .haustho , , ,
09/20/2026
Come find us at the Common Ground Fair, September 25-27!
We're excited to be presenting three times this year, so stop by the Hayloft Tent to learn with us. Catch "How To Garden With Mushrooms" at 10am on Friday and again on Saturday, and don't miss "The History and Practice of Morel Cultivation" at 12pm on Saturday.
We'd love to see you there and talk all things mycology. Whether you're just getting started or you've been growing mushrooms for year!
Check it out: mofga.org/fair-tickets/
This tintype photo is from Common Ground 2018!
09/19/2026
Chilean researchers just gave "growing gold" a whole new meaning: they used extract from Psilocybe cubensis, the well-known psilocybin mushroom, to biologically grow gold nanoparticles - tiny, uniform gold spheres just a few dozen atoms wide.
In lab tests on mouse nerve cells, moderate doses of these particles boosted cell survival and even nudged cells toward early neurite outgrowth, the first visible step of nerve cells forming new connections. We'll be watching to see where this line of research goes next.
Learn more: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nanotechnology/articles/10.3389/fnano.2026.1939102/abstract
Join our community of mushroom growers here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4289850731233580/
Oh you mean the MycoSphere? She’s a beaut 🥹
Check it out here: https://northspore.com/products/mycosphere
Meet Kirsten Tingle, a sculptor whose work sits at the intersection of art and biology.
Kirsten comes from a figurative art background and retrained with an MA in BioDesign, bringing together sculptural tradition with living materials. Her mushroom sculptures explore how figurative forms can help people connect and build relationships with mycelium.
We were stunned when this popped up in our feed. Mushrooms sit right at the intersection of art and science, life and death, creation and decay, and we love it!
More beautiful sculptures from Kirsten are on the way, so stay tuned.
📹:
09/16/2026
We’ve seen mushrooms grow from very creative places!
Straw bags, laundry baskets, even an old birdcage or shoe can become the perfect home for your oyster mushrooms. Any breathable container that holds humidity and lets air flow works. So raid your closet or garage before buying anything new.
Pasteurize your straw, mix in your spawn, pack it into whatever quirky container speaks to you, then set it somewhere shaded and humid to colonize. A couple weeks later, mushrooms are literally growing out of a birdcage in your living room!
Learn more here: https://northspore.com/pages/limited-time-offers
📸 by .hausthor
09/15/2026
Researchers in Finland have found a way to grow mushroom mycelium in liquid, then press it into sheets using equipment borrowed from the paper industry, turning a slow, finicky material into something that could actually be manufactured at scale. The resulting fabric is biodegradable, animal-free, and, in lab tests, holds up surprisingly well against traditional leather.
Read the research here: https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2026/09/plastic-free-fungus-based-leather-is-going-big/
Join our community of mushroom growers here: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1DdXPCfjQq/
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921 Riverside Street
Portland, ME
04103