Topic: Production of Hericium erinaceus
Biography:
Tina Ellor was born and raised in very rural Dummerston, Vermont where the landscape was often fairly bleak. Wild mushrooms provided color and interest during the spring and fall and she developed a lifelong interest in and passion for mushrooms. Her very tolerant parents allowed her to grow mold gardens on old food in the basement and instead of having her committed, nurtured her odd interests. She earned a BS in Biology from California State College Stanislaus where her undergraduate project was growing oyster mushrooms on rice straw in the Central Valley of California and MS from the University of Maine with research on growing oyster mushrooms on paper mill sludge from a magnesium sulfate mill in Millinocket, Maine. She was recruited into the mushroom industry by a mushroom farm from Grad School in the 1980’s and has been infesting it ever since. She is currently Mycologist/Technical Director at Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania which means that technically she does whatever she is directed.