Several weeks ago, a tree fell in the woods just as we were getting out of the car. What a racket. Bill decided to order this mushroom-growing kit... heh, whatever, yall know I tend to just go with the flow with Bill. Apparently you need to use freshly fallen/cut trees for this. He cut some large sections of the tree to use as the base for the mushrooms. The rest he cut up for firewood. You can never have too much firewood.
Then, as per instructions, he drilled holes all over the tree sections.
And pounded in the mushroom plugs. They were about an inch long and less than a half inch thick.
I helped. The kit came with hard wax that I melted a little at a time and then "painted" on over the plug to create a seal. I guess this is to keep the moisture in and the bugs out.
Here are the sections we did. They sit out in the woods in the shade like this for about a year and then supposedly we will have a bumper crop of shiitake mushrooms. I still think I'd rather get mine from the grocery store. 
