How to Collect, Clean, and Store Mushrooms

Respect for nature is essential among people with a healthy thinking attitude. However, sometimes when I'm hiking into the nearby forests to hunt for mushrooms I can easily notice that someone has been there before me by inspecting the picked up and then thrown away mushroom fragments (no matter if they're edible or poisonous). I suddenly realize that probably is someone without 'information on board'..someone without respect for nature.

How to Collect Mushrooms in The Wild
Some people are used to collect mushrooms by applying a sudden pull to the whole bouquet of mushrooms, a habit that has been proven to affect mushroom production in that certain spot. When hunting for mushrooms in the wild you should use a knife to cut their base or you may twist their stem slowly and then cover the spot with forest litter or soil. This habit is essential for the mycelium located at the base of the mushrooms stem to develop and to provide another round of mushrooms in the near future. You should collect wild mushrooms into a basket; this is important for ventilation purposes and to preserve mushroom fruitbody integrity during collection.

Basket full of Suillus sp. Photo: www.theecologist.org

How to Clean Collected Mushrooms
You should avoid to rinse them with water first and then to store them. Instead it's important to wipe them in order to get rid of impurities such as forest litter remnants or soil. Some people I know used to pill their skin off and they are doing this to all mushrooms they pick. I'm not doing this except when picking some species such as Suillus sp.

How to Store Collected Wild Mushrooms
Once collected, the mushrooms should be stored into a fridge within 2 to 3 hours from their collection. Under these conditions, you should prepare them within 24 hours because if you noticed during your mushroom hunting adventures, fruitbodies tend to heat especially when it's hot outside. This happens due to their intense enzymatic activity and metabolism. The button mushrooms resist at low temperature for several days without spoiling. However, there are some edible wild species such as Coprinus sp. (The Shaggy Cap) that must be prepared as soon as possible because their cap turns into a black ink even when stored into the fridge.

By contrast you should avoid collecting them into plastic bags, to store them outside over night at room temperature or to prepare them after 2-3 days especially because they tend to spoil fast and loose their quality.

Another storage option is to dry them. To cut them into thin slices and then put them on a paper upon direct sunlight for 2-4 days. This way, you may use your mushrooms whenever you need within 2 years.

A delicious and medicinal species suitable for this is Auricularia auricula (Ear Mushroom) that is able to re-hydrate when soaked into water. 

If you find this article useful I would greatly appreciate a 'like' or a share with your friends.

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Mushrooms Grown on Coffee Grounds: The Back To The Roots Story

Founded by Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora, 'Back To The Roots' it's a great example showing the power of mushroom success. As students of UC Berkeley back in 2009 Alejandro and Nikhil were heading into the corporate world of investment banking and consulting. However, two months away from graduation they came across the idea of being able to grow gourmet mushrooms on recycled coffee grounds. They started to grow oyster mushrooms on coffee grounds in a fraternity kitchen and today in 2012 they collect, divert and reuse 3.6 million lbs of coffee grounds from local coffee shops. Currently they are selling their kits at over 300 Whole Foods across US, help families grow fresh food at home and sustain 10 urban schools and community gardens by donating them premium soil amendment based on spent coffee grounds.

Probably you are already familiar with their famous oyster mushroom kit that sells well even on the internet.

Oyster mushroom kit.
Source: www.bttventures.com

Their story it's incredible! they were practically waking up in the mornings and collecting spent coffee grounds from different local coffee shops. These spent coffee grounds without any value for coffee shop owners were thrown away as garbage. Now, these two guys were collecting this garbage and transforming it into food that was then sold to local supermarkets. While their own garbage was sold as premium soil amendment. To use the same waste twice and to get an income from it it's a brilliant idea. Check out their story:

Their story is very inspiring and probably some of you out there already thinking about local coffee shops and their waste that could be turned into wages. If you like their story please share it with your friends, because this material could change their lives forever.

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Log or Bag Cultivation? Which One of Them is Better and Why?

Log or bag cultivation? I was wandering what is the best way to cultivate wood inhabiting mushrooms and why? I launched these questions on a forum and I've got some answers from other growers. You may see them here
Let's see first what are the advantages and disadvantages of bag and log cultivation (I will list just some of them that are on my mind right now but you may add some more in the comments if you wish), and then let's find the right answers to these questions.

BAG CULTIVATION

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It's faster. Takes 2-4 weeks until pinning induction (depending on the species to be grown and environmental conditions)
Cultivation success. You may easily observe if you'll have mushrooms or not. Through the transparent bag foil you may see the spawn run throughout the substrate and notice if there occurs any contamination.
Mushroom yield. Bag cultivation allows you to easily weight all necessary ingredients needed for your formula and calculate the overall yield.
High quality mushrooms. Mushrooms in order to grow need nutrients. By using a mix of several ingredients into your substrate (e.g., oak sawdust, poplar wood chips, corn cobs, and supplements) you will provide enough protein, vitamins and minerals for you mushrooms in order to grow healthy and finally you'll harvest high quality mushrooms.
Resources. You may find plenty resources to grow your mushrooms on. Even if you are living in the city, you may find them in your own kitchen (peanut shells, paper, coffee grounds,..) or outside in the park (leaves, twigs, or any other dry plant,..)
Spent substrate recycling. Several types of spent substrates can be recycled and are suitable for cattle feed or soil improvement. For instance the spent straw used in oyster mushroom cultivation is used for cattle feed or the spent coffee grounds are used as additives for soil. Such habits may increase growers income and protect the environment.

Shiitake grown indoor. Photo: www.greenling.com 

Cultivation process. As I think the cultivation procedure is a bit harder then in log cultivation because you actually need to manipulate and pasteurize the substrate, you need to weight ingredients, add gypsum and more.
More effort. Obviously bag cultivation requires more effort for the same amount of mushrooms as you can get from log cultivation.
Grow room. You need actually a room designed for mushroom cultivation, and this is also because you need to provide them the proper conditions to fruit such as: temperature and humidity.

LOG CULTIVATION

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Long-term harvest potential. This is probably the main cause why some growers choose to cultivate their mushrooms on logs. Once a log inoculated you may harvest mushrooms from it up to 2 to 4 years (depending on several factors).
Stable environmental conditions. Within a log temperature and humidity are rather constant (now this depends on the log size as well and cultivation technique to be used).
Less effort. Compared to bag cultivation of mushrooms this requires less effort for the same amount of mushrooms.
Grow room. For log cultivation you don't need a grow room.
Spent substrate it's good for fire. Some growers increase their income by selling the spent wood that might be used in order to provide heat.
Stump degradation. It's a great way to get rid of huge stumps when you have no other choices.

Photo credits: www.3businessidea.blogspot.com

You have to wait until the first harvest. Depending on the used type of wood you will need actually to wait up to 14 months (when using hardwoods) and 8 months (when using softwood) until you'll have mushrooms.
Humidity. You have to maintain humidity within your logs by spraying them from time to time.
Cultivation success. It's obviously less then in bag cultivation because your logs are predisposed to a higher degree of contamination (let's remember that they are left outside where the alien sporeload in the air is much higher than in a grow room). In addition, if contamination occurs you may hardly see it, and probably when you will realize that  another mushroom is growing on your log it's going to be late. The competition of two species for the same substrate equals with poor harvest or no harvest at all
Danger of contamination spread. Once a log infected, contamination may spread to the other logs.
Resources. If you don't have trees around, then probably you'll need to bring some from other places.
Doesn't work easily for some species. Here I must quote someones opinion in the forum: "Maitake is one I have had no success with on logs, so I would not recommend log culture for that species." (M.K. Dorie). Looks like there are some species that are more suitable for bag cultivation than for log cultivation; however, there is a need of several opinions to sustain this point. Please feel free to add your personal experience in the comments section bellow.
Surrounding tree contamination. Obviously each time when you grow mushrooms outside in your backyard garden you endanger the other healthy trees in the area because when your mushrooms are mature they spread billions of spores around being taken by the wind and they have all the chances to infect your cherry or apple tress that you care about.
No recycling available for spent substrate. You may not use spent wood for animal feed.
Encourages deforestation. Now, this is a real concern among those involved into environmental protection, since growing mushrooms on logs for profit leads to mass deforestation habits that are against law and respect for nature: think twice before choosing to grow mushrooms on logs.

CONCLUSION
What I like to believe, is that depends on what's the purpose of your mushroom cultivation. Do you cultivate them as a hobby for your personal needs or do you wish to sell them to markets and restaurants? If you want   quality mushrooms quick, then probably you should choose bag cultivation. This requires more effort then log cultivation, but the chances to succeed are higher. On the opposite, if you consider harvesting mushrooms for a long time with less efforts for your personal and your family needs and you have plenty of resources around then probably you should choose log cultivation. However, keep in mind that the latter option is not really environment friendly especially when you choose to to this for profit and you use alien species to cultivate.
Generally, bag cultivation is suitable for commercial mushroom growing with few exception. This point of view is also sustained by the worldwide scientific community.

Interested in Oyster mushrooms cultivation? see The Beginner's Guide To Oyster Mushroom Cultivation at Home. This guide was designed for those wanting to cultivate oyster mushrooms in plastic bags in their household. If you need a more natural way of cultivating mushrooms have a look over: How To Grow Oyster Mushrooms on Logs

If you consider this article helpful please give it a 'like' and share it with your friends that need this information. Feel free to add your comments bellow, probably you have your opinion about this subject and I would be more than happy to read it.

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7. How To Grow Oyster Mushrooms On Logs

Log cultivation of oyster mushrooms is a bit different then bag cultivation, however, is practically based on the same concept and above all is easy and doesn't require much effort. It is largely applied especially in the countryside, where wood is plenty. I will present here a standard technique (without getting deeper into details) including several steps as follows:

1. Selecting the proper wood substrate
For growing oysters on logs you may use deciduous wood such as: beech, poplar, oak, alder, birch, maple, etc). You have to avoid cultivating oyster mushrooms on conifer wood substrates (pine, spruce, fir, etc) because such substrate type contain tanines, resins and other type of wood constituents that inhibit mycelium growth and development through the wood mass. However, some other type of fungi may develop on conifer logs, oyster mushrooms cannot. You should fell the logs when the sapwood is full of nutrients: late autumn or early spring. Inoculate them after felling because water content inside them is higher than in logs left for several months. In the latter case, you have to re-hydrate them by leaving them in water for several days.
If you will use softwood (poplar, aspen, etc) logs then you should know that you will get mushroom fruitbodies faster but of lower quality and lower overall mushroom production compared to what you get when using hardwood (oak, maple, beech, cherry, etc). However, the disadvantage is that it is going to take a longer period of time until mushroom fruitbody formation if you will choose hardwood.
Log size is also important and is directly connected to mushroom fruitbody production and time necesarry for the first flush.

2. Tools necessary for the inoculation process.
You will need the following tools:

• a drilling machine;
• a hammer;
• mycelium, spores or dowels colonized with mycelium;
• wax;
• a paint brush or a piece of sponge.
• a pot
• and a heat source

Fig. 1. Tools needed for log cultivation of oyster mushrooms. Photo: www. google.com

3. Inoculation.
Drill holes over the log surface 3-5 cm in depth and 5-10 mm thick (or as thick as your wood dowels are). You can purchase plug spawn or dowels at Fungi Perfecti or instead you may use mycelium grown on wheat or other support or spores. If you will use one of the latter,  you will need cotton to cover up the mycelium when you'll introduce it into the holes. Remember that you have to inoculate only moist logs (see above). If their not freshly felled, then keep them in water for 2 to 3 days.  To a log of 1.5 x 0.3 m wide you should apply around 40 holes in zig-zag covering its entire surface.
Steps to follow:
a) Take a pot and melt the wax;
b) Introduce the freshly purchased dowels into the holes by using a hammer;
c) Isolate each dowel by applying a thin layer of wax above it.

Fig. 2. Drilling holes over the log surface. Photo: www.google.com

Fig.3 Wood dowels colonized by mushroom  mycelium. Photo: www.google.com

Fig. 4. Inoculating holes with wood dowels colonized with mushroom mycelium. Photo: www.google.com

Fig. 5. Isolating the dowels with wax.  Photo: www.google.com

4. Log placement.
Place the freshly inoculated logs outside in the shade away from direct sunlight. Moisture during incubation is essential therefore you must allow rainfall over your logs or to find some other ingenious method to keep your logs moist. In case of poor rainfall you should water your logs from time to time. However, in order to keep logs at an optimal level of moisture and temperature there are several techniques available. One of them is burying the logs into the sand: this technique prevents moisture loss and keeps temperature at a constant level. You should bury the logs vertically at 10-20 cm distance one from another with the inoculated side up and with up to 20 % of log length above ground level. Otherwise, use a hose to spray down the inoculated logs in order to keep moisture.

Fig. 6. Inoculated logs placed outside in the shade.

5.  Pinning induction.
Pinning induction occurs generally after 8-12 months depending on wood type, log size, hole number, strain, environmental conditions and other factors involved into mycelium colonization process. If you inoculated hardwood logs then you should be able to expect pinhead induction in about 12 to 14 months and you will harvest mushrooms for 3 to 4 years. If you used softwood, you will be able to harvest your mushrooms earlier: after 6 to 9 months and you'll harvest mushrooms for 1 to 2 years. Now, there are several methods to stimulate pinning induction such as cold-shock or or log soaking into water. As a general rule stimulating fruitbody formation requires spraying enough water over each inoculated log.

6. Harvesting fresh oyster mushrooms.
Harvest oyster mushrooms 4 to 6 days after pinning induction. During this time keep moisture at an optimal level for fruitbody development. After harvest, keep logs moist and wait up to 2 weeks for the second flush.

If you consider useful this article, please share it with your friends, and if you liked it, I would greatly appreciate if  you would give it a 'like' up there. Probably you have your own tricks or techniques in cultivating oyster mushrooms on logs, feel free to comment and to share them with us, because only this way we can help each other in order to succeed.

Find Out More!

1. Some of the Most Important Cultivated Oyster Mushroom Species
2. Preparing the Chamber and Tools Needed for Oyster Mushroom Cultivation

3. Compost Making for Oyster Mushrooms
4. Compost Heat Treatment and Inoculation
5. Incubation, Fruitbody Development and Harvest
6. Oyster Mushroom Culture Pests
7. How to Grow Oyster Mushrooms on Logs

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5 Reasons Why You Should Grow Mushrooms

In my previous post I was talking about reasons why you shouldn't grow mushrooms. Now it's time to discuss the advantages of mushroom cultivation. Personally, I consider that discussing advantages and disadvantages of mushroom growing is very important especially because builds up motivation or does the opposite. Anyway, it's important for someone starting this to be informed and to know few thing before getting deeper into this.

Learning how to inoculate logs with mycelium. Photo: www.milkwood.net

1. You grow your own food. This would be the best advantage that is on my mind right now. You can grow great tasty mushrooms that you cannot find in the supermarket. And growing your own it brings you truly fresh and healthy food on your table. By contrast, supermarket mushrooms are different because most mushroom producers are using various types of chemical substances designed to get rid of competitors when the substrate is freshly inoculated with fungus mycelium. This is important for them in order to get a high yield in terms of mushroom production. Such chemicals are not a healthy choice, especially that some fungi species (e.g., Pleurotus ostreatus) have the ability to accumulate toxic substances into their fruitbodies (such as heavy metals, etc). After years such toxins accumulates in your body and you don't know how did you got sick. However, best is to grow your own food the healthy way.  Go organic and you'll be happy!

2. Mushrooms are healthy. Many cultivated mushrooms species are considered 'functional foods' this means that  they provide nutrients to your body and act as a therapeutic force too (e.g., shiitakes, oyster mushrooms, ear mushrooms, etc). Among other important nutrients and therapeutic substances, they are rich in proteins, have no cholesterol, contain polysaccharides with medicinal value, vitamins and minerals. The best choice for those that want to live a healthy life.

3. It's a source of income. Many people are thinking about mushroom cultivation as a powerful choice to achieve financial freedom probably because they believe that mushrooms are able to turn plant waste into food that may be sold in the market. It's a way to practically turn garbage into money: recycling (if you wish).

4. Hobby. Doing what you like is rewarding. Simply by watching the mushrooms growing under your own eyes it's an amazing feeling that I recommend you to experience. If you will feel pleasure then you will want more and more, this is the reason why some growers cannot stop growing mushrooms :). They are simply happy and pleased of what their doing.

5 It's a way to make new friends. A hobby reunites people enjoying the same feeling or people who would like to get to this feeling (newbies). Making friends and sharing your experience as a grower with them it's important because this may be a way to learn from others.. It's a mutual help that makes everybody happy.

Ok, this is for today, please add some comments, probably there are lots more reasons that I didn't cover up here, so feel free to add some of yours -it would be greatly appreciated.

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Drugs and substance abuse prevention: Contact NACADA Authority Kenya Counselors free on tel 1192

Drugs and substance abuse is widespread Globally and it interferes with brain development of the young people.Therefore sensitization on drugs and substance abuse among the young people need special emphasis  in order to rescue and save our future today. Early detection of drugs and substance abuse is vital for prevention and rehabilitation of the youth. According to NACADA (National Campaign against Drugs Abuse) authority Kenya, 75% of Kenyan population is made up of young people below 30 years.33% of the population consists of young people15-30 years.56% of criminals are youth  aged 24-25 years. The youth currently make up 33% of the Kenyans infected with HIV/AIDS. Young women 15-24 years are three times more likely to be infected with HIV/AIDS than men of the same age. Among students research shows that 75% have tried alcohol at least once. Majority of the young people fall into these social vices during adolescent which is a period of rapid change and critical decision making in relation to:-

• Self identity: autonomy, independence, esteem and image
• Sexual identity : boy girl relationship
• Vocational identity: Career choice

When the youth were asked what led them to start this practices some of the answers were curiosity, to fit in, rebellion etc.

Stages of drugs and substance abuse

1. Experiential stage: This is when the youth are experimenting or trying
2. Social stage: the young people are seen with strange friends
3. Instrumental stage:The youth can remember the previous day's activities as the mind is not yet damaged
4. Habitual stage: the practice  becomes a habit/routene
5. Compulsory/ addiction stage: The youth can engage in any social vice including lies, stealing, theft ,prostitution and selling housewares for money money to sustain drugs and substance abuse.

Classification

1. Stimulants: increases activity e.g. tobacco, coccaine, miraa
2. Depressants: decreases activity e.g. codein, diazipan
3. Steroids: common with youth males, fosters formation of living tissues increasing muscular mass
4. Hallucinogens: causes hallucinations or pronounced alteration of perception, state of fantasy, illusions and being lost in the world of dreams e.g. cannabis, hashish
5. Prescription medicine e.g. codeine, morphine, valium, pethidine.   

Effects of drugs and substance abuse

• Developmental effects: When drugs and substance abuse starts before young people attain 21 years,  brain development is retarded
• Memory blackouts in young people
• Sexual problems i.e. lack of appeal or promiscuity
• Insomnia, moodiness, restlessness, hallucinations
• dread of facing people
• Injection marks
•  skin rash
• Watering eyes

This is a guide to identification of cases of drugs and substance abuse among the youth and young people. Be aware, be alert, be alive and support prevention!
More-http://yagrein.blogspot.com/p/what-are-youth-saying.html

5 Reasons Why You Should Not Grow Mushrooms

Yes, there are some disadvantages when growing mushrooms and you should be aware of them before starting as a mushroom cultivator. I will lest them below and I will discuss a bit about them. Now, it's up to you if it will make you 'run or it will make stay' :)

1. Because you are not made for this;
2. Because you don't have a place where to grow them;
3. Because of basidiospore formation in the grow room;
4. Because growing mushrooms takes time;
5. Because in order to grow mushrooms you need to provide them special conditions.

1. Why grow your own food? Are you motivated? probably you should think about this aspect before starting with mushroom cultivation. Motivation is very important. If you are not interested and motivated then is better if you try something else.

2. Do you live in the countryside? Do you have a farm? Excellent! this is the ideal place where you can actually grow mushrooms. Well, now Do you have a room where to grow them (basement, tunnel, cave, or any other empty space)? If yes, then you have the basic conditions for growing mushrooms.
O..you are living in the city, and you would like to grow mushrooms for yourself and your family? well, it's possible only if you have a balcony or some other type of space designed for mushroom cultivation. In order to grow mushrooms for yourself actually you don't need much space.

3. Mushrooms when mature they release billions of spores that spread all over the grow room. This is a real concern among cultivators because this may affect their health in time. At first symptoms are very similar to coldness (fever, general body weakness, cough,..)
Measures to be taken: Use a mask that covers your nose and mouth each time when you enter the grow room full of mature mushroom fruitbodies. You should wear a suit design only for this purpose and a hat on your head.

Harvesting mushrooms: the right way.
Photo:  http://www.kombuchakamp.com

4. Another cause why newbies give away on cultivation mushrooms is time. You actually have to wait form 2 to 4 weeks until you get mushrooms (this is the case of bag cultivation of wood inhabiting fungi) and about 8 to 14 months in the case of log cultivation. Most people would like to see results right away; however this is not the case when cultivating mushrooms. But the good news is that growing mushrooms is faster then growing vegetables in your own garden. In addition you can harvest mushrooms nearly everyday if you cultivate them twice a week.

5. As a newbie probably you don't have equipment designed to provide proper conditions for mushroom development . However, you should know that you can grow them without any type of equipment. Just think about why do they grow in the forest? Do they have there any equipment? No
Equipment is for those wanting to get a higher yield of mushrooms compared to what would they get when growing them without equipment. So, no big deal, try without and you'll see the results by yourself, later if you want to make a business by growing mushrooms then you should think about proper conditions to grow them.

If you have any doubts on cultivating mushrooms, see 5 Reasons to Cultivate Mushrooms and try to apply the following tips regarding your decision:


'The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live'

Flora Whittemore

Decision is a powerful tool that has the ability to change your life anytime. Wise decisions are always needed; however, sometimes people aren't able to make such decisions and this is a reliable problem because bad choices can get you down and make your life miserable. As I know, most decisions in life are taken emotionally, intuitively, or logically. Although I'm not an expert in psychology I will share with you some of the tips I use that proved to be very helpful in many important life decisions.

Prior to making a wise decision you have to know what you want, in this case what you expect from your relationship. Is this decision going to satisfy your needs? Will you be happier?

Wise decision making steps

1. Take a blank paper and a pen
2. Split the paper in two parts
3. Write down on one side the pros and on the other side the cons. Simply, list the advantages and disadvantages of every option that you have in mind.
4. Take a look over your options and weight them according to your interests and goal. You may give them grades (let's say from 1 to 10: the best option should get 10 in this case).
5. Finally do a simple count
6. Compare the results.

Obviously when the results are close to each other [or equal: 24(+)=24(-) points], then you have to make a hard decision. In this case what I'm doing is to tease the problem somehow or to allow it more time. If considering the above example to discover more advantages or disadvantages of being in such a relationship.

Now, think how your decision will influence your future. Therefore another important step is to connect your decision results to past and future. The past may tell you exactly how hard was it living with such a person, while your intuition can give you a hint about how your life is going to be if you'll continue your relationship.

A final decision should be taken after you apply the above presented choice making steps several times in a certain period of time. If you get the same results several times [e.g, (-)34 to (+)14] then obviously you have to give up to your relationship and continue with your life in order to find happiness.

Ok, guys and girls this is for today, hope you enjoyed this article, I'm trying to show you what are the advantages and disadvantages of mushroom cultivation, and the power of decision so you can see by yourself what means this all. If you liked this please give it a "like" up there and share it with you friends, maybe it will help some of them out there wanting to start with mushroom cultivation.

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Why Grow Your Own Food? Are You Motivated?

Before getting into mushroom growing probably you should know if is suitable for you or not. Simply think about why do you want to do this. Is it going to reward you somehow? If yes, then how? What are the benefits of it? What about disadvantages? As I think most people are growing mushrooms because of some reasons, basically are three:

• because they are passionate about it (1) 
• because they are looking at it as a business opportunity (2) 
• because of both (passion and business) (3) 

 1. Being passionate about growing mushrooms in terms of satisfaction is very rewarding. However, you have to be aware that growing mushrooms is not suitable for everybody. Before starting to get into this, probably you should ask yourself the following: am I a nature lover? (do I love plants?, mountain trips? do I believe in the healing power of herbs?, do I agree with the concept of environmental protection? (especially recycling), am I a deep person, sensitive one or rather a superficial one? do I like how to cook? I know that the last question sounds weird but in fact the mushroom cultivation process it's like cooking our favorite meal. I put these questions into focus because as I noticed most people with respect for nature are more likely to understand and to be interested in mushrooms. Of course I cannot generalize this but is just an impression of mine.
 Another aspect important to discuss here is that passionate mushroom growers are informed and therefore always know why they are growing mushrooms (reasonsons are plenty but here I will talk about few of them):

• it's a way of life; 
• brings lots of satisfaction (pleasure, growing mushrooms it's fun); 
• it's relaxing (get rid of stress by growing mushrooms); 
• growers know that mushrooms are healthy; 
• they believe in their healing power as functional foods; 
• they encourage waste recycling habits; 
• they know that this activity builds up strong relationships with other people and this is an easy way of making friends, etc. 

Are you ready to be passionate about growing mushrooms? 

Oyster mushrooms growing on toilet paper.
Photo:  http://lastoneeating.wordpress.com 

2. Mostlikely people that are looking at it as a way of making money won't succed without putting some heart into it. The mushroom market has ahuge potential out there and success stories of people getting rich by growing mushrooms are plenty. As someone used to say:'future is in the hands of those providing food for the masses' For those of you thinking about making money out of mushrooms without thinking about the passion part I have a message: don't loose your time and energy with growing mushrooms, but seek in other places and find other solutions in order to satisfy your financial needs. You have to know how to take care of them. The principle is simple: if you take care of them, they will take care of you.

3. Respect and compliments for those ablte to mix pleasure with business. Such people are aware of all beneffits that mushrooms provide and they exploit them bringing benefits on two levels: first they satisfy you because you buy their product, and second is their own satisfaction because they are doing what they like, they are getting from it material satisfaction and they are happy to know you being pleased with their product. As you can see the latter has lots of satisfaction on board by doing what he likes.
Which one of them are you? or which one of them would you like to be? Please answer these questions bellow and feel free to comment.


Growing mushrooms is fun and relaxing. If you wish to start this activity and you'll like it, it can become a very rewarding hobby that keeps you active from time to time and gives you the opportunity to grow your own organic food. To be honest I'm growing my own mushrooms and I'm very pleased with it, and I recommend it to people any time I have the chance to do it, even now. I liked it so much that I even started to blog about it.
If you're thinking about doing a business with it then you'll find a good way to get income. Now, doing something that you like in order to earn money is a powerful way to increase your life quality because it gives you not only lots of personal satisfaction but you can also earn from it.

But why to grow mushrooms instead of doing something else?
In order to find out probably you should read 5 Reasons Why You Should Grow Mushrooms. On my other blog you'll find all necessary step by step instructions on how to grow them. You'll find also a free portable document file (PDF) entitled: 'Beginner's Guide to Oyster Mushroom Cultivation at Home' that you can download if you wish. However, if you prefer professional instructions of a worldwide specialist then perhaps you should check out Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets. I have this book on my shelf and I'm very happy with it. I've found so much useful information in it that I personally consider it the 'Bible' of mushroom growing.

Success stories on growing mushrooms for profit are plenty. Mushrooms Grown on Coffee Grounds: The Back To The Roots Story is one of them. It's the story of two students that found a smart way to make a full time living out of growing mushrooms on coffee grounds. An ingenious way to recycle used coffee grounds twice: once to grow food out of them and second to sell the used substrate as premium soil amendment. Their story is inspiring and probably some of you out there will find this a great way to increase your life quality.

This article highlights ones motivation in order to grow his own mushrooms, if you liked it I appreciate if you would share it with your friends or people you know being interested in starting with mushroom cultivation.

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Make 6m in three years from Fast Growing Giant Bamboo Farming in Kenya

The fast growing giant bamboo is a disease resistant plant which can flourish in Kenya’s arid zones making millions of shillings from an acre of wasteland. The fast growing giant bamboo could be the solution to Africa’s environmental and economic woes. It has numerous uses including building, making furniture, water purification and as a nutritious vegetable. This new venture can revolutionize the environmental conservation and benefits from traditional subsistence and commercial agriculture in the developing countries. The seedlings are are available from various innovative farmers. The seedlings can also be produced through tissue culture in a laboratory. Tissue culture is a biotechnology practice that produces seedlings through vegetative propagation, which is a form of asexual reproduction of seedlings.

The benefits of this plant cannot be underestimated as it prospers in a wide range of ecological conditions and can be produced virtually in all parts of Kenya, including areas with harsh environment. Seedlings for export should be grown on an internationally accepted media, packed and shipped accompanied by the requisite phytosanitary certificate’s .The plants lifespan is estimated to be about 40 years according to an experienced farmer.

50 plants are ideal for a small-scale farmer to start the project .The fast growing giant bamboo seedlings can be planted at a spacing of 5 by 5 metres. This gives a plant population of 160 seedlings per acre of land. The fast growing giant bamboo grows to about 1.2 metres in diameter, and 1.8 metres to three metres in height within three years. The crop requires minimal care making it easy to manage and profitable.

A single bush will produce about 300 stems per year, valued at Sh. 200 each, which can raise Ksh. 60,000. With two harvests per year, a farmer can make Ksh 6 million from 50 bushes. The plant has no adverse natural pests and diseases as it produces pest resistant chemicals. The fast growing giant bamboo takes only three years from seedling stage to maturity stage. The seedlings, as recommended by the forestry department, are sold when 60cm in height. The fast growing giant bamboo can go a long way to alleviate environmental degradation and climate change. Fast growing giant Bamboo plant can also be used as a renewable energy source especially in making charcoal briquettes preventing deforestation and providing fuel for home use and for sale.

Tickled Pink: Grow Oyster Mushrooms! 

A Feast for the Eye and Appetite 

Written by Mary Ellen

The Rose Oyster growing from a sleeve filled with pasteurized straw.

Pink Oyster mushrooms, (or the Rose Oyster, as we like to call them) are another warm weather loving Oyster mushroom (like the Golden Oyster see previous blog). We like to grow them on soaked straw as an indoor project, and for the more experienced cultivators…using pasteurized straw. Want to try something simple and fun? You can even grow these beauties on rolls of toilet paper! This mushroom really does like it warm, so lots of people (including us) are working with it planted on beds of straw/woodchips in the greenhouse...we’ll keep you posted of our progress! Should this work well, we’ll be renaming it something like “Pink Hotty 2012” should any of us forget this 3 month hot spell.

The beautiful color and rose-like appearance help give this oyster its name.

It's a very fast mushroom to produce, harvests occur as early as 12 days after inoculation. Rose Oyster cultures are sensitive to refrigeration, so if they are grown outdoors they will not like temperatures below 50F and certainly not below freezing. Therefore, we have never attempted growing them on logs because our logs stay outside for the winters. We live in the Great Lakes region where we get plenty of days below freezing. For those of you living in the South, we’ve been told the Rose Oyster can be grown on Palm tree sections in the totem method.

If you are growing Rose Oysters yourself, you’ll notice a range of hues as the mushrooms develop; this depending on the surrounding environmental conditions at the time of fruiting. They can range from a barely pink color to a deep rose or salmon red. You’ll also notice the mushrooms are very sturdy; resilient to breaking from bouncing around in a box while transporting them to market. To be truthful, the more finicky among you may translate this characteristic as…well…tough, but this is a great advantage when used as a skewered grilling mushroom in kabobs or in the recipe that follows.

Joe applies a brandy glaze over this months featured recipe.

Glazed Grilled Shrimp, Apricots and Rose Oyster Tacos

In this recipe the Rose Oysters will fade to pale pink with crispy browned edges. It is served up with shrimp, balanced with a glazed fruit and stuffed into a grilled corn tortilla accompanied by sour cream, cilantro and possibly your favorite fresh garden salsa. Amazing!

Glaze:
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/8-1/4 cup apple jack brandy or dark rum, your choice
3 tablespoons dark-brown sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated, peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water

Ingredients:
6-8 fresh apricots, cut into quarters or eighths, or substitute with another firm fleshed fruit
32 medium shrimp, we like uncooked frozen shrimp, thawed, tail off
8 ounces of Rose Oyster mushrooms
1-2 package(s) of corn tortillas
Sour cream
Cilantro

Directions
•Make glaze: In a small saucepan, combine the lime juice, brandy or rum, sugar and grated ginger and heat until boiling. Stir, simmer another minute or so until the glaze is slightly thick. In a separate bowl, combine the cornstarch with the cold water stir into glaze mixture. Cook, stirring, until thickened and off the heat. Cool.

•Thread thawed shrimp onto skewers that have been presoaked 30 min in water. Season on both sides with salt. Thread fruit slivers onto separate skewers. Do the same with Rose oysters, threading through the stems. Brush shrimp, mushrooms and apricots on both sides with glaze.

•Prepare grill and oil grates. Place loaded skewers on grill; cook, turning once. Cook shrimp until evidence of blackening in spots and shrimp are opaque throughout, 3 to 4 minutes. Oyster mushrooms should be crispy to slightly blackened of edges.

•Sear the corn tortillas on grill until heated through.

•Pile the cooked shrimp, mushrooms and fruit skewers onto a big platter next to a basket of the grilled tortillas. People can load their own and sauce with sour cream, salsa, or whatever else you have in your garden. Just the three main ingredients will provide plenty or flavor and texture for a jubilant August picnic supper!

The finished product!