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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