Learning to grow mushrooms

I grow lots of things in my garden, but the one thing I would never know how to grow on my own are mushrooms. There was a Mushroom Workshop being offered for a $20 fee, where we get our own growing kit, and I went with my friend Kristin. A biologist and then a mushroom expert took turns talking about mushrooms then showing us how to create our kit. It was fun deciding on what type of mushroom to grow: shitake, pioppino, oyster, lion's mane, rishii... In the end Kristin chose lion's mane, which is supposed to taste like lobster (yum!) and I chose pioppino, which is supposed to be meatier like pork.

We learned a lot in such a short time span. Mushrooms contain a agarestic toxin and should never be eaten raw. They should be cooked at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes on each side. Mycelium acts like the internet of the forest, communicating and transferring nutrients where needed. Scientists have only identified some 15,000 species of mushrooms but there are up to 1.5 million other unidentified species. 80% of our medicine uses mushrooms. Also, mushrooms are closer to humans than to the plant kingdom (this is weird) and should possibly be categorized in their own separate kingdom. I could go on, but it's really interesting!

Anyway, I think it should take about 10 days for things to start happening. I'll post the results.

Step 1: Prepare a clean substrate (wood chips)

Step 2: Select your spore

Step 3: Add the spore to your substrate

Step 4: Shake it up!