Fun with Fungi
Growing mushrooms at home is great fun. Really! There is a great sense of satisfaction in growing your own food even if it is just a small amount. If you are the sort of person who loves nature and its quirkiness then mushroom growing will have you fascinated every time. I still marvel at how these powerhouse foods devour the substrate and then produce not just edible but divine tasting mushrooms right there on my kitchen counter, with little to effort by me.
Educational
Growing gourmet mushrooms is not just fun but it’s educational as well. Kids of all ages and adults too, love getting involved in the process of inoculating substrates for the mushrooms to grow on. They enjoy seeing the tiny mushrooms develop into something beautiful and there are so many different mushrooms and colours to play with.
Become more Self Sufficient
Being able to grow your own food is a skill and one that is very popular right now. Amaze your friends by giving them your home grown gourmet treats at your next dinner or BBQ. And the best part is once you have mastered how to grow mushrooms you will never again need to buy them. Whether you live on a property or in a unit – you can grow mushrooms and become more self-reliant.
We often run online and in-person courses to get you started. Check our course page for our latest offerings.
Save Money
Mushrooms bought in the green grocers are often expensive and bland to boot. Gourmet Mushrooms with fantastic flavour are even more expensive often running to $40 per kilo. Mushroom growing kits sold online are less expensive but still run at around $25 – $30 each. Far better for you to learn the skills and have all the fun yourself. Imagine how much you will save if like me you are a regular shroom eater.
Mushrooms are Beautiful and Tasty
There are so many different mushrooms and they all have their own beauty. Many of the edible mushrooms are just as beautiful as their wild counterparts and have a huge range of flavours. There is even one that tastes like lobster. Fancy that! Once you discover the world of mushrooms you will see them everywhere. Just remember if its growing in the wild it is not for you – Mushroom foraging takes years of practice and lots of knowledge. So don’t ever eat anything you find in the garden or while bushwalking unless you are 100% sure of its true identity.
Expand your Culinary Skills
As I have said before there are many different types and flavours associated with Gourmet Mushrooms. When you grow your own you will naturally look for new and unique ways to prepare them. Of course you can just slice and fry with garlic and butter but how about making your own miso sauce or oyster sauce. Yes oyster sauce is made from oyster mushrooms.
Recycle
Did you know you can grow mushrooms on your waste? Reduce the amount of rubbish going into land fill such as coffee grounds, straw, paper and cardboard. Not only can you recycle them but the mushroom mycellium will help turn it into soil when you are finished harvesting the mushrooms. Now that is recycling! In fact there is a whole discipline called mycoremediation that has developed out of growing mushrooms. Did you know that oyster mushrooms are brilliant at removing heavy metals and even fuel spills from the environment. Mind you I would want to eat the mushrooms that have been used for this purpose but you get the idea.
Help the Environment
Mushrooms are not only good for us but also for the environment. If you graduate from growing your mushrooms on the kitchen bench to growing them outdoors you will be helping to build soil, lock up carbon and increase biodiversity. In todays age of climate change and environmental degradation it is nice to know there is something positive we can do. Grow Mushrooms. Bees are also known to enjoy mycellium as well. They can often be seen licking mycellium networks on the ground.
Improved Health
With growing your own food naturally comes improved health outcomes due to the lack of fertilizers and herbicides used. I have been told anecdotally that people who eat mushrooms regularly also have an improved immune system to things like viruses and the like. There is also a great body of studies suggesting that oyster mushrooms in particular will help to lower cholesterol and improve blood pressure. There are many types of mushrooms that have a variety of health impacts.
Enthral your friends
Your friends will be amazed and very interested in what you are doing. Mushroom growing is a great conversation starter and you will have everyone asking questions or hanging on every word. Mycology is a science in its own right and fascinating. Once bitten by the mushroom bug you will crave more knowledge and will want to share it.
Superior to Store Bought
It goes without saying (but I am going to anyway) that fresh harvested mushrooms from your kitchen bench are always going to taste better and be superior in every way to the store bought variety that has been wrapped in plastic or sitting on the supermarket shelf for days on end. More than that though your homegrown mushrooms have no pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers that have been used or just drifted in their direction. The homegrown variety are always going to be superior it is just fact.
Whether you decide to start with a prepackaged grow kit or do a course to learn how to grow your own mushrooms matters not. What matters is that you give it a go. Why grow mushrooms – I say why wouldn’t you.
