Mushroom Workshop

We went to a very interesting mushroom workshop today. A traveling one known as the School of Fungal Wizardry. I can highly recommend it,  informative, only and hour and a half and you get to take stuff home.
We arrived 10 minutes early so John looked at a few of the books he had as reference.

Waiting on all the  Class to Arrive.

Might have to invest in a book.

Then an hour of lecture explaining all the different spores, how they come, different mushroom, what they were for. Luckily he is sending out an email of his slide show. John did take some notes as well.

Most spore is made in a lab and you have to buy it, but there are a few outdoor ones that sporn themselves. Quite a few Australian types as well.

Outdoor Mushroom

The tables all ready to go. Chairs were all around for the first part then had to move the entire lot to fit in the tables. Talk about a small room.

The mixture was explained how to make and how it finally grows spores and this was passed around.

Nearly ready for mushrooms to grow.

We filled our buckets up with cat litter of all things. Mushroom spore grow through this easily. Wet with hydrated lime mixture, and then we had to put in the mushroom spore breaking up the lumps and mixing it through. The first one was a Tan Oyster Mushroom.

One Bucket of Wet Cat Litter.

Mushroom Spore in grain, which is how you buy it.

Once this was all done we put into zip lock bags, and after poking 6 holes in the bag and covering with tape, it was ready to go.Then we  did it all again with a white oyster mushroom. This time double the mixture. More holes,  more tape.

At the end we had another talk on putting spore into tree limbs, which can take a few years to grow mushrooms.

Explain how to get holes into a limb.

We bought some  special spore for making teas. Reishi  which grows on top of the bags and goes very hard like wood.You take a piece and boil it to make a mixture to make tea. The 2nd was Lions Mane, very good for brain health and warding off dementia. Definitely need that. These are actual mushrooms.

Reishi Mushroom feels like wood.

Reishi mushroom is used for boosting the immune system; viral infections such as the flu (influenza), swine flu, and avian flu; lung conditions including asthma and bronchitis; heart disease and contributing conditions such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol; kidney disease; cancer; and liver disease

Our Hord

This is all the bags we came home with, so going to be quite a few mushrooms. Luckily I have a dehydrator.

What a great afternoon. 

Till Next Time