Gourmet Mushroom Cultivation

The course introduces the wonderful world of fungi studying the basics of their biology, and how they fit into the ecology of a living system. Most of the learning will be guided practical activities giving participants the knowledge and skills to cultivating gourmet mushrooms in several ways suitable for small spaces. We will look at integrating mushrooms into Permaculture systems in gardens, small holdings & farms.
The course will cover the following:
• Introduction to fungi ecology
• How to collect Spawn from any mushroom (practical)
• The specifics of growing shiitake and oyster mushrooms on logs:
- Selection of logs
- Inoculation (practical)
- Spawn run
- Picking the site (practical)
- Preparing the site (practical)
- Shocking/ Pinning
- Harvesting to get multiple flushes

Advanced booking only: £50
Fees include tuition, refreshments, handouts, information sheets and a Lunch with as much produce as possible from the farm.

A limited number of free places will be provided for people who are long term unemployed. contact [email protected] for details.
Booking

Booking is essential as some of our courses/events will fully booked weeks in advance, and can be done on www.stepneycityfarm.org, emailing [email protected] or by calling 02077908204. However if places are still available then reservations can be made until 4pm the day before the course/event.

Course tutor

Simon White has been managing and teaching sustainable growing techniques, permaculture and solar in both the UK and Africa for the last four years, and has run ecological food production programmes at several small farms. He likes to make organic fertilizer, grow mushrooms, build solar panels and experiment with different sustainable food techniques.