Specialty Mushroom Cultivation

This series of booklets is intended to support any farmer, student, educator, organizer, entrepreneur or homesteader who is interested in taking specialty mushroom cultivation to the community level. This first booklet provides an introduction to mushrooms, mycology, and the specialty mushroom industry. We also discuss the ways mushrooms offer solutions to a wide range of community challenges in both rural and urban locations. Book Two provides a detailed overview of common cultivation methods, and the third book discusses the parameters for fruiting, harvest, and sales. While the overall intention of these guides is to support cultivators to get started or improve a commercial operation, the information and methods offered here also apply to anyone interested in mushroom production at many other scales. Mushrooms have so much to teach us beyond reusing waste streams and producing high quality food. They are also teachers of the connection all beings share, the importance of community, and the truth that nothing goes to waste. Yes, the specialty mushroom industry is rapidly growing, and there are huge business opportunities in working with fungi. This should not supercede the deeper truths fungi have to teach. Hopefully as this industry expands it can do so with the values of community and connection. The best teachers for growing and working with fungi are the mushrooms themselves. A lot of learning how to cultivate mushrooms is trying to grow them, watching what happens, and then adjusting accordingly. As with any farming venture, it is key to accept that you will have both successes and failures. Mushroom cultivation is a constant dance of observation and reaction, of science and art. Hopefully these booklets give you a beat to start that dance, to explore with curiosity who fungi are and how to ally with them in your life.