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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Growing Mushrooms Indoors



I saw a link floating around online a couple of months ago about growing mushrooms indoors.  You just needed a five gallon bucket, enough coffee grounds to fill it up, and a starter kit.  Ok.  I like mushrooms and like to try new things, so why not.

I did a little research, read a few reviews, and ended up ordering this:

The instructions left a little to be desired, but they did include a phone number to call if you weren’t sure about things.   I filled the bucket with a lot of help from the good people at the local Starbucks and got busy.  Look what I ended up with!




Yes, that is a quarter sitting on the mushroom.  It is there for size reference.  I think I was actually supposed to eat these monsters before they got this big, but I couldn’t resist letting them grow a bit.  My plan is to eat most of them but leave one or two to dry and go to spore.  The idea is that I can then start again and have a regular supply.  Economically speaking, these would be expensive mushrooms if you only got one batch.  Fun either way, but not cost effective.

So there you have it.  You can grow mushrooms indoors without much trouble.  You just need a source to get started.  I remember going mushroom hunting with my parents many years ago.   We’d occasionally come across button mushrooms that had dried out.  If you stomped on one, you could see the spore burst out into the air.   If you know your mushrooms and know of a place to find wild ones, maybe you could gather your spore naturally.   I can see a hike in the woods with my mushroom field guide in the near future!

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