Mushrooms are the ethereal fruit of an organism that weaves its way through wood or soil substrate. The San Francisco Bay Area has incredible microclimates; this means you can find just about any plant or mushroom in any stage of growth at any time of year. However, mushrooms still have very distinct months of wild abundance: roughly November to February in response to our winter rains. When we're in the heat of summer and crave the mystical appearance of our fungal relatives, the solution is to become their servants. We open our homes and nurture the growth of these creatures so that we may eat.
Starting from Zero is Near Impossible
If we start from the natural beginning of fungal growth, we'd have to start with delicate, microscopic spores. Taking care of a plant seedling is difficult, but pales in comparison to nurturing a sprouting spore. Raw mycelia (the body of fungi) is susceptible to contamination and aggressive competition by wild bacteria or mold. The typical solution is expensive, advanced lab equipment and sterile technique that requires months of dedicated training to perfect. Fortunately, there is an easier way.
The Easier Way to Grow Mushrooms
Start at the end. Utilizing a grow bag or a slit-and-spray kit is by far the easiest way to start growing mushrooms. Little to no worry about contamination, and organic mushrooms that can sprout right on your countertop. This makes mushroom growing much closer to growing a houseplant. There are a lot of companies that sell kits, but the company that has been doing it the longest and the best is North Spore. They have provided a referral link and discount code for me to share, but that never changed how I felt about their products.
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For the Overachievers
Starting at the end is the best strategy to gain the satisfaction of growing mushrooms and the confidence to try out earlier steps. Once you can grow from a kit, slowly take steps backwards: try buying a substrate bag and a spore syringe. When that works well for you, try propagating liquid cultures. Now you're feeling comfortable, so you can start working with spores, petri dishes, cloning, and custom liquid culture. Start from the end and take steps backwards. The further back you go, the harder it gets. Of course, North Spore also offers field cloning kits, liquid culture propagation kits, petri dishes, strains to propagate, still air boxes, and basically anything you can think of to grow mushrooms. Remember to use my link and code to support me!
Use code THEBAYFORAGER for 10% off
