I always thought that growing mushrooms was something supernatural. I believed it required deep dark cellars, respiratory protection, and some special substrates. It turns out, it’s much simpler and more fascinating. To start, I want to share with you 10 reasons to grow mushrooms yourself.
Homegrown mushrooms in laundry baskets
10 Reasons to Grow Mushrooms
- Growing mushrooms is exciting. If you love creating wonders with your own hands, mushroom cultivation is for you. When your mushroom beds yield a harvest, you experience a satisfaction that’s hard to compare.
- It’s a new experience. Growing mushrooms will teach you many new things, help you gain skills and fascinating experiences. You can do this with children – they’ll learn about the role of mushrooms in ecosystems, their life cycle, and simply get more aesthetic pleasure from life. Watching small wonders unfold is so important!
- You’ll become more self-sufficient. By growing your own mushrooms, you won’t need to buy them anymore. Especially since the selection at our grocery stores only offers oyster mushrooms and champignons, while the variety of mycelium sold in specialized stores is impressive. No more gazing longingly at dried shiitake in the shop!
- Growing your own saves money. Of course, you’ll have to buy mycelium a couple of times, but soon you’ll learn to propagate mushroom beds yourself. Straw, cardboard, bags – all are significantly cheaper than purchasing mushrooms at stores.
- Mushrooms are an extraordinary part of nature. The diversity of the mushroom world is mind-blowing. They’re unique – from pink reishi to ordinary gray oyster mushrooms. Just enjoy the miracle happening on your own balcony or veranda.
- Discover new culinary experiences. When you have your own mushrooms, you’ll need to make culinary discoveries to use the harvest – because once you grow one bag, you won’t be able to stop!
- A way to recycle waste. Logs from pruning your garden can either be burned, or you can grow mushrooms on them. The same goes for paper, cardboard, egg trays, coffee grounds, and tea leaves – all are excellent biomaterials for growing edible mushrooms.
- Meet like-minded people. When mushroom growing captivates you, those around you will surely become interested in what you’re so passionate about. Share your newly acquired knowledge and make friends!
- Homegrown mushrooms are better than store-bought. They surpass store mushrooms not only in taste. The longer a mushroom sits on the shelf, the fewer vitamins and nutrients it retains. Considering that freshly cut oyster mushrooms are recommended to be eaten raw, store-bought mushrooms don’t inspire me to follow that advice. We don’t use fungicides, pesticides, or fertilizers, which mushrooms absorb like a sponge.
- Mushrooms teach us to be more attentive to the world around us. Once you grow your first mushroom, you’ll begin to notice them more in the natural environment. Mushrooms are amazing, and now you’ll know much more about them.
With this motivating article, I’m beginning a series of posts on growing mushrooms at home.
