Courses

Join Will Borowski for two jam-packed days of hands-on knowledge in DIY edible mushroom propagation. Learn how to grow delicious oyster, shiitake and other mushrooms at home, organically!

This practical workshop will take you through the basics of home mushroom propagation using recycled materials, and introduce you to the fascinating world of fungi.

Growing your own mushrooms is a fabulous way to broaden your family's home-grown nutrition, and has many benefits for your nearby garden as well. This workshop includes a host of take-home mushroom resources to get you growing.

In this workshop Will Borowski will cover the basics of home mushroom propagation as well as multiple specific techniques for growing different types of mushrooms that you can do in your own home with minimal equipment, and using recycled materials.

Will Borowski's approach is perfect for permaculture-minded gardeners. Will uses minimal intervention with his mushroom propagation and focuses on creating resilient strains of mycelium which can better handle natural environments, rather than the climate-controlled approach of conventional mushroom propagation.

This workshop covers:

• The basics of how mycelium works in nature
  
• An overview of the fungi of Australia
• Making grain spawn for oyster mushrooms
  
• How to inoculate a log with spawn in order to grow shiitake mushrooms
• How to make agar for mushroom propagation
• How to grow oyster mushrooms in bags
• How to create a mushroom garden in your backyard
  

About your teacher:

Will Borowski's family name means 'forest mushroom gatherer' in Polish. Need we say more. Will has been working with fungi and mushrooms for over 10 years throughout Australia and is committed to raising awareness about how home mushroom propagation can benefit a family's nutrition and help create healthier meals.

Will also sees mushroom awareness as an important educational tool for teaching kids and adults alike about the crucial role that fungi plays in our soils and ecosystems. Will runs the Forest Fungi website.

Why grow mushrooms?

Growing your own organic mushrooms is a great way to introduce important trace minerals to your family's diet, as well as being a heap of fun and extremely interesting to do.

Growing organic mushrooms can lead to a successful micro-enterprise that fits well with many small farms, homesteads and urban growers. Once you know how to do it, there is very little ongoing cost. And there is always a market for amazing organic mushrooms, no matter where you live.

Growing mushrooms is a chance to interface with an aspect of the natural world that we often forget exists in our busy lives. Fungi and mycellium are some of the most important and fascinating organisms on the planet. And did we mention the edible ones taste really good?