Why Grow Mushrooms?
Aside from the cool factor, there are plenty of other reasons to grow your own:
• Save money. Ever checked out the price of oyster mushrooms at your grocery store? Eek. And you typically can’t find varieties like pink or yellow oyster mushrooms, either.
• Boost your health. Mushrooms are fat-free, low in calories, and cholesterol-free. They’re also packed with copper, potassium, magnesium, zinc, and B vitamins, as well as antioxidants.
• Geek out with your kids. Who are we kidding here? You don’t need children to be fascinated by growing mushrooms, but it is an admittedly cool activity to do with the littles.
Mushroom Terminology
First, you need to understand mushroom lingo, because it’s not like other plant or food lingo you are familiar with.
• Spores: While other plants grow from seeds, mushrooms grow from spores — tiny, tiny spores that you cannot see with the naked eye.
• Spawn: This is a blend of spores and other nutrients including sawdust, grain, wooden plugs, straw, wood chips. Spores don’t contain chlorophyll to germinate like seeds do, so these other substances provide that nourishment to get them going. If you’re a baker, spawn is kind of like the starter for sourdough bread.
• Substrate: Every plant needs a growing medium, and because mushrooms don’t grow in soil, their growing medium (substrate) includes logs, straw, cardboard, or wood chips. Each type of mushroom typically prefers a specific substrate.
• Mycelium: Mycelium is tiny, white, threadlike roots that appear first before you see anything that looks remotely like a mushroom.
