Make Money With a Marvelous Mushroom

Enlarge Image Image Gallery TOP LEFT: The propagation shed is a simple 8' by 12' wooden structure, insulated against cold and made verminproof. TOP RIGHT: A bumper crop of the fragile fungi... plenty to eat, and lots left over to sell at $3.00 a pound! SECOND FROM TOP LEFT: This cage ""tames"" the wild mushroom. SECOND FROM TOP RIGHT: Stewing the rice straw helps pasteurize the substrate. ABOVE LEFT: It's harvest time! ABOVE RIGHT: Straw in storage for future mushroom crops

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John Boeschen tells how—with an investment of $100 or less—to...

How do you like your mushrooms served? Perhaps mixed in with a green salad and vegetables? Or how about panfried, then sprinkled over a favorite hot dish? If you're like me, the mere mention of the delicious one-legged edibles-prepared in just about any way imaginable—starts your taste buds to cravin' a fungi feast!

Unfortunately, such a meal used to put a serious dent in my budget . . . until I encountered Dr. Ralph H. Kurtzman, Jr.biochemist and plant pathologist with the Department of Agriculture's Western Regional Laboratory—and his amazing mushroom farm (see Profiles in MOTHER NO. 54, page 68). This scientist's operation is especially impressive because—although there're lots of big businesses that spend thousands of dollars to get those tasty little fungi on your kitchen table-Ralph grows 'em in his urban Berkeley, California back yard . . . with a setup that cost him less than $100!

You see, Dr. Kurtzman's entire venture—including both his "mushroom house" and his growing medium—is based on the use of recycled materials. And the oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) that Kurtzman cultivates doesn't even require a messy manure compost: Plain of rice or wheat straw provides all the nutrients that this particular species needs.

A MUSHROOM MANSION

Admittedly, mushrooms demand a special environment, and an outdoor climate will not support most varieties for more than a few weeks each year. The hardy oyster type is an exception, however, that can generally be found on the forest floor from May to October. And with a suitable enclosure, you can extend even this long growing season to a full 12 months!

Caves, abandoned mines, or root cellars often have the desired temperature and humidity for mushroom cultivation (although such places may require additional ventilation). Unfortunately, these ideal mushroom "dens" just aren't available to most folks. To overcome this scarcity, a variety of man-made structures are used for mushroom propagation, and—though Ralph put his together from scratch—you can easily adapt the following concepts to most readymade sheds.

As they grow, mushrooms give off carbon dioxide ... a gas which—in an enclosed spacecan cause the fungi to become enlongated, stringy, and tasteless. Therefore, to assure adequate ventilation, our plant pathologist set his structure up on a raised foundation of railroad ties . . . and installed a stovepipe that circulates air from the foundation to the ceiling.

The building's 8' X 12' frame was built from recycled 2 X 4's, which can be purchased from a lumberyard that deals in used wood (or you can often get permission to simply haul such timber away from some nearby house-demolition site).

The frame was covered with one layer of 4-mil polyethylene—to protect the building from moisture and dry rot-followed by an exterior of 1/8"-thick low-grade masonite .. . which Dr. Kurtzman sealed with paint. The structure's interior was insulated with 3-1/2" of glass wool and, finally, that weatherproofing was covered with another protective layer of plastic.

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