Week 3 of the Hackney City Farm Garden Regeneration course in Broadway Market, and as a reward for a lot of digging, we get introduced to the process of growing our own batch of Oyster and Shittake mushrooms. First, a collection of Sycamore, Birch and Beech logs are prepared.
The bags of Oyster Mushroom spores are shared around. A £5 bag from Ann Miller will generate 2 batches a year for 5 years!
The group prepare the necessaries: Logs, straw, water, bin liners to store the logs in until Spring.
The logs are placed on straw which has been wet, then spores, with grain, are rubbed all over the logs.
The Mushroom ‘body bags’ are placed in a pile, and left over the Winter months to work their magic!
