MUSHROOMS ON LOGS - GRAIN SPAWN METHOD

Join us at Kelmarna Gardens for a crash course in growing mushrooms with Ellen Schindler to get amongst all the materials and know-how you need to start growing native New Zealand oyster mushrooms on wooden logs using inoculated grain spawn. Learn how easy it can be to grow your own mushrooms, with minimal investment and a scrumptious, high-value return!

The first half of this skills-focused, hands-on workshop will be a study of mushrooms - which ones grow more easily, what kinds of timber is best to use, where to find logs, what it means to ‘colonise’ a log, and how best to pass the time as you look forward to your first flush of tasty mushrooms.

Then you will work through each step of the process to prepare your own log -- from preparing the grain spawn, using it to inoculate your log, and understanding how to care for your log after you take it home at the end of the session!

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MUSHROOM METHODS

Ellen also hosts workshops using the ‘wooden dowel method’ and is excited to take this opportunity to share an alternative approach to growing mushrooms on logs. This workshop focuses on the ‘grain spawn method’, which can be considerably cheaper than using wooden dowels, although as you will see it is a separate technique which requires a bit more preparation and hands-on experience.

Keep an eye on our Kelmarna Gardens workshop schedule if you’re curious about Ellen’s other workshops on the ‘wooden dowel method’ with logs or the ultimate convenience of growing ‘mushrooms in containers’!

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Tickets include: a wooden log, plenty of native NZ oyster mushroom spawn, organic beeswax for sealing your work, and the basic tools and instruction to get the job done!

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WHAT TO BRING

Essential:

a water bottle
a snack or lunch
weather appropriate clothing/gear
safety glasses
a pair of garden gloves

Strongly Recommended:

power drill (corded, or cordless 18V + spare battery pack)
drill bit or spade bit, 18mm
funnel, 15mm nozzle
prod/stick, 15mm diameter
tape measure + marking tool (marker or pencil)
30 x coins (10 or 20 cent pieces), or 30 x 15mm discs cut from aluminium cans (Note: These will be used on your log, so you can recover them in the future!)

Please note that these recommended items are not required to participate, but having your own equipment will allow you to work more at your own pace. So try to bring as many of these as you can, but whatever you can't manage will be available to share amongst the group!

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Ellen Schindler is a passionate gardener and community organiser. Since 2006 she has nurtured her home garden in Sandringham into a productive food system with about 55 fruit trees of all types and sizes, beehives, chooks, and vegetable patches.

She is a committed volunteer who has been instrumental to establish the Homestead, the Dignan Street Community Gardens in Pt Chevalier, and has been involved in planting and maintaining fruit trees in parks and grass berms across Sandringham. Ellen believes that healthy food should be accessible to everyone, and teaching DIY techniques is one way to achieve this goal!

Over the past few years, Ellen has indulged her interest in cultivating mushrooms on logs and later in containers, creating opportunities for valuable food production in the otherwise overlooked dark, damp spaces in her garden. In this workshop, Ellen is looking forward to sharing with you her homegrown mushroom experience and encouraging you to join her in exploring the cultivation of this delicious, healthy, and easy to grow fungus!

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At Kelmarna, we strive to make education accessible for everyone. So, where possible, we offer a 40% discount on our workshops to valid Community Services Card holders. If you book one of these tickets, please email us a copy of your valid Community Services Card, and remember to bring it along to the workshop. Please note that this option does NOT include Super Gold Card holders. Ngā mihi.