Native Fungi for Food Resilience: Beginners Workshop with Matariki Mushrooms

Mushroom growing doesn't have to be rocket science 🍄

Mushrooms are one of the fastest, most rewarding foods you can grow at home. They're high in protein, grow on simple materials, and can be ready to harvest within weeks. In this hands-on workshop, Mihau and Valetta of Matariki Mushrooms show you how to grow gourmet native Aotearoa mushrooms using simple, low-tech methods that anyone confident in the kitchen can master.

What you'll learn

• Fungi ecology: the role of fungi in our ecosystems, how they live and grow, and what they need to thrive in cultivation

• Native fungi of Aotearoa: an introduction to a range of native species and their traditional uses

• Ways to grow: an overview of what's possible in mushroom cultivation, narrowed down to the most low-tech, permaculture-friendly methods for growing at home

• Hands-on: grow gourmet native oyster mushrooms with simple, low-cost materials, and learn to expand your own spawn so you can keep growing at almost no cost

What you'll take home

• Your own grow kit and spawn, with your first harvest in about 4 weeks

• The know-how to keep producing mushrooms at home for years to come

Good to know

• When: Saturday 14 November, 1–5pm

• Where: Paekākāriki Scout Hall, Upper Campbell Park, Paekākāriki (a short walk from Paekākāriki train station)

• Included: all materials, a presentation, a hands-on practical session and afternoon tea

• Please bring: two clean 2L ice-cream containers with lids

• Afterpay available: pay in 4 interest-free installments

Keep growing: Advanced workshop

Ready for the next step? Join our Advanced · Logs & Liquid Culture workshop on Saturday 28 November: grow native shiitake on logs, make dowel spawn and liquid culture, and take home your own inoculated log and a syringe of pekepeke-kiore (a native cousin of lion's mane). Book both workshops and get a free copy of our book "Family of Forest and Fungi - He Tukutuku Toiora."