"Amazing! I know everything I need to now to get my mushroom business going."- Rachel W.
6 week online class to get you growing mushrooms like a pro. Thursdays 7-8:30 EST Feb 23rd-Mar 30th
When I started growing mushrooms ten years ago it was hard to know where to begin. I made this course so you don’t have to start where I did. This course will save you from years of trials and screw ups (I already did that) and get you growing mushrooms and mycelium successfully! We will focus on the fundamentals of mushroom cultivation and build up to all the details of designing a commercial mushroom farm. Any successful farm has to sell products as well as grow them, so we will explore successful ways of selling fresh mushrooms, products beyond mushrooms, and how to access and apply for grant money. This course is useful for anyone from the home scale grower to the small scale mushroom farmer. The course includes:
- (6) LIVE 90 minute lectures–Lifetime access to recordings
- Further videos and resources to watch
- Readings from a variety of books to deepen your understanding
- 25% off discount code for the Fungi Ally website
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Week 1: Fungal Fundamentals.
What are Fungi–Mushroom Life Cycle–Fungal Ecology–Mission and Goals–Outlook of Specialty Mushroom Industry
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Week 2: Beginning Stages
Seven stages of cultivation–Sectors of commercial cultivation–Shiitakes on logs– Receiving and Storing Spawny
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Week 3: Treated substrates
Oysters on straw–Supplemented sawdust–Treating bulk substrates–Inoculation– Using Ready to fruit blocks
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Week 4: Designing a commercial operation
Materials flow– Useful equipment at different scales–Lab design and equipment–DIY schematics
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Week 5: Fruiting and Sales
Fruiting mushrooms–Harvest– Selling at Farmers Markets–Developing restaurant customers– Mushroom CSA–Tracking–Grower profile
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Week 6: Other opportunities
Medicinal mushroom products use and creation–Writing grants/grant opportunities–Selling spawn and grow kits—
Cost: $350
Skills you will gain:
- Grow 5-500 pounds a week depending on your goals
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Understand the mushroom life cycle and ecological roles
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Have an outline to the stages of mushroom cultivation
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Successful cultivation of shiitake on logs, oyster on straw, wine cap on wood chipsand other at home techniques
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Know how to cultivate mushrooms on high yield substrates like supplemented sawdust
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Develop a mission, goal, and strategiesbased business
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Know the specialty mushroom industryand opportunities to plug into it
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Know how to grow medicinal mushrooms at home in your backyard
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Know how to forage for medicinal mushrooms
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How to sell mushrooms as a stand alone business or in conjunction with other crops
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Make a business plan and start growing/selling mushrooms
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HAVE FUN and be confident in working with mushrooms
Willie Crosby has been growing, teaching about, and using mushrooms for the last 10 years. He developed a small scale mushroom cultivation business from his basement to growing 500 pounds of mushrooms per week. Currently Willie focuses on teaching and expanding the Mycofam. Willie has previously taught online for Cornell University and Umass amherst for 3 years as well as mushroom cultivation in person at Umass for 4 years. His main goal is to help more people discover the amazing capacity of fungi to improve our lives through food, medicine, and social thought.
United StatesLove taking this informative course! The information is presented clearly and the instructor is accessible, inspiring, and supportive. A must for anyone interested in deepening their understanding of mushroom cultivation and the surrounding issues of method, scalability, and commercial farming. If I had to describe with a few words: comprehensive, self-reflective, and deep.
United StatesThis is an amazing course!!! Lot of knowledge! Very happy I joined the class... Time to grow with the knowledge.
DenmarkI have been looking around how to grow mushrooms for quite some time. I started looking at various YouTubers. Looking at all those different sources of information out there online, for me made it hard to get an overview of what is needed to start growing mushrooms commercially. The course Fungially offers allowed me to get a clear oversight of how the processes and grow spaces work. What should be taking into consideration, and some additional useful information. The goal for this year is to establish a small-scale mushroom production of 10 to 20 kg a week in Denmark, Europe. This course contributed greatly towards the insight needed to make that happen.
United StatesThe Commercial Cultivation course was by far one of the best learning experiences I've had the pleasure of participating in! Willie's vast knowledge and interactive teaching style allowed for extremely dense weekly learning, while also being accessible to all levels of experience. Throughout the six weeks of lectures, I was able to fully develop my business plan and understand all of the moving pieces within a commercial mushroom operation; Willie was there to answer all of my questions along the way and provide insight on both environmentally friendly practices and financial feasibility.
United StatesAmazing! I know everything I need to now to get my mushroom business going. Willie is so great! He's funny and informative and made me look forward to the next weeks class.