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The Magic of Mushrooms

By Steve Dickason

In the Eastern Cape of South Africa, you will find the Of course at school we were taught that mushrooms grew
hamlet of Hogsback, named after three small mountain from spores, this is correct, but not perfectly correct.
peaks which resemble a hog’s back. With plenty of water Like many plants, mushrooms can be cultivated from
and beautiful forests it is the perfect area to enjoy nature. cuttings, or stem butts. This is the preferred means of
cultivation because spores are exactly the same as the
One of the hotels used to serve “mushroom soup” so, as parent. Genetic material taken from the inside of the
people who are interested in most things natural, my wife stem is exactly the same as the parent. Mushrooms also
and I attempted to enlist the services of a “local” to help become lazy and after three generations they become
us identify the forest mushrooms. We enquired at the less productive. After three generations they require re-
hotel as to where we could find such a person - but with cloning.
no success.
So when you produce the perfect mushroom, you break
There was a sense after that, that the catering staff open the stem and either propagate it in Agar Agar, or put
were giving us rather strange looks through the kitchen it in cardboard lasagne. The outcome is a network of fine
window. In my ignorance I never realised that our enquiry hairy structures called mycelium (spawn). This is actually
may have been viewed with suspicion. In retrospect, the mushroom, the part that you eat is the fruit. Agar Agar
we were probably being evaluated to see whether we is high tech spawn while cardboard lasagne is low tech
were part of law enforcement or trying to muscle in on spawn. The easiest and most economic option is often to
someone’s private stash of Magic Mushrooms! purchase the spawn from a local supplier.

Of course Maureen never forget this incident so when a Of course, there are thousands of types of fungus floating
hobbyist mushroom growing workshop was available she in the air, just waiting for ideal conditions to grow. Your
suggested that I attend it, which I did. This launched me substrate for the mushrooms is very inviting, so you have
into the amazing world of fungus. A sourdough workshop to do something that will give your spawn the edge.
followed and now we are on the path to producing Tempah You can sterilise, pasteurize or super-pasteurize your
and also Lacto-fermentation products. substrate. Sterilize means killing all life in the substrate.
While pasteurising and super-pasteurising just wipes out
The initial success in growing Oyster mushrooms on most of the competitors. Unless you are growing a very
recycled paper cat litter pellets inspired me to sign up difficult mushroom it is better to pasteurize. Pasteurizing
for an entrepreneurial course in South Africa. After this can be done with heat but chemical methods can also
course I ran a workshop in Port Elizabeth. be used. Hydrated Lime and Fermentation is considered
to be an acceptable method of pasteurisation, but some
There is no shortage of miracle natural cures around, so farmers use Hydrogen Peroxide.
most “scientifically proven” cures by natural remedies
can probably be taken with a pinch of salt. Having said The next method to help overcome the competitors is to
that, my thoughts wandered to the fact that Fungi can inoculate the substrate with 10% spawn or 20% low-tech
survive space travel. Fungi provided us with Penicillin and spawn.
palatable bread.
Magic Mushrooms affect the mind. Fungi are used to Besides the health benefits, Oyster Mushroom growing
create meat substitutes and the list goes ever on. has also uplifted whole villages in many communities.
They can be grown on agricultural waste and are a
The most significant to me, was the fact that it could workable solution to combat the plague of water hyacinth
help to prevent mental illness such as dementia plants. Fungi is used to combat oil pollution. It also
and Alzheimer’s disease. True, there are dehydrated improves soil and of course after growing the mushrooms,
mushrooms and extracts available, but in my view, nature the mycelium provides food for earthworms. Thereby
intended us to consume foods in their most natural form. adding another step to add value to vegetable waste.
So, I started growing mushrooms locally.

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