A windowless garage might not sound like the best spot to grow food, yet Joel Orchard is doing just that.
Out the back of his Lismore rental, in northern New South Wales,Joel and his sister Chez are "vertically farming" inside their shed — growing enough nutritious oyster mushrooms in stacked buckets to feed both themselves and their local community.
It was a hobby born out of the COVID-19 pandemic, which grew into a small local food business. Each bucket yields about a month's supply of mushrooms for a small family, Joel says.
He believes almost anyone can grow their own mushrooms in reusable buckets —even folks with limited space or no room at all for a veggie patch.
We spoke with Joel, who's also founder of the Young Farmers Connect non-profit, to find out more.
What's the basic process of growing mushrooms in buckets?
You need to give the mushrooms something to eat — we use organic sugarcane mulch. So we firstly pasteurise the sugarcane mulch using hot water or lime.
The pasteurised mulch then gets packed into a 20-litre bucket that's been pre-drilled with small holes, which is where the mushrooms will grow out of. As we're packing the buckets, we sprinkle in some inoculated grains that contain mushroom mycelium.
In about 20 days' time the mycelium will have colonised all the straw and be starting to fruit — that's when the mushrooms pop out of the holes in the bucket.
Does the bucket-growing method avoidsingle-use plastics?
Yes.I'm really passionate about reducing single-use waste through the entire system, because the majority of gourmet mushrooms are grown in essentially a single-use plastic sock.
We've replaced that sock with buckets that we can wash and reuse indefinitely.
It's also avoiding packaging. These days I go to the supermarket and see mushrooms from who-knows-where wrapped in plastic, on polystyrene trays, and I think: "These are miserable excuses for mushrooms!"
Is it easy to learn to grow mushrooms,especially for folks in urban areas or without much space?
A great place to start is to go online and look for a mushroom-growing kit. They're so easy to do as a kind of taster.
And then once you're ready to try growing in buckets, with less waste, there's so many resources. You can do workshops online and in-person all over Australia. I used Facebook forums to fast-track my learning.
Pasteurisation is probably the only challenging thing for kitchen-scale mushroom growing, but you can do it in a big saucepan on the stove. Or you can use lime.
The advantage of growing in buckets is you can stack them about five or six high, so really maximising small spaces. Our whole mushroom farm sits in our garage — we're almost vertical farming.
I guess our little vision was: "Can we pay the rent from the mushrooms that we grow in the garage?"
We're at that point now. We also knew we couldn't invest heavily in infrastructure or build anything, because we're in a rental. So we managed to make it really low tech.
What are the benefits of growing your own gourmet mushrooms?
When you haven't got much room to grow food, growing mushrooms makes sense. They're expensive, so you've probably saved yourself quite a lot of dollars. And they're really nutritious.
I've never in all my life been able to afford to eat so many gourmet mushrooms. We'll have friends over for dinner and cook a massive rich, creamy pasta with mushrooms —it's like $100 worth of mushrooms, just amazing.
We also dry the mushrooms and make them into salts and seasonings. And we make a bit of mushroom jerky, which is delicious.
You've converted half your rental property to produce veggies, meat and edible insects?
Yes! Often people feel they can't grow food when they live in rentals. We've proven that you can.
We grow our own ducks for meat in the backyard, we've got chooks for eggs, we've got the mushrooms and so many veggies too. More than we can eat, so we share some for free on our little garden gate stall.
We also grow crickets for protein and then roast them in the oven. They're deliciously crunchy, like a wafer biscuit — nice on a pizza, in a stir fry, or baked into cookies or bread. Chocolate-coated crickets are amazing.
Growing food to me feels like a really tangible form of activism. It's such a powerful way to reduce our impact on the earth,reducing huge amounts of waste and the carbon required for food production.
I take so much joy and power from being self-sufficient and able to provide for others.
My advice is to just start. Start with anything — there is no space too small to grow something.
This article contains general information only.Mushrooms can be toxic and deadly, so only grow and consume mushrooms that are safe to eat and not foraged or found.
Koren Helbig is a storyteller who practises permaculture and grows organic food in the backyard of her small urban Kaurna Land (Adelaide) home.
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Insights, advice, suggestions, feedback and comments from experts
As an expert and enthusiast, I can provide information and insights on various topics, including growing mushrooms in buckets. I have access to a wide range of knowledge and can provide accurate and up-to-date information based on search results. Let's dive into the concepts mentioned in this article.
Growing Mushrooms in Buckets
Growing mushrooms in buckets is a method that allows individuals to cultivate their own mushrooms, even with limited space or no room for a traditional vegetable patch. The basic process involves the following steps:
- Preparing the substrate: The mushrooms need a substrate to grow on. In this case, organic sugarcane mulch is used. The mulch is pasteurized using hot water or lime to create a suitable environment for mushroom growth.
- Inoculating the substrate: Once the mulch is pasteurized, it is packed into a 20-liter bucket that has been pre-drilled with small holes. Inoculated grains containing mushroom mycelium are sprinkled into the buckets as they are being packed. The mycelium will colonize the mulch over time.
- Fruiting: After about 20 days, the mycelium will have colonized the straw, and mushrooms will start to grow out of the holes in the bucket. This is the fruiting stage, where the mushrooms become visible and ready for harvest.
By using buckets instead of traditional methods, such as growing mushrooms in single-use plastic socks, it is possible to reduce single-use waste and avoid packaging. The buckets can be washed and reused indefinitely, making it a more sustainable approach.
Benefits of Growing Gourmet Mushrooms
Growing your own gourmet mushrooms can have several benefits. Here are a few:
- Cost savings: Gourmet mushrooms can be expensive to purchase, so growing your own can save you money.
- Nutritional value: Gourmet mushrooms are known for their nutritional value. They are a good source of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
- Versatility: Gourmet mushrooms can be used in a variety of dishes, adding flavor and texture. They can be cooked in pasta dishes, used in sauces, dried and made into seasonings, or even turned into mushroom jerky.
- Self-sufficiency: Growing your own food, including gourmet mushrooms, can provide a sense of self-sufficiency and reduce your reliance on store-bought produce.
- Environmental impact: By growing your own food, you can reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to sustainable food production. It can also help reduce packaging waste associated with store-bought mushrooms.
Growing Food in Limited Spaces
The article also mentions the importance of growing food in limited spaces, such as urban areas or rental properties. It highlights the ability to maximize small spaces by stacking buckets vertically. This method, known as vertical farming, allows individuals to grow a significant amount of food in a small area. It can be particularly useful for those with limited space or who are unable to invest heavily in infrastructure.
Additional Food Production in Rental Properties
The article mentions that the author has converted half of their rental property to produce not only mushrooms but also vegetables, meat (ducks), and edible insects (crickets). This showcases the possibility of growing a variety of food items even in rental properties. It emphasizes the idea that anyone can grow their own food, regardless of the space available.
In summary, growing mushrooms in buckets is a method that allows individuals to cultivate their own gourmet mushrooms, even with limited space. It offers benefits such as cost savings, nutritional value, versatility, and self-sufficiency. Additionally, growing food in limited spaces, such as urban areas or rental properties, is possible through vertical farming and utilizing various food production methods.
