This two day practical course will provide you with a background in the fascinating world of fungal biology and the core principles and practices that underlie the art and science of mushroom cultivation. By the end of course you will have everything you need to start growing your own mushrooms at home, on your farm, or in your community, including the mushroom spawn to get you started!
All food and refreshments are provided and you will get to take home all the preparations and substrates you make over the weekend.
2024 Course Dates
April
27th & 28th [Fully Booked – Waiting List]
May
18th & 19th
25th & 26th
August
17th & 18th
24th & 25th
Sept
21st & 22nd
28th & 29th
Who is this course for?
This course is for anyone with a growing interest in fungi and mushroom cultivation. If you would like to learn how to grow a variety of mushrooms on a small scale then this course is for you. You do not need to have any prior knowledge of fungi or mushroom cultivation as the course is designed to take you through the process of understanding fungi at a deeper level and utilising that knowledge to cultivate a range of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms.
You will learn:
- The fascinating biology, ecology, and history of the Fungal Kingdom
- Basics of wild mushroom identification fungal foray
- The core principles and paradigms that underlie the art and science of cultivation
- Aseptic (“sterile”) practices with agar, grains, and wood-based materials
- Cloning mushrooms and maintaining a culture
- How to make the perfect Grain Spawn!
- Bulk spawn production, processing growing mediums and substrates
- Appropriate, low-cost, and low-tech cultivation methods and tools
- Lab and fruiting environment designs for home, farm, or community scale projects
- Log cultivation – the practice and variety of applications
- Outdoor mushroom garden design and installation
- Application of fungi with integrated agro-ecosystems
- Working with Mychorrhizal Fungi
- Place-based resource management and systems design principles
- Fungal integration into various permaculture-inspired regenerative living systems
- Post harvest processing including extracts and tinctures
The course content is supported with extensive notes and as a participant you can join mushroom growers support forum.
It is a busy a weekend and we pack a lot in! The sessions take place in and around the woodland (so good footwear is essential!), in the workshop and our laboratory. Practical activites throughout and you get to take home the substrates, prpearations and cultures made over the weekend inlcuding:
- Oyster fruiting bucket
- Oyster straw bag
- Cardboard Spawn (Wine Cap)
- Inoculated Log
- Jar of Grain Spawn (choice of species)
- Enriched Sawdust Fruiting Block (rieshi or shiitake)
- Agar media Petri dishes (choice of species)
- Liquid Culture Syringe (choice of species)
- Lions Mane capsules
Mushroom Species You’ll Learn to Grow Include:
Mushroom Species You’ll Learn to Grow Include:- Garden Giant(Stropharia rugosoannulata)
- Cordyceps(Cordyceps sinensis)
- Pearl/Tree Oyster(Pluerotus ostreatus)
- Lion’s Mane(Hericium erinaceus)
- Reishi(Ganoderma lucidum)
- Turkey Tail(Trametes versicolor)
- Maitake(Grifola frondosa)
- King Oyster(Pleurotus eryngii)
- Shiitake(Lentinula edodes)
- Elm Oyster(Hypsizgus ulmarius)
- Nameko(Pholiota Nameko)
- Wood Blewitt(cl*tocybe Nuda)
- Shaggy Ink Cap(Coprinus Comitus)
Venue/Accommodation
Coed Talylan is a 70 acre woodland on the western edge of the Brecon Beacons. Nestled below the iron age hill fort of Garn Goch in the foothills of the Black Mountain it offers a secluded and peaceful location for our course participants to learn and explore the potential of applying agroecology within a co-sufficient community.
Accommodation is available as camping around our guest lodge, an A-frame wooden cabin with kitchen and dining/living space. We have running filtered spring water throughout the site, compost toilets and wash facilities.
You will need to bring your own camping equipment. We do also allow small campervan, contact us for more information.
Participants are welcome to arrive on the Friday evening before the course.
Transport
We are offering a 10% discount for those that use public transport to travel to the venue. We also help facilitate ift sharing opportunities. The rail service to Llangadog is part of the “Heart of Wales Line” an historic railway running from Shrewsbury to Swansea. If you choose to arrive by train or bus we offer a collection service from Llangadog at set times (contact us for more information).
Fees
Fees include all food (organic/home grown), accomodation (as camping) tuition, handouts, and refreshments.
- Up to 14K/year £225
- 14K-20K/year £275
- 20K upwards £325
We endeavour to make our courses and events affordable to all. Unfortunately, we do not receive any external funding and rely on large amounts of voluntary input. Concessions are available for pensioners, unemployed and full-time students.
We offer a 10% discount for OPD owners and LWA members (contact us for details).
We can also make arrangements for payment by instalments, contact us for more details.
See the Terms and Conditions.
Booking and Paying for your place
To book a place on the course use the following link to complete the booking form.
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