SFK provides funding for local mushroom growing project

The following is a report on Knucklas Community Mushroom Group.

This project was started in April this year, using a small fund provided by SFK, by a small group of interested local people in Knucklas, a few miles up the Teme valley. Being concerned about the increasingly chaotic weather patterns caused by accelerating climate change, they felt a mushroom-growing project would be a back-up source of food, in addition to growing fruit and veg (the tiny village of Knucklas has a very successful allotments).

The group members received training and support from Aimee le Bailly of Marches Mushrooms, who supplied eight tubes of pre-injected Grey Oyster mushroom spore in a hemp straw substrate. Knucklas Community Land Trust allowed the group to build a structure near their allotments on which to hang the tubes.   By comparison, Marches Mushrooms grow on a commercial scale using a well-ventilated former dairy, with resources beyond the small Knucklas group’s project.

Even mushrooms are weather-dependent when grown outside and as April was unseasonably cold and wet, it was well into May before the first flush (harvest) with at first only a few small mushrooms.  But then as the weather warmed up, a really good, extended flush supplied members of the group and people from the Land Trust with mushrooms for over a couple of weeks.

It was over a month before the next flush and this was not successful. With inconsistent weather, often chilly or rainy or both, but also with dry spells, mushrooms were small and the tubes started growing an excess of green algae.   Aimee suggested emptying the tubes into a pile on the ground so the spores could breathe, but this did not activate any more mushrooms.  At this point the project was put on hold while the group contemplated their next move.

Growing outside through the autumn would be at the mercy of the weather.  New tubes with freshly-injected spore seemed the best way forward, though involving a further cost.  The group had to that point received a total of £184.18 from SFK, to cover the costs of 8 mushroom tubes (at a reduced rate as they had already produced a first flush) plus materials for the structure, books, and a small payment to Aimee for her time and travel.
​
With the prospect of better weather ahead, the group approached SFK with a proposal to purchase another 8 tubes, this time going for more expensive new ones to get a larger and more extended harvest.   SFK agreed that the project was worth continued support to explore what can be achieved with growing outside and with the resources available.   Four fresh tubes were received in September, with funding from SFK, and to date mushroom harvesting has been very encouraging!

---