Learners will get a spore-to-spore experience growing nearly a dozen different species of mushrooms. Their first task will be to create monotub cultures of various mushroom species using colonized grain spawn and organic substrate. Students will also prepare fruiting blocks of 12 different varieties of gourmet mushrooms so that they may observe the differences in phenotypes as well as research the nutritional benefits of adding them to their diets. Finally, students will take a portion of our raised soil bed within our school’s FarmBot to grow wine cap and oyster mushrooms in straw. This practice will help to expose them to a more traditional outdoor method of growing so that they may compare the advantages and disadvantages to both.

Concurrent to the creation of their monotubs and fruiting blocks, students will inoculate brown rice substrate in sterilized mason jars with Cordyceps militaris spawn. This little known species has incredible potential in medical research. A research project will be built around this specific species. This process will take 1-2 weeks to fully colonize, during which time students will learn about optimizing growing conditions.

Their next phase will be to understand the appropriate growing conditions required during mycelium colonization of the substrate and during pinning/fruiting of mushroom flushes. This will help them to write Python programs that will monitor and adjust the tents’ conditions using Raspberry Pi single board computers. These will interface with various environmental sensors and actuators that adjust air circulation routines for respiration of the fungi, humidification of the growing space, and photoperiods during fruiting. Students will look for patterns between temperature, humidity, oxygen, and carbon dioxide levels.

Upon harvest of mushroom flushes, students will learn the purpose of mushroom production by mycelium. They will learn how to harvest, prepare, dry, and cook with these various species. Lab groups will also prepare spore prints from the gills of the mushrooms and use these to create inoculation solutions which they will use to propagate their mushrooms for a second growing cycle in the second half of the year.