You live in the West Kootenays and have the flexibility to skip one day of work per month to do different (but probably more fun) work.
You're a gardener, a farmer, an outdoors person, a huge nerd, or really anyone with an interest in learning about mushrooms in a sustained and systematic way.
You are passionate about living things, creative, bold, and probably just a great all-around person.
If any of these statements are true, you are invited to join Mushroom Club!
Welcome to Mushroom Club
Taught on a small commercial mushroom farm (Mr. Mercy’s Mushrooms in Kaslo), participants will learn the skills to get confident and creative with growing projects of their own.
With topics including sterile lab technique, log cultivation, fungal gardening, mushroom cookery and medicine making, and identifying and working with wild mushrooms, this experience offers a solid and diverse foundation of skills for anyone interested in deepening their working relationship with fungi.
Mushroom Club happens in six full-day installments, on the 4th Friday of each month from April through September.
1) April 26 | In the Lab
Basics of mushroom biology and strategies for fruiting. Overview of sterile technique, with practice creating mushroom spawn. Discussion of participants’ aims for the program.
2) May 24 | In the Backyard
Log inoculation session and how to create your own spawn. Forest walk with discussion of tree types and in-depth analysis of pairing opportunities with mushrooms.
3) June 28 | In the Garden
Creating a garden space using fungi. Making King Stropharia beds, and a look at secondary decomposers. Discussion of endomycorrhizae.
4) July 26 | In the Kitchen
Culinary and medicinal uses of various mushrooms. A look at medicine making, drying and preserving, plus a cooking and tasting event featuring a mushroom BBQ.
5) August 30* | In the Greenhouse
Considerations for small commercial farming. Strain selection for different temperature ranges, making substrate, and uses for waste streams. Harvesting, packing, and storing mushrooms.
*This class happens on the last, not the 4th Friday of the month.
6) September 27 | In the Wild
A full-day wild mushroom foray, where we’ll talk about mycorrhizae and forest health, collecting for personal and commercial use, mushroom identification, and assessing wild strains for cultivation potential (back to the lab!).
I’m Robin Mercy, and I’ve spent the last 7 years starting and growing my home mushroom farm, Mr. Mercy’s Mushrooms.
We farm seasonally, producing around 40 lbs per day of certified organic mushrooms (wood-loving varieties like Oyster, Shiitake, and Lion’s Mane), and providing growing supplies for clients across the country.
I have a background in forestry, and am passionate about developing low-tech growing systems that are informed by our local ecosystems. I’ve been leading workshops on mushroom foraging through Selkirk College for several years, and in 2022 I helped start the Kootenay Mushroom Festival.
6 full days for just $600
This works out to $15 per hour of teaching time, and also includes the awesome bonuses listed below.
Expert guest speakers
There will be at least two special guest speakers during the course of the program. Details to come, but you’ll love them.
Free mushrooms
What would an immersive mushroom growing program be without a few mushrooms thrown in? We grow over 15 strains, and there will be ample opportunities for sampling.
Free lab time
Access to the lab space at Mr. Mercy’s for working on any personal projects in a sterile and professional workspace. (This is a busy commercial working environment on our home property, so time restrictions will apply.)
Free spawn
Each student will receive a mix of their choice of 5 units of spawn (petri dishes, dowels, sawdust spawn, etc.) over the duration of the course, to get growing at home. A $100 value.
Sign up now and grab one of only 10 available spots
Do you have some questions you need answered before you can commit?
Contact us
