Growing mushrooms

1. Fill up a bucket with straw. 2. Heat up water until less than boiling point (between 60 and 80 degrees Celcius). 3. Add the water to pasteurize the dry straw and push the straw under the water. This is to kill off most bacteria in the straw. It should not be sterilized however, to leave a healthy environment for the mushrooms to grow. 4. Let the straw soak for a minimum of 2 hours. 5. Drain the straw until there is no more excess water. 6. Open up the mushroom bag wide and start with a layer of wet straw of 5 to 10 cm (I grabbed 2 large hands full of straw, but it depends on the size of your bags). 7. Add a thin layer of mycelium on top of the straw, spread it around so the straw is lightly covered. 8. Add a layer of straw on top of the mycelium and keep going until the bag is full, or you used all mycelium and straw. 9. Close the bag with a rubber band above the airhole of the mushroom bag. 10. Leave the bag in a completely dark and humid place with air ventilation and no direct sunlight. This can be a corner and shadowed part of the garden, wrapped in clean towels. Most mushrooms like colder, moist climate with not too much fluctuation in the temperature. 11. Let the mycelium grow and spread onto the straw until the bag is fully white and covered with the fungus. This can take around 2 weeks depending on the temperature. 12. Once the mushroom bag is white, you can remove the bag from the darkness and let it hang freely. This can be a darker corner in the garden, without direct sunlight. 13. Cut small crosses of 4 x 4 cm around the bag with a clean knife. Best is to follow a pattern, such as 12, 3, 6 and 9 'o clock. 14. Check daily the progress of the growth. The mushrooms should start growing within a week of hanging the bag. 15. Once the mushroom blooming start, you can harvest the mushrooms within the week, at the moment they look ready. This depends on the mushrooms you're growing. 16. To harvest you can grab most mushrooms gently and twist/ rotate them. Some mushrooms can be cut at the base with a sharp and clean knife. 17. After the first harvest, some bags produce a second (smaller) batch. This can take a few weeks. My second batch of oyster mushrooms started growing almost 3 weeks after harvest of the 1st batch. Check for Tips in the backstory!