By Margaret Grainger | Vice President
We have started mushroom farming and they are producing a bountiful harvest. We had an old structure without any walls but it had a solid roof. We enclosed it with black hessian and plastic future board to create a dark and humid environment and a small second hand exhaust fan was installed to help hot air escape when the temperature gets too warm.
The mushrooms come in starter kits for 50B each or $1.75 USD and we purchased 200 of them for our initial set up.The bags are suspended by rope which has been tied in knots to ensure the bags are not squashing each other and air can ciruclate. A small fine water spray system was installed for $100 USD and we were ready to go!
After approximately 3 weeks the mushrooms began to sprout through the neck of the bags. Every morning and afternoon the mushrooms are cut off at the top of the bag and new ones begin to form. We have been harvesting between 7kg and 10kg of mushrooms per day. The variety is a favourite in Thai cooking! Some of the mushrooms are used to help feed the poor and some are bagged up and sold to individuals. We do not yet have a supply constant enough to sell to restaurants.
After the mushroom bags have expended their life time the material inside the bags can be put into the garden as it is rich in nutrients.
Our vegetable patch continues to grow well and every day people living at the Hand to Hand housing estate are able to pick fresh from the garden. Our growers also take some to the market to sell.
In October, we attended an 'Oktoberfest' event where the growers had the opportunity to not only sell vegetables, but the vegetable plants also. Flowering plants and herbs were also for sale along with cacti. These cacti have been grown by some teens whoi still attend school. They tender the plants in their spare time and have earned some great pocket money and found a new passion!
Thank you for supporting this project which provides employment and feeds the poor.
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