With the hike in food prices and our ever growing desire for healthy organic fruits and vegetables, more and more of us are trying our hand at growing our own food. With limited space, be it back gardens, condo balconies, or fire escapes, there has been in recent years a move towards indoor modular and hydroponic gardening. This is met with mixed results, depending on the amount of indoor space one might have to devote to this pursuit, but one of the most vitamin rich things you can cultivate in a limited space is mushrooms. This indoor kit by Back to the Roots provides all the gear you need to start your own fungus farm. The company has been so successful in creating products and marketing a “grow-your-own”culture, that the founders Alex Velez and Nikhil Arora were featured in a TEDX talk about sustainability. Mushrooms are one of the most fascinating organisms on the planet; some varieties are ideal food, others tasty and medicinal, and some deadly poisonous. Certain varieties, like the gnarly looking growths that cling to trees, are even suitable for fuel. If you haven’t seen it, the documentary Know Your Mushrooms by Toronto filmmaker Ron Mann, investigates the miraculous, near-secret world of fungi. Inspiring and illuminating, it makes for perfect viewing for the curious fungi farmer. The Mushroom Garden by Back to the Roots, lets you grow up to one and a half pounds of quality oyster mushrooms in just under two weeks. With no mess and fuss, except the danger of knocking off the odd fungi prematurely because you cant stop fiddling with it, the design is a practical way to supplement your weekly groceries. Because it’s indoors, you don’t have to worry about changing seasons and fickle weather patterns that might blight your crop. Once you’ve established a nice dark hidey-hole, sit back and wait to enjoy the harvest. A mushroom garden might even be a nice Christmas present, but only if that special someone in your life deserves the gift of fungus this year. Closer to home, you can pick up a mushroom kit from Mycosource Inc./Fun Guy Farms in Ontario.
