MPS Progress and Mushroom Spawn

Attaching the tarp and plastic roof to the MPS.

Today we continued work on the mushroom production system's walls and roof. We had some final supplies to purchase today such as sand, nails, tarps, and plastic, so we split up again to better utilize our time.  We must be judicious of how much we pay for each material, as our venture must recoup the initial investment once mushrooms begin to grow.  For instance, we negotiated with multiple vendors when purchasing tarps for the roof.  They all gave us the same initial price, but by going back and forth between a few we drove the price down to a more affordable number; doing our due diligence and walking a few extra steps saved us 20% on the final price.  

We used a black plastic in tandem with the blue tarps we purchased to build the roof of the structure. To attach it, we cut up plastic to use as washers with nails from the market. The dark materials will keep out light so the mushrooms can better grow, as well as trap in heat and humidity. We have all the sand and concrete for the floor; now that the roof is attached, we can safely pour the concrete without worrying about rain.

Substrate rack with mesh to be used for shelf.

We also built our substrate racks today.  We initially planned to build three racks, but during this week realized we we only need two to begin with.  It seems more efficient to use the space from the third rack for a table to store supplies for the spawning process, since we anticipate to produce spawn as part of our venture.

Rinsing grains before soaking.

Another big focus today was preparing to move forward with our spawn and substrate processes. We rinsed the new grains from the market and have left in water to soak for tomorrow. Our plan is to pressure cook the other grains tomorrow and boil these new ones. This way we will have plenty of spawn growing for more fruiting cycles. We watered and mixed our substrate compost and hope to inoculate some of it tomorrow so that we can sooner start seeing mushrooms. In preparation for this, we purchased PVC pipe, rubber bands, and plastic bags to use for packaging the substrate. Going through the step by step spawn manual we have with our project manager will help us improve the instructional and ensure Jawara will be an expert on the process before we leave.