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Mycelium Mastery (in-person masterclass)
Regular price $349.00
Unit price per
Combine with Day 1 - Fungi Fundamentals and save $100!
Dive into the fascinating world of fungi with our hands-on Mycelium Mastery workshop! This class is Day 2 of our Mushroom Masterclass Weekend. Following on from Fungi Fundamentals - continue your mycological adventures with the knowledge and skills you need to make mushroom spawn and cultures at home, becoming self-sufficient in all steps of mushroom cultivation. This in-person workshop is taught by industry experts with many years of commercial growing experience - all skill levels are welcome.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
You will take home:
- 3 liquid mycelium cultures from the Little Acre Culture Bank
- blank agar petri dishes you make on the day
- cloned mushroom plate cultures you make on the day
- inoculated bag of grain spawn you make on the day
SKILL LEVEL
These workshops are beginner friendly and recommended for persons aged 12 and up. We often see intermediate and even advanced growers learn something new.
Mycelium Mastery is the Day 2 follow-on workshop from Fungi Fundamentals (our original Mushroom Masterclass). We strongly encourage you to also attend Day 1 - Fungi Fundamentals prior to this workshop or to have attended one of our Mushroom Masterclass workshops in the past.
WORKSHOP VENUES
Our in-person workshop venues are centrally located in the metropolitan areas of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart. Where possible we strive to book accessible venues close to public transport and parking. If you have any questions about specific workshop locations please contact us.
REFUND POLICY
We have a strict refund policy for workshops due to interstate travel and workshop materials needing to be prepared in advance.
If you've bought a ticket and can't attend the workshop for any reason we require you to notify us prior to 7 days before the workshop date to be able to refund you or place you in a future workshop.
What you'll learn at our Mycelium Mastery workshop
SESSION 1: Mycology - the science of mushrooms
Discover the science (and magic) of mycelium and learn how we can reproduce the organism to maintain desirable genetic traits. Learn about:
- Producing spore prints
- Cloning mushrooms and genetic expansion
- How to store and preserve mycelium in different states
- The importance of quality strains and spawn in mushroom cultivation
SESSION 2: How to set up your at-home Mycology lab
Key equipment needed to get started at home:
- Laminar flow cabinets 101
- Pressure cookers vs autoclaves
We demonstrate:
- Correct sterile technique
- How to use a pressure cooker safely and correctly
- How to clone mushroom tissue
SESSION 3: Getting cultured
Explore the different methods of creating mycelium cultures:
- How to make agar plate cultures
- How to make a liquid culture
- How to expand liquid culture syringes
- How to clone store-bought mushrooms to make your own cultures
- How to create and maintain a master culture bank
SESSION 4: Mushroom spawn - the seed to success
You will learn all the do's and don'ts of making mushroom spawn. We will teach you everything you need to know about mushroom spawn production that you can't read in books!
- Grain selection and preparation
- Sterilisation process
- Inoculating sterile grain with mycelium culture - the two main methods
- Spawn expansion and storage
- Common contaminations and how to avoid it
SESSION 5: Student practicals
Get hands-on and practice your skills in:
- Pouring agar plates
- Cloning your own mushrooms in front of a laminar flow cabinet
- Inoculating grain spawn with liquid culture
Your teachers
Mickey Pascoe
Mickey founded Little Acre with Amy in 2017 and has grown Little Acre from the ground up. From lab work to building a steriliser, or designing a growing chamber, Mickey’s got a head full of scientific and practical knowledge and there’s rarely a mushroom related question he can’t answer.
Mickey received a 2022 Churchill Fellowship allowing him to visit mushroom facilities in Europe, Japan and the USA where he gained international expertise. He has also completed Spawn and Substrate production training at the internationally recognised Mycelia Academy in Belgium in 2022.
Mickey has taught hundreds of students mushroom cultivation skills and will put you on the path to success.
Amy Pascoe
Amy has clocked over 30,000 hours observing the growth patterns of mycelia and mushrooms while managing Little Acre’s farming operations since 2017. Amy can tell you down to the hour of when a mushroom will be perfect to pick and has extensive experience in how climatic conditions can affect your crop.
Amy traveled abroad with Mickey in 2023, observing farming practices in some of the world’s largest mushroom operations and learning from growers with decades and generations of mushroom knowledge.