Mushrooms are healthy, packed with vitamins and antioxidants; rich with flavor, an excellent source of the fifth flavor know as umami; and can be used medicinally in teas and tinctures. By growing your own, you can enjoy these benefits while also enriching your soil, speeding up your composting, and even suppressing weeds--though the biggest draw may be the magic of watching this unique form of life grow.

Understanding how mushrooms grow is crucial to successfully cultivating them, and Mushroom Cultivation offers photo-illustrated instruction both on how mushrooms grow and how you can cultivate them yourself, with a focus on six types of mushroom--shiitake, oyster, wine cap, hericium, blewit, and agaricus. You'll learn how to:

• Grow mushrooms, step by step, in a variety of different mediums: logs, straw, wood chips and sawdust, and compost
• Troubleshoot problems, including identification, underwatering, overwatering, and insects
• Store, dry, and freeze your mushroom harvest
• Cook with mushrooms, including variety-specific cooking tips and 8 tasty recipes
• Find supplies and more information with the resources listed at the back of the book

Picking your own fresh mushrooms at the peak of their flavor and nutrition is within your reach with this comprehensive, step-by-step guide.

Tavis Lynch has been studying mushrooms for over three decades and teaches several mycology classes throughout the Upper Midwest. He is a regular guest on Wisconsin Public Radio and has been featured on "Around the Farm Table" on PBS. He owns and operates a large-scale mushroom farm in the north woods, growing mushrooms with a unique method that he developed. He is the author of Mushroom Cultivation and the co-author of The Beginner's Guide to Mushrooms.