The magic of mushrooms

Sharing the mushroom knowledge! Last weekend Akram and his 'jaja' (grandmother) from a neighbouring district came to Awamu to learn how to grown mushrooms from our skilled team!

Many of the women in our project have learned how to grow mushrooms as a source of income but also for their own nutrition. Mushrooms are super good for people with HIV and low immune systems. Henry and Umaru showed them how to boil cotton husks, aerate and prepare them for germination!

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Akram (front) with his grandmother and Sarah .

They are packing the cotton husks in black bags to make the 'mushroom gardens'. Mushroom seeds are then planted in the cotton husks and tiny holes will be pierced in the sides for mushrooms to grow out of.

The bags are hang in a dark damp space and the mushrooms grown out of the sides!

Harvesting can begin within 14 days and can last for up to 3 months from one bag of cotton husk mixture.

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Umaru cleaning out the big drum we steamed the cotton husks in.

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Umaru spreading out the cotton husks to aerate before packing in the 'mushroom gardens' - plastic bags which hang in a row in a dark space.

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Henry our mushroom expert with Akram and his grandmother and their full sack of mushroom gardens.

We're report back shortly on how they've grown.