What are the easiest mushrooms to grow?

Oyster mushrooms are the best starter crop if you want to grow your own mushrooms. They have a good yield to effort ratio. Also Oyster mushrooms are delicious.

Mushroom care is straightforward. They can grow in coffee grounds, packed into a bag or a jar. Sterilise the grounds and equipment to kick out any mould which would compete with your shroomies.

Last thing you need to do is to keep everything moist. If you don't keep mushrooms moist, they get dry and their caps crack. Nobody likes a cracked cap!

One important note, grow them in a well ventilated area because they release a lot of spores.

Which begs the question. Can mushroom spores affect humans?

So it turns out, that exposure to a lot of mushroom spores for a long time can cause mushroom workers lung. Which manifests itself as flu-like symptoms when exposed to spores. Almost like an allergic reaction.

It reminds me of potter's lung, aka Silicosis. Basically, breathing in small, fine, pottery particles all day, every day is bad for you.

As a beginner, I'm barely exposed to the danger of potter's lung. I spend most of my time throwing. And failing. But failing in the most rewarding way.

My partner and I are challenging ourselves, because last week we started an intermediate course. Am I even ready for it? I don't even know what clay is.

Turns out, it's really, really fine dirt particles < 0.005 mm. That have a plasticity when water is introduced. But clay we use in the pottery studio has an added ingredient; grog.

Grog is crushed up pieces of ceramic that gets added to raw clay. This gives the clay structure and helps prevent it from cracking in the oven.

Clay with high grog content feels like sandpaper when you're throwing. Not painful, but your hands will feel raw after throwing a lot of pots. Low grog content clay, is what we typically use in the pottery course. It's smoother to throw with, but doesn't hold its structure as easily as high grogged clay.

Funnily enough, grog is also a drink. According to Wikipedia, grog is a mixture of one part rum and four parts water given to sailors in the British Royal Navy to minimise their drunkenness. I can't imagine this would be a great tasting drink.

Anyway, I should get back to work.