fungkifriends

​We are proud to announce and introduce a Co-operative system in which old and new mushroom cultivators can showcase their mushroom products. This service is FREE if you have done a course or workshop with Mushroom Guru. On this platform, you are able to collaborate with other cultivators. The intention of this system is to expand the number of mushroom cultivators in South Africa. Cultivators can start smaller home-based businesses and use this platform to showcase their mushroom products and sell to local consumers. 

Why should you become a fungkifriend? 

There are some "BIG hitters" in the mushroom industry and it is a daunting task and technical challenge for you, as a mushroom cultivator, to showcase your work and provide a service to your community. It is difficult and nearly impossible to have your own website rank high in a Google search, so we are here to help you. Mushroom Guru currently ranks higher than 98% of all mushroom companies in South Africa. So if customers are looking for "mushrooms in South Africa", they will find you because you will have your own profile on the Mushroom Guru website. Try it, search: "mushrooms in South Africa". 

You may already know that having a website is not enough. The aim of a website is to get traffic and the more traffic you have through your website, the more likely you are able to sell any product that you may have, provided that the products you sell are relevant to the search terms used in Google Search. I personally built this site and optimized it for Google to position Mushroom Guru on Google's page 1. Most people don't care to look on Google's page 2, do you? 

Mushroom Guru has grown, now with cultivators throughout South Africa. We started with the Western Cape and are expanding weekly. The whole idea is to provide a safety cushion or safety net for mushroom cultivators. For example, if you have a contract with your local deli or Spar for five kilograms of mushrooms per week and you have to shut down to clean out a contamination in your grow room, you won't have that contract for long. Mushroom companies have closed doors because of this. You may need someone to lean on. Being a "fungkifriend" means that you will help your fellow cultivator when he gets into this type of situation. As a cultivator, you know that your mushrooms don't have a long shelf life, so they need to get into the consumers hands as fast as possible. Other fungkifriends may help you out if you have too much stock or too little stock. 

We will help you to sell your mushrooms!

Thanks to some great friends and like-minded collaborators, Mushroom Guru has links to the consumer through fresh produce markets. We will be able to refer you to wholesale buyers of mushrooms, that will sell your mushrooms at markets in the Western Cape.

What do I need to do to become a fungkifriend?

Firstly, you would need to be a mushroom cultivator and to do so, you will need some training. Mushroom Guru offers affordable workshops that teach you the steps you need to take to grow mushrooms - edible or medicinal. We offer workshops and an Advanced Fungi Culturing Course for the serious enthusiast. 

Upon completion of your training with Mushroom Guru you will receive a corresponding badge that will be displayed on your business profile, within the Mushroom Guru website. You may already be a mushroom cultivator and haven't attended any of our workshops or training, therefore don't have access to a badge. In this case, if you wish to have a badge displayed on your profile, the badge can be purchased at 75% of the course fee. 

Workshop badges

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​All five badges will be displayed on each profile and only once you have done a workshop or proven that you are capabple of growing the respective mushroom, will your badge be completed. Currently, we offer five badges namely; Shiitake, Reishi, King Oyster, Pink Oyster, Grey Oyster.

Secondly, you will need to complete a declaration that states your ethical intention and your commitment to deliver a high quality product. You won't be working for Mushroom Guru and we reserve the right to disable your profile if you deliver inferior quality mushrooms to any consumer. If training will resolve your quality issues, Mushroom Guru can provide training.

Thirdly, you will need to purchase your cultures and/or spawn from Mushroom Guru. We have a wide variety of spawn and cultures available to purchase in the SHOP. Below are just a FEW of the cultures we have on offer: 

Reishi

Highest medicinal value and perhaps the easiest mushroom to grow!

Shiitake

Second to Reishi's potency, but very tasty!

Turkey Tail

Great for breast health

King Oyster

Best tasting home-cultivated
mushroom ever!

Grey Oyster

Oyster mushrooms will astound you! 

Pink Oyster

Not just pretty to look at, it tastes good too and has has great medicinal properties

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We want to empower you!

It is easy to purchase an already made mycelium block or bag and grow mushrooms, but we have found that if you make up your own bags, not only do you become self sufficient  but also save yourself a lot of money on courier costs!

To grow mushrooms requires either a simple setup that will produce enough mushrooms for your dinner table or a grow room that is fitted with the correct lighting, extractor fans and humidity control to grow for your community. Obviously, the more space you have, the more mushrooms you can grow.

Making and filling your own substrates into bags is a very simple task and does not warrant the cost of buying ready made substrate bags. Once you have learnt how to make your own substrate bags, you can make them at anytime and need not depend on anyone else. Being self sufficient in the mushroom industry is the only way to go. The only thing you shouldn't do if you are growing mushrooms, is make your own spawn. If you make spawn, you also make cultures and you can run this as a business like Mushroom Guru does. If you make spawn and grow mushrooms on the same premises, you will experience cross-contamination and many losses. It is necessary to divide these two operations, so you will find that mushroom cultivators purchase spawn from an outside source and inoculate their own substrate bags.

In all of our workshops, we teach you how to make up your own substrate bags, therefore empowering you to explore the freedom of growing mushrooms.
 

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