Grow your own Mushrooms, spooky edition!
Fungi Friday's - October 28th, 2022 - Issue #54
Hey Fungi Friday fam, happy halloween weekend! October is just about in the books and we are quickly approaching the final two months of 2022. Haven’t been down to the trailer the past few weekends, and won’t be down there again this weekend… but we did finally book a driver, so in two weeks the trailer will officially be finding a new home! Looking forward to showing you the new spot, but for now, let’s get into some features.
Growing your own home insulation from wood and fungus
For those familiar with the construction industry, one of the downsides of the oil-based materials that keep us warm is that they spew a lot of carbon into the atmosphere when they are made. And those blue and pink sheets of foam insulation never die, often polluting the land and floating on our waterways when we are done with them. So for this week’s first feature, we’re talking about a potential alternative!
A few Alaska researchers are working to create insulation that removes carbon from the atmosphere and stores it for the life of a building and beyond. And the best part, when a structure is at the end of its life, the insulation between the walls makes a fine soil too.
The article goes into the story of the two researchers. It explains their story, the details of their idea, and how they plan to bring this to market. After all, who doesn’t want to grow their own house, and make a bit of a positive impact on the environment at the same time?
The world's first Phase 3 psilocybin clinical trial is about to commence
Here’s some big news in the psychedelic realm. Research into clinical uses for psychedelics has proliferated in recent years, but despite the constant stream of "psychedelic renaissance" news, the vast majority of studies remain in early, preliminary stages. Apart from one notable modality (MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder), no psychedelic clinical trial has progressed further than Phase 2.
That is until now, as Compass Pathways is set to change that, with the world's first Phase 3 human trial for day psilocybin therapy with psychological support due to commence by the end of 2022. The trial will enroll close to 1,000 participants and Compass is looking to FDA approval by the end of 2025.
The article also goes on to discuss the results of Compass’s recent phase 2B trial, which was deemed a success. On the tailwind of that trial, they’re moving forward with Phase 3, which they expect to have a first wave of data from in late 2024. From here, the hope is to apply to the FDA for market approval, which could come as soon as the following year. So if successful, this could be the clinical evidence that leads to psilocybin becoming a FDA-authorized medicine within three to four years. Exciting times!
Here’s How To Grow Mushrooms In Coffee Grounds, Its Easy
And for our final feature of this week, let’s talk about growing mushrooms at home. After all, with a little instruction, growing mushrooms is simple. The coffee grounds provide the mushrooms with all the nutrients they require and in addition, the coffee grounds are transformed by mushrooms into a better fertilizer and soil amendment than coffee. Coffee mushrooms can be grown indoors or outdoors and are very simple to grow. Anyone may cultivate scrumptious mushrooms using readily available and cost-free materials by growing them in coffee grounds.
So how is it done? To cultivate mushrooms on your own coffee fields, you will need the following supplies. Fresh coffee grounds, a container to place the coffee grounds substrate in, and mushroom spawn of the kind of mushrooms you wish to grow. If you have access to them, you can utilize filter patch bags. 3-5 gallon buckets are another option. In a plastic bag or other container, seal the inoculated coffee grounds after placing them inside.
The bag or container should be kept in a warm, dark area that is between 18 and 25 °C, like an airing closet or underneath a sink. It will turn entirely white if you leave it here for two to four weeks; this is caused by a colony of mycelia that grinds coffee. Move the bag or container to a bright area and cut a hole in the top after the contents are all white. Water twice daily and The next five to seven days will see the emergence of tiny mushrooms. They should double in size every day if you keep rinsing them with water. When the cups of the mushrooms begin to curve slightly upward, they are ready to be harvested.
Want even more? Here are some other interesting, mushroom focused reads of the week:
New Study Will Explore Psilocybin as a Treatment To Stop Smoking
5 must-try mushrooms full of health benefits from China that you probably haven’t heard of
As always, thank you for reading this weeks edition of Fungi Friday’s! If you enjoyed what you found, please feel free to forward to friends also interested in the Fungi Community!
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