If you have a green thumb and are looking for a reasonably easy way to earn extra income, you may want to take a close look at this.
Gourmet mushrooms are very popular and continue to be in demand. This is a true cash crop if you are semi-retired or about to retire. In particular, I’m fond of the way in which oyster mushrooms can turn into a good source of income without taking a very long time.
The reason why I’m suggesting oyster mushrooms is that they can be grown indoors, any time of the year, and take no more time than six weeks from start to harvest. The return is quite high as well.
For example, oyster mushrooms are selling at $12 per pound at this time. If you had a 500-square-foot growing area, such as a shed, garage, or basem*nt, you could potentially produce several thousand pounds of mushrooms in a single year. At $12 a pound, that’s a great income for such a small area, and indoors, so growing is possible 12 months a year. Talk about a nice bit of spare change to sock away during retirement!
So, let’s look at how you can turn a few hours a week into a mushroom-growing business with high profits. First, you’ll need to set up your growing area. If you have access to a large indoor area, that’s great. Most commercial growers use plastic bags filled with sterile straws, so you’ll need storage racks for the bags, a water source, heat, and light.
In order to produce a perfect crop of oyster mushrooms, you’ll need to be able to control some of the conditions in the growing room to artificially assist with your crop. Things you’ll want to take care of include temperature, humidity, and lighting conditions. All these elements play important roles in what kind of crop you will grow at harvest time.
Also, to ensure that crops reach harvest time regularly, you’ll want to stagger their planting. That is, if you have your growing area sectioned off, have each section planted at different times so that at the end of the six-week ‘start to harvest cycle,’ you will have a crop ready to pick every week.
Let’s say your first crop is ready for harvest. There are three ways in which you can turn those bins of mushrooms into cash. One of my favorite places to sell fresh produce is at a farmer’s market. If you live in a community that hosts one during the growing season, find out what it takes to set up a table or booth at one and sell directly to customers. Farmer’s markets draw a lot of growers together and are a magnet for those who want to buy the freshest local produce straight from a grower rather than through a grocery store.
Another place to sell your gourmet mushrooms is in restaurants. As they are considered ‘gourmet’ mushrooms, many restaurants demand them to be included on menu items. Take samples of your mushrooms to restaurant owners and you may find a number of them willing to buy directly from you instead of a regional distributor.
One more option is to approach local grocery stores. While many are set up to import produce from different parts of the country and world when that produce isn’t readily available in the local market, you may find an opening your gourmet mushrooms can fill, especially now that “buy local” is so popular with shoppers. One grocery store may lead to others as well. Regardless of where you sell your gourmet mushrooms, you will need to keep in mind that they must be fresh to retain resale value, so selling them quickly after harvest is best.
You may find that a number of buyers pre-order mushrooms from you and take delivery as soon as they are harvested.
Visit profitableplants.comfor more details on how to turn mushroom growing into a part-time, or full-time, income.
