Online course
Do you dream of popping out to the laundry and finding a bucket busting with oyster mushrooms for tonight's dinner... grown by YOU?
In this mentored online course, Nick Ritar shows you how to grow gourmet and medicinal mushrooms in buckets, in the garden and on logs... no lab needed!
Bookings are open now for the class that starts on Monday 2 November(Sydney time).
Bookings close in 2 days 3 hours, and the class starts on Monday 2 November(Sydney time).
Good news - bookings are still open for you, for the class that starts on Monday 2 November(Sydney time).
You're in early! Bookings are open for you a whole day before everyone else, for the class that starts on Monday 2 November(Sydney time).
Bookings open once a season, and the next class opens on Monday 12 October(Sydney time).
Bookings open to everyone on Monday 12 October at 9 am(Sydney time).
Bookings for the November class have closed now, sorry! The next class opens on Monday 12 April(Sydney time), and if you join the waitlist below, we'll let you know the moment it does - and you'll get in early before everyone else.
Dates and times are in Sydney time.
And you'll start on Monday 2 November right alongside everyone else, with every weekly lesson arriving on the same schedule.
Become part of our community of 2650+ mushroom growers enrolled in this course.
Dates and times are in Sydney time.
Become part of our community of 2650+ mushroom growers enrolled in this course.
Ask a question in any lesson and one of us will answer you personally, usually within a day or so. And there are live Q&A calls every two weeks, a private student community to swap notes (and mushroom photos) in, and no end date on any of it.
We rotate the live call times to suit different time zones. And every call is recorded, so if you miss one, no worries... catch the replay.
We open bookings once a season, and the whole class starts together. So the growers you'll meet on the live calls and in the community are starting their first grows alongside you... and asking the questions you were about to ask.
Nick has grown mushrooms for 15+ years, and forages for wild ones whenever he can. He trained with mycologists including Paul Stamets, and has since taught growers from Uganda to Ulladulla... including 1,000+ face to face in our advanced course, before this one existed. Co-taught by Kirsten Bradley, author of four books including Milkwood, with its whole chapter on growing mushrooms.
You'll start on cardboard, move on to reusable food-grade buckets, then take your mushrooms out into the garden and onto logs. Most of the gear can be repurposed from around your house or neighbourhood, so plan on around $100 more to get going... and we'll point you to good spawn suppliers who post to you.
Your Species Directory has growing profiles for all the mushrooms you can grow at home, from oyster and shiitake to lion's mane and turkey tail.
Play the video, 2 minutes 32 seconds
“So stoked! I have never grown mushrooms before and now I'm eating them every day”
Rachael B. · Undercliffe, NSW
“Nick and Kirsten have both put so much love and care into this and it comes through in the videos... I still think it's the best course I've done and I've done a few since then on other stuff.”
Simon S. · Torquay, VIC
“I ummed and ahhed about doing this course for months and months mainly because of the cost. I had watched heaps of YouTube videos and even did a couple of bucket grows. I'm really glad I did the course now... a lot of low tech and low cost ways to boost the yield which I had missed before.”
Marianne D. · Cooroibah, QLD
“Even after I finished the course, I often went back and rewatched the videos and over time I've refined my techniques to grow beautiful oyster mushrooms. I sell at Farmers Markets and to a local cafe. It's a start I wouldn't have had without doing the course first.”
Margaret S. · Belgrave, VIC
“I liked that we were given different ways of adapting techniques and methods, it made mushroom growing seem much more achievable... I've grown on recycled cardboard, my buckets and garden grow are well underway.”
Lisa F. · Mount Victoria, NSW
“...mushrooms became my favourite meat substitute because I can cook so many varied and delicious meals with them and they don't upset my stomach or gut health.”
Fiona W. · Moruya, NSW
“Very smartly, Kirsten and Nick pace the course in such a way that one thing builds on the next.”
Jenny S. · Roundwood, Ireland
“I have made a lot of mistakes (which you covered those areas nicely too)... Then I check my buckets, and they were busting out with pinning shrooms!”
Tina W. · Fellsmere, USA
“The whole course was very well put together and easy to navigate, Kirsten and Nick's personalities came through on the videos and made me laugh at times. It was fun. Videos not too long, great notes and exceptional Q&As.”
Vicky W. · Wairoa, New Zealand
“I found this course of home growing mushroom very important, especially for people who are living in refugees camps and settlements, where the land is small”
Bemeriki D. · Rwamwanja, Uganda
From our student community, where everyone swaps mushroom photos - tap one below to see it bigger.
Amy W. · London, UK“No-one warned me how excited I’d be at my first harvest!”
Sandra S. · Melbourne, VIC“..and the love story began”
Claire B. · Northern Beaches, NSW“We had so many!”
Leonie K.“There is no buzz like it”
Lee W.“Turns out the 5L ice cream tubs work pretty well!”
Grant R.“Happy days, harvested this morning.”
Mary O.
Jeffrey L.“My first crop of tan oyster mushrooms from the cardboard exercise.”Inside this 8-week Home Mushroom Cultivation course, you will get the skills to grow gourmet and medicinal mushrooms: in buckets, on logs, in gardens and more - using organic, low-tech, low-waste techniques. You will gain the skills to:
The class starts on Monday 2 November 2026(Sydney time), and bookings close on Monday 26 October, 5 pm(Sydney time).
The class starts on Monday 2 November 2026(Sydney time), and your place is ready for you.
Bookings for the November class open on Monday 12 October, 9 am(Sydney time), and here's what it'll cost, so you can plan ahead.
Yay! You have a discount code. You'll see your savings at checkout.
Two ways to pay, the same course.
Most popular
30-day money-back guarantee. If the course isn't right for you, just let us know within 30 days of booking and we'll refund you, no questions asked.
We have Fair Share rates for folks who need them.
Step-by-step lessons, downloadable Myco Notes, live growing calculators and two bonus mini courses, to grow mushrooms at home for life.
8 weeks, 36 lessons and about 6.5 hours of video, plus 2 bonus mini courses with 10 more lessons.
About this course
Meet your teachers, find your way around the course, and start gathering the few simple supplies you’ll need.
Welcome and introductions
Meet Nick and Kirsten, say hello in the Mushroom Student Community, and find the course glossary and reference list.
Mushrooms and Milkwood
Our own mushroom-growing story, why we love teaching it, and how mushrooms fit into a permaculture life.
How this course works
When each module arrives, the balance of theory and hands-on growing, how much time to set aside - and why falling behind is totally fine.
Take a tour
A quick tour of the course platform: modules, downloads and Myco Notes, the glossary, the Species Directory, Q&As and where to get help.
What you will need
Budgeting for low-waste growing, collecting buckets and sourcing grain spawn from a supplier near you, plus a quick safety briefing.
Downloads: Module 1 Myco Notes - Getting Started
The fascinating world of fungi
Before we grow a thing, let’s get to know fungi - what they are, how they live, and the extraordinary work they do on this planet.
What exactly are fungi?
Why fungi are a kingdom of their own, the difference between fungi and mushrooms, how they feed, and how they’re named.
Downloads: Beginner’s Guide to Binomial Nomenclature
Fungi’s role on planet earth
Fungi do much more than feed us! Their hidden work in soils, their partnerships with trees in the wood wide web, and the largest living thing on earth.
The life cycle of fungi
From spore to mycelium to pinning and fruit - what each stage needs, and how to read your mycelium to know when it’s ready to fruit.
Downloads: Lifecycle and Sex Life of Macro Fungi
Fungi and humans - a few collaborations
Food and ferments, medicine, mycelium textiles and cleaning up polluted places... a few of the ways people and fungi work together.
Downloads: Mushroom Foraging Guide
A short history of mushroom cultivation
How people came to grow mushrooms, from early shiitake growing in the East and the button mushroom in the West to today’s gourmet species.
Cultivating mushrooms - the basics
The four needs every mushroom has, the four steps of every grow, and your very first experiment in growing mycelium.
Why we cultivate the way we do
Why commercial growers need sterile labs, and how our lab-free, low-waste approach lets you grow at home without the single-use plastic.
Downloads: Course Glossary
Spawn - a grower’s best friend
Spores, tissue culture and spawn - what each one is and why growers rely on spawn. Plus the parts of a mushroom, and how to take a spore print.
Downloads: Anatomy of a Mushroom
The Mushroom Cultivation Process
Using an apple tree as a guide, we walk through the stages of growing mushrooms and the four-step process you’ll use from here on.
What fungi needs to thrive
Food, air, water and temperature - the four things your mushrooms need from you, and how nature shows you what they like.
Let’s grow some mycelium!
Your first experiment - growing mycelium from a fresh, store-bought oyster mushroom with a few simple supplies.
Downloads: Module 3 Myco Notes - Mycelium Experiment
Simple grow: cultivating on cardboard
Your first real grow! Cardboard is cheap, forgiving and a great way to see the whole process through.
Why start with cardboard?
Why cardboard makes such a friendly first substrate, the equipment you’ll need, and how to clean, soak and drain it just right.
Downloads: Make Your Own Alcohol SprayModule 4 Myco Notes - Cardboard GrowGlossary
Inoculating your cardboard
What grain spawn is, how it’s made and why we use it, how to tell it’s ready, and how much to use as you inoculate your cardboard.
Fruiting your first mushrooms
How to look after your cardboard while the mycelium grows, and the five triggers that tell your mushrooms it’s time to fruit.
Bucket Culture: Improve your yield
Now for the really fun stuff - growing bucketloads in reusable buckets, with a pasteurised substrate that feeds bigger harvests.
Introducing bucket culture
Reusable buckets are where growing gets really fun. The species that suit them, the equipment you’ll need, and how to prepare your buckets.
Downloads: M05 Myco Notes 5 - Bucket Grow
Choosing your substrate recipe
Richer food for bigger harvests - how much substrate you need, and our ultimate Milkwood substrate recipe, ready for pasteurising.
Downloads: The Milkwood Substrate Recipe Download
Pasteurize properly
Step-by-step hot water pasteurising, why it works and how to do it safely, plus lime, hydrogen peroxide and fermentation methods for when hot water won’t suit.
Downloads: Lime Pasteurization MethodHydrogen Peroxide Pasteurization MethodFermentation Pasteurization Method
Inoculating your substrate
Draining to field capacity (too-wet substrate is the main cause of mould), cooling, then inoculating, packing and labelling your buckets.
Incubating and Fruiting
Where to incubate your buckets, what’s going on inside them, and how to trigger that first flush of oyster mushrooms.
Troubleshooting: Mould
Mould happens to every grower at some point. What it is, why it turns up, how to rescue a batch, and how to keep it at bay next time.
Downloads: Mould Troubleshooting Guide
All about fruiting chambers
A fruiting chamber gives you control over humidity, fresh air, temperature and light - so you get better mushrooms, and more of them.
Why fruiting chambers are excellent
A fruiting chamber is a set of tools that recreate autumn for your mushrooms. The types, the basic features, and how to set up a simple one.
Downloads: Module 6 Myco Notes - Fruiting Chambers
Getting your humidity right
Humidity is the first trigger. The types of humidifier, how to set one up, and how to keep humidity where your mushrooms like it.
Getting your fresh air exchange right
Fresh air is the second trigger. How much air exchange your mushrooms need, how to work it out, and how to wire up intake and circulation fans.
Downloads: Circulation Fan Wiring GuideIntake Fan and Timer Wiring Guide
Getting your temperature right
Temperature is the third trigger - ideal fruiting temperatures, choosing species to suit your climate, and simple ways to heat, cool and hold it steady.
Light, and other considerations
Light is the final trigger, plus keeping your chamber clean, dealing with fungus gnats, and some clever chambers built by our students.
Troubleshooting: Poor fruiting
A written guide to working out why your mushrooms aren’t fruiting well - from pins that won’t start to pins that shrivel - and what to change.
Mushroom harvesting and recipes
When to pick, how to cook them, and how to preserve a bumper harvest. And what to do with your buckets afterwards.
Harvesting your mushrooms
How to spot the sweet spot between size, flavour and texture, harvest at just the right moment, and keep your mushrooms fresh.
Cooking mushrooms
Why mushrooms are best cooked, a few of the culinary traditions behind them, and our favourite ways to eat them - including mushroom mince.
Pickling mushrooms
Preserve a bumper harvest with lacto-fermented mushrooms and a classic vinegar pickle.
Downloads: Brine-Fermented Mushrooms RecipeVinegar-Pickled Mushrooms Recipe
Drying mushrooms
Sun drying and paper-bag drying, storing your dried mushrooms, and recipes for mushroom salt and mushroom jerky.
Downloads: Mushroom Salt RecipeMushroom Jerky Recipe
After the harvest
Getting more flushes from your buckets, and what to do with the spent substrate - from the compost to a mushroom graveyard in the garden.
Where to from here
Where to take your growing next, with resources and tips to keep you going.
Where to from here
A recap, resources and tips to keep you growing, and an introduction to your two bonus mini courses, in the garden and on logs.
Growing mushrooms in the garden
Take your mushrooms outdoors! Grow King Stropharia, the garden giant, first in a woodchip tub and then in an in-ground patch.
Introduction to mushroom gardens
Why gardens are such a good home for mushrooms, how they differ from bucket grows, and the species we’ll grow: King Stropharia, the garden giant.
Downloads: Myco Notes - Garden Mushrooms
Location and timing
Choosing the right spot and the right time to start, and our simple two-step method - tub first, then into the ground.
Setting up your garden grow
Pasteurising woodchips by fermentation, then inoculating and incubating King Stropharia in a tub.
Casing and fruiting
Getting garden mushrooms to fruit without a chamber - night covers, a warm-water flood and a casing layer - then caring for and harvesting your patch.
Beyond the tub: in-ground cultivation
Moving your tub into an in-ground patch under a tree, keeping it going with the soil food web, and managing pests.
Downloads: Mushroom Gardens: How to make Cardboard Spawn
Growing mushrooms on logs
Grow shiitake on logs - a slower grow, with your first mushrooms after about two summers, and well worth the wait.
Introduction to log cultivation
Why logs are worth the wait, what it costs, how long it takes, and planning a shiitake grow at home.
Downloads: Myco Notes - Mushrooms on Logs
Logs: selection and sourcing
Which trees make good mushroom logs (and which to avoid), the right size and condition, when to cut them, and staying safe.
Preparing logs, sourcing spawn
Resting your logs, dowel versus grain spawn, and planning and drilling your holes with the right drill.
Downloads: Makita DD2020
Inoculating and incubating logs
Inoculating with dowel spawn, sealing with wax, labelling, and setting up a log yard to incubate and water your logs.
Fruiting and harvesting
After about two summers, it’s fruiting time! Knowing when logs are ready, shocking them into fruit, harvesting, and whether to push for more flushes.
Want the whole curriculum to read later, or to share? Download the course outline (opens in a new tab) (PDF, 3 MB)
For as long as you like
Nearly two decades of teaching, with thousands of happy beginner growers...
Teaches and mentors you
Nick and Kirsten founded Milkwood in 2007, and he started growing mushrooms at home soon after. He has trained with world-leading mycologists such as Paul Stamets and Peter McCoy (Radical Mycology). He taught advanced gourmet mushroom cultivation face to face to over a thousand students before designing this course. When he's not growing mushrooms, Nick teaches permaculture, grows veggies, keeps bees and scoots off foraging at any opportunity.
Co-teaches your lessons
Kirsten has established farms and community gardens, and grown a LOT of vegetables. She is the co-author of the best-selling book Milkwood: Real Skills for Down-to-Earth Living - which includes a full chapter on low-waste mushroom cultivation - and has written three more books since. Kirsten is also known for her advocacy and workshops in permaculture skills - from fermenting to natural beekeeping to foraging for wild food.
Got questions? Here's the answers you seek...
We offer Fair Share rates and scholarships to all our courses, for folks who need them. As a permaculture enterprise, the concept of fair share is at the core of what we do.
The process to apply is quick and simple, and all the details are here - Milkwood's Fair Share Program. See you in there!
You'll get access to new on-demand lessons and resources every week for 8 weeks, together with the rest of your class. Take as long as you like to move through it all!
The live class Q&A sessions are held at a mix of times, to suit different timezones. These live sessions rotate every two weeks between the times: 9am, 12pm and 6pm Sydney time.
The 1:1 advice from our team is there for you via lesson comments, the student community, and the live Q&As.
You have lifetime access to all your course materials, personal mentorship, and to your community, too.
YES! Our course is designed to help you get started, wherever you might be in the world, with the fundamentals of low-waste, low-tech, organic Mushroom Cultivation.
If you live in an extreme climate, we can help you choose the most suitable species to grow where you are - using the techniques you will learn in this course.
The good news is - species of fungi exist in the furthest reaches of this planet... from the icy poles to the bottom of the ocean, to outer space. So there will be edible mushroom species to suit your context, wherever you live.
We recommend you set aside 1-2 hours a week to do this course, to get the most out of your learning experience.
The amount of time you spend actually 'doing the things' and cultivating mushrooms is in addition to this.
If you'd like to 'grow along' with us during the course, that's totally possible - we've planned the course that way, and we tell you what to get (ingredients and such) ready for the following week.
Or you might choose to complete all the lessons and start your cultivation afterwards, in your own time. That's fine too.
This class of our Home Mushroom Cultivation course will begin onThe next class of our Home Mushroom Cultivation course starts on Monday 2 November 2026(Sydney time).
You'll receive new lessons each week for 8 weeks, and lifetime access to your course materials, community and mentorship.
If you're a keen bean but now's not quite the right time (we get it), fear not - you can spread the cost over three payments, and we have Fair Share rates for folks who need them. And if this season just isn't yours, that's totally ok. We open this course once a season, and the next class opens for bookings on .
Our course is designed to cater for all budgets and scales of home mushroom cultivation.
You will need a few things, such as food-grade buckets and spray bottles - all of this is explained in detail in the course. Most of this can be repurposed from around your house or local community.
You won't need to buy a pressure cooker or expensive lab equipment.
We recommend that you do purchase some mushroom grain spawn to get you going. (Grain spawn is the living culture of the fungi that will produce mushrooms for you.) We will point you to a range of reputable online suppliers around the world who can send you high-quality grain spawn through the post, quick smart.
So on top of what you can repurpose, plan on around $100 to get going - but, like any hobby, these costs can grow with your enthusiasm if you really get into it! For example, if as part of your setup, you choose to build an electronically controlled mushroom fruiting chamber to increase your yields, we'll show you how to do that with equipment that costs less than $350.
However much you choose to commit, we will show you methods that will help you grow the most health-giving, organic, homegrown mushrooms you can - in the most cost-effective way.
Yes, it does! All videos are fully captioned and the captions are searchable.
We'll do our best to make your course the best experience we can. However, it just might not be for you. That's ok! If you decide that's the case, let us know within 30 days of your purchase and we'll refund your payment.
Please note that the 30-day money-back guarantee applies for the online component of your purchase only. Books, postage or personal coaching calls that have already been supplied as part of the Fast-Forward option are non-refundable unless damaged or similar.
Often, yes! If your NDIS plan is self-managed or plan-managed, we'll send an NDIS-ready invoice to you or your plan manager, and your course login arrives by email as soon as it's paid. Here's how it all works, step by step.
Nope! If you can view this page and the video on it, you can access the entire course just fine.
The course is delivered via our special course portal, web pages and email.
You can access your course hub and private community (which is not on facebook!) via any web browser on any laptop, PC, Mac, tablet or smart phone that is connected to a reasonable internet connection.
You don't need any other special applications or memberships to other platforms. You are not required to have a Facebook or Google account.
It's simple and easy.
Yes, you will! We send you a Certificate of Completion once you finish the course.
We'd love to help you make a home with stacks of fruiting shiitake logs down the side, buckets of oyster mushrooms fruiting in the back shed and wine caps popping up along the garden edges... plus jars of lion's mane and turkey tail in the pantry, homegrown and home dried.
Bookings close on Monday 26 October, 5 pm(Sydney time), and the class starts on Monday 2 November(Sydney time).
Your place is ready, and we can't wait to see you in the class on Monday 2 November(Sydney time).
BOOK YOUR PLACE30-day money-back guarantee. If the course isn't right for you, just let us know within 30 days of booking and we'll refund you, no questions asked.
We open this course once a season, and the next class opens for bookings on Monday 12 October(Sydney time). Join the waitlist and you'll get early access, to secure your spot before anyone else.Join the waitlist and we'll let you know the moment bookings open.
Any questions at all? Get in touch - we're here for you.
