From: gunilla.fagerholm@_NO_JUNK_telia.com   
      
   Hi!   
   If anybody is interested here is the story of how our interest in   
   growing mushrooms started.   
      
   "Mushrooms only grow where snakes have been breathing"   
   That was what the locals told us when we started talking about   
   mushroom growing in Shinuyalu, Kakamega District, in late 1999. When   
   we left Kenya in mid 2001 they all knew the truth. Many of them by   
   that time had been growing mushrooms themselves or seen other people   
   growing them.   
      
   We lived in Shiasava, a small village within Shinuyalu.There we had   
   built a small hotel, with local materials, for tourists wanting to   
   visit the Kakamega Rainforest. For the hotel restaurant we used a lot   
   of mushrooms in the cooking. When the Eldoret factory closed down it   
   was impossible to buy any mushrooms (the chinese canned mushrooms had   
   not yet appeared on the market). The only solution then was to grow   
   them ourselves in order to satisfy our own needs.   
      
   We managed to buy a kilogram of oyster mushroom mycelium and started a   
   trial-and-error experiment together with our staff. One day, quite   
   some time aftwerwards, one of our staff members suddenly discovered a   
   small oyster mushroom on the ground and we realized that we were on   
   the right track. We ordered a couple of mushroom growing books from   
   the USA and started reading while continuing experimenting with   
   humidity, light, growing materials, etc. After some time the yield   
   increased and the mushrooms were better-looking. By the time the   
   mycelium we had  bought was finishing we had built a glove-box and   
   started producing our own mycelium.   
      
   At that time we had found that the cultivating in itself was very easy   
   and inexpensive and, since we lived among the poor people we knew how   
   they suffered. Therefore we decided that we should teach them how to   
   grow mushrooms. Our staff brought material for growing mushrooms   
   outside their homes in order to show their neighbours that it was   
   possible to grow them. One of our friends put a big bag with substrate   
   outside his shop in Shinuyalu and people started asking questions.   
   (Initially many thought there was some witchcraft involved.)   
      
   Rumour spread and groups of visitors came to our Rivendell Gardens   
   (named after the book "The Hobbit" by J.R.Tolkien) in order to see for   
   themselves that it was true - that no magic was involved.   
      
   Oyster mushrooms spoil easily and since we were living without   
   electricity we constructed a solar dryer in order to dry the mushrooms   
   in a hygenic and cheap way. We produced a lot of spawn (mycelium). We   
   went to a sugar company and loaded big sacks of sugar bagasse in our   
   car and we started chopping banana fibres. And we trained our local   
   staff hard, both in the process of spawn making and in preparing the   
   growing bags.   
      
   The free full-day seminars for the rural people could begin. We   
   selected, to start with, individuals, men and women, from different   
   parts of our own village. Many of them could only speak luhya and were   
   illiterate. Our own staff were the teachers. It was a big success. The   
   participants were trained in the actual bag-making and were sent home   
   with enough material, including spawn, so that they could continue   
   training at home. When showing us their first harvest and getting it   
   approved by us they were told to teach their own neighbours. They were   
   not allowed to ask for any fees, since they had gotten all material   
   free from us.   
      
   After that we called people from other villages and areas and there   
   was an enormous interest. People came from far, even from Butere,   
   Mumias, Malava etc. And we ourselves drove around in the countryside   
   showing our growing bags in small villages, inviting people to come to   
   our seminars. We also went to some of the participant villages on   
   follow-ups in order to help the people with any problems.   
      
   We issued ID´s which were needed when people wanted to buy mycelium   
   from us (which we sold at a low cost to everybody with an ID - the ID   
   was a proof that the buyer had been trained either by us or by one of   
   the village instructors) or delivering mushrooms to us. For each   
   ID-number a delivery list was started.   
      
   The fresh mushrooms were delivered to us, classified in different   
   classes depending on how good they were (different payment for   
   different classes) and the weight noted on the list. When the grower   
   wanted he/she would come to us and ask for payment for the deliveries   
   made.   
      
   The payment was out of our own private money. It was fantastic to see   
   all the old 'mamas' and 'babas' coming to get money. It was a help   
   with school fees, food etc. One grower even bought a bicycle. Those   
   were happy days for all of us!   
      
   We told the growers that they should also eat the mushrooms   
   themselves. It is good protein-rich food which is also   
   cholesterol-reducing.   
      
   We were now starting packing the dried mushrooms in nice small bags   
   which we sold in Kisumu and Kakamega. But the problem was that we did   
   not have a big enough market for all the mushrooms. If we could find a   
   way of keeping the oyster mushrooms fresh, instead of drying them,   
   then we had a buyer in another part of Kenya for all the mushrooms   
   that were produced. But they had to stay fresh during the transport   
   and a couple of days after arrival.   
      
   We constructed a charcoal-sun-water refrigerator with the intention of   
   keeping the mushrooms fresh waiting for transport. Unfortunately,   
   however, a corrupt man in our village blocked the water pipe going to   
   our compound, not turning on the water for us. The refrigerator could   
   not work without water and therefore we could not sell fresh oyster   
   mushrooms.   
      
   At the beginning of 2001 we actually had our dried mushrooms evaluated   
   and tested in the laboratory of a big company. Since the quality was   
   so good that company wanted to give us a very big monthly order on   
   dried mushrooms - an order which would have meant an income for big   
   parts of the local community and all people involved in mushroom   
   growing.   
      
   We had already started contacting different international   
   organizations and NGO´s asking for funding of the project but   
   unfortunately, even though everybody seemed to think that the project   
   was very interesting, nobody was willing to give the project any   
   funding. One of the reasons for denial was that Kenya was so corrupt   
   and there was not any interest, as long as corruption remained, to   
   help.   
      
   Our entry permits were terminating mid 2001 and since we were out of   
   money (having paid the locals for the mushrooms they had been   
   delivering to us) we could not afford to renew them. So we had to   
   leave. (We left our property to the Brothers of St Charles Lwanga who   
   are caring for a lot of street children.).   
      
   The rurals really wanted to continue growing mushrooms but, since we   
   were the only ones producing mycelium, there was no way they could   
   continue. Our staff, that during our 2-month home leave in 2000   
   betrayed us and tried to make a fortune out of the project but   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)