Friday, 30 September 2016

Friday Fungus: council estate mushrooms


The Lismore Circus Estate at Gospel Oak in Camden isn't the most obvious location for a new horticultural enterprise. This - described as "(l)ong sleek apartment blocks (Ludham and Waxham) designed by the firm of Frederick McManus and Partners as part of the Lismore Circus estate" - is the location:



In the basement of this block developers are, however, proposing just such a horticultural enterprise - a mushroom farm:
London could become home to a new mushroom farm capable of growing three quarters of a ton every month using waste materials such as coffee grounds.

Eco start-up Article No. 25 wants to set up the farm in the basement of a block of Seventies council flats in Gospel Oak, and Camden council is considering a planning application.

The mushrooms would grow on a form of compost made from waste materials including coffee grounds and newspapers mixed with straw.
Two important points to make here - firstly this is a great use of essentially redundant space (the unused garages in the image) and secondly it opens up new uses for food waste.

Plus, of course, mushrooms are nutricious and flavoursome!

....

2 comments:

James Higham said...

Mushroom farm - mind boggles.

Weekend Yachtsman said...

I'm disappointed.

I thought this was going to be a post about foraging for ceps and chanterelles on the waste ground around council schemes.

Or alternatively, a complaint from some nimbys about the excessive growth of "affordable housing".

But cultivated mushrooms in a basement? Nowhere near as exciting, sorry.

;-)