Grow Mushrooms from Waste | An Experimental Community Garden Workshop
Thursday 30 April 2026
Starts 10:00 AM
Finishes 12:00 PM
Organized by DESISLab + ERA Chair in Social Innovation@NOVA SBE
Venue: Rua da Holanda
Address: Rua da Holanda
2775-405 Carcavelos
About this event
Hands-on experimental workshop exploring how spent mushroom substrate can be reused to try growing mushrooms in a community garden setting.
Join us at the Community Garden at Nova SBE for a hands-on experimental workshop where we’ll explore how to reuse spent mushroom substrate from Nãm Mushrooms to test simple mushroom cultivation methods in a garden environment.
Rather than a polished step-by-step growing class, this session is designed as a collective experiment: a chance to learn about mycelium, circular systems, and low-tech cultivation by building and testing a small mushroom-growing setup together.
Using materials such as spent substrate, cardboard, straw, water, we’ll create a simple mushroom bed and discuss the conditions needed for mycelium to keep growing after a first harvest and see if our garden can have mushrooms!
This workshop is ideal for anyone interested in:
urban agriculture
circular food systems
fungi and mycelium
regenerative gardening
composting and decomposition
hands-on ecological experimentation
The workshop takes place in the Community Garden at Nova SBE, a collaborative space in Carcavelos dedicated to learning, growing, and experimenting together. The garden is rooted in permaculture, participation, and shared care, where students, staff, neighbours and local residents come together through nature-based activities and community learning.
What we’ll do
In this session, participants will:
learn the basics of mushroom cultivation and mycelium
understand what spent substrate is and why it may still be biologically active
build a simple experimental mushroom box and directly on the ground with lasagna method
explore how factors like humidity, shade, airflow, and heat affect growth
discuss what it means to work with fungi through trial, observation, and adaptation
Important note
This workshop is based on experimentation, not guaranteed production.
We’ll be testing a low-tech method together and observing what happens over time. The goal is to learn through doing, understand the conditions fungi need, and explore how mushroom cultivation might fit into a community garden ecosystem.
Who is this for?
This workshop is open to:
beginners
gardeners
students
neighbours
sustainability enthusiasts
anyone curious about fungi and regenerative systems
No previous experience is needed.
What to bring
Please bring:
clothes you don’t mind getting a little dirty
water
sun protection if needed
curiosity and openness to experimentation
This page last updated Tuesday 14 April 2026 at 20:34.
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