The purpose of this field trip was to comprehensively explore mushroom cultivation and its relation to natural decomposition process.
This particular trip could become a reality starting with a problem statement – Nature has its own ways of self-preservation, to what extent do we humans understand and utilize it?
We introduced our learners to the concept of decomposition through our Problem Based Learning method.
As we reached the mushroom farm the first thing that awaited our learners was the detailed presentation about the farm and the cultivation process. Going further the learners were taken on a tour of the farm where they experienced practical learning of everything that was shown in the PPT.
First and foremost was the compost process, second came the spawning process and last was the harvesting process.
Each and every step included in these processes was shown and explained in minute detail, every section of the plant including the compost area where the temperature is regulated through air vents and where the decomposition of the waste material (Baghass, wheat straw, poultry waste) actually happens, was shown to the learners.
Next, the learners were taken to the spawning area where they were shown how the spawns (seeds) are planted, maintained in correct temperature, moisture and with right amount of ammonia, checked for diseases and later harvested carefully.
The learners got to experience how mushrooms are cultivated from scratch to final product. Cold storage, packaging of the final product was also a part of this trip. To end the field trip on an exciting note the learners were given a bag of ready to cook button mushrooms and a packet of oyster mushroom to be cultivated in the school as part of their science project.
This is the first step towards understanding how natural decomposition can help us to exploit waste around us to our benefit. Our higher aim is to make researchers out of students to replace the unnatural with natural, from non-biodegradable to biodegradable.
Our next step would be Oyster Mushroom Cultivation.
