Nearly 25 people participated in the Seed to Bloom Botanical Garden and Community Garden workshops in Central State. This seminar is part of the introduction to the mushroom growing course. In the garden, each participant received a log, drilled a hole and inoculated it with mushroom spores.

Marc Amante, a natural resources educator at Central State and the main demonstrator of the event, said that growing mushrooms is not as difficult as it seems. This is a good way for urban farmers to earn extra income.

Amante said: "You will get more rewards, you can get more food from the same space." "If you are a farmer or urban gardener interested in selling agricultural products, mushrooms are a very valuable crop."

Some participants learned about mushrooms including oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms and wine cap mushrooms.

If urban farmers want to grow and sell mushrooms, Amante said, the retail price of different types of mushrooms is between US$10 and US$20 per pound. But if the gardener just treats it as a hobby, it only needs some tools.

"If you do it just for fun, you can do it with your household drill and hammer," Amant said. "You drill a hole, hit [mushroom seed] with a hammer, and put some wax on it. It's very simple. Here you are."

Donnetta Boykin is one of dozens of people attending the seminar. As part of the Central State Hatchery Farm program, she owns a plot of farmland in Trotwood. She grows zucchini, tomatoes, mustard greens, etc., and sells them at the farmers’ market.

Now she is considering adding mushrooms to her plot

"I found this by accident. I thought, what? You are growing mushrooms? I have to be involved. Therefore, I definitely want to add it to my growth space."

Even if people don't make a living by growing mushrooms, Amante says that growing them doesn't require much work. They can be grown on raised beds next to mulched vegetable gardens, making them another food that can grow in the garden.

Food journalist Alejandro Figueroa is a member of Report for America, a national service program that places reporters in local newsrooms.