Mushrooms are having a bit of a moment. Recent books like Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life and Netflix's documentary Fantastic Fungi, as well as many, many TikTok videos, are exposing people to the fascinating world of fungi, from how they connect the forest floor through underground mycelium networks, to their incredible ability to grow from and on just about anything. It's this latter, adaptable quality in particular that attracted a group of mushroom fans to band together as Rhyze, a radical, mushroom growing collective based in Edinburgh.
"A group of us got together during the pandemic, keen to start a project around food and community education, something that would empower people to lead more sustainable lives and feed themselves and their communities," explains Marco Tenconi, Rhyze's Cultivation Coordinator.
"We wanted a project that would work around our urban lives and the physical constraints of being in the city, and mushroom farming is just perfect for that. You can grow a lot of mushrooms in a small space, they don't need much light and can grow on all kinds of waste streams that are a big problem in our towns and cities."
"And mushrooms are just cool!" adds Mim Black, who joined Rhyze in October 2020, as the project really got going.
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