November 2004

A search for mushrooms... led to a search for a man
Correspondences.org - Lakewood,WA,USA
... in January 2003. The lost man, a local mushroom picker, was busy looking at the ground in order to find mushrooms. The picker lost ...

White And Wild Rice Dressing With Sausage, Exotic Mushrooms And ...
WCPO - Cincinnati,OH,USA
Meanwhile, sauté onions, celery, mushrooms and garlic with sausage until sausage is cooked. Add rosemary and thyme. Adjust seasonings. ...

Mushroom Hunters Take Wild Walk in Menemsha
Martha's Vineyard Gazette - Edgartown,MA,USA
To eat or not to eat mushrooms - that's the question that more than 30 folks asked mushroom enthusiast Phil Smith during a walk through the trails at Menemsha ...

Mushrooms and cheese fill torta
Washington Times - Washington,DC,USA
... I sauteed diced portobello mushrooms and chopped shallots together until tender, then seasoned them with crushed rosemary, coarse salt and pepper. ...

Yorkshire environmental business shows mushrooming diversity
Innovations-Report - Germany
Yorkshire based Gourmet Woodland Mushrooms outlined how its products can be used successfully in the bioremediation and pharmaceutical sector at the White Rose ...

October 30, 2004

Permits For Sale For Forest Mushrooms
The Eureka Reporter - Eureka,CA,USA
Six Rivers National Forest Supervisor Jeff Walter is reminding the public that permits are required to harvest Matsutake (tanoak) mushrooms on National Forest ..

October 23, 2004

Linguine With Mushrooms, Red Onions, Capers and Olives
Hawaii Channel.com - Honolulu,HI,USA
When the mushrooms start to brown, add half the wine, cook one more minute, until the pan is nearly dry. Set mushrooms aside in a bowl. ...

October 14, 2004

Tradition, Not Magic in Russia's Mushrooms
MOSNEWS - Russia
In fact, Russians love mushrooms so much that even those who emigrate continue to pick them in the forests of Europe and America. ...

Falling for chicken, mushrooms
Washington Times - Washington,DC,USA
... Sauteed chicken breasts with wild mushrooms, a dish I recently created, falls into this category. Dried mushrooms are soaked in ...

Fantastic Forage: Wild matsutake mushrooms
Seattle Post Intelligencer - Seattle,WA,USA
... Takemi Sugiyama collects Matsutaki mushrooms in the Cascades. ... "Everyday" matsutake mushrooms can sell for about $30 for a quarter of a pound.

September 30, 2004

Health Tip: Certain Mushrooms Are Healthy Atlanta Journal Constitution (subscription) - Atlanta ,GA,USA (HealthDayNews) -- Mushrooms aren'ta vegetable, but this doesn't mean the non-poisonous ... A mushroom is a fungus that creates more mushrooms by releasing spores..

September 23, 2004

MUSHROOMS in the medicine cabinet?
Billings Gazette - Billings,MT,USA
... While mushrooms have pretty much remained a delicacy in the United States, they have a long medical history in other parts of the world.

September 16, 2004

GERMAN food agency warns about Shiitake mushroom
Nutra Ingredients - Montpellier,France
... is now the second most popular mushroom it the world - after the button - and used for more than a 1000 years in Asian culture, the mushrooms are native to ...

MUSHROOMCOUNCIL.ORG Home
... years. This is also the place to find information about commercially grown mushroom varieties, and how to grow mushrooms. Nutrition ...

September 10, 2004

MY mother's kugel with mushrooms
Boston Globe - Boston,MA,USA 3. Add 1 more tablespoon oil to skillet and heat it. When it is hot, add the mushrooms, salt, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of the paprika. ...

Welcome to Mushroom News for the year 2004.

These are some archived stories from around the globe with the hope you will learn how to grow your own or help you learn more about these fascinating and often edible fungi. I hope you enjoy these pages I have put together for your benefit.

St. Jude Empowers 180,000 Farmers With Organic Skills

New Vision (Kampala)
NEWS
November 23, 2005
Posted to the web November 23, 2005

By John Kasozi And Jennifer Austin
Kampala

ST. JUDE Family Projects is training farmers in modern Integrated Organic Farming (IOF). For the past 12 years, the project has equipped more than 180,000 farmers with skills in IOF.

Integrated Organic Farming is a process of harmonious co-existence between the various components on a farm - plants, animals, water and soils. Each component contributes directly or indirectly to the other.

The centre, located at Busense, Kabonera sub-county in Bukoto Central, Masaka district, has become a 'presidential model' for small-scale farmers in the country.

The IOF training programme offers 75% practical skills and 25% theory. Practicals are offered in the 17 projects at the centre. These include poultry, fish-farming, bee-keeping, mushroom and vegetable growing, biogas and storm water harvesting.

"The programme emphasises practical participation so that the trainees can successfully implement what they learn. The training can be short-term residential or non-residential," says Josephine Kizza, the executive director St. Jude.

Trainees come from all districts of Uganda. At the time The New Vision visited the centre, 60 people from Nebbi, Hoima and Arua districts were attending a residential training. At times, individuals go to the centre for long-term apprenticeship.

A substantial number of women, children and vulnerable people like school drop-outs have been trained. Eighty percent of the trainees have been women, who make up the bulk of farmers in the country.

Since 1993, the centre has empowered over 180,000 small-scale farmers in Africa and Europe with IOF knowledge. They have also trained farmers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Rwanda.

After training, the participants who have put what they learnt into practice are issued a Certificate of Adoption.

"Our training staff provide effective support and later follow up the trained farmers in their respective communities," says Kizza.

In the past, the training was free, but as the number increased, St.Jude began charging a nominal fee of sh500 for every non-member.

Kizza says plans are underway to expand the training project. "We shall soon put up a hostel with single rooms to accommodate those who want total privacy."

Every year, the project trains about 800 farmers, who are its members.

Today, some trained organic farmers supply organic fruits to St. Jude and other exporting firms. The centre has 87 certified organic out-growers. In January 2006, the 15 out-growers who are still under conversion will be certified.

Once a year, organic certifiers from the Swedish firm, KRAV, visit the out-growers to ensure that they conform to the organic farming regulations.

Kizza has a degree in organic farming from Denmark and together with her late husband, Kizza Aliddeki, they set up the farmers' training centre. Many farmers have embraced the programme.

They grow fruits like pineapples, pawpaws, jackfruit and mangoes, which are processed at the centre.

In 1998, DANIDA helped St. Jude set up their first tunnel solar fruit drying plant. The first consignment was exported to Denmark. The fruits are also dried using two hybrid dryers powered by hydropower, a standby generator or solar energy donated by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation.

"Each hybrid dryer chamber can shelve up to 72 trays of sliced fruit. The tunnel dryer takes only 25 trays. It uses hot air to dry the fruits," says Regina Nalubega, the factory manager of Masaka Organic Producers, which is under St. Jude Projects.




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