Learn How to Grow Gourmet Edible Mushrooms on a Small Farm.

Not exactly a home business, but it does have very interesting possibilities if you have the room and patience to undertake this endeavor.

Check it out. Lots of real good information here. A fantastic resource!

Here you will learn how to grow gourmet edible mushrooms including shiitake and oyster on your small farm or at home for profit or personal use, on logs or on blocks.

I’ve been planning for some time to add a Mushroom Production Page to Beginning Farmers. Gourmet mushrooms are a high value crop which can be a great addition to a diversified farming operation, especially if they are lucky enough to be situated on land with a decent parcel of hardwood forest (for log production), or willing to invest in the equipment necessary for more intensive cultivation.

Wild harvesting mushrooms can also be a lot of fun, and fairly lucrative, if you know where to go and when, and can find a buyer. Many gourmet restaurants are thrilled to get wild-harvested mushrooms, so it’s worth trying to make these connections. I have done this with both morel’s and hen of the woods (see pictures below). But make sure you know what you’re doing if you’re going to hunt (for more information see below). Also anyone interested in this topic should check out Paul Stamets on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world.

1) Fungi Perfecti is, in my opinion, the gold standard for mushroom products, publications, high quality spawn, and seminars. Paul Stamets is a true pioneer in the field, and continues to produce first rate research on bioremediation, eco-mycology, and theoretical interpretations of fungal behavior. His now classic books, The Mushroom Cultivator, and Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms are unparalleled texts for learning to produce multiple species of mushrooms in a variety of growing systems, at almost any scale. If you buy only two books on mushroom production, it should be these. Also check out Paul Stamets YouTube Channel.

2) There is a good 86 page publication on Small Scale Mushroom Cultivation available from Journey to Forever or at FAO.org.

3) Alabama Cooperative Extension has a basic Shiitake Mushroom Log Production publication available online. And another Shiitake Log Production Publication, which I actually like better, is available from the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry.

4) The Mushroom Council offers excellent research and production information for mushroom growers. Their website is full of resources for mushroom growers including retail info.; industry statistics; news items, and much more.

5) The University of California Small Farm Program offers a very nice overview of the potential for mushroom production on small farms (including resources) in their online publication Mushrooms: A Small Scale Agriculture alternative.

6) The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (ATTRA) offers comprehensive information on mushroom production and sales on their Mushroom Cultivation and Marketing page.

7) A Reference for Mushroom Growers from Penn State University is a site that provides current information about the diseases and pests that plague the mushroom growing industry.  Information on new trends and developments in the industry is also included. More commercial than small-scale in its emphasis.

GardenGuides.com has a nice information page on Low Cost Mushroom Production at Home.

9) The Mushroom Growers Newsletter has a great website with lots of production resources, a supplier list, an events list, book reviews, and more.

10) University of Maryland Extension has a web publication and cost spreadsheet on Shiitake Mushroom Production and Marketing.

11) HotFrog has a Mushroom Production Directory which lists companies who sell supplies, and farms that produce edible mushrooms.

12) Gourmet Mushrooms and Mushroom Products has mushroom growing kits, spawn, books, and other supplies.

13) Gourmet Mushrooms Inc. has equipment for and information about mushroom production.

14) Shroomery has some decent information about production of a number of edible mushroom species.

I strongly recommend that anyone interested in mushroom production at any level, and especially about collecting mushrooms in the wild, will need to learn some basic Mycology. Here are some good websites that can help you with that:

MycoWeb: http://www.mykoweb.com/ Lots of great scientific information, pictures, recipes, articles, links, and much more and much more…

Tom Volk’s Fungi Page: http://www.tomvolkfungi.net/ This page is a comprehensive and information packed source for all things related to fungi. Fantastic information, pictures, links, articles, and more…

FungiPhoto.com: http://www.fungiphoto.com/ Lots of great pictures by genera.

Fungi of Saskatchewan http://www.usask.ca/biology/fungi/home_%20page.shtml has good keys, a list of fungi with photos, and lots of other resources for hunting mushrooms.

There are also a number of good Mushroom Hunting Books. Here are a few of my favorites:

The books with the best dichotomous keys are the first two:

Mushrooms Demystified written by David Arora, 10 Speed Press.: Not a lot of pictures, but this one has the best keys, and serious mushroom hunters consider it ‘the bible’. $32.95

Mushrooms of North Eastern North America written by Alan Bessette, Arleen Bessette, and David Fischer, Syracuse University Press. Great Keys, and lots of color pictures. $49.95

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms by Gary H. Lincoff, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Great pictures with short descriptions, but doesn’t include Latin names or keys. Small enough to easily take on a foray. $20.95

All the Rain Promises and More is also written By David Arora, and published by 10 Speed Press. It is a nice pocket guide, easy to carry, with good pictures and lots of fun stuff. A joy to read. $17.95

If you have further questions about mushroom production or wild-harvesting, please contact me at: beginningfarmers@gmail.com.

While this might be a bit off topic for this site, I recently met Stan Kruml. He calls himself the horses friend, but everyone around town calls him the cowboy. I guess you have to meet Stan in order to fully experience what it is to be in front of a REAL COWBOY. As Stan puts it, most cowboys, are “Hollywood” cowboys. They look, dress and act like some character out of a John Wayne movie, and are either shooting someone or playing with a gun. Far from it… Stan says.

Check out the video then look stan up in KickStarters… www.kickstarter.com and give him a hand please.

Entrepreneurs: Five Ways To Overcome The Fear Of Chasing Your Dream

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Five Ways To Overcome The Fear Of Chasing Your Dream

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The only thing to fear is fear itself. That’s easy for folks who say these sorts of things: They’ve made it. That’s why they’re quoted.

You haven’t made it yet. But you know there’s something in you that’s bigger than your cubicle, your office, your house. You know your idea is good and your vision clear. But you can’t muster the courage to chase the dream.

Maybe you can’t get past what feels like a perfectly rational concern about abandoning a paycheck—the link between you and neat things like food and rent.

Maybe you tried once before but were thwarted, discouraged, bankrupted, embarrassed. Maybe you don’t think you have the stuff to make your dreams come true. And maybe you don’t.

But that’s what taking risks is all about. And that’s why many who do end up reaping such grand rewards. For inspiration from real risk-takers who swallowed hard and prospered, see the slide show below.

In Pictures: 39 Entrepreneurs, Executives, Celebrities, Athletes And Politicians Share The Greatest Risks They Ever Took

Truth? Paychecks, three squares a day, a roof over your head and a bullet-proof ego are all very nice. But security is an illusion, and it enslaves even the best and brightest.

I’ve worked with scores of entrepreneurs and executives who had trapped themselves in mental cages. The same sorts of “cognitive errors” corrupt all of our risk-reward calculations—no matter who you are, how big the risk or how badly you’d like to take it.

Here are five reminders that will keep your dreams front, center and alive. (Not looking to start a business? Not to worry: These will help you anyway.)

Your fear of taking action is a result of watching yourself fail to act–not the other way around.

People assume that emotions initiate behavior–we see a tiger, tell ourselves we fear it, and then run. Nope. The well-documented James-Lange theory of emotion demonstrates that things are the other way around. We see a tiger, run like hell, notice our heart rate leap to 160 beats per minute, and then conclude we’re terrified. The single best way to boost courage?  Take baby steps toward realizing the goal every chance you get. When steps become strides you’ll realize how courageous you are.

Your fear of losing a paycheck is exaggerated.

Psychologists have demonstrated that most phobias are not as threatening as we imagine. So why the terror?  It comes from the cognitive error known as Black-or-White thinking: seeing things in all-or-nothing terms. Example: If you give up a steady income you’ll be impoverished, right? Wrong. If you challenge every black-or-white assumption you make, you’ll find a middle ground that can relieve dread. Paying bills is tougher without a steady income, but that’s what loans, temp work, and other adaptations are for. I suggest addressing the issue of financial need before you start amplifying your courage: List all the ways you can cover your bills with short-term tactics. Your range of options will shock you.

Your fear of launching a start-up stems from knowing someone whose new venture fell flatter than a crepe.

For some reason, when humans are anxious or depressed we tend to focus on negative aspects of the world and ignore everything else. Not only does this darken our mood, it blocks us from moving in a positive direction. To combat this cognitive error, accentuate the positive. Count up the number of people who have praised your idea. Remind yourself of every time you exceeded expectations (go back to Little League, if you have to).  Once you start looking at donuts and ignoring the holes, you will amass a list of positive outcomes that you can then convert into favorable attributes.

You won’t sacrifice a paycheck because it would be “wrong, reckless, irresponsible, etc.”

One of the more common cognitive errors is a psychodynamic conflict first described by famed neo-Freudian analyst Karen Horney: It’s called The tyranny of shoulds. Dr. Horney pointed out that many of us are stuck in ruts because we tell ourselves we “should” (or “should not”) do something, but this self-recrimination is just plain wrong. Classic example: “I should never doubt myself.”  According to that admonition, the simple act of being cautious and planning ahead, according to the tyranny of shoulds, is in violation of a mental law you carry around. As a result you denigrate yourself (“I’m such a coward”) but don’t make progress.

To escape from this trap, simply ask yourself “Why?” each time you say you should or shouldn’t.  It’s hard to not laugh at yourself when the only answer you come up with is “because”, delivered in the voice of an obstinate child. If you challenge the tyranny of shoulds it won’t take long to see them for what they are: Vestigial remnants of when you wore short pants. That awareness should free you to begin moving inexorably toward your goal.

No one daydreams while watching a Super Bowl game that goes into the fourth quarter with the score tied.

If you constantly dream of launching a business while working your steady job, what does that tell you about the gig? We only dream of greener pastures when the garden we’re in is full of weeds. If you have fantasies of getting out of a rut, you will, in one of two ways: engaging in self-sabotage until you get fired, or conquering your fears and launching the business of your dreams.

So what’ll it be?
In Pictures: 39 Entrepreneurs, Executives, Celebrities, Athletes And Politicians Share The Greatest Risks They Ever Took

Self Assessment: Measure Your Entrepreneurial Instincts

This really works. I have tried it for myself. It is tested and HOT… SIZZLING HOT!

Do yourself a favor and click on the link to find out all the details.  Don’t Snooze or you will lose!

This is not an advertisement but a real business opportunity. It is not a scam!

Impressive! I am short on time now, but could not leave before passing this on… A must see… Click on the graphic to visit now

Author: Scott McDonald

A lot of free website traffic generation methods are available to anyone, anywhere so long as they are connected to the World Wide Web. Though, there are people who use these traffic methods to get more traffic to their website for free than others do. If you want free traffic generation methods that can easily be used and maintained and will give you the best results for your website or project, use these methods that will surely get you started and get more to your website for free.

Content free traffic strategies deal with the use of free search engine optimization tools. Generally, this involves the use of primary and secondary keywords, blogging, and forum marketing to get traffic to your website, sustain and maintain free traffic.

One good way to get traffic or, specifically, to increase search engine traffic is to make use of keyword optimization. Keywords get free traffic to your website by search engines to categorize and rank-order sites. These keywords are often placed in the general description of the content of your website and help you get traffic from search engines. Typing a keyword in search engines bring up a rank-ordered list of websites and get traffic to your website when selected. Search engines rank your website according to use of primary and secondary keywords. Keyword optimization gets traffic to your website for free by ensuring that search engines are able to identify your site as relevant and worthy of being ranked in a high position.

The goal to get more free traffic is to use the right and relevant keywords. Keyword optimization as a free website traffic generation method involves selecting a list of “primary keywords”; creating a list of “secondary keywords” and strategically inserting primary and secondary keywords throughout the content of your website with the end goal of adding free website traffic.

Primary keywords generate the most website traffic and usually are the ones receiving the most search queries per month on major search engines. Get more free website traffic by using these keywords with greater density in your website. Remember to maintain a primary keyword density of 3% to get the optimum traffic for free.

Meanwhile, secondary keywords generate traffic by differentiating sites with the same density and linking pattern through its “meaningful content”. Remember to avoid flowery words, conjunctions and connectives in your secondary keywords because they get in the way to website traffic generation. These secondary words are grouped by density and matched to the other websites for analysis.

Author: Serena Wrighter

Whether you are a frustrated affiliate marketer who has not attained satisfactory results after months of trying, or you are a newbie in affiliate marketing wanting to commence with a solid foundation, obviously you would want to know which affiliate marketing training program is worth your money.

Before you buy into another course again, keep these three factors in mind:

#1: Does the training program provide you with step-by-step instructions and show you different aspects required to build a solid income-generating website?

You may have been creating review websites or blogs for quite some time now. But if your efforts have not been fruitful, that means something is missing in your plan. It could be as simple as doing a proper keyword research, or something more advanced such as optimizing your PPC campaign. Therefore, you would want a training system that leads you by the hand, with practical step-by-step instructions, teaching you right from the very basics skills to the more advanced techniques, all within manageable time line.

#2: Does the affiliate marketing training course provide timely and constructive support to its customers or members?

Embarking on internet marketing is a journey of never-ending learning. New affiliate marketers especially find it a steep learning curve in the beginning and usually face some challenges and obstacles. Those obstacles, whether pertaining to technical issues (e.g. installing a blog) or affiliate marketing strategies (e.g. increasing website traffic), can be easily overcome and improved when more experienced online marketers are willing to share their knowledge without reservation. So, look for a training portal that comes with a forum well-known for its helpful staffs and members.

#3: Does the course provide opportunity for continuing education, to take you to the next level of your internet marketing business?

Learning doesn’t stop after you have created your first website, or after you’ve got your first sales. To increase your online income and take it to the next level, you will need to learn different online marketing techniques or acquire different tools to assist you. You should look out for training programs that offer you with tools, continuous updates and learning opportunities.

Of course, the above mentioned don’t guarantee your success, but they are the criteria to look for when choosing an affiliate marketing training program.

Want to know which is the best affiliate marketing training program online? Check out this AffiloBlueprint review.

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_1693664_15.html

About the Author: Serena works from home as a freelance writer and an affiliate marketer, with special interest in health and internet business.