I’ve mentioned in my previous blog post that “the month of May has been nothing but awesome”. Well, aside from getting featured on two big-time online publications (Wiki.EzVid.com and Connected Women), this is also the month that our Oyster Mushroom Cultivation Online Training Program has begun to soar! This is aside from the fact that we have been selling fresh mushroom harvests, fruiting bags, spawns, starter kits, Musiga and other mushroom products.

But first things first. Let’s talk about Tuscany Highlands’ Oyster Mushroom Cultivation Online Training Program. I’ll start with a bit of an overview and how we have progressed from doing hands-on during pre-Covid times to going online after the pandemic was announced. Then at the end of this blog post, I’ll give you the details of our Oyster Mushroom Online Training Program. So if any of you reading this would want to be oyster mushroom growers in the near future, you may do so even if you’re just at the comforts of your own home.

OVERVIEW

I think we are on the right track. Mahal and I pivoted the direction of our Tuscany Highlands business just in time during this pandemic. I guess not so many people in our industry (mushroom industry) has thought of, or acted upon, going online. I’ve been thinking about it even before this pandemic came into our lives because after all, I’m a digital nomad. I feel like anything online under the sun is in the realm of my world. It just so happened that when the pandemic hit, it also affected my mental and emotional health the way it affected many of us. They call what we’re feeling “collective grief” because life will never be the same again and we are all grieving about that in our own way, in this “new normal” we’re now living in. I needed to take care of my well-being first and the well-being of my family at that time. I was on “survival mode” when it happened. But as soon as I felt good again, I hit the ground running in terms of our mushroom business. And so I think, to the best of my knowledge, we at Tuscany Highlands were the first to release an online training program for oyster mushroom cultivation just like what one of our trainees said:

BEFORE WE WERE ONLINE, WE WERE HANDS-ON FIRST

As you may know, if you’ve been following me for some time now, we’ve only started our Oyster Mushroom Cultivation Hands-On Training Program last October 2019 with only a handful of trainees on board per batch, mostly from Cagayan de Oro and other parts of Northern Mindanao.

Then around January – February, we were already getting around 15-18 trainees per session.

Before the pandemic hit, we’ve already registered around 20 paid trainees, more than what we’ve envisioned per training session. The market is ready and we were prepared for them as well. Then Covid-19 came about and all live events were stopped.

TUSCANY HIGHLANDS MUSHROOM TRAINING WENT ONLINE

Now with our online training program, our registered trainees are increasing and continue to increase with people from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao joining our online training program!

It’s true that there are existing free videos on Youtube about basic oyster mushroom cultivation. I’ve seen them too. They’re informative, yes.  But in my honest opinion, the video lessons Mahal and I prepared for our trainees are way more detailed, more comprehensive, and intensive, and combined with all the knowledge that Mahal garnered from his training with BPI (Bureau of Plant Industry) and Farm Business School under the Department of Agriculture, plus all our experiences in the mushroom farm business since 2017, our online training at Tuscany Highlands is touted to be one of the best and our trainees can really hit the ground running with setting up their own mushroom growing areas either for personal consumption, or building their own mushroom farms for business purposes as soon as they finish the course. In fact, some of them have gone on to become oyster mushroom growers now!

Even those who inquired have told us that our training program is one of the highly recommended among the Mushroom Growing Groups in the Philippines (thank you!!!)…

You will find more reviews at the bottom of this blog post…

Moreover, they get lifetime support from us for as long as we can communicate with our trainees via Facebook, text, or call. We are also constantly adding units and lessons to our online training program to keep abreast of related topics that will benefit our trainees. We consider our trainees part of our growing family of Tuscany Highlands Oyster Mushroom Growers and we want them all to succeed, with Mahal — Engr. Hanz Villanueva, leading the way.

We plan to release another training program using English as the language of instruction because we’ve also been getting inquiries from foreigners who want to join our online training program. So excited to expand our market!

OYSTER MUSHROOM CULTIVATION ONLINE TRAINING PROGRAM

If you are into oyster mushrooms and are interested to learn how to cultivate these healthy, edible fungi right at the comforts of your own home, join our online training program! See the details below:

For our COMPLETE, BASIC, ONLINE TRAINING PROGRAM FOR OYSTER MUSHROOM CULTIVATION, we have an ongoing promo instead of paying P1,999, you pay only P1499 para sa mga gustong matuto paano magpatubo ng oyster mushrooms kahit nasa bahay lang po… (20% OFF for seniors, solo parents, and PWDs) WE WILL GIVE YOU ACCESS SA AMING TRAINING PAGE AFTER PAYMENT: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TuscanyHighlandsTraining/learning_content/

Inclusions:

• Unlimited access to our complete and exclusive online training through our private Facebook group page. You can start anytime and train anytime.
• 20% discount coupon on your first Tuscany Highlands product order (fruiting bags, hygrometer, moisture tester, spawn, mushroom products, etc.) — no expiration date
• Lifetime FB group page support
• Mushroom Cultivation Handbook in PDF format
• Copy of Certificate to be emailed to you

Training is through recorded videos. The entire course is divided into 5 major units of 4-7 video lessons each. It is accessible through a private Facebook group page. The videos are in Filipino/Tagalog while the text are in Taglish. The handbook will be sent to you dito sa messenger or via email. The rest of the communication will be done via the private FB group page exclusively for trainees. Once you are finished with the course, we will email to you your certification. But you can still watch all the training videos anytime, anywhere as long as you can access your FB. Pang lifetime access na po.

Everything you need to learn when it comes to basic oyster mushroom cultivation, you will learn it in the course:

• Tissue Culture Process
• Spawning Process
• Grain Spawn Preparation
• Substrate Preparation
• Oyster Mushroom Culture Process Flow
• Important Parameters in Mushroom Growing
• 6 Vectors of Contaminants
• Buildings and Areas Needed
• Equipment / Materials Needed
• Raw Materials
• Miscellaneous Materials
• Optimum Conditions for Incubation and Fruiting
• When to Harvest
• Computations for Biological Efficiency, Moisture Content, and Composition of Ingredients
• Key Factors that Induce Fruiting
• Factors in Selecting a Site
• Sample Production Expenses
• Sample Computation of Income
• Business opportunity

Once you’re done, we expect you to start growing your own oyster mushrooms. We will be with you every step of the way through our private FB group page.

You can pay P1499 at any of the following:

BPI
Hanzel Geolin Villanueva
Savings acct
1089-3074-37

BDO
Hanzel G Villanueva
Savings acct
002450125937

Unionbank
Jennifer A. Juan
Savings acct
109550118986

Paypal
jenjuan2008@gmail.com

Or via MLhuillier, Cebuana, Palawan, LBC
Hanzel G. Villanueva
Mobile #: 0915-843-9198

What to do after paying?

Once paid, please take a screenshot of the deposit transaction and send it to us via messenger at Facebook.com/TuscanyHighlands together with the complete name, email address, Facebook profile URL, and mobile number of the trainee. Then please visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/TuscanyHighlandsTraining and click +JoinGroup and wait for the approval. The Handbook will also be emailed to the email addresses provided.

If you have further inquiries, please feel free to message us on our Facebook Page.

Here’s a sneak preview:

OYSTER MUSHROOM CULTIVATION HANDBOOK

For those who already know how to grow oyster mushrooms but need to be refreshed…

We have a short, easy-to-understand, summarized, digested lessons and procedures for OYSTER MUSHROOM CULTIVATION. Kung may alam na po kayo sa pagpapatubo ng oyster mushrooms at nangangailangan kayo ng refresher tool or cheat sheet or listahan ng mga importanteng bagay ukol sa pagpapatubo ng oyster mushrooms, you can buy a copy of our little handbook for only P199. Kasali ito sa aming P1999 online training program pero kung di nyo na need umattend ng training dahil may alam na kayo, at wala na rin kayong panahon mag research ulit at gumawa ng sarili ninyong guide, at ready handbook lamang ang gusto ninyo para maipaalala sa inyo ang mga tamang proseso sa pagpapatubo ng oyster mushrooms, ito po ang para sa inyo.

The handbook is only P199 and  includes summarized lists and procedures for:

• Tissue Culture Process
• Spawning Process
• Grain Spawn Preparation
• Substrate Preparation
• Oyster Mushroom Culture Process Flow
• Important Parameters in Mushroom Growing
• 6 Vectors of Contaminants
• Buildings and Areas Needed
• Equipment / Materials Needed
• Raw Materials
• Miscellaneous Materials
• Optimum Conditions for Incubation and Fruiting
• When to Harvest
• Computations for Biological Efficiency, Moisture Content, and Composition of Ingredients
• Key Factors that Induce Fruiting
• Factors in Selecting a Site
• Sample Production Expenses
• Sample Computation of Income
• Business opportunity

Choose from any of the payment options mentioned above.

OYSTER MUSHROOM STARTER KITS

If you’re looking for Oyster Mushroom Starter Kits so you can start growing Oyster Mushrooms, you can choose from the following Starter Kit Packages we have:

Starter Kit #1:

• 1 fully ramified fruiting bag – P40.00 (pwede nyong dagdagan kung gusto nyo po)
• Oyster Mushroom Cultivation Handbook in PDF Format – P199

Starter Kit #2:

• 1 fully ramified fruiting bag – P40.00 (pwede nyong dagdagan kung gusto nyo)
• Hygrometer – P350 (para mamonitor nyo ang temperature and humidity sa lugar kung nasaan ang fruiting bag nyo to ensure na may mahaharvest kayo up to 3-6 months.)
• Oyster Mushroom Cultivation Handbook in PDF Format – P199

Starter Kit #3:

• 1 fully ramified fruiting bag – P40.00 (pwede nyong dagdagan kung gusto nyo)
• Hygrometer – P350 (para mamonitor nyo ang temperature and humidity sa lugar kung nasaan ang fruiting bag nyo to ensure na may mahaharvest kayo up to 3-6 months.)
• Bottle of Spawn – P120 (gagamitin nyong pantanim kapag nakagawa na kayo ng sarili nyong fruiting bags; the spawn in 1 bottle can be planted on 40-60 fruiting bags.)
• Moisture Tester – P350 (kakailanganin nyo to sa paggawa nyo ng fruiting bags)
• Oyster Mushroom Cultivation Handbook in PDF Format – P199

You can pre-order these from us if you like. If you’re from Cagayan de Oro, you can pick them up from our office once available. If not, we ship via LBC nationwide. PM or call or text us to inquire (0947-891-3140).

REVIEWS

Here are more reviews about both our hands-on and online oyster mushroom cultivation training program…

MY TAKEAWAY

We are just so grateful for all the trainees who entrusted us and who continue to trust us at Tuscany Highlands when it comes to teaching them how to cultivate and grow oyster mushrooms.  This endeavor has become one of our passions and we will strive to spread further the love for growing oyster mushrooms whether for personal consumption or for future business ventures.

How about you? What are you thankful for this month of May?