Spore Yourself Rotten With WIRED’s Mushroom Gifts

If your giftee is interested in growing their own mushrooms, they can grow just about anything they want in North Spore’s automated Boomr Bin monotub. The kit comprises a tub with a lid, filters, a hygrometer, a humidifier, and a fan to maintain airflow, though no instructions are provided. Because of this, it will take some extensive YouTube-ing to set up, as assembly isn’t exactly intuitive. Once the tub was going, however, I was able to grow nearly endless amounts of blue, pink, and yellow oyster mushrooms, as well as lion’s mane, and maintenance was a breeze. (Just refill the humidifier as needed and make sure its tube is free of water plugs; I highly recommend siting the humidifier below the tub to prevent this.)

You can use sterilized substrate and liquid mycelium culture to grow anything from reishi and turkey tail to morels, or opt for an easy-mode pre-inoculated fruiting block. (North Spore even offers a fruiting block subscription option.) If you opt for the blocks, though, make sure you choose a mushroom variety you really like, as they are quite fecund—my current blocks are on their fourth round of fruiting, with no signs of slowing down.—Kat Merck