What if I told you that crafting your own mushroom tincture could save you hundreds of dollars? What if I told you that this could easily be accomplished with minimal gear, training, or time? There's something to be said for being able to grow one's own food, and mushrooms can serve as an excellent source of such.

I set off on a journey to see how this would work out. There was just one problem – my backstory.

My backstory? I don't really like mushrooms.

I studied them in college. In fact, I took both mycology and plant pathology courses from one of the world's preeminent scientists at the time, Dr. Ganga Nair. Once I got used to his thick Indian accent, I quickly came to realize he was a great teacher who enjoyed fried puffball, among other things.

I myself never really got into eating life forms that grow on rotting things. However, not too long ago I won a table top lion's mane mushroom farm at the local community gardens auction. I'd been trying to run the price up a bit for the organization, and ended up being high bidder. So, I might as well give home cultivation a try, right?

The table top farm had been donated by Field and Forest Products, a company that sells pretty much everything. Whether you're looking for kits like mine, for mushroom log equipment, or for the ability to grow your own mushroom blocks, they have it.

Considering that we're likely to face a global famine in the very near future, I figured there was no time like the present to learn how to grow yet another type of my own food.