Mushrooms #3: Don't blink; you'll miss them

oh wow.. you do have to keep your eye on them if you are wanting to watch the progress.

The little scientists must be very excited

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I’ve got the butter and garlic ready – just let me know when to turn on the stove!

-- There's a box?

Debbie, our entire household keeps checking on the progress of these little babies. Hey Joel, you might want to hold off on turning on the stove just yet, but check out what they look like today!

-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi

Here is what they looked like today, just one week after I prepared them for fruiting:

-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi

wow. that’s a lot of mushroom.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I think we will be having mushrooms for dinner!

-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi

And you told me not to fire up the stove yet…

-- There's a box?

Okay Joel, c’mon over. Our mushroom cornucopia overflows and I am happy to share. We have enjoyed them with garlic and olive oil, tucked inside omelets and simmered in red sauce over pasta. I did not enjoy eating them raw; I found they irritated my throat so I won’t be repeating that experiment. Afterwards, I did a web search and found this interesting article on why one should not eat mushrooms raw. I don’t know anything abut its veracity or the research behind it, but it reinforced my decision not to eat any more raw.

Right before the first harvest:

With two kits producing heavily, we are not quite keeping up with the harvest, so I dried a batch over the wood stove this afternoon. I don’t have a dehydrator and my oven will not operate at a low enough temperature (140-150 degrees F.). Within an hour, my mushrooms had turned into mushroom chips. They were unbelievably light and crunchy, like a potato chip, so I had to try one. Not bad! The rest I will store in my freezer until I want to use them in a sauce or soup.

One batch of oyster mushrooms drying:

In conclusion, growing mushrooms from a kit has been very easy and extremely successful. There could be three or four more mushroom blooms before I finally move the mycelium outside to see if I can encourage it to grow there. This mushroom is a native of upstate New York, which has a similar climate to mine, so I am very hopeful. If anyone is interested in growing their own mushrooms from a kit, after this success I feel that I can recommend the company that sold me the kits without reservation.

Thanks for all your comments and interest.

-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi

I am so glad to hear of your success. We havwe a large mushroom farm, just down the road. ... former student of mine. But the temptation of growing one’s own is getting larger … thanks to RFG and her budding scientists.

-- jroot ....... Southern Ontario .......... grow zone 5A ...................."Gardening is an exercise in optimism." ....... . . Author Unknown

well done; well done!!!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Thanks, you two. Everyone’s comments made this a fun project to post. : )

-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi

Glad to see your experiment worked out so well Robin.Those are some pretty good looking shrooms.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Thank you, Bon. We are eagerly awaiting our next crop.

-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi

We have pinheads forming on the kits again! Hurrah!

-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi

that’s wonderful!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)