X-posted from gardening.. hope it's ok here... Mushrooms!!

[opiate69]

Weekend before last was the local mushroom festival.. I bought myself a Lemon Cap Oyster kit and a Shiitake kit.. the Oysters are going freaking nuts! Woohoo! Omelettes coming soon! The shiitake is starting to fruit too, but not as impressive yet as the oysters.

[Warpy]

1. If it's edible, it goes here

I had no idea these kits were available. I know there was a Navajo outfit up on the rez growing shiitakes, but I haven't seen fresh ones in the store for ages so I don't know if they're still around.

Fresh shiitakes are amazing except you don't get soaking water to make the sauce.

[opiate69]

6. Ah yeah.. mushroom stock...

If you can find dried black trumpet mushrooms, the stock they make makes an incredible gravy for meatloaf...

[Suich]

2. Oh, yum!

I can't believe I never knew there was such a thing as mushroom kits!

[opiate69]

5. Oh yeah. there's a few farms here in Washington that sell them...lots of varieties as well

http://www.promushrooms.com/

http://www.fungi.com/

http://www.dietzfarm.com/

[A HERETIC I AM]

3. That's very cool!

And now for something completely different. A Scotsman on a horse.



Kidding...


Years ago I ran across NY State chatting on the CB with a guy hauling mushrooms.

He told me that your regular, plain white button mushroom will just keep growing if they don't harvest them. He said if you let them go, they'll get 3 feet across before they crack from their own weight. I thought that was cool.


I asked him if he got free mushrooms and if he liked and ate them. His response?

"Fuck no! I ain't eating no fungus!"

Thought that was funny too, coming from a guy who makes his living hauling fungus around!

So...a question on the pic in the OP;

Do they grow right back after you harvest them off the side of that bag, or what?

[opiate69]

4. Lmao! My sister's actually the same.. won't touch the things...

As far as harvesting, what will happen is, I'll cut those off, then it will go dormant for anywhere from 10 to 20 days, then it will fruit again from a different spot. The farmer I bought it from says people usually get 4to 5 pounds, over 3 to maybe 6 fruiting cycles...

[Sentath]

7. And then you 're-plant'

Break up the solid white mass in the bag and mix with pasteurized saw dust and or non-toxic paper products (also pasteurized) and re-bag.

If you work very clean, I mean like surgery and home canning clean, you can keep it going for quite some time before it weakens and needs to regenerate from spores.

[opiate69]

8. Yup yup...

Which is what I'm leaning towards at this point.. although you could also just break it up and compost it for the garden too.