Mushroom Farming
Aug. 13th, 2008 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
figarofigaro1Whenever anybody asks me what I would do if I could do anything I wanted and make a good living doing it, I always respond with a mixture of beekeeping, mushroom farming, and baking. Of those three things, the only one I have ever done is baking. The other two things fascinate me and I love the products that result. Well, I decided to try an indoor shiitake mushroom growing kit.
When it arrived, it looked like a big dirty wedding cake. Bleh.
The directions said that if there weren't little brown blisters poking the bag it was in, there weren't mushrooms yet. The entire block and bag needed to be chilled for three to five days. We did it for four and then needed space in the refrigerator. The next step was to soak the block in water. It smelled like mushrooms, which I thought was a good sign.
Then it is drained and set on a plate, and misted several times a day. It has a plastic bag-tent to keep it humid. It's sitting on our counter. The directions said that it might take a week to ten days for mushrooms to pop up. It's been out since Monday, and when I misted at lunchtime, I noticed mushroom sprouts.
They look rather alien at the moment, and alarmingly similar to the dirty wedding cake they're growing on. But They should look better in a few days. I hope they don't attack us in the night while we're asleep!
When it arrived, it looked like a big dirty wedding cake. Bleh.
The directions said that if there weren't little brown blisters poking the bag it was in, there weren't mushrooms yet. The entire block and bag needed to be chilled for three to five days. We did it for four and then needed space in the refrigerator. The next step was to soak the block in water. It smelled like mushrooms, which I thought was a good sign.
Then it is drained and set on a plate, and misted several times a day. It has a plastic bag-tent to keep it humid. It's sitting on our counter. The directions said that it might take a week to ten days for mushrooms to pop up. It's been out since Monday, and when I misted at lunchtime, I noticed mushroom sprouts.
They look rather alien at the moment, and alarmingly similar to the dirty wedding cake they're growing on. But They should look better in a few days. I hope they don't attack us in the night while we're asleep!
