Oct 14
2007
More Mushroom News (and Little Dog Photos)
At the risk of boring you with mushroom tales, I really have to show you this.
This was the mushroom patch two days ago.
Here is the mushroom patch today.
Okay, it’s only ONE mushroom. But it is a very BIG mushroom. It’s now about the size of one of those portobello mushrooms that I buy at the grocery store to put onto burger buns for a quick dinner.
Also, I can see that other little tiny baby mushrooms are starting to sprout. Eventually, this whole mushroom patch is supposed to be absolutely covered in these shiitake mushrooms.
RuthieJ emailed to ask more about the patch.
This is my first time intentionally growing mushrooms. Yes, I have unintentionally grown mushrooms in my lawn and flower beds. But I don’t dare eat those!
The block is apparently compressed sawdust that is embedded with the mushroom spores. When it arrived, I put it in the refrigerator for a couple of days. After that, I soaked it in a huge bucket of water for 24 hours. Since the patch floats, I had to be creative about piling on pots and pans to make sure the whole patch was submerged.
Since then, it’s simply been a matter of misting and keeping the humidity tent in place.
I plan to harvest my single mushroom success shortly. Yummm. Fresh, home-grown mushrooms. Not sure how it will make it into my cooking yet, but don’t be surprised if I keep it all to myself–like the first tomato!
Bonus photos. Cute little dogs!!!!
Poor Sophie is a drama queen after a bath and nestles with her dad for warmth. Her tongue doesn’t fit into her mouth properly.
Sarah excels at cuteness at all times.
Okay, that’s it for today. I am happily chewing through my home to-do list after having been submerged in a boatload of work for the past two months. I feel like a new woman!
October 15th, 2007 at 2:27 am
Hi Robin,
Thanks for the mushroom info. I will be anxious to see when more mushrooms have begun appearing.
Those little furry girls are so precious. I would be playing with those ears all the time.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
I enjoy reading about your mushroom garden, but I’m not envious… I don’t like mushrooms that much. But I’m a gardener who likes to try new things, so maybe I’ll give it a try someday.
October 16th, 2007 at 4:11 am
I think I keep getting interrupted while reading your mushroom posts, so I may have commented on this before: Doesn’t that growing medium look like a huge, perfectly-toasted-for-smores marshmallow? YUM!
The girls are so adorable! Coco gets to be a drama queen when she gets a bath, too. She’ll drag me a quarter of a mile and then pull me into any river or stream she finds (it’s the Lab in her) but it’s apparently the world’s biggest indignity to have to endure A Bath. Apparently all water is not created equal.
Does Sophie’s tongue really not fit into her mouth properly? My old neighbor had a dog who had some kind of similar jaw alignment problem, and she was constantly licking to keep the drool in. She was one of the sweetest dogs ever.
Man I’m chatty. It’s bedtime, sorry.
October 16th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Hey Ruthie and Kim,
Yes, I do just adore these little dogs. I never thought I would be a small dog person–always wanted a big hairy mutt. But they really worm their way into your heart.
Sophie can get her tongue in if she tries. She’s a bit like an absent minded professor though–it usually protrudes when she’s thinking of something really really hard.
And Carol - The fresh mushroom I ate last night was fabulous. Very firm and flavorful. Not like the musty mushrooms I often get at the grocery store. Give it a try!
–Robin (Bumblebee)
October 20th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Ah… gotcha. My Dad and my brother are like that! I once walked up as they were both looking under the hood of my brother’s car, asked, "What’s up?" and then started laughing as they both glanced up and you could see tongues sticking out of the corner of mouths identically. Both were deep in though, apparently.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:26 am
[...] didn’t set out to eat that big shiitake mushroom growing in my mushroom patch last [...]