Fertile Endings

[greenstorm]

Permaculture says "the problem is the solution" and "produce no waste" and honestly, even though these aspen trees on the south side of my house are a problem (shading the garden, getting into the septic line) they can be the solution to many things. Turned into woodchips, they'd be very useful for mulching etc. And.

I ordered a bunch of mushroom spawn, so when Josh comes up this fall we'll take down the ones we can without hitting the house or the power lines, and we'll innoculate them with shiitake and oyster mushrooms. This is another multi-year project, they won't fruit for a couple years, but since I'm here I'm going to do it. I also got a small amount of lion's mane and bear's head plug spawn, which will need to go into a conifer, and I do have some spare spruce.

The plan is to put the logs behind the goose shed, in the dip between the bird shed and the pig field. Water runs through there in spring and it tends to stay humid, it's shaded, it holds snow for insulation, and mom and I recently cleared it out so it's a space waiting for a use. It does have a bunch of coppiced/polarded willows, some very nice wild roses, and some saskatoon berries. All of those should be fine growing around the logs and keeping humidity up while the mycelia colonize their food source.

The logs should take a couple years to produce (shiitakes take longer, oyster shorter) and then should produce for a number of years. By the time they're a couple years from done, I should have a new crop of aspen trees looking to be taken down. So that's nice.

I'm also getting some winecap/king stropheria/garden giants to sow in a woodchip mulch in my garden bed.

As a plant person I've tried very hard to find hardiness ratings for the various fungi but haven't been able to. It seems like it might just not be an issue other than the tropical pink oysters, which I'm staying away from. I know the lion's mane and many oysters grow wild here. So, fingers crossed, but it is an experiment as is everything I do (I'm trying two kinds of shiitake, and two kinds of oyster mushrooms, too).

Incidentally, what I'm pretty sure are button mushrooms have sown themselves in the main pigpen and a little in the back field, colonizing the straw spillover from the pighouse in the main pigpen. At least, white mushrooms come up and grow there in spring and fall. It makes sense they'd have come from the expired grocery store produce; I only wish I had a clear ID on them so I could eat them.

Comments

[squirrelitude]

What do you do with mushrooms?

I only learned to like them as an adult, when I discovered that it's mostly just portobello that I don't like (as well as the smell of any cooking mushroom) and that shiitake and some others are OK if very well cooked. So now I'll marinate and roast them to almost-crispy and then pretty much just eat them straight. Still haven't figured out how to work them into dishes, for the most part.

[greenstorm]

Oh goodness, lots!

Dried shiitakes are a pantry staple for me, they go into most stocks I make, especially pork or seaweed-based stocks for Japanese-style soups.

Ground shiitakes are basically umami powder and I'll put a spoonful into anything that needs more depth and meatiness, including things like spaghetti sauce, lentils, hamburgers, and meatloaf.

I love fresh mushrooms, so I'll fry them and then add some eggs to scramble, make ...shoot, I forgot the name, the dish with beef mushrooms and sour cream?, add them to soups, add them to rice dishes, add them to pasta sauces either red or white. I've actually never roasted them?

I'd say almost anything where you start by frying an onion will benefit from having some mushrooms fried in there too, if you like mushrooms. Even something like... basic rice or lentils, fry the mushrooms and lentils in a little oil before adding water and letting them cook, it'll be amazing for adding depth of flavour. Granted, I'm super into frying my dried rice before cooking it right now.

I'll also dip button mushrooms in hummus or blue cheese dip, along with carrots and whatnot.

Even straight-up cream of mushroom soup is great.

I love the idea of having enough to pickle them but have never done that, and honestly if they dry easily then I may not get around to it until I need a good antipasto tray.

Now I'm thinking about a roasted mushroom and white bean dip with lots of olive oil, that also sounds nice?

Sausage-stuffed grilled shiitake caps would be truly amazing.

What dishes do you tend to eat?

[squirrelitude]

I tend to eat a lot of legume dishes -- millet/lentil bowls, hummus, bean tacos, lentil spaghetti sauce, dal, that sort of thing. Also stir-fries and stews. Hmm... also a lot of kimchi-fried millet lately. :-)

I'll have to try frying some shiitakes at the beginning of my sautés!

[greenstorm]

Try blending some dried ones into powder and adding them, too, depending on texture/ease preferences.

[squirrelitude]

My dad has been waaaay into mushroom powders these last couple of years and has been adding them to a sort of egg/onion scramble in the mornings.