Wednesday, December 24, 2008

More mushrooms

Well, we finished off the first flush of Shiitakes awhile ago. The block of mushroom stuff is supposed to go dormant for awhile, then you start it up again and are supposed to get more.

So, while that block was being dormant, Jeremy decided to try growing mushrooms a different way. He decided to get some mushroom spawn (or something like that) and inoculate some growing medium himself. (It only sounds like I know what I'm talking about - I really don't.)

The chosen growing medium was straw, which had to be cut up in little pieces...



boiled to sterilize it...



and put in a large enough container to mix all the mushroom spawn into it. We had a little stopper in the tub, but that didn't stop some straw from going down the drain and plugging up the tub!



Then the straw-mushroom spawn combo was packed into bags and sealed...



and put in a warm spot by the heater.



Now we're just waiting for the mushrooms to show themselves!

2 comments:

Ashley W said...

How Quakerly of you to post about mushrooms on Christmas Eve. I hope you two have a very merry 25th Day of Twelfth Month!

--Ashley

Jed Carosaari said...

That straw looks easy enough to clean up...

We have bales of hay surrounding the house outside, and track in enough as it is. I can't imagine actually bringing it in!

At least there's a place for baby Jesus to sleep...