How then, do we move backwards? How does a society, with most of the people having no clue of future events, move from being dependent on a vast and intertwined network of goods and services produced by the indigenous people of whereever, to a local resource and renewable energy based society, and do so in the timeframe available (20-30 years using the most liberal extimates, 10-20 with resonable estimates, 5-10 with worst case scenarios), all the while prices on everything increasing, world politics getting more militaristic, governments continuously reducing civil liberties, shortages of goods on the market and weather patterns resembling bad Hollywood movies?
Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 11:32 pm Post subject: Fungus as a food source
recently heard a fascinating lecture about all of the benefits fungus offers humanity, but in terms of food, it's a pretty good (and tasty) source.
and it seems that logs can be used to provide food for fungus, which in turn can feed US.
the concept is that you innoculate a log of a hardwood tree with whatever, shitake, oyster, or whatever you like, and depending upon the size of the log, you can harvest mushrooms for up to 12 years.
Mushrooms are a good source of protein.
This tidbit of info seems good for all of us, but esp. for those of use who don't have a lot of land to play with at the moment.
Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 637 Location: Eastern NC
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:20 am Post subject: Re: Fungus as a food source
Zeke
You are already among a fungusy crowd here. Several folks are already raising shitakes, I just inoculated coffee grounds with oyster mushrooms. (Anyone with prior experience with this model?)
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 10:05 am Post subject: Re: Fungus as a food source
Zeke, if you have some of the spore or mycelium mat then what you can do is shred some hay, sterilize it by steaming it in a big pot, and then after cooling add the spore and tie it into bags or bins with small holes in them. Keep it moist but not wet, in the dark, and it should quickly spread through the medium. Once it becomes thick with the mycelium, you can drill logs and plug it with that. Drill holes, soak them, then put a portion in and seal it. Keep a portion to repeat the growth procedure above...
-G _________________ All right, you primitive screw-heads, listen up!
Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 637 Location: Eastern NC
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 8:30 pm Post subject: Re: Fungus as a food source
Little BoPeep
Picked up the idea from the i net. Placed the grounds from Starbucks in a 5 gal bucket and shoved some pieces of oyster mushroom in per the instructions. I also plan to try some oyster mushrooms blended then inoculated on the coffee grounds , will keep you up to date.
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:23 am Post subject: Mushroom
I read a recipe for growing mushrooms:
You buy some mushroom in the supermarket, place them in a paper bag and wait for some days.
Then you shake the bag that the spores come out.
You sow the spores on compost in a container.
Anyone tried this?
If you grow mushrooms on homemade compost - can you be sure that there are no poisonous mushrooms as there may be already spores?
And mushrooms usually need a certain temperature to grow.
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 4:02 pm Post subject: Re: Mushroom
alokin wrote:
I read a recipe for growing mushrooms:
You buy some mushroom in the supermarket, place them in a paper bag and wait for some days.
Then you shake the bag that the spores come out.
You sow the spores on compost in a container.
Anyone tried this?
If you grow mushrooms on homemade compost - can you be sure that there are no poisonous mushrooms as there may be already spores?
And mushrooms usually need a certain temperature to grow.
Joined: Sep 29, 2004 Posts: 2326 Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:14 pm Post subject: Re: Fungus as a food source
I love mushrooms, big ones, small ones, as long as they aren't poisonous. You do have to be careful because I've heard the poisonous ones taste good.
You can buy mushroom growing kits which include the spores. A buddy of mine got a good crop from one of those. They are ridiculously easy to grow, just put them in a dark place, the basement is a good spot, and leave them grow. _________________ "That's the problem with mercy, kid... It just ain't professional" - Fast Eddie, The Color of Money
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:30 pm Post subject: Re: Fungus as a food source
method we're trying now is:
locate a chunk of hardwood with bark still attached to it
soak the chunk (6-14 inches diameter preferred)
drill holes 4" apart, from bark toward center (2" deep) in a diamond pattern
load each hole with a wooden plug innoculated with your spores and seal over with beeswax or cheese wax
keep log moist.
wait appx 9 months for the mycelia do permeate the log tissue, and for fruiting to commence.
depending on the size of the log, you can get 10 years' worth of fruiting.
now, I'd think anyone with hardwood trees on their land, and who has or might need to chop up felled trees would be sitting on a nutritional goldmine with respect to this method.
we found it pretty difficult even to locate a hardwood log of sufficient size as conifers are by far and away the most abundant tree here.
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:27 pm Post subject: Re: Fungus as a food source
Sounds everything quite difficult. Except the kit, which is about $20 here, and I don't know if it is worthwhile.
Finding a hardwood log in the suburb, well we must have a look, and then we have to get the spores.
For champignones or button mushroom you need horse manure what we can obtain. Then I could inocculate the manure with spores from the shop?
And shiitake? We're subtropical so I guess some mushrooms won't do well here.
Do you grow them simply in a shady corner of your garden?
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 11:02 pm Post subject: Re: Fungus as a food source
perhaps somewhat tedious at the beginning getting stuff together and preparing it, but in return for countless tasty and nutritious mushrooms for when food might be quite nice to have?
bargain, IMO
shade, yes. 60s or lower, but not freezing.
in fact, dark is better than shade...not in a closet dark, but WELL shielded from direct and bounced sunlight.
you may have to google to see which edible mushrooms are good for your area.
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