Mushrooms

[cheferson]

A bunch of different mushrooms

[Cool Beans]

Whats the one in the middle? I believe I have seen both the others, but not that hairy one.....

[cheferson]

lions mane

[JohnnyD]

Very nice yellow oysters.

Brown Rice Flour, mixed with vermiculite base? I've done some mushroom growing with very good success.

[cheferson]

The italian oysters are on paper, the yellow is on coir and coffee grounds, and the lions mane is on supplemented sawdust.

[JohnnyD]

Nice variety. The lions mane can be a pain sometimes.

I was lazy and mostly used brown rice flour or mullet seed.

[Raven]

i can tell what your thinkin....about

i love shi take 's .... nice pics Cheferson

[Nebe]

Nice chef! There's a fungus amung us
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[cheferson]

shiitakes will be this fall or next spring

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Raven

i can tell what your thinkin....about

i love shi take 's .... nice pics Cheferson

It's the next cheapest thing to brown rice flour and gave me about twice the yield. I only used it for the yellow oysters though, they'd get huge.

[ProfessorM]

very cool

[striprman]

I'm a fun guy

[Raven]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

It's the next cheapest thing to brown rice flour and gave me about twice the yield. I only used it for the yellow oysters though, they'd get huge.

i thought you meant Millet and you said mullet

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Raven

i thought you meant Millet and you said mullet

oi... The keys are too close together.

[5/0]

Originally Posted by striprman

I'm a fun guy

[Raven]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

oi... The keys are too close together.

but your ears are

so eat some shrooms

and expand them outward

[cheferson]

Originally Posted by striprman

I'm a fun guy

Heh, we have a new menu starting monday. The new mushroom pizza is called the fun guy

[cheferson]

some more pix

[cheferson]

Did an experiment with some seaweed from the beach. They grew very quickly on it.

[cheferson]

oyster mushrooms are really amazing. They recently did a study about ridding soil of oil contamination.

From a piece of tissue the size of one tenth of your little fingernail, what we call a clone, cells can be grown exponentially into millions of pounds of mushrooms in as little as several months. More than 10% of the growing medium or "substrate" (straw, sawdust, compost, most agricultural and forest debris) can be converted into a protein- and vitamin-rich food. Not only are these mushrooms nutritious, they have demonstrated abilities in enhancing the human immune system, and they produce a slew of natural antibiotics. Yet it is the residual mycelium in that substrate that holds the greatest potential for ecological rehabilitation.

Mycelia can serve as unparalleled biological filters. When I first moved to my property, I installed an outdoor mushroom bed in a gulch leading to a saltwater beach where clams and oysters were being commercially cultivated. An inspection showed that the outflow of water from my property was jeopardizing the quality of my neighbor's shellfish with the bacteria count close to the legal limit. The following year, after the mushroom beds were colonized with mycelium, the coliform count had decreased to nearly undetectable levels. This led to the term I have coined "mycofiltration", the use of fungal mats as biological filters.

Mycelium produces extracellular enzymes and acids that break down recalcitrant molecules such as lignin and cellulose, the two primary components of woody plants. Lignin peroxidases dismantle the long chains of hydrogen and carbon, converting wood into simpler forms, on the path to decomposition. By circumstance, these same enzymes are superb at breaking apart hydrocarbons, the base structure common to oils, petroleum products, pesticides, PCBs, and many other pollutants.

For the past four years I have been working with Battelle Laboratories, a non-profit foundation, whose mission is to use science to improve environmental health. Battelle is a major player in the bioremediation industry, and widely used by the United States and other governments in finding solutions to toxic wastes. The marine science laboratory of Battelle, Sequim, Washington became interested, as their mandate is to improve the health of the marine ecosystem. Under the stewardship of Dr. Jack Word, we began a series of experiments employing the strains from my mushroom gene library, many of which were secured through collecting specimens while hiking in the old growth forests of the Olympic and Cascade mountains. We now have applied for a patent utilizing mycelial mats for bioremediation, a process we have termed "mycoremediation".

After several years, and redundant experiments to prove to naysayers that our data was valid, we have made some astonishing discoveries. (I am continually bemused that humans "discover" what nature has known all along.) The first significant study showed that a strain of Oyster mushrooms could break down heavy oil. A trial project at a vehicle storage center controlled by the Washington State Dept. of Transportation (WSDOT) enlisted the techniques from several, competing bioremediation groups. The soil was blackened with oil and reeked of aromatic hydrocarbons. We inoculated one berm of soil approximately 8 feet x 30 feet x 3 feet high with mushroom spawn while other technicians employed a variety of methods, ranging from bacteria to chemical agents. After 4 weeks, the tarps were pulled back from each test pile. The first piles employing the other techniques were unremarkable. Then the tarp was pulled from our pile, and gasps of astonishment and laughter welled up from the observers. The hydrocarbon-laden pile was bursting with mushrooms! Oyster mushrooms up to 12 inches in diameter had formed across the pile. Analyses showed that more than 95% of many of the PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) were destroyed, reduced to non-toxic components, and the mushrooms were also free of any petroleum products.

After 8 weeks, the mushrooms had rotted away, and then came another startling revelation. As the mushrooms rotted, flies were attracted. (Sciarid, Phorid and other "fungus gnats" commonly seek out mushrooms, engorged themselves with spores, and spread the spores to other habitats). The flies became a magnet for other insects, which in turn brought in birds. Apparently the birds brought in seeds. Soon ours was an oasis, the only pile teeming with life! We think we have found what is called a "keystone" organism, one that facilitates, cascade of other biological processes that contribute to habitat remediation. Critics, who were in favor of using plants (as in "phytoremediation") and/or bacteria, reluctantly became de facto advocates of our process since the mushrooms opened the door for this natural sequencing

[striprman]

where do you get your spores ?

ever grow "magic" mushies ?

[Raven]

if those flies eaten by toads,frogs,birds ect have the mushroom
mycelium in them and thus transport to other areas via their droppings to start the cycle again....

the other thing that i found quite interesting was how not only do mushrooms have anti cancer attributes...

but exposing the gills of shi takes mushrooms to sunshine when drying them made them absorb ten times their original vitamin D
which scientists are now discovering is a much more important vitamin than they thought....and is a body regulator .

Also on your post Cheferson the use of sea weed as a bedding material .... very ineresting not to mention the pollution remediation...

how easy can it get too go out and :seed: an area will spawn to solve the problem.... just awesome

[cheferson]

There are lots of people selling spores and spawn , just google . Thats cool about the shiitakes and the sun drying.

[Joe]

Nothing like ten hours of paranoid introspection to get one in touch with their poor self esteem.

[reelecstasy]

10? I always found it to be 5-6 at best






Very cool Chef

[Raven]

they are meant for sunrises and sunsets, outdoors not indoors

----------------------------------------------------------------------
of course i'll never forget when Steve answered the door to find a PIZZA delivery man
that he/we just totally forgot about .....

then Steve, after grabbing and accepting the large Pizza
he completely lost control of it and was trying to balance it again
in the air making it slide right out of the box and it went flying and flopping
on to the floor....
before we even paid for it....

that was the absolute funniest thing i can ever remember......

and that poor Pizza man must of thought he was at a Looney bin
because he had to wait forever for us to stop laughing to get paid
and every time he asked to get paid again
it was even funnier... .....

[cheferson]

No 6 hour trips from these. The yellow oysters have some kick though. They were grown on about 50% coffee grounds and will uptake some of the caffeine into the fruits.

[zimmy]

you guys find morels at all? I used to get em by the pounds in PA, but this new england place seems to not have em.

[cheferson]

I have never personally, but i have heard of some finds , mostly in MA. Now would be the time for them

[Adam_777]

neat pics of shrooms.Very cool stuff.