End Fungi Phobia
The High Desert isn't really the place to go mushroom picking, but for years when I lived in Oregon it was a favorite past time for a lot of folks. Other folks. Don't get me wrong, I love mushroom and I've eaten a lot of wild mushrooms. But I've got to admit that I never got into picking them. It must have been a phobia, because I'm quite comfortable with a lot of wild plants, wandering around sniffing and nibbling at them. I think something about the old warning of people choking up, foaming at the mouth and them dropping dead at a single nibble must of scared me out of sampling mushrooms in that particular manner.
I've thought about growing them because they grow quite easily in the damp of the Pacific NW and can be grown in plastic trash cans or trash bags. I got the tour of my friend's production years ago. She bought the mushroom innoculae, grew and harvested the mushrooms and then sterilized the soil in large "steamers"after each batch. Very efficient. And since the Pacific NW air is so moist, well it's a natural, literally. I don't think we'd get past the innoculating the soil here in the high desert.
I really love mushrooms, especially in a wild rice, sausage, sauteed wild mushrooms and onions casserole. In fact @caroleleclair got me to thinking about that yesterday when she talked about her wild rice casserole recipe. I'm hoping that she'll share a paragraph or two about the importance of wild rice to the Anishanabeg, Menominee and other First Nations Peoples of Canada.
In damper regions, NW and Canada, Spring is a good time to get out and harvest some mushrooms. They've been growing under last year's debris as temperatures warm up and the warm, gentle Spring rains help flourish. I'm most familiar with the Boletus and Chanterelles. But check out what's available in your region.
I'll catch up on my mushroom edification. How about you? Have you wild harvested mushrooms? Grown them? The legal kind folks! Don't get crazy on me now.
P.S. I'm writing this after this post has been live for about 6 hrs. and I just finished watching the video on TreeHugger. I gotta tell you it's not what I thought it was but it is hysterical and resulted in hysterical laughter, but not much more. Having said that I would still like to hear about your non-magical experiences with mushrooms : ) and I've learnt my lesson I'll watch the video first. : ) Hope you enjoy as much as I did.
Know Your Mushrooms Movie: End Fungi-Phobia Now : TreeHugger
I've thought about growing them because they grow quite easily in the damp of the Pacific NW and can be grown in plastic trash cans or trash bags. I got the tour of my friend's production years ago. She bought the mushroom innoculae, grew and harvested the mushrooms and then sterilized the soil in large "steamers"after each batch. Very efficient. And since the Pacific NW air is so moist, well it's a natural, literally. I don't think we'd get past the innoculating the soil here in the high desert.
I really love mushrooms, especially in a wild rice, sausage, sauteed wild mushrooms and onions casserole. In fact @caroleleclair got me to thinking about that yesterday when she talked about her wild rice casserole recipe. I'm hoping that she'll share a paragraph or two about the importance of wild rice to the Anishanabeg, Menominee and other First Nations Peoples of Canada.
In damper regions, NW and Canada, Spring is a good time to get out and harvest some mushrooms. They've been growing under last year's debris as temperatures warm up and the warm, gentle Spring rains help flourish. I'm most familiar with the Boletus and Chanterelles. But check out what's available in your region.
I'll catch up on my mushroom edification. How about you? Have you wild harvested mushrooms? Grown them? The legal kind folks! Don't get crazy on me now.
P.S. I'm writing this after this post has been live for about 6 hrs. and I just finished watching the video on TreeHugger. I gotta tell you it's not what I thought it was but it is hysterical and resulted in hysterical laughter, but not much more. Having said that I would still like to hear about your non-magical experiences with mushrooms : ) and I've learnt my lesson I'll watch the video first. : ) Hope you enjoy as much as I did.
Know Your Mushrooms Movie: End Fungi-Phobia Now : TreeHugger
Know Your Mushrooms Movie: End Fungi-Phobia Now
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 03.30.09
Culture & Celebrity
Buzz up!
Mushroom field guide author Gary Lincoff recounts hilarious fungi encounter (via Filmswelike on YouTube)
Humble, largely misunderstood and yet mysteriously fascinating, the modern impression of the modest mushroom never usually goes beyond the typical commercial white button varieties. Thankfully, that’s where Toronto-based alternative filmmaker Ron Mann steps in with his latest feature, Know Your Mushrooms - a fun, quirky but deeply educational foray into the incredibly diverse world of fungi.
image courtesy of Creative Commons and AlanWho
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment