Post by brittonfaith on Mar 25, 2006 10:01:07 GMT 12.75
I love mushrooms! Morels, shitake, puffballs, wood oysters, buttons......Fried, sauted, raw, marinated, stuffed. But it seems like where I'm at, there aren't many to be found in the wild lately. At least ones that I'm familiar enough with to know they are safe to eat.
I remember as a kid going out with dad and gathering, literally, gunny sacks full of morels. Some as big as quart jars! And the puffballs in his hay fields would keep one busy for weeks each year. We'd bring them into the kitchen and mom would fry them up for a true gourmet feast. I don't know how true it is, but grandpa Scheiderer always said that there was as much nutrition in one pound of mushrooms as there is in ten pounds of steak. Not that I'd ever turn down a thick, juicy steak!!!
This year I'm trying my hand at growing some. I'm starting with the basic button variety, just to see if I can grow them. If I can, oh baby! The whole cellar's going to be turned into a morel cave!
???Any of you guys ever grown them before? Am I on track here? .......
I've got two shallow 36x19 rubbermaid containers set up with some half rotten manure mixed with peat moss and sawdust. On the surface of each, I spread the spores fairly thick and tossed a light layer of peat of them. After that, came a little shower of water. I placed a sheet of plastic wrap lightly over each container. They're set in my pantry room which is currently about 65 degrees with just an electric milkhouse heater for warmth. After the outdoor temperature reaches 50, I'll turn off the heater. The room should maintain 70 degrees by then. The curtains are drawn tight. So it's fairly dark.
If all goes well, we should be dining on fresh mushrooms by May. Just in time for marinated mushrooms at the GT! ;D
I remember as a kid going out with dad and gathering, literally, gunny sacks full of morels. Some as big as quart jars! And the puffballs in his hay fields would keep one busy for weeks each year. We'd bring them into the kitchen and mom would fry them up for a true gourmet feast. I don't know how true it is, but grandpa Scheiderer always said that there was as much nutrition in one pound of mushrooms as there is in ten pounds of steak. Not that I'd ever turn down a thick, juicy steak!!!
This year I'm trying my hand at growing some. I'm starting with the basic button variety, just to see if I can grow them. If I can, oh baby! The whole cellar's going to be turned into a morel cave!
???Any of you guys ever grown them before? Am I on track here? .......
I've got two shallow 36x19 rubbermaid containers set up with some half rotten manure mixed with peat moss and sawdust. On the surface of each, I spread the spores fairly thick and tossed a light layer of peat of them. After that, came a little shower of water. I placed a sheet of plastic wrap lightly over each container. They're set in my pantry room which is currently about 65 degrees with just an electric milkhouse heater for warmth. After the outdoor temperature reaches 50, I'll turn off the heater. The room should maintain 70 degrees by then. The curtains are drawn tight. So it's fairly dark.
If all goes well, we should be dining on fresh mushrooms by May. Just in time for marinated mushrooms at the GT! ;D