December 10, 2014

Look Ma, I'm Spawning!

I was comin' up kinda empty-handed for a side dish for the roast turkey breast and was just about to resort to Stir-Fried Atomic Fire Balls, when I saw this through the kitchen window:
This was the other piece of white oak that I innoculated with shitake mushroom spawn last February. Miraculously, the spawn have fruited over just the past two months and now my log runneth over.
The real miracle is that the shitake spawn somehow gave birth to oyster mushrooms! They're huge...
The only word to describe them is "voluptuous." 
Especially after a slow saute in grapeseed oil...
This is my kind of farming.

13 comments:

  1. i did it again, got so excited i commented on the email alert, but
    OOOOO!!!!! I WANT THIS. WANT WANT WANT WANT THIS....o and Tripple EEEEEEEEEEEE.....I DROOOOOOOOL
    This is just beyond Great. ..... how i Wish. You are so Lucky!!!! well, and yes,
    such a good farmer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it is the advantage of living where the sun seems to have stopped shining and the basement has small tributaries running into the sump pump. Myself, I have always had Apricot Tree envy, so I guess we're even...

      Delete
  2. but now i'm thinking..do you need to LEAVE some to do their RE Spawn????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The spawn plug is inside the log and my notes say you get fruit (isnt that a funny term?) for several seasons, as long as the wood hasn't completely rotted away. I'll keep you posted.

      Delete
  3. Oh how I love mushrooms ... it never occurred to me that I could grow my own (perhaps) ... this is beyond cool

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liz, check out the website where we got all the spawn plugs, it has wonderful tutorials and is completely geared to what could be successful in each particular climate. http://www.fieldforest.net/

      Delete
  4. Voluptuous is the perfect word. I can taste them from the picture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The best I can say is that they were woodsy with a hint of melt-in-the-mouth. Guess I will never make a good food writer.

      Delete
    2. that's seems to me an excellent mouth watering description madam

      Delete
  5. well we certainly have the moisture, then again we also have a young dog who drags in just about everything he can reach and I'm almost certain he would set his teeth into these.....they do look scrumptious, my husband would love to prepare these along with a bit of game; I'll throw it into the conversation casually, best if I let him think it was his idea (less work for me right?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tried dropping something casually into conversation once, I think it was about having someone else cook dinner on Sunday nights. That was in 1994.

      Delete