Happy
New Year, friends. I'm sorry to be a few days late wishing you
happiness and health for 2012. As with all good intentions, sometimes
they take a little while to come to fruition—especially with the
kids home from school. A three hour Horse-O-Poly marathon takes
precedence over planned writing time, especially when you're quite
certain that in a few, quick years—the horse lover will balk at
spending New Year's Day in PJs with her parents and little brother.
We've got to snatch those moments now, while we can, and store the
memories away for when her angst-filled teen years arrive.
Plus,
I wanted my “new look” ready for the first post of 2012. Hope you
like it! (Thank you to my technical support, Tyler!)
So,
did you make any resolutions? I admit, I'm attempting a few changes:
Bravery.
Wellness.
Patience.
(Which I wish would hurry up and get here, already!)
Bravery
might seem like a strange resolution. But I've realized lately that
there are so many things I've been wanting to do—kayaking,
horseback riding, growing my business, writing—that I need to force
myself to get out of my comfort zone. I've been living life a little
half-assed lately. It's time to shake things up, because I don't want
to live with regrets.
The
bravery resolution took a major hit this week, much to my chagrin—and
Peter's relief.
There
is, of course, a back story:
A
year ago, I attended the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association's
annual conference, which was amazing. I enrolled in a workshop about
growing mushrooms.
Let me tell you—Tradd Cotter from Mushroom Mountain is brilliant. Part genius scientist, part environmentalist,
part fabulous entertainer, part magician...who knew mushrooms could
be so fascinating?
Naturally,
on the adrenaline high of Tradd's presentation and armed with
recently purchased shiitake plugs, I decided it was time to add
mushrooms to the list of edibles we grow.
Really,
how hard could it be?
Most
farmers grow shiitakes on small logs, which are portable and easily
submersed in water, which is part of the process to get them to
fruit. However, since we had to remove a tree prior to the greenhouse
installation last year, I convinced Peter that we needed to use the
tree for our shiitakes. He gamely cut up the truck for me, and we
moved the logs to my newly designated “shiitake garden.”
When
growing mushrooms, there are a variety of methods you can use, as
well as an incredible array of mushrooms you can grow. The Mushroom
Mountain website rates the difficulty level for growing each variety
and tells the various mediums that can be used to grow each variety.
(I plan to try the coffee ground method as an experiment with the
kids in my next mushroom growing attempt.)
So,
we had our hardwood logs in place. I had the shiitake plugs from
Mushroom Mountain in hand. (The plugs are approximately inch-long
wooden pegs inoculated with shiitake spores.)
Now,
it was time to plant some mushrooms.
I'm
a little embarrassed to admit this, but even though I consider myself
a pretty well-rounded kind of girl...I never used a drill prior to my
mushroom endeavor. I know, I know. Pitiful.
I
also learned that you can quickly burn up a drill if you aren't
careful.
At no time in my drilling lesson did I learn that the drill could drill in
reverse.
Drilling in reverse makes it extremely difficult and tiring to try to make holes in
hardwood logs.
Fortunately,
a White Knight appeared after smelling burning wood, saved the day,
then laughed at me.
But
I digress...
Armed
with drill knowledge, I drilled lots of holes...in a staggered,
diamond shaped pattern. (Make sure to choose the correct bit for the
drill according to the size of the plug, and only drill to a depth
the length of the plug. I used a small piece of tape to indicated on
the bit where to stop drilling.)
The
next step was simple—into the holes go the plugs.
I used a mallet,
hammered in the plugs, and got rid of my drilling frustrations.
The
final step involved a trip to the kitchen.
Using
the double boiler method, I melted canning wax until completely
liquid, poured it in a jar, and took it back to the forest.
With a
clean paintbrush, I smeared a thin layer of wax over the plugs to
prevent insects from entering the holes. (It was a little chilly that
day, so I had to reheat the wax a few times.)
And
then we waited.
Part
of the process with shiitake logs involves soaking them to stimulate
fruiting. However, because our logs weren't easily portable, I set up
sprinklers in late summer to provide the needed moisture.
And
we waited.
Finally,
finally, after giving up hope and deciding I did something wrong in
the process, I found these:
Hurray!
It worked!
But...wait
a minute.
Those
look like two different types of mushrooms.
And
I don't think they look like shiitakes.
While
I was hesitant to eat the mushrooms, Peter was even more cautious. I
think he feared that I might be trying to poison him.
So,
off to the bookstore I went...
...and
came home with a most excellent field guide.
But,
as fabulous as the photos and descriptions are, I just couldn't
pinpoint exactly which mushrooms we had.
No
worries, I thought—I'll do spore prints for each. That should tell
us if they're edible.
Making
a spore print is easy—if you're patient.
However,
if you're like me, you will ruin the print by taking the mushroom off
the paper too many times to see if the print is ready.
Put
the mushroom on white paper or glass, cover it with a glass (I used a
glass bowl, but I've since learned you can cut the mushroom and use a
smaller section to make the print)...and leave it alone overnight.
Some prints happen quickly, others take a day.
Lesson
learned.
When
all else fails, turn to the expert. I e-mailed photos to Mushroom
Mountain and waited for their reply.
The
following morning as I awaited the spore print, I watched “The
Today Show” while doing seed inventory.
Interviewed
on the show was Nicholas Evans, author of The Horse Whisperer,
one of my favorite books...who almost killed himself, his wife, and
other family members by cooking poisonous mushrooms. Unintentionally.
Fortunately, they all lived after eating deadly webcap mushrooms.
Sadly, though, Evans, his wife, and another family member experienced
renal failure as a result of eating the mushrooms. Evans has
undergone a kidney transplant, donated by his daughter, while the
others await transplants.
Was
it divine intervention? Kismet? An incredible coincidence?
I
threw the mushrooms—failed spore prints and all—in the trash.
I
have to admit, my heart was racing. I'm not terribly superstitious,
but sometimes—things happen for a reason.
A
few hours later, the nice folks at Mushroom Mountain sent a reply to
my photos.
“They
look like oysters to me,” they said. Which are perfectly safe and
delicious.
So,
OK. Maybe I'm not as brave as I wish. And yes, we did miss out on
eating our own, home-foraged mushrooms.
But
I didn't cultivate oysters. I expected shiitakes. Where did the
oysters come from?
If
I'm patient and wait for shiitakes to fruit, though...will I be brave
enough to eat them and serve them to the people I love without a
full, fungal analysis?
I
just don't know.
I
do know that I'll be signing up for another workshop at Mushroom
Mountain. Hopefully, I can learn more and boost my confidence—and
skill--level.
Although
bravery is great, no one dies from mushroom poisoning by being smart
and careful.
What
would you have done? Would you have gone for it and made a delicious
mushroom pasta dish, or would you have tossed those 'shrooms?
Hope
your New Year's resolutions are progressing better than mine!
XO
~
Julie