Surprise Crop – Mushroom Mini Farm (Back To The Roots)

After we harvested the crop of mushrooms in March, I put the kit in a back room with a ziplock bag dropped on top to hold in moisture. I had fully intended to deliberately go for another crop.  Life went to hell and I forgot all about it.

A couple of weeks ago back in May, I was rooting around in the room where I had put the mushroom kit and noticed the ziplock bag was tented somewhat.  I lifted it and found a second crop of mushrooms had tried to grow without any help at all from me.  Because of the ziplock bag the carbon dioxide levels were too high and half the mushrooms were dead already.  The others I sprayed down with water, shrugged my shoulders because they were so sad, and walked away.  Two days later I was smiling.

Aren’t they beautiful? Can you see the little dead ones? So sad. But the live ones were twice the size of the first crop.

And they grew…

And they grew…

And then it was time to pick them.

So I picked them and washed them.  (See the wrinkles on the edges and how they are starting to split?  I waited a day too long to pick them.)

So I sliced them and sautéed them with some butter and a dash of sea salt.

Time to eat them. Mmm, Mmm good!!!

 

Day Eleven (The End) – Mushroom Mini Farm (Back To The Roots)

Yesterday.

Today. One day too late. See how they’re shriveling up? Gonna cook them anyway!  Pulled the clump and cut off the bottom.  That left the four mushrooms you see in the picture.

I cut them in half down the middle, tossed them and a pat of butter in the pan on medium heat.

I sautéed them for about 8 minutes. Mmmm, smells good!

A dash of sea salt and they’re ready to eat. And they still tasted really good! A slight nutty flavor. Definitely would be interested in eating more of these!

Unfortunately, at $10 for the kit, that was an expensive 2 mouthfuls of mushroom.  Though I thoroughly enjoyed growing them.  So I guess you pay for the fun, too.  I would still recommend this kit.  Especially if you enjoy learning new things and/or you have children. I now better understand how those mushrooms can just pop up out of nowhere in your yard.  These things grow fast!

Also, in running around the web, I found out different ways I can encourage a second crop.  So, in a few days I’ll take the time to reset this and see what happens.  I’m looking forward to the possibilities!

Day Ten – Mushroom Mini Farm (Back To The Roots)

Sooo, these may be ready to eat.  They have a distinct brown edge and the little ‘shrooms are shriveling.  I will check them tomorrow.  If they haven’t grown significantly again, I will harvest them.   I was not happy with how these were growing and went scooting around the web for info.  I may have screwed them up by keeping them tented, even though it was only a partial tent.  From what I’ve read, mushrooms need a lot of oxygen.  Carbon dioxide can mess with mushroom growth, and a partial tent would have messed with the exchange of gases.  It would have been better to mist them 3 – 4 times a day. Live and learn.  Speaking of which,  I’ve read about some ways to promote a  second growth, and, of course, I will give it a try!

 

Day Nine – Mushroom Mini Farm (Back To The Roots)

An irregular burst of growth. Some doubled and one even more than that while the others stayed virtually the same. ??? I hope the little ones don’t up and die on me!

 

Day Eight – Mushroom Mini Farm (Back To The Roots)

The growth ‘up’ wasn’t as dramatic, a third more. But a lot of the stems have gotten much thicker!

A higher view. Oh! And they are starting to smell like mushrooms now!

 

Day Seven – Mushroom Mini Farm (Back To The Roots)

Holy crap! Another triple day. Figured I better start putting something in there for scale, thus the quarter. These guys aren’t fooling around!

 

Day Six – Mushroom Mini Farm (Back To The Roots)

WOW! They tripled in size in one day! And they’re getting wee little caps on them. How cool is this?!

Yep, I cut the front panel off the box. It was too close to the mushrooms. And maybe with light all over the front I’ll get more ‘shrooms growing. It’s not a very big bunch as you can see compared to the box size. I’m also going to continue tenting to keep the humidity up. No dried up ‘shrooms!

 

Day Five – Mushroom Mini Farm (Back To The Roots)

Squee! Baby ‘shrooms! Look at the top of the picture, see those tiny greyish white lumps? I know, they’re hard to see. And with a cheapo camera, hard to photograph that white on white. I have an up close picture following this one. But first, look at the box. Yep, I chopped off part of it. I almost didn’t see those babies. They were way up under the plastic, smooshed. So I pulled the package out and cut back the plastic and lopped off part of the box so they had room to grow. AND, they were growing where I did NOT scrape. So I guess I scraped a little too enthusiastically there in the middle. Make a note of that. And if more keep popping up under the plastic I’ll probably just take all the cardboard off the front and lie it down on its side. Sort of a mini window box. 🙂 I’m also going to keep it tented till the mushrooms get a bit bigger.

Baby ‘shrooms! That cluster is about as big around as a dime. And the tallest ones are maybe 1/2 inch small. 🙂 Aren’t they cute?

Day Four – Mushroom Mini Farm (Back To The Roots)

I confess to disappointment that there are no mushrooms yet. I have been reading around and a lot of people had wee mushrooms on day four. And, unfortunately, there were those whose kits were a dud. *sigh* I wonder, should I sing to them? 😀

 

Day Three – Mushroom Mini Farm (Back To The Roots)

Watered, inspected and still no ‘shrooms. What does it say that I want ‘shrooms NOW?! 😀