A Fungi Fun Guy

One of our homeschool friends organized a mushroom workshop over at her house in NH, and we went mostly because they're our friends and we never make it down there even though they come up here all the time. I wasn't sure what to expect, I'm not overly enthralled with mushrooms, but it was one of the coolest and most informative workshops I've ever been to.

First off, it was an adventure just getting there. They live down past Claremont, NH, so it was a bit of a trek. We don't spend much time down there, but it's really nice, and they have a beautiful spread with lots of land. She's a hardcore farmer, and they definitely walk the walk in terms of local and organic farming. The mushroom talk was awesome, I learned so much and came to really appreciate what mushrooms are about. Not just for eating, but in terms of their importance in the ecology of our planet. It was so cool.

In addition to learning about mushrooms, the guy, DW, also cooked up some mushrooms that he had grown in olive oil, and they were killer. There were shittake, maitake (aka hen of the woods), pompom, and oyster mushrooms. They tasted amazing, I wanted more but didn't want to make a pig of myself. We then inoculated a hardwood log with mushroom spores to create our own mushroom gardens at home. How cool is that? It was nice because the kids pretty much did everything, I just watched and tried my best not to be too overbearing. I think I succeeded, but the kids would be better judges of this.

Did I mention the day was beautiful, as well? Sunny, breezy, and cool enough to make it just right. I love days like that. We had fun, it was nice connecting with our friends, and despite the fact that I spent an entire day away from all the stuff I needed to do, I had a great time. Now I'm curious to see if we get mushrooms.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Michal Oravec for the pic.