This year, it was a Mushroom Growing Kit.
It's a simple, one-box system - you empty a bag of soil and spores onto a layer of mulch/compost, keep it moist and in a dark place, and voila - your own home-grown mushies.
Just over three weeks ago, we set up the kit, and placed it under the sink. For two weeks, nothing much happened, except for the appearance of tiny white spots, the size of a pinhead.
Then about a week ago, we got some mushie action:
You can see that a decent sized baby mushroom popped out of the soil, with an even tinier brother next to it.
We kept up our watering, and the mushie seemed to get a little bigger every day. But in the last day or so, it's experienced a massive growth spurt, resulting in this today:
That's right - I am growing the Emperor Funghi under my sink.
The baby brother mushie has also increased in size, but we don't have any others poking their heads up yet. Hopefully they'll make an appearance in the next week or so.
I'm not quite sure when to harvest the Emperor Funghi. Part of me wants to get that bad boy out right now, cover him in some herbs and pan fry with some haloumi. But the other part of me is much more interested in seeing exactly how big he'll grow...
Read the Title and thought, "Beauty. A recipe for Emperor Penguin and Mushrooms." But it was not to be.
ReplyDeleteThere doesn't seem to be enough "Gold" colour in them there Mushies Oh Great Clumsy One.
BEWARE
ReplyDeletethis may well be
the FUNGI from YUGGOTH the dreaded MI-GO.
Go now, flee or I shall begin reciting all 35 verses of the H.P.Lovecraft poem about the fungi.
"The place was dark and dusty and half-lost
In tangles of old alleys near the quays,
Reeking of strange things brought in from the seas,
And with queer curls of fog that west winds tossed.
Small lozenge panes, obscured by smoke and frost,
Just shewed the books, in piles like twisted trees,
Rotting from floor to roof - congeries
Of crumbling elder lore at little cost....
Barnes, you sure know how to sweet-talk a gal...
ReplyDeleteAl - No Magic in my Mushrooms! (Well, not yet, anyway.)
Be Careful, GC. Pretty soon he'll be big enough to walk around, and then you're gonna have to put fungus-proof edges and locks on all your kitchen counters.
ReplyDeleteJust beware of the Smurfs though!
ReplyDeleteMmm, Haloumi and home grown mushrooms. That guy would have hit my pan already... :)
ReplyDeleteThere was a marvellous Ray Bradbury story about home mushroom growing kits. It eventually became "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Creepy mofo of a story to begin with...
ReplyDelete