Mushrooms aplenty

I was pretty excited in July when my shiitake mushrooms first started fruiting.  I inoculated several white oak logs (they hold their bark longer than other types) in August of 2008 with shiitake spores.  It took a full year of my ignoring the logs before they started fruiting so, after all that hard work, I was thrilled to see the logs sprouting some of my favorite fungi.  I was satisfied.

Just last week, as I was…um…doing nothing, I happened to walk around behind the shed where I keep the shiitake logs.  I didn’t expect much…afterall, I had a great harvest in July…and I was satisfied.  To my amazement, my friends, the old white oak logs and the shiitake mycelia had joined to give me a wonderful Fall gift!

I know it is not ideal to eat shiitake mushrooms when they are as big as my head, but I had so many huge mushrooms that I couldn’t even see my logs (which are 4 feet long and 6 inches in diameter)(ok…so maybe I am exaggerating…there weren’t that many mushrooms, but you get my point)!  I began to harvest the beauties and they felt excellent to the touch….like a soft, tender cut of meat I guess (ok…so I know that’s weird but it’s hard to describe).

Anyhow, I did some talking to a friend and she said that mushrooms often delight  their collectors when the weather changes, particularly when there is a lot of rain to go with it.  That’s precisely what happened this Fall.  They are so easy to grow and so wonderful to eat!  My mushrooms…they always delight me!

So, do you like mushrooms?  Do you grow mushrooms?  Do you ever feel like a mushroom?