Over the past fall and winter, in large part to get through it, I started growing things indoors. Microgreens, scallions, and finally, mushrooms, in a window shelf over my kitchen sink. I cut an “X” in a plastic wrapping around a sawdust block, and sprayed it twice a day with water. Little knobs emerged, and gradually, full golden oyster mushrooms that we cut off and ate in omelettes and with steak. My kids thought the fungus was kind of gross, but my husband and I delighted in the daily surprise of seeing it turn, a little more each day, from a block of nothing to an edible bloom of mushrooms. We’re now moving on to other varieties and mushroom plugs that apparently will be put into logs in our yard.
I was certainly not alone. My golden oyster kit came from North Spore, a company in Maine who has seen its orders increase 400 percent since the pandemic started. My neighbor across the street grew hers from Back to the Roots, and updated its progress every day on Facebook. People are growing lion’s mane, enoki, crimini, and pink and blue oyster mushrooms on their kitchen counters, and shiitakes on logs. They are even trying to grow morels in their back yards, which is more than advanced. And some are growing fungi on coffee grounds.
For me, beginning mushroom growing was about that feeling that the world was fundamentally changing, and wanting to go a tiny bit off the grid (while still living two blocks from Trader Joe’s). But I think what I most wanted was to see things grow, and live, and change, in the midst of a pandemic and so much illness and disappointment.
There’s also something magic, of course, about mushrooms – whether you’re talking about the psychedelic ones or sauteeing them in butter and garlic. At TTBOOK, we explored the obsessive nature of mushroom lovers and hunters in The Weird, Wild World of Mushrooms, a show we first aired in 2019, which is re-airing this weekend. It might inspire you to become a mushroom grower or hunter, too.
–Shannon