Mmmmm... Mushrooms!

Soon, anyway.  Probably in a couple weeks, in fact!  Eric and I decided, after buying a shiitake log at the local garlic festival, to become mushroom farmers.  Yes, really.  Bees and honey, chickens and eggs, and now mushrooms.  I've always loved mushrooms, but until starting to read about them, neither one of us realized just how healthy they are.  It's pretty incredible.

So we started with shiitakes, pink and blue oyster mushrooms, and lions mane.

The blue oysters became fully innoculated with mycelium most quickly, so yesterday Eric and I built the fruiting chamber, sort of a greenhouse that's primarily about keeping the right level of humidity.

We built a PVC frame around metal shelving, and then covered the whole thing in a plastic tarp, leaving a door of sorts, so we can get in and work with the mushrooms.

We set up the humidifier with the electronic sensor Eric built, and a light on a timer, and then Eric cut slits in the fruiting bags.  See all that white all mixed in with the coffee grounds?  That's the mycelium, the body of the mushroom plant!  I know it looks kind of ick, but what comes from it is totally worth it.

And now we're just letting the humidifier do its thing.  Can't wait to watch them fruit!