Mushrooms & Mosquitoes

Well, we start the week in Greensboro a little wet from the weekend....

With the rain came mushrooms and mosquitoes. The above white mushrooms snuck their way into our compost bed, which, at the moment, is a little heavy on coffee grounds and scraps from garden produce- not to mention soggy. Our compost pile is the perfect host for mushrooms that like a dark, warm, moist, nutrient-rich environment.

We are the first generation in our family incapable of conclusively determining whether or not mushrooms are edible. Those relatives from the "old country" would be mighty disappointed with the offspring of their offspring for not having mushroom identification skills. We do know that we have always been told to STAY AWAY from solid white mushrooms.

North Carolina has several biology and agricultural programs with mushroom experts, mycologists. To name a few, in North Carolina there is a lot of research and classification being conducted at Duke University (see here & here); NC State (see here) and, at Greensboro's very own NCA&T University (see here) do research and have active extension services. At NCA&T, Dr. Ormon S. Isikhuemhen specializes in mushroom biology and fungal biotechnology. NCA&T's School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences maintains a "how to get started" website for edible and medicinal mushroom farming in North Carolina. They work closely with farmers setting up mushrooms as a cash crop. How wonderful that a university works closely with the community to develop sustainable agriculture. See their great website here. Maybe we'll head back out and pick a mess and get them identified; that is, if we can brave the mosquitoes! We may get lucky and find some truffles!

Comments

[Jane Mitchell]

You'll need more than a compost pile to grow your truffles. To start with you'll have to have the right kind of tree (oak, hazel, birch, pine, etc) on whose roots the fungi can grow. Then you'll need your pig, dog or bee (whatever the growers are currently using) to locate where they are. It will be a long wait...

[Janis & David]

That is so true, Jane. In the south, there is a truffle that grows at the base of pecan trees under the decomposing leaves. Many farmers just toss them aside. Truffle harvesting is not an easy affair!