Lockdown experiments in fungiculture

Although lockdown meant business as usual for essential workers, a lot of people, like me, suddenly had extra time on our hands. Time for some to become kitchen goddesses, or baking queens and kings. Time for some to become fast-tracked graduates in epidemiology or virology from the University of Google, well-versed in a virus's ability to jump from bats to pangolins to humans; and time for others to become conspiracy theory experts, courtesy of their bubbles in the School of Facebook.

Personally, I turned a blind eye to the opportunity to spring clean the house, learn a new language, brush up on virology, or spend four hours a day on yoga or any other form of pretzel-wrestling. After a few weeks of numbed-out indecision doing a combination of walking the dog and diddly-squats, I settled on specialising in fungiculture.

Inspired by a friend's post of her shiitake mushroom log, filled enticingly with fresh, edible mushrooms ready to harvest, I had to find out more. I soon discovered that grow-your-own mushroom kits are readily and easily available. Who knew?

Apparently, half of my friends knew but kept me in the dark by not posting on Facebook.

Luckily, mushroom kits were considered an essential service and could be delivered during lockdown, with the added satisfaction of an online retail therapy high. I selected a pink oyster mushroom bag and, when I discovered a local source in Ohoka, I added a shiitake bag to the list.

It wasn't long before I included words like mycelium, misting and pinning to a growing vocabulary that included Covid, bubbles, distancing, and PPE – so I was learning a new language after all!

The instructions for the shiitake were fairly simple: Leave the sealed bag alone for about a month until the outside turns brown. At that point, the sawdust will have turned into a more solid form courtesy of the fungi, and my job will be to remove the outer bag and expose the contents to air. This will allow the mushrooms to pin and form thin strands of fungus that will grow into mushrooms.

I'm doing reasonably well on that score. I've successfully managed to leave the bag alone for three weeks. It has developed a thick coating of white-coloured fungus with developing yellow streaks, which I assume will go brown.

Things were going to happen faster for the pink oyster mushrooms. Their bag had pre-made holes and was already exposed to air, and pinning was imminent.

The bag was placed in the shower with anticipation. A week went by and… nothing happened.

I referred to emails with instructions and the sheet of information. Mushrooms like warmth but nothing too drying – like being positioned in front of the heat pump or fire.

It turns out they don't grow too well in a house with a moisture master running either. To help them along, I start misting the air in the shower regularly and enjoying a long soak in the bath more often than usual.

Some clusters appeared. One started to grow, but then stalled. I upped my game and kept the bathroom door closed to trap the moisture in and completely counter the effect of the moisture master. More growth, but only from that one cluster – but it does grow into a healthy cluster that I check in on and mist several times a day.

Cluster of pink oyster mushrooms

A week later, I'm ready for my first harvest and wiser about how to manage my little farm which should pin and yield mushrooms another three or four times before the nutrients are used up.

The instructions are to remove any dry nuddy bits from the holes that didn't grow to allow air in and wait a few weeks for the cycle to start again. I've also discovered that winter isn't the best time to try to grow the tropical-condition-loving pink oyster variety, but who doesn't like a challenge? On the plus side, shiitake mushrooms love winter conditions!

Pink oyster mushrooms can be fried to taste like bacon. I'd give a mix between bacon and crispy chicken - and, fortunately, there is less skill required for this part.

If you're keen to give it a go, mushroom kits in several varieties are available locally from Sporeshift Mushrooms.

This article by Shaz was published in the June 2020 edition of The Oxford Observer.