A fungus among us

Have you ever ordered anything on a whim?  Was it a box of magical dirt? I didn't think so, but I'd love to hear what impulsive catalog buys are lurking in your past. While looking through an awesome seed catalog at http://www.groworganic.com/ I saw this kids' science lesson/husband gift/entertainment-in-a-box and knew I had to order one. 3/4ths of my family shudder at the thought of eating mushrooms and I still think this is really cool.

Basically, the mushroom farm mails you a box of dirt inoculated with a specific mushroom mycelium (many varieties are available) and you just keep it cool, moist, out of direct sunlight, and voila, fungus grows! Edible fungus right in your own garage, not to be confused with that stuff in the gym shoes. This photo is the second crop and yielded about 1 pound. The first crop disappeared early one morning in an assault of butter and onions before I could document it for posterity. The kids and I had to air out the house for a little while, but we knew exactly where the clothespins are kept for such occasions.

Since the mushroom-ivore of the household couldn't keep up with production, I decided to dehydrate this batch. This photo shows a mushroom that is mature. The veil of the cap has torn open revealing the gills, though button mushrooms are usually seen with closed caps. Don't ask me if it makes a difference in taste. I will never know.

I found an endearing video with step by step instructions on how to dehydrate mushrooms- not that there is anything complicated about it. This guy just cracks me up.  

So I dried the shrooms for quite a while because it was raining and I don't think my dehydrator is very powerful. It may be an antique. I think they turned out okay. I may make a soup or something out of them. I guess you could put them in a red sauce for pasta or something if you liked that kind of thing. Oh, one suggestion I read said if slightly rehydrated they were good on pizza. Whatever. I hope the 25% of my household who actually puts these things in his mouth willingly just snacks on them like the video guy. No smell, no clothespins.

Did I mention the magic box purports to give me about 4 pounds of these things? Check out http://www.mushroomadventures.com/ for more varieties. The blue oyster ones look really intriguing...

October 2011 Harvest Tally:
16 lbs. of fresh fruits and veggies
48 eggs

Year to date:
467 lbs. of fresh fruits and veggies
372 eggs

We live on a 1/10th acre lot and rent a 20x20 foot community garden plot.

Have you ever grown mushrooms? On purpose I mean.

Jam and cheese

I have two kitchen goals this month. First, to make cherry jam to give as gifts. Not hard. I even have cute decorative jam jars ready to go. Second, trying something new; making mozzarella cheese. Maybe hard. But I want to try it. I watched a friend make it a few months ago, and now it's on my list. I have the rennet, just need to get the milk and some citric acid.

What about you? What kitchen goals or experiments do you have?

This post is part of Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Kitchen Goal of the Month. Because she is motivational like that.

Update: I found citric acid! It was in the bulk spice bins at my local Sprouts for $7.84/lb. Thankfully I only need a tiny bit.

Parsley, sage, rosemary...

I've been blogging a lot about food lately. I like food. It makes me happy. But so does making inedible stuff, so here is a post about food and a craft! Double happiness. Cute little herbs and salad greens in crusty terracotta pots always look so beautiful. Herbs are generally easy to grow, but if you succeed in not killing them, they will probably outgrow the little pot or bolt (go to seed.) At this point, I find it is best to either replant them in the ground, or throw them in the compost bin and start over with fresh potting soil and a cute new little plant or seeds. Fresh herbs are amazing for cooking. I've been trying to perfect some roast recipes lately and love being able to just walk out to my backyard and pinch off sprigs of thyme and rosemary. Basil, chives, cilantro, and stevia are also growing out there right now. I let my cilantro go to seed last year and neglected to collect the seeds, which are coriander. Now I have about 4 square feet of tiny cilantro starts. Bring on the salsa and guacamole! Growing your own herbs will also be much cheaper than buying them fresh at the store. Now for the craft part. Aren't those herb markers adorable? Thank you. My wonderful, thoughtful dh bought me a metal stamp set (after I told him specifically what I wanted, located the store for him, and sent him back after he bought the wrong thing.) I have the $5 set, but got two because some of the letters in the first set were deformed. There are better quality and more expensive stamps out there. Then I bought some used silverware (real silver plate looks best) at a local thrift shop and went to work with my hammer and stamps. Just place the utensil on a hard surface and hammer flat. Then stamp the word you want on the utensil. Color in the letter with a permanent marker like a Sharpie and wipe off the excess marker with rubbing alcohol or baby wipe. Note to self: apologize to dh for not listening to him when he said I was making dents in the concrete garage floor. I recommend taping the utensil down so it doesn't move while you are pounding on it, and if you have a metal vice or anvil, use that as your work surface. Now when I ask my kids (minions) to go out and bring me a few basil leaves, I don't have to try and explain, "You know, the green one. With the leaves." They can just read the silverware. I have also been experimenting with drying herbs. We had a gigantic rogue basil plant about 3 feet high. When the chickens finally decided to destroy it (they'll get to all tender plants eventually) I picked up the smashed branches, picked off the leaves, washed and dried them, and put them in the dehydrator. Well, yes, my minions (uh, children) did most of the work but I supervised. And took pictures. I also plan to dehydrate a lot of the cilantro. When the leaves were crispy, I packed them in a glass quart jar and put the lid on tight. Although bunches of drying herbs hanging from the ceiling sounds romantic, in my case they would probably just get dusty. You can also use an oven to dry herbs if you don't have a dehydrator. Note to dh: I would love a mortar and pestle for grinding herbs. I can give you directions to the store. This post is linked to Real Food Wednesdays.

What herbs do you grow or would like to? What are your favorite dishes with herbs?

Thoughts on meat

First of all the July produce tally. Drumroll please...65 pounds of fruits and veggies from my yard! This does not include anything from the community garden plot. We harvested peaches, oranges, tomatoes, artichokes, some beautiful potatoes, peppers, and various lettuces and herbs. Oh, and one lemon. I needed it to make salsa and although it wasn't quite ripe, it did the job. Actually, I stopped weighing on July 20 because we left on vacation. The great friends who took care of our yard got to eat whatever ripened between then and now. I am excited to start weighing again because August will include so much from our community garden plot. Now about meat. In July I did something I had never done before. I helped butcher animals to eat. My parents raise Muscovy ducks, and they are highly prized for their lean, high quality meat. My husband did do about 80% of the actual work, but I feel I helped significantly. Don't worry, I won't go into any details and gross anyone out. What surprised me about the whole process was how interesting I found it all. It gave me an appreciation of the animal, of the beauty of anatomy, both inside and out, of the function and relationship of every part of the animal. I really think that every person who eats meat should at least witness, if not participate in, the preparation of some animal for human food. I think the experience gives a sense of humility and gratitude for the animals themselves and the people who work as butchers. I think people would waste less and even consume less meat if we more clearly understood the entire process. While searching online for tips and procedures for our big day, (you can learn anything from the internet) I came across this discussion about how people felt about killing their own animals for food. I especially like post #17. What are your thoughts about knowing your meat?