Archives for April 2016

I was always kinda, sorta interested in mushrooms, but after moving to the Midwest and getting exposed to the big mushroom foraging culture out here, my interest, err, mushroomed.

Foraging season starts with morels, which are not only First! but delicious and (as of now) nearly impossible to cultivate. Literally seconds after the New Year started my Facebook feed filled with images like the one at right.

Last year I foraged for morels for weeks, finding just two runts for my pains. (But I’m not complaining! 2 >>>>> 0, and they were delish.)

This year, I’m not messing around. In May I’m heading north (way north!) to Boyne City, MI, to attend the National Morel Festival. Along with music and food and morel-related hucksterism of all kinds, they have a beginner’s foray (where I’m assuming they paint the morels yellow for noobs like me). So this will definitely be my year!

I was going to self-appoint myself as the Balloon Juice ambassadress to the great Kingdom of Fungi. However it turns out our noble Webmaster, Alain, is also a forager. (And probably much more experienced than me. And btw you’ll notice we have a nice new shiny “mushroom” category for this post. :-)) So we will share the honors. And perhaps some of you, too, are into shrooms in their various manifestations. (Please let us know in the comments, or email me if you have something to contribute.)

This post began as a 10 Reasons Fungi Rock Your World, but the list mushroomed, and now I’m up to 21. Maybe you can add some.

1. Mushrooms can replace styrofoam.
2. Mushrooms can replace meat.
3. They are Nature’s Internet.
4. Magic.
5. Magic at Johns Hopkins. And more. And more.
6. They inspire great art.
7. They inspire great literature.
8. They can heal the earth.
9. They’re a viable small business, including in inner cities. (If I were in my twenties I would totally be doing this.)
10. They’re purty.
11. They’re a kingdom! And are genetically closer animals than plants! (Becuz they are heterotrophs who digest organic matter versus autotrophs who create their own.)
12. They once ruled the earth. Behold the 25-foot Prototaxites.
13. You can grow them in a laundry basket! (As previously reported in this space.)
14. That movie The Martian? It was BEYOND RIDICULOUS that the progatonist, Mark Watney, was a botanist and not a mycologist. Had he grown shrooms rather than spuds he would have gotten a lot more protein and other nutrients for a fraction of the effort. See this prototype for disaster relief.
15. Mushrooms can cure what ails you.
16. And if that doesn’t work, they can eat your dead bod. (As previously reported in this space.)
17. Myconsent is ecosexy.
18. Zombie ants!
19. They live in space
20. YUM
21. They are aligning themselves with our feline overlords:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did I leave anything out? Please post any mushroom-related science, anecdotes, recipes, or other in the comments.

The Long Awaited (By Me, Anyway) Mushroom PostPost + Comments (67)

Bixby getting his snuggle on.

Adam emailed me and said he had a family thing come up, so the recipes will be tomorrow night. I’m hoping to get back to regular recipe blogging next week. But since I feel a bit like the big guy above, who knows.

And this is another beautiful shot from Lars Leber, one of my favorite Colorado photographers. His website is full of awesome, so click here to take a peek.

Consider this a politics free open thread.

What You Speak Of Is Only In Fairy TalesPost + Comments (171)