My Own Mushroom Farm
How delicate are these oyster mushrooms close up?
We started a little project over Christmas which was a small oyster mushroom farm. Perhaps not very exciting for those of you who live near woods and can pick your own under the tree canopies but for us it isn’t so easy to buy exotic mushrooms here that don’t break the bank balance. The kit from Mushroom Gourmet provides the environment to grow them in as well as the spores and you get three flushes from the spores as well as information on how to keep the cultures growing. We are only on the first flush and a third of that provided us with mushrooms on toast for the two of us. I wanted to keep the first tasting simple to really taste the mushrooms but hubby and I are already arguing what we will make next, I fancy a polenta with mushroom and Parmesan topping and hubby wants to make a creamy mushroom pasta. Whoever is first in the kitchen with the next batch of mushrooms will be the winner I say but we will most definitely enjoy both dishes. I might even make a summer sandwich series of them!
The Gourmet Mushroom company also sell Shitake kits which is likely to be next on our project list
These are the mushrooms growing from their farm….bag.
Pease Pudding 
How lovely! I blogged about very same subject last week and used the mushrooms in beef wellington. Superb.
Awesome – I’m all over this. I’ve always wanted to have a go at growing mushrooms. You’re right – exotic mushrooms here are a crippling price. Not only that, they are always sweating away in packs of gladwrap and styrofoam which makes them look rather unappealing as well. I totally need to give this a try, and I vote for the polenta with mushrooms and parmesan.
Sue xo
How exciting!They look lovely. I am a big fan of oyster mushroms.
Cheers,
Roa
Oh my goodness I’ve been trying to find a NZ company (can you imagine trying to import some from overseas?! Customs/MAF would have a fit), thanks for this! I found fresh shiitakes at the farmers’ market a few times and they are SO delicious.
I’m on your side with the next dish idea 😀 Especially for oyster mushrooms, which are fairly mild.
We have these too in Spain – last night we had scarmbled eggs with oyster mushrooms. You really do notice how fresh and tasty they are don´t you?!
They are so soft when fresh with such a delicate flavour, must go and check what is there is morning.
You shouldn’t be arguing with hubby. You should just make creamy mushroom pasta to keep his strength up for fighting fires and planting trees and doing all those good things in the community….!
If he made bread as good as you G he’d get pasta anytime :0)
Wow that is fantastic, what a tremendous idea! c
That sounds great – there was a guy selling impregnated tree stumps at the farmers’ market – I’m quite tempted to get one…
I like the sound of the tree stump, we are going to try our own next as I haven’t seen them being sold here.
Those are beautiful!
Love it – I bought my husband a mushroom kit for part of his birthday present last year at his request. I’m still waiting for my mushrooms on toast!
I bought this one for my hubby too!
I can’t wait to get one of these – it looks amazing.
I love them! I grew them too one year, a friend gave me the bag, but I don’t have a space inside where to put them now (in those days I had a shower room that we didn’t use).
I tried outside and failed!! Maybe i should try again, if I can grow them outside :-).
Wow your own oyster mushrooms, I seldom see them in New Zealand and if I do youre correct it costs an arm and a leg. When I lived in Malaysia these mushrooms are really cheap and use them in a lot of stir fries even fillings for spring rolls. I think I will try growing some at home to have breakfasts like that on your photo
Fantastic….they are such pretty, ethereal looking mushrooms.
How fun is this! I have access to varied mushrooms in the organic markets, but some varieties are a bit pricing. Regardless I would love to grow my own 🙂
Awesome – I have always loved not only the taste and texture of these mushrooms – but also the organic appearance. You have inspired me to give it a go 🙂
How cool! My brothers old flatmate grows oyster mushrooms in Raglan and after tasting freshly picked ones I could never go back to (expensive) store-bought! I’d love to try growing my own one day too, what an awesome little project.
Gorgeous photograph !!