Winter is the time to dream up plans for the spring - and one of mine is the idea of growing mushrooms for the first time. I figure mushrooms are a great way to use the shadiest parts of the yard to grow good, nutritious food - and to save money, considering the cost of some of the tastiest mushrooms!
To that end, I recently ran across this great book on mushrooms, wild and cultivated:
Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets
Be warned: Paul Stamets is a true fanatic: he argues that mushrooms can save the world, no less! Personally, I have a wide tolerance for fanatics, and to his credit, Stamets offers some pretty good arguments about how mushrooms can be used to remediate badly polluted soils and water, and how they have huge potential as a source of undiscovered medicines. And he offers a LOT of really good information on the cultivation of mushrooms.
If you're already growing mushrooms in your yard, let me know how it's going! I think it has great potential!
(PS: The photo is a stock photo from Coniac Publishing)
