Chickens and Mushrooms and Coloring, Oh, My!

We've been working diligently on the mushrooms, and have sold our entire first flush of lion's mane, plus a bunch of pink and blue oysters.

Lion's Mane Mushrooms

Pink Oyster Mushrooms

Blue Oyster Mushrooms

How pretty are they?  And I love that people are almost as excited about them as we are.  The ones we didn't sell, we used to make oyster mushroom tacos for dinner!

So good, and an amazing vegetarian option for the non-meat-eaters out there.

Meanwhile, I've been busy with the coloring pages, coloring the ones I'd already listed, plus adding some more!

And the chicklettes?  Well, they aren't fond of the cold and outright hate the snow we got over the weekend, but they're doing well.  We get eggs every day, even though it's understandably slowed down a bit in these cold, short days.  And Miranda is really personable.

Mmmmm... Mushrooms!

Soon, anyway.  Probably in a couple weeks, in fact!  Eric and I decided, after buying a shiitake log at the local garlic festival, to become mushroom farmers.  Yes, really.  Bees and honey, chickens and eggs, and now mushrooms.  I've always loved mushrooms, but until starting to read about them, neither one of us realized just how healthy they are.  It's pretty incredible.

So we started with shiitakes, pink and blue oyster mushrooms, and lions mane.

The blue oysters became fully innoculated with mycelium most quickly, so yesterday Eric and I built the fruiting chamber, sort of a greenhouse that's primarily about keeping the right level of humidity.

We built a PVC frame around metal shelving, and then covered the whole thing in a plastic tarp, leaving a door of sorts, so we can get in and work with the mushrooms.

We set up the humidifier with the electronic sensor Eric built, and a light on a timer, and then Eric cut slits in the fruiting bags.  See all that white all mixed in with the coffee grounds?  That's the mycelium, the body of the mushroom plant!  I know it looks kind of ick, but what comes from it is totally worth it.

And now we're just letting the humidifier do its thing.  Can't wait to watch them fruit!