Mushroom Talk at Warranwood Food Swap

Mushroom Talk at Warranwood Food Swap

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Posted 2017-07-05 by Kirstyfollow

Sun 16 Jul 2017

Well the good news is you can grow mushrooms at home and you don't even need to have a garden!



Mushrooms are intriguing, they are highly nutritious, can be seen growing on tree stumps or they just pop out of the ground as they please. At this time of year, if you look around there are many different types growing wild. They could be in open parks and gardens, local reserves or even in your own backyard.

Robin Hallett has a fascination with mushrooms, he loves the wonder of them growing in the wild and enjoys the beauty of them as photography subjects. Though he is enthusiastic about foraging for mushrooms, he rarely forages himself as he is very aware of how difficult it can be to identify edible fungi with certainty, a complete necessity with wild mushrooms. Wild mushrooms can make a delicious meal, but some are toxic and can look very similar to the edible ones, which is a high risk for the untrained eye.

Robin has discovered common field mushrooms at the Bedford Park Community Garden which are safe to eat, but they're growing in the same vicinity as another mushroom, commonly known as the Yellow Stainer, which looks almost identical. From this photo, you can't tell them apart, but you need to be very careful not to confuse them because the Yellow Stainer is poisonous to eat.



You can tell it's a Yellow Stainer if you bruise the top by running your finger over it because it turns yellow. They also have a somewhat squarish appearance before they fully open. You can also tell the impostor, as it has a much longer 'skirt' underneath. If eaten, they could make you very sick. So if you are in ANY doubt, just don't eat them.



This looks like a young berserker mushroom (Amanita muscaria). Apparently, it got this name from speculation that it was used by the Vikings and it made them go berserk. Which is a great tale but there is little evidence to support this. It's also known as Fly Agaric or Fly Amanita and while it shouldn't be eaten, it makes for great photography.

Robin's interest in mushrooms has inspired him to start growing them himself. After some success with some tried and tested methods, he started experimenting by using coffee grounds and other waste materials as the substrate. The substrate is the base on which the mushrooms grow on. Being the resourceful person that he is, this means a free supply, because this is something that would have otherwise ended up in landfill, which is a win for sustainability as well.



In a free information session ,which is being hosted by the Warranwood Food Swap , Robin will share some simple ways that you can grow mushrooms at home. He will also talk about experiments that he has been doing at Bedford Park Community Garden using cardboard, barley, straw and coffee grounds to produce mushrooms. There is nothing more resourceful than using waste resources like this, to support the growing of nutritious food.

There is a food swap which starts at 10 am on Sunday July 16th, at Warranwood Primary School, with the mushroom talk being held between 10:30-11:30. If you have excess harvest you are welcome to join the food swap, otherwise why not go along and learn how to grow your own dinner!

#food_wine
#free
#gardening
#outer_east
#pop_ups
#unusual_things_to_do
#warranwood
#july
!date 16/07/2017 -- 16/07/2017
%wnmelbourne
188852 - 2023-06-16 03:13:17

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