Since we moved to Chicago, Ben and I have been visiting the local farmers market each weekend. We enjoy purchasing local products and feel healthier eating organic and sustainable food. We have joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) program with Meadow Haven Farm from which we get all of our meat each month. Neither Ben or I have ever tasted Chicken this good before.
Aside from the meat the farmers market offers a variety of different vegetables and fruits depending on the season. Over this winter season we have taken a liking to one of the local mushroom farmers products. River Valley Ranch and Kitchens supplies the farmers markets with an assortment of organic fresh mushroom as well as some of the best canned mushroom concoctions that your mouth has ever tasted. We particularly enjoy the chili and tomato soup.
Our interest in mushrooms has started to grow. We enjoy adding them to all of our favorite dishes and now eat them several times a week. In fact just this morning we sauteed some oyster mushrooms and onions and ate it along with the eggs and bacon that we get as a part of our CSA. We have done a lot of reading online about growing mushrooms and decided that it was time that we gave it a try. Luckily enough, our favorite mushroom farmers also offers a mushroom growing kit that allows us to grow mushrooms right here in our small Chicago apartment. The kit cost about $35 and will produce about $80 worth of mushrooms over 3 months.
On Sunday we begun our portobello mushroom kit. We are excited to see what comes of it. Hopefully within the next few days we should be seeing the mycelium come through the potting soil as the mushrooms begin to grow. For now it still just looks like a bag of dirt. We'll keep you posted.
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| Our Mushroom Grow Kit |
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| The large bag in the box contains the inoculated soil with mushroom spores and the small bag is the soil that the mushroom will eventually grow in. |
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| The white stuff is the mycelium that will grow up into the soil layer and eventually form mushrooms |
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| The growing soil added to the layer of inoculated soil |
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| We tied off the bag with a loose rubber band that keeps in most of the moisture but still allows the bag to breathe. |
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