by Susan Sunflower
Pisgah Gourmet, mushrooms and tinctures! Our latest find in local products, local treasures. In fact, their whole business is based on compost!
Thursday eve Moving to Conservers potluck at their production facility, way out E. Fork Road – a lovely drive. About 16 of us explored the old E. Fork Growers Market facility, where wood chips, fish guts and other items were composted, some 25 years ago. Now, Eric ….., Leif …… and Pierce ….. produce glorious Oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus), Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceous) mushroom, and various healthful tinctures – see all on their website. Look for their products at the farmer’s market and Food Matters.
Growing mushrooms is hand’s on, intensive and complex process. Wood chips for carbon, soy hull pellets for nitrogen are the base medium. Mushroom cultures can be grown in liquid or solid form, moved through several steps to bags for production of those delicious mushrooms we love to eat. Several crops can come from each bag. We were all enchanted by the process.
And what happens to the growth medium, after production? They are composted, of course, Providing a rich soil for gardens. OR the finished growth medium can be used to … compost paper! Add paper to the old, used medium, in a bin, and the mycelium gets to work. Miscellaneous paper is a significant amount of what goes into landfill so this is another great step in conserving land fill use and erroneous methane production.
We are promised a workshop, so get your lidded bin ready!
