Fungi Friday's - May 13th, 2022
Issue #30
Another week, another fungi Friday! Hey fungi Friday fans, another week has come and gone. Not a whole lot on the mushroom growing updates, as the mushrooms have just been sitting in the dark for the past few weeks. 10 bags have hit the three week mark and another 10 are at 2 weeks. As you’re reading this, i’m currently on my way down to the farm to check on them all and it is FINALLY time to move some of our product from incubation into the fruiting chamber, which is where the fun begins.
We’ll check on the products this weekend, get half to three quarters of the bags into fruiting, pack another 10-20 bags and hopefully have actual mushrooms sprouting within the next week to 10 days. I know i’m excited to taste the first batch, and in other exciting news, we actually have our first legit lead on restaurants interested in using the products. Hopefully more exciting news to come, I know i’ve had a few people reach out asking for more pictures, so I’ll certainly be taking some this weekend for you all.
Hope everyone had a good week! Let’s get into the articles.
Lowly mushrooms may be key to ecosystem survival in a warming world
Fungi that decompose plant matter may keep ecosystems healthy, especially after drought, keep the worlds ecosystem stable and productive. For the first article of the week, we document the 70,000 known kinds of fungi, many of which thrive below ground. And while these many different forms of fungi thrive in all sorts of environments, no matter what happens to our worlds ecosystems, there will always be some sort of fungi out there to do the dirty work of providing the worlds plants with nutrients. Overall, the main takeaway is that promoting diversity might protect our ecosystem as the climate warms.
What the World’s Largest Organism Reveals About Fires and Forest Health
Covering nearly 4 square miles and weighing more than 4 blue whales, the worlds largest genetically identifiable specimen lurks under the blue mountains of Oregon. Nicknamed Humongous Fungus, this parasitic fungi is actually still growing, feasting on dead trees and hardly noticeable to the untrained eye.
And what has allowed the Humungous Fungus to thrive and become so big? According to the article, its actually fire suppression. Fires typically would have reduced the portion of the forest that this fungus can host on. The past 50 years of fire suppression, however have allowed the fungus to grow bigger and bigger. And while fires are actually important aspects of the forest ecosystem, controlling them has resulted in more fir trees, which happen to be highly susceptible to this fungus, resulting in allowing this fungus to thrive. Overall, fungi are an important aspect of forestation and this is a fascinating article documenting that relationship.
How This Alternative ‘Beef,’ Made From Fungi, Could Save Rainforests
And for the final feature of the week, how mushrooms can help halve deforestation by acting as an alternative to meat consumption. The study, which is documented in Nature, makes the claim that substituting 20% of meat consumption for a mushroom alternative could result in a 56% reduction in annual deforestation. The nutrition profiles between the two are similar and requires a fraction of the land to produce. And while not necessarily looked at as a replacement for meat, even as a partial replacement, might be able to reduce detrimental impacts of beef production.
Want even more? Here are some other interesting, mushroom focused reads of the week:
As always, thank you for reading this weeks edition of Fungi Friday’s! If you enjoyed what you found, please feel free to forward to friends also interested in the Fungi Community!
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