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matthew henry john bartlett

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Thursday 05 January, 02012

Coffeeshrooms, day 1

by Matthew Bartlett @ 9:39 pm

Inspired by Gunter Pauli (on ABC Big Ideas) and Paul Stamets (TED Talk), and following the Mad Bioneer’s directions, I’ve started an attempt to grow mushrooms on coffee grounds. After looking at mushrooms at Moore Wilsons and many times at Pak’N Save, I finally found some at the latter supermarket that had bits of mycelium attached. They are the most boring possible variety — white button / portobello / Agaricus bisporus — but it’ll still be fun if I can get them to grow and fruit. The hope is that the mycelium will colonise the grounds in the next couple of days; then I’ll keep adding grounds until the spooky stuff decides it’s ready to produce fruiting bodies, i.e. mushrooms.


Monday 16 January, 02012

Coffeeshrooms, day 12

by Matthew Bartlett @ 9:40 pm

Almost two weeks on, things are going more slowly than I expected, though they are going.

Monday 19 March, 02012

What became of the mushrooms

by Matthew Bartlett @ 7:31 pm

You will be distressed to learn that my mushroom-growing experiment failed. The fuzz progressed a little beyond where it had got to when I last reported in, but it grew very slowly, and stopped entirely after a while. I wonder if it were too wet, or if I suffocated the mushroom fibres by leaving the lid on too long. Either way, it’s all in the compost bin now. I aim to try again in a little while, when I can find some mycelium from oyster or shiitake mushrooms.

In other mushroom-related news, these wee things showed up suddenly in a formerly shady area of the garden that has recently been pruned back heavily. I haven’t tried eating them.

Mushrooms sprouting among garden bricks

mushrooms sprouting among garden bricks