I'm mushroom babysitting this week. Yep, squealing, grumpy little mushroom babies. Just kidding. It's mycellium, in a bucket, which hasn't fruited yet because like Goldilocks, it wants the conditions to be just right. And my girlfriend's going off on holiday and they might fruit whilst she's away, and she doesn't trust her babysit to look after the blue oysters. Then I'm away on the 6th, so it strikes me I might need a mushroom babysitter as well. Sigh. Sometimes mushrooms just don't fit into life plans.
Nameko
A friend of mine gave me some small packs of Japanese mushroom miso soup, made with nameko, which he says has a kind of slimy texture and are valued for this in Japan, where they are collected wild or cultivated. Now I know about them I must see if I can hunt them down in a market or something. They act as a natural thickener in the soup and apparently have an earthy, nutty taste.
Image via Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay
I have found a supplier here and discovered they're also known as butterscotch mushroom. Wierd. I'm growing an oyster mushroom called by this same name, but it's not the same species - I suspect it's just because of it's tan colour. I was about to purchase a box but my supplier had run out. Later in the season, maybe - they like colder weather, like much colder weather, so I am not sure I can grow them well here. Still, everything is worth trying once, right?
Mushoom Burial Suits
Last week @stephen-patrick reminded me of Luke Perry being buried in a mushroom suit. It's basically a biodegradable burial shroud made from mushroom spores, which help decompose the body and filter toxins from mit so it doesn't contaminate surrounding land or plant life. I'm not really sure how much of a problem that is in a cemetery, but hey, it's better than using up resources such as timber for coffins and clothing, which has it's own ethical concerns. The creator of the 'Infinity Burial Suit' wanted to change people's relationship with death and encourage their acceptance of it. Mushrooms, being the great decomposers and recyclers of the forest floor, have a tendency to do this. I remember being in a pine forest with an irregular heart beat thinking I was going to die, and suddenly feeling quite calm about it. It seemed a really lovely thing to do to rot on the forest floor and be consumed by mushrooms, to feed life as my life ended. Macabre, maybe - or perhaps mushrooms just enable us to accept our place in the cycle of life and death.
Mushroom Suits
And so, inspired by burial suits, I irreverently prompted Midjourney to come up with an image for 'mushroom suit', knowing that 'corpse' and 'death' is not something Midjourney engages with - taboo subjects, and ones that may be manipulated for nefarious purposes like 'breast' and 'lovers'. Sigh. Sex and death hey?
And so, Midjourney delivers something else. Quite - cute. I can imagine the mushrooms donning suits and pretending to be human - not very well, but passable. Mycellial threads stuffed into boots and stockings. There's something quite charming about them, and something a little spooky.
As usual, it's hard to choose a favourite. I am beginning to slip deeper into these mycellium musings, these imagined and real worlds of mushrooms. If I disappear, this is where I'll be - either dancing with mushroom beings in mushrooms suits or being eaten by fungi on the forest floor. Not a bad way to go, by my reckoning.
Which one do you like the best?
I hope you are enjoying my #fungifriday posts. I must say I'm enjoying the opportunity to explore this natural world further, and writing about it really gives me a chance to do that.
What fungi related stories, facts or curiousities have piqued your interest this week? Drop me a comment below!
With Love,
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Nice ones!
this one
Isn't he cute? I like this guy too...
I like overall concept of those outfits. They seem warm and the wide and deep cap covers shoulders and even a backpack from the rain, like a big umbrella (except you don't have to have the hand occupied). The obvious problem of not being able to see where you are going can be fixed with transparent "window" at the front, or slightly lifting the cap up to eye line (so it would be more like a sombrero or a Chinese straw hat). Too bad it would mostly fit children, although looking at what "famous fashion designers" are producing it could actually be used by adults too.
Mushrooms don't have eyes, but if they did, this is their solution.
But if they were mushroom suits for people maybe a tiny pinhole camera and an interior screen?
I think I gonna grow my own mushrooms too, very soon.
And I loove these pictures from mid journey 😍
Good luck watching for these "babies" :D
Cheers
I highly recommend it and do ask if you need a hand!
I'm going with the blue suit with the eyeballs. Looks like a playfully dressed up child.
Note to @riverflows you gotta remember the Americanized spelling of my name Steven 😉 at least if you are gonna tag me lol
Fark I knew I'd get it wrong. Now you say it's Americanised that makes sense.
I've never seen a mushroom like this in our place but all these are beautiful and adorable. So cute.
You have to be very, very quiet and maybe you will see them walking around 😂