Fungi

Lydia has a close friend at school whose mum is a mycologist at Cambridge University (how cool is that! mycology is right up there with rocket science or archeology). This past week she organized a big session with the kids in Lydia's year to teach them about fungi. In addition to a day full of fungi-related activities, the kids were each given a mushroom growing kit to bring home.



The kit is basically a big cylinder made of compost and sawdust; they must have been "cooking" already for a while, since when Lydia took possession, it was already starting to sprout (NB: I think I set a record for "Most Heavily Loaded Bike Ride of 2009" while carrying it home-- I had Lydia's games bag and Ethan's games bag in addition to the mushroom stuff).





Lydia has been very enthused about growing mushrooms-- she diligently "watered" the mushrooms every day (you are supposed to mist them with a spray bottle) and fussed over them from time to time, and before long, we had our first crop. She insisted on helping with the preparations, including the picking, washing, and slicing, which she did very carefully. I stir-fried them and served them for dinner this evening-- they were superb. Lydia had a taste of one from the pan, but then at the table declared that "Mushroom growers aren't supposed to eat their own crops, it's against the rules". Hmm. Ethan was overjoyed, since this meant more for him (he is a big mushroom fan).