Amanita muscari Do not pick or eat!
First things first: mushrooms are fungi, not plants. Americans are familiar with the common button mushrooms sold in grocery stores and piled on pizza. I’m talking about safe, edible, and functional mushrooms, not Amanita muscaria a.k.a agaric, fly amanita. They are not safe to eat!
To be clear, this is not, I repeat, not about psilocybin a.k.a. Magic Mushrooms, microdosing, or having a psychedelic experience. This is a family friendly discussion about edible and functional mushrooms. #wink #wink
L to R: Golden Oyster, Blue Oyster, and Pink Oyster
I grow, cook, eat, and sell all kinds of mushroom tinctures including Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), Shiitaki Mushrooms (Lentinula edodes), Lion’s Mane Mushrooms (Hericium erinaceus), and Reishi (Ganoderma lingzhi). I don’t grow maitake or chaga but I do double extractions of them. Turkey Tail is next on my list.
Perhaps you want to grow your own mushrooms at home. The easiest way to get started with a pre-inculated grow kit. It ha’s a block of sawdust and/or coir with myceilum already growing throughout it. Pretty much set and forget (much like getting clones instead of seeds). This is a great overview of how to grow several strains at home.
If you’re new to mushrooms and want to get the best introduction to the subject Paul Stamets is the guy. He’s done plenty of videos including TED talks but his movie Fantastic Fungi [Netflix] is mandatory. You’ll wake up the next day ready to see it again. Just to make sure you saw what you thought you saw the first time.
Seattle are mushroom farms.
Don’t ask me. I have absolutley no idea.