Unloved Others
“The mushroom is a good candidate for an extra-terrestrial… a curious combination of artefact and entity”.
- Terrence McKenna
Continuing the theme of unloved, intensely value laden (or valueless) commodities I am thinking about fungi and possibly growing my own. I like the idea of making my own Mushroom babies to love and nurture, care for and then eat (human expression of love?). I am thinking about the compost paper and whether I could grow mushrooms on it as sort of evolving, living drawings. A sort of collaboration with the Shroom.
Living Fungi Drawings
Growing mushrooms on cardboard https://grocyclecourses.com/workshop/?om_name=Bethany&om_email=bethanykohrt@yahoo.co.uk Low Tech Mushroom Farming
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-mushrooms/
https://urban-farm-it.com/products/wine-cap-mushroom-straw-spawn?_pos=1&_fid=e8dd1a3bc&_ss=c&_gl=1*zl6gw6*_up*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjw59q2BhBOEiwAKc0ijRXHgUs0AB5CF6QAUOHPZ9yVRXQOLX0HQi9qnzUHFEGjrfeKERx8bRoCsB4QAvD_BwE How to grow mushroom spawn on straw substrates - possible equivalent to compost paper, straw paper etc
I suspect this will be a good resource for spawning mushrooms on unbleached cardboard or possibly my compost paper https://verticalveg.org.uk/blog/91251-how-to-grow-oyster-mushrooms-at-home#:~:text=Ivan%20explained%20that%20the%20choice,mix%20of%20any%20of%20these.
https://martian-mushrooms.com/pages/how-to-grow-mushrooms-the-beginners-guide
Cultural implications of fungi - in the UK we seem to have an overriding mycophobia whilst loving foraging and thinking of truffles as really posh. Foot fungus = super gross; weird and rare species of colourful and beautiful fungus = fascinating; transformative power of the ‘shroom = amazing; magic mushrooms = health giving, psychedelic, highly illegal Class A drug... Mixed feelings and cultural implications on the fungi it seems.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/01/beautiful-misunderstood-mushrooms-fungi-forage
Abigail Brown’s Living Sculptures - Collaborating with Fungi https://www.abigail-brown.co.uk/living-sculpture
Documentary Fantastic Fungi https://www.instagram.com/fantasticfungi/ Purchased here https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.beb9bfb1-fedc-ee06-09d1-fd1ab61c22c0?ref_=atv_cf_strg_wb&workflowType=Commerce-TVOD&autoplay=0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12LJVAEtSVo
Another film Planet Fungi: North East India https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0D83RC8ZD/ref=atv_dp_amz_c_TS5124c5_1_4?jic=16%7CCgNhbGwSA2FsbA%3D%3D