Saturday, April 22, 2017

Unique Little Creatures

We are slowly seeing more mushrooms come into the markets.I suspect that it is now high time to have a dedicated research and agricultural support system put in place to properly establish a broadly based industry.

As we are also going to see forest grooming well established in the future, a mushroom culture will be a natural adjunct. Boots on the ground allows effective seeding and general maintenance. It surely works this way for truffles.

Medicinal mushrooms need to be properly investigated as well and carefully commercialized. fortunately dried forms usefully serve this market.

Unique Little Creatures

April 4, 2017 by Bobbi Luttjohann

http://permaculturenews.org/2017/04/04/unique-little-creatures/

Mushrooms aren’t plants or animals. In fact, mushrooms are within their very own kingdom known as Fungi. They appear to grow like plants, yet lack the many key components of plants such as roots, seeds, chlorophyll, and the ability to produce their own food. Like animals, they consume their food, but not by grazing or hunting. They break down organic matter, similar to bacteria. This action helps to recycle nutrients in the natural system. Being such a unique lifeform and occupying their very own kingdom, mushrooms have many exceptional characteristics. Among these characteristics are the medicinal and nutritional properties mushrooms offer.

As Old as Time

Using mushrooms as medicine and food is nothing new. The gathering of wild mushrooms has occurred since ancient times and was known to many civilizations including the Egyptians and Vikings. Later cultivation practices began in various places including Asia and Europe. As we do today, these civilizations used mushrooms for food, health, and hallucinogenic agents. We incorporate mushrooms into our diet by adding thing to meals, drinking them as teas, mixing them into smoothies or coffee, or as encapsulated supplements.

Mushrooms as a Whole

There’re many varieties of mushrooms, over 100,000 in fact. Even with all the different species, mushrooms have some commonalties. Mushrooms have a special type of polysaccharide called beta-glucan, that’s thought to improve our immune function. Beta-glucans can’t cure disease on their own, but have the ability to stimulate our immune response and make us more capable of fighting illness. Mushrooms have other antioxidant and adaptogenic properties. These capabilities help us to combat certain cancers and deal with everyday stress.

Mushrooms offer a wealth of nutrition. They are excellent sources of Vitamin D-2 if exposed to UV light during the drying process. Vitamin D is important to our bone and mental health. Mushrooms offer some level of all B Vitamins, expect for B-12, as this only comes from animal sources. B-vitamins are vital in all aspects of our health and deficiencies can create problems with mineral absorption and metabolism, sleep, and mood disruption. Serious illnesses that can result from deficiencies of B Vitamins can cause heart failure and neurological problems.

Depending on the variety, you can glean a wealth of micronutrients (minerals) from consuming mushrooms. They offer almost the full gamete of minerals including calcium, copper, potassium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, phosphorus, iron, and selenium. These micronutrients are critical to all areas of our health.

Mushrooms also offer protein. In a 100-gram serving of chopped mushrooms you will receive 1-3 grams (variety dependent) of protein at 15-20 calories. You will receive

Proceed with Caution

<1 1="" 3="" a="" and="" as="" calories="" can="" carbohydrates="" consumption="" content="" diet.="" dietary="" fat="" fiber="" following="" gram="" grams="" high="" increase="" keeping="" low.="" makes="" meatless="" mushrooms="" nbsp="" of="" p="" protein="" the="" therefore="" those="" to="" valuable="" while="" with="" you="" your=""> The benefits listed above aren’t statements approved by the FDA or other regulatory organizations. They’re what people have observed from their own use, with some tested in independent studies. If you suffer from any autoimmune diseases, chronic conditions, cancer, allergies, or take certain medications, make sure mushrooms won’t have any adverse effects. Also, with anything you put in your body, NEVER consume something you aren’t sure of the species or if it’s possibly poisonous.

Growing Mushrooms
Cultivating mushrooms isn’t like sowing other produce. To grow them, you will need a cool damp location, a starting spore/spawn, and substrate such as straw, wood, or some other organic matter that they can breakdown for nutrition and grow the fruiting bodies of the mushroom. The one thing you don’t want to grow your mushrooms on is grain. As mentioned before, mushrooms contain beta-glucans. Beta-glucans are something you want a lot of in your mushrooms, for both your health and theirs. When mushrooms are grown on grain, which is usually listed on products as “mycelium on grain”, the mushrooms lose beta-glucans and increase starch content. This makes them less useful for nutritional and medicinal purposes.

Terra Forming Terra

Saturday, April 22, 2017