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Sometimes we find our food under foot in the yard, sometimes in the woods, sometimes growing right out of a bag!

We’ve seen oyster mushrooms growing off dead or dying trees and logs, but for the first time we grew our own oyster mushrooms from a bag of cottonwood fluff. At our amazing local mushroom organization’s (the Western PA mushroom club) meeting last month, we received a bag of the cottonwood fluff and an inoculation bag of oyster mushroom spores.

After boiling the cottonwood, draining it, and letting it cool, we mixed in the spores and put it back in the plastic bag (to retain moisture.) Once we saw some mushrooms budding a couple weeks later, we cut some holes into the bag, and a week later: voila! Oyster mushrooms!

I mad a delicious mushroom gravy to top lentil burgers.

First we harvested our mushrooms:

Then I sliced them and sauteed them with chopped red onions in olive oil.

I added 2 Tbsp whole wheat flour and mixed to coat, then I added 1 1/2 cups water, salt, tamari and pepper to taste. I simmered and stirred until the sauce had thickened, adjusting seasoning and adding a little more water if it got too thick.

Delicious! What do you make with oyster mushrooms? Do you find them wild? Have you ever grown mushrooms? We’d love to hear! Please let us know in the comments. Thanks!

Melissa Sokulski, herbalist, acupuncturist

Birch Center for Health and Food Under Foot