My Little Umbrellas

I would like to apologize for blurry pictures of this post. I am linking this post with Rambling Woods Nature Notes meme. There are lots of little umbrellas, aka mushrooms, in my garden now after the torrential three inch rainfall in 30 minutes which happened yesterday (July 1).

Mushrooms are the fruits (fruiting body) of the fungus (just like apples are the fruits of the apple trees). They contain the spores from which future mushrooms will be born. They typically have a stem, a cap and a gill (or spores) under the cap, though there are mushrooms which might not stem or cap or gills.



We see only the fruit -- the mushroom -- but we do not see the vegetative body of the fungus. This vegetative body is known as mycelium and looks like a large of mat of fine threads or spider web. While digging soil, if you ever come across a thin whitish filament like structure, then that is a mycelium. The mycelium can be a small structure; or it can stretch into miles. The largest mycelium or fungus, in the world, is found in Oregon -- it covers an area of 2400 acres before a road cut through it.



You should be happy if you see mushroom growing in your garden. Unless you have pets (cats/dogs) which graze in the garden or toddlers who pick things up and put them in their mouth, do not destroy the mushroom. Sign of mushroom means you have a very healthy soil in which trees and plants can easily root and grow without any care. Fungi play an integral part in nature. They break down complex organic compounds of fats, carbohydrates and proteins into the most basic elements that can be used and absorbed by other organisms (for gardeners, it's the plants and trees). Plants and trees have symbiotic relation with fungi; the roots of plants and trees cannot directly absorb the nutrients as those molecules are large and complex to be absorbed. The fungus break those nutrients into simpler and tiny elements; the roots then absorb those nutrients, convert part of it in sugar and put back the sugar into the fungus. The fungus then thrive on those sugar.



Many scientists believe that fungi are responsible for creating forest and old growth. Fungus appeared on earth about 1500 million years ago, much before any land-plant appeared (land plants appeared about 700 million years ago). Fungi not only break up complex molecules but they also secret acidic and other substance which slowly breaks up rocks and stones into soil (we all know and have seen mushrooms forming on woods and slowly that wood will be broken up to become compost). Over years, the action of fungus turn that soil into rich humus-filled, matted soil on which large trees grow and spread, thus creating the old-growth forest. Scientists also believe that fungi and trees are responsible for the evolution of life form on earth. Fungus came; created soil on which plants evolved. As more plants evolved, spread and covered the earth, carbon-dioxide content in the atmosphere decreased; at the same time oxygen content increased. This created a perfect atmosphere for the appearance of other animals. In fact so much different varieties of animals appeared in about 530 million years ago that scientists call that era as the Cambrian Explosion Era. So, WE OWE OUR EXISTENCE TO PLANTS, NOT ONLY BECAUSE THEY PROVIDE FOOD, SHELTER, MEDICINE TO US BUT WITHOUT THEM PERHAPS WE WERE NEVER GOING TO BE EVOLVED.

Paul Stamets listed six-ways mushroom (fungi) can save the world. Watch this fascinating video, appearing in TED-Talks, HERE. Many of the mushrooms growing in our garden are also edible, but PLEASE DO NOT TRY it unless you are an expert in identifying them -- eating poisonous mushroom can result in death.

Why We Need to Grow Edible Gardens?

A good video to watch to have some answers to the above question. It's a TED talk by Roger Doiron, the founding director of Kitchens Garden International. If the link to the video is not working, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezuz_-eZTMI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Here are some quick reasons:
1. It saves you, over time, lots of money. The saved money can be used to pay up mortgage quickly or take an early retirement.
2. It creates a sense of community and fosters friendship.
3. It helps the environment, reduces one's carbon foot-print, helps in recycling as many of the plastic containers, bags, shoes, sheets and other household items that were going to be thrown away in land-fills can be used in variety of ways in gardens.
4. It fosters health as gardening is a good exercise, and one get to eat fresh organic food picked right out of garden. An obesity epidemic is spreading across the world. As per the above video, an average American household spends only 31 minutes every day to cook food, eat and then wash away the dishes!! It is impossible to do all those in 31 minutes, and thus proves that the food are not cooked but brought store-made. Having an edible garden will force one to cook. Cooking is not only creative, but it also makes one move around (and thus have some exercise) and become healthy through eating healthy cooked home-made food. Thus, gardening and cooking also fosters strong family relation as more and more family members start participating.

The above picture is taken from the above-mentioned video. It shows the history of gastronomy


5. Hunger is on the rise and more than 900 million people are hungry in the world. If each of us start growing some of our food, then we will have much better appreciation for food. Food will not be wasted. Thus, all those extra food can go into feeding hungry people.
6. World food prices are rising. Ten years back we could buy so much food with $20 that it would have nourished us for at least two or three weeks. Nowadays,with $20 we can hardly buy much good food. The exotic foods like Jerusalem artichokes, globe artichokes, asparagus, winter and summer squashes, rutabagas, turnips, radishes and beet are not easily available and they are expensive. However, Jerusalem Artichokes, globe artichokes and asparagus are perennial and can be grown even in frigid snowy winters. Chives is another perennial. Leeks, onions and garlic are very easy to grow. Rutabagas, turnips, radishes, parsnips, carrots and beet can be grown throughout the year, even in snowy winters, under some fleece protection. So, again the solution to rising food cost is producing one's own food as much as possible.
7. 10 calories of fossil fuel energy is needed to produce only 1 calorie of food in any industrialized food system. Globally we have reached the peak oil production. So, how will we produce food when the oil sources are depleted? That depletion is happening at a much faster rate as the world population is increasing, our need on fossil fuel is increasing. At the same time, urban population is rising; more people are moving away from farming and rural communities and thus dependence on food produced using fossil fuel is rising. As per the video, the world needs to produce more food in the next 50 years than it has produced in the last 10,000 years combined.

There are many other reasons like sense of accomplishments or help in reducing depressions but the above are enough to start growing even a small patch of edible garden. 

Fantastic Videos - A Must Watch

Roger Doiron - the man who helped in creating the White House Vegetable Garden - talk about "subversive plots" in this TED lecture. As per the TED website, "A vegetable garden can do more than save you money -- it can save the world. At TEDxDirigo Roger Doiron shows how gardens can re-localize our food and feed our growing population."

The video is here: http://www.ted.com/talks/roger_doiron_my_subversive_garden_plot.html

Another fantastic video of pioneers working on window gardening, that is growing vegetables, year round, in low light condition in one's own apartment. The idea was developed by Britta Riley. As per the TED website, "Britta Riley wanted to grow her own food (in her tiny apartment). So she and her friends developed a system for growing plants in discarded plastic bottles -- researching, testing and tweaking the system using social media, trying many variations at once and quickly arriving at the optimal system. Call it distributed DIY. And the results? Delicious."

The video is here: http://www.ted.com/talks/britta_riley_a_garden_in_my_apartment.html