permaculture

["Marisha Auerbach" <queenbee@herbnwisdom.com>]

Greetings -
Today's postings brought up a couple things that I wanted to comment on.
Jerusalem Artichokes:
Yup, the need to be cooked well to prevent gas but they really have fiilled
a niche for me when I have eaten all of my potatos and needed some food
directly out of the garden.
At that time, I had Jerusalem Artichokes and Chervil in abundance so I
created this recipe:*

Jerusalem Artichoke – Chervil Soup*
2 cups White Beans
4 Cups Jerusalem Artichokes
1 Large Bulb Garlic (or more)
2/3 Cup Chervil
2 Tbsp Rosemary
5 Cups Water
Fresh Cracked Pepper
Salt to taste
Combine White Beans and Water, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer,
simmer 5 minutes, cover and let sit for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, return beans and water to a boil and reduce to simmer for 1
hour. Add the Jerusalem Artichokes and garlic.  Add rosemary. When the soup
is almost done, add the chervil. Add fresh cracked pepper and salt to taste.


Gas:
I have found that cooking with kombu reduces gas...

Paul Stamets' experiment:
Paul Stamets (www.fungi.com) did an experiment for  the Department of
Transportation of Washington State to clean up a pile of soil contaminated
with
diesel fuel as mentioned in the posting yesterday.  After six weeks, the
pile was growing a healthy crop of oyster mushrooms (not shaggy manes).
Oyster mushrooms are highly effective at breaking hydrogren-carbon bonds.
"The roots of mushrooms, called mycelium, produce enzymes that unlock wood
fibers, which are composed of strings of carbon-hydrogen molecules in the
form of cellulose and lignin. Similarly oil and most petroleum products are
held together by these same molecular bonds. The mushroom mycelium breaks
these bonds, and then re-constructs the oil into carbohydrates, fungal
sugars, that make up the mushroom's physical structures."

–Paul Stamets, from http://www.fungi.com/mycotech/index.html

Super crucial information as we work to clean contaminated soils.  As Paul
has shared:  Mushrooms do whatever they can to help the soil become
hospitable to plant life again.  Similarly, Geoff Lawton showed this in
"Greening the Desert."  Paul Stamets and his crew of mycological crusaders
are working on using oyster mushrooms to clean up the oil spill in the san
francisco bay (check out the video on the link above).  Although most of the
experiment on using mushrooms to break hydrogen/carbon bonds have been done
with oyster mushrooms, shaggy manes and other white rot mushrooms should
work effectively as well.  Many mushroom species also hyperaccumulate heavy
metals from the soil.
All of this fantastic research is available in Pauls' newest book:  Mycelium
Running:  How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World.  Highly Recommended.

Happy Spring!

Marisha
Vashon Island, WA
-- 
Herb'n Wisdom
Queen Bee Flower Essences
www.herbnwisdom.com