The best-selling book on "popular mycology," Mycelium Running, would be a useful reference book in every home, especially to anyone involved in farming (or gardening), forest management and environmental cleanup. The second half of the book is an instruction manual on growing delectable mushrooms for food and medicine.
The book is filled to the brim with valuable information on how to improve soils for farming, gardening and forestry; create simple, low-cost biofilters for waste water (mycofiltration); and clean up toxic waste (mycoremediation).
As an example, a method for building a mycofiltration bed to filter waste water is described in exacting detail. Dimensions, depth, layers and recommended materials and mushrooms are listed. This mycofiltration is useful, among other things, for filtering manure enriched farm runoff.
Not only does it solve the problem of farm runoff and E. coli contamination of nearby streams, it can also yield highly palatable food mushrooms, and the bed itself can be dug out every 2-3 years and then used as an excellent fertilizer for the farm.
Benefits of no-till farming are described in terms of how it supports saprophytic soil fungi, which in turn help protect the soil from erosion as well as break down organic matter at a rate that is better paced to benefit plant life than if the stubble were to be plowed under and broken down by anaerobic bacteria.
For forestry, not only do saprophytic fungi help break down and recycle organic matter. They also help combat many parasitic fungi (blights) that may kill large numbers of trees. Stamets gives useful suggestions on how to seed beneficial saprophytic fungi in blight infested forests as a natural "fungicide," fighting fire with fire, so to speak.
Mycorrhizal mushrooms can also be seeded to support the forest, or they may simply be encouraged to grow naturally by using more enlightened methods of forest management.
Most plants benefit from partnerships with mycorrhizal fungi, especially trees, which become much more drought resistant as well as disease resistant when they partner with a mycorrhizal mushroom species.
Mushroom mycelium can also be utilized to clean up toxic waste sites through a method known as mycoremediation. The term was invented by the author of Mycelium Running, Paul Stamets, but was in common use before the publication of this book.
Petrochemicals and biological warfare agents can be effectively broken down by mushroom mycelium, as can dioxin and toxic industrial waste. Even toxic levels of chlorine, which is used as the universal biocide, can be neutralized by some species of mushrooms. Bacterial contaminants like Staphylococcus sp. and E. coli can be killed, and heavy metals can be absorbed by mushrooms to then be removed from a site.
At $50 per ton, mycoremediation is a very cost effective method to clean up toxic waste. Conventional incineration may cost upwards of $1,500 per ton.
This plethora of information is merely the first half of this 300-page tome. Part III, which makes up the second half of the book, is an instruction manual on how to cultivate your own mushroom mycelium, which can be used for the above listed purposes, or to grow your own medicinal or culinary mushrooms. And seriously, who doesn't love gourmet mushrooms? In other words, this is a reference book for every household.
The book is filled to the brim with valuable information on how to improve soils for farming, gardening and forestry; create simple, low-cost biofilters for waste water (mycofiltration); and clean up toxic waste (mycoremediation).
As an example, a method for building a mycofiltration bed to filter waste water is described in exacting detail. Dimensions, depth, layers and recommended materials and mushrooms are listed. This mycofiltration is useful, among other things, for filtering manure enriched farm runoff.
Not only does it solve the problem of farm runoff and E. coli contamination of nearby streams, it can also yield highly palatable food mushrooms, and the bed itself can be dug out every 2-3 years and then used as an excellent fertilizer for the farm.
Benefits of no-till farming are described in terms of how it supports saprophytic soil fungi, which in turn help protect the soil from erosion as well as break down organic matter at a rate that is better paced to benefit plant life than if the stubble were to be plowed under and broken down by anaerobic bacteria.
For forestry, not only do saprophytic fungi help break down and recycle organic matter. They also help combat many parasitic fungi (blights) that may kill large numbers of trees. Stamets gives useful suggestions on how to seed beneficial saprophytic fungi in blight infested forests as a natural "fungicide," fighting fire with fire, so to speak.
Mycorrhizal mushrooms can also be seeded to support the forest, or they may simply be encouraged to grow naturally by using more enlightened methods of forest management.
Most plants benefit from partnerships with mycorrhizal fungi, especially trees, which become much more drought resistant as well as disease resistant when they partner with a mycorrhizal mushroom species.
Mushroom mycelium can also be utilized to clean up toxic waste sites through a method known as mycoremediation. The term was invented by the author of Mycelium Running, Paul Stamets, but was in common use before the publication of this book.
Petrochemicals and biological warfare agents can be effectively broken down by mushroom mycelium, as can dioxin and toxic industrial waste. Even toxic levels of chlorine, which is used as the universal biocide, can be neutralized by some species of mushrooms. Bacterial contaminants like Staphylococcus sp. and E. coli can be killed, and heavy metals can be absorbed by mushrooms to then be removed from a site.
At $50 per ton, mycoremediation is a very cost effective method to clean up toxic waste. Conventional incineration may cost upwards of $1,500 per ton.
This plethora of information is merely the first half of this 300-page tome. Part III, which makes up the second half of the book, is an instruction manual on how to cultivate your own mushroom mycelium, which can be used for the above listed purposes, or to grow your own medicinal or culinary mushrooms. And seriously, who doesn't love gourmet mushrooms? In other words, this is a reference book for every household.
About the Author:
Dr. Markho Rafael has worked in natural health since finishing Chiropractic College in'96. He currently specializes in medicinal mushrooms, frequently consulting two reference books: Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets for chemical, biological and medicinal properties of mushrooms, and Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora as the most complete identification guide of American mushrooms.
No comments:
Post a Comment