Whittle Mushrooms

I have been playing around with my knives again. 

I like whittling even though I don’t really know how. I have carved some crochet hooks and hair pins but then I decided to take it a step further and try to create something more detailed. So I decided to whittle a tiny mushroom. It was easy and fun.

  

I friend from church saw it and asked if I would make a couple tiny mushrooms for him. He knew a girl that loved anything with mushrooms and would like to give them to her. I told him I would and I did. 

If it was warm outside, I would sit outside and chip away but since it’s so cold outside and the projects I do are so small, I am able to drape a rag towel over my lap and whittle while watching TV.

It takes me about 30 minutes to turn a stick into a mushroom. 

I carefully placed the mushrooms inside a tiny keepsake jar and will give them to him at church today. 

It is said that mushrooms grow in wet areas and that is why they are shaped like umbrellas. 

Other fun facts about Mushrooms:

-Mushrooms that are not edible are what they call “toad stools”.

-They can glow in the dark.

-Some can turn ants into zombies.

-They are more like humans than plants.

(Source)

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Growing Mushrooms

Do you like to eat mushrooms? I like mushrooms. They are great in spaghetti, on pizza, in salads and even sauteed and eaten as a meat substitute on a sandwich. You can find mushrooms in a lot of Mexican and Chinese dishes.

I think I am the only one on my side of the family that will eat mushrooms. My brother says they are fungi and he ain't eating nothing like that. 

Nature proved his “fungi” remark correct because I am apparently growing eatable mushrooms in my front yard. As I was finishing up my walk the other day, I noticed my butterfly tree had this funny looking stuff growing up the stalk. 

It looked soft like rose petals and shaped like ears. I hope my neighbors don't think I’m some mad scientist growing ears in my front yard. 

I was curious so I had to snap a photo and do a Google photo search. It came back as a “Wood ear Mushroom”. Also known as a Jew’s ear or Jelly ear. Wood Ears can be found in just about all Chinese cuisine and eaten regularly in China. They do not loo appealing but have a great taste. 

I think I remember seeing something like this in my hot and spicy soup before.

I had to snap a few photos but left it alone. I have no intentions of cutting it off the wood to make any meals with it. I will leave that up to Ku fung chu.