House Creature #15
Fung-i, Fung-you, Fung-us!
I will not get stressed about garden things.
I will not get stressed about garden things.
I will not get stressed about garden things!
When the sun shines for a little longer, and green stuff starts poking up out of the ground, and the trees start budding, I start itching to DO EVERYTHING! Anyone else like this? Start seeds, move plants around, plan the vegetable gardens, look back over last year’s notes, make to-do lists… I want to do it all now so I can get to the fun part - enjoying my garden.
I had so many ideas and plants and Home Depot items floating around in my head that I finally made a giant “Garden 2024” Google document just to get it all down, which made me feel a little bit better.
In today’s House Creature, you’ll find a few garden-related things but also a lot of fun things meant to distract me from my garden anxiety. Let’s go!
Shroom prep!
I’m adding mushrooms to the garden this year!
Last summer, I volunteered for the Learning Garden Tour and chose to work at an “urban farmstead” location. The homeowner had an amazing variety of vegetables and flowers and it was super inspiring. The things that caught my eye were her mushroom patches, so I bugged her about where she got the mushroom spore and how she set them up. She pointed me toward North Spore, and now I’ve spent a lot of time on their website. Not only do they sell supplies, but they also have how-to’s and instructional videos galore.
Multiple sources have suggested wine cap mushrooms as a good beginner mushroom, so I have a bag of wine cap sawdust spawn in my refrigerator right now. I also got some golden oyster sawdust spawn, which is another beginner-friendly option.
When mushrooms say “beginner friendly,” it typically means two things - 1. They’re not as picky about their environment (humidity, temperature, and substrate.) And 2. They’re very identifiable and almost impossible to confuse with other (potentially poisonous) mushrooms.
If you’re curious about growing mushrooms at home, North Spore is definitely worth checking out. I’ll keep you posted on our progress over the next few months too!
Wikihole!
Wikihole is a fun new podcast hosted by D’Arcy Carden — you might know her as Janet from The Good Place or Greta from A League of Their Own. She invites three comedians to answer trivia questions as they all go down a Wikipedia rabbit hole. The winner gets a donation to Wikipedia made in their name.
The episodes are 30-40 minutes and a very light accompaniment to folding laundry or cooking dinner. Plus, I’ve learned plenty of random facts!
Savory Pancakes
Last weekend I wanted pancakes… but not the sweet kind. I found Kenji’s recipe for savory cornbread pancakes, and they were perfect. I left out the bacon to make them vegetarian but added a little smoked paprika so I didn’t miss out on the smokey flavor.
The chunks of cheese ooze out and turn into little lacey crunchy bits, the fresh corn kernels are pops of sweetness, and the jalapeno adds as much kick as you want. I topped them with a little drizzle of honey and some pickled jalapenos. Bonus: they reheat beautifully too.
London Séance Society
If you want to save this book for Halloween I won’t fault you, but it really is entertaining. Since there is a touch of on-page violence, I wouldn’t describe this as a traditional cozy mystery, but it’s pretty darn close. If you enjoy wise women protagonists, ghosty things, and thoughtful mysteries, this might be the book for you!
Art Update
I’m excited to say that I’ve been BUSY! I never dreamed I’d be in a place where I was actually hoping for a little lull in my commissioned work, but here I am! I think I’ll have some time this month to complete the final piece for my fellowship with Minnesota Upstream as well as a personal project (I complete a self-portrait every year around this time to track my growth and changes in my artistic style).
Much of my recent work will be published in the coming weeks. So keep an eye on my Instagram for updates.
A very house creature-ie video:
My social media algorithm is now totally about DIY miniature ponds, and I’m not mad about it. I’ve been researching aquatic plants and other ways to create lovely little spots for wildlife in my garden this year. When I say mini pond, I mean mini pond - I have an old cement mixing tub that I plan to use for this project.
Obviously, given my algorithm experience, you can find lots of videos and photos online, but this is one of my favorites:
***Note: If you live in a very mosquito-ie place, it’s super important that this doesn’t just become a tub of standing water! The key is making sure that aquatic plants cover at least two-thirds of your mini pond and that you attract enough wildlife to disturb the water regularly. For most mini ponds, birds and squirrels using it for drinking and bathing will be enough. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for frogs! If you’re still concerned about this, you can get a solar-powered “water wriggler” to keep the pond water moving.
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