MAX FACTS
growing tips, news and trivia
Maine Mushrooms
Mushroom harvests are in full swing at Bountiful Mushrooms Farm in Portland, Maine.
Mushrooms, which have vastly different needs than most crops, don’t need natural
sunlight. What fungi need to flower and flourish is low light, along with high humidity
and consistent 60 to 70°F temperatures. But, they can be temperamental. After
two years of trial and error, the small crew of mushroom farmers at Bountiful
Mushrooms Farm has learned how to coax gorgeous fruits from bags of
sawdust and wheat straw. They now harvest about 150 lbs. of fungi a week,
cultivating lion's mane, shitake, blue and golden oyster mushrooms. The
small business sells to 25 high-end, farm-to-table restaurants. A few years
ago, finding fungus growing in a warehouse, tucked between a pool hall and
the railroad tracks, would have been considered a health hazard. Now, it's a
culinary trend foodies can't get enough of.
(Source: necn.com)
Taxonomy of Milkweed Plants
Famed as a plant that attracts butterflies, milkweed plants are a must-have
for the butterfly garden, as these plants host monarch butterfly caterpillars.
Monarch butterflies deposit their eggs on milkweed plants. Once the
caterpillars emerge, they eat the leaves. Milkweed plants are herbaceous
perennials. Common varieties of milkweed plants are tall, thin, summer
bloomers. The flower cluster forms a globe atop the plant’s rigid stem.
The fragrant flowers come in various shades of pink. Leaves are broadoblong and light green. Seed pods that resemble small cucumbers succeed
the flowers. The pods burst open in late
summer to early fall, exposing their
seeds, which are attached to
white silky hairs, meaning
the slightest wind will
distribute them. Milkweed
plants grow as wildflowers
in fields and along
roadsides in eastern North
America. Common milkweed
plants grow best in full sun
and in well-drained soil.
(Source: landscaping.about.com)
Donated Apples
FirstFruits Marketing of Washington ended its fourth annual Take a Bite Out of
Hunger™ program with a collective donation of 200,000 lbs. of apples to local
food banks. This brings the total program donation to just under 1 million lbs.
over four seasons. Fi rstFruits Marketing created Take a Bite Out of Hunger to
help feed the underserved while bringing attention to the problem of food
insecurity in the United States. The problem isn't just about being hungry,
it's about not having regular access to safe, affordable and nutritious
foods. As of 2010, 15% of all US households were food-insecure; 33% of
those were children, 96% reported that the food they bought just did not
last and they did not have money to get more, and 94% reported that they
could not afford to eat balanced meals.
(Source: goldensunmarketing.com)
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Maximum Yield USA | May 2014