The day of the first harvest

Literally a week after I put the baby in the box, it was ready to pick and eat. I kept an eye on it to try and make sure it doesn't start dropping spores everywhere, but I think it did, as you can see on one of the images. It's the fine white powdery stuff, I suspect.

I think that perhaps I left it a little bit too long, half a day maybe, because the edges were curving upwards and that's when you know you better harvest it or else it goes past its sell-by date.

It really is such a beautiful fruit, and I never really paid much attention to any mushrooms besides the reguar button, portabellini and shiitake and have never eaten oyster mushrooms to my knowledge as well. Unless a chef in some restaurant used them in a mushroom dish.

I wonder if it will get bigger if I have an open fruiting chamber instead.

A couple of days after I harvested it, I wrapped the grow stick in cling wrap and put it back in a dark, warm place to let the mycelium repair itself, so that I can get a second flush out if it, perhaps, or even a third one if I play my cards right.