Charles Darwin and Mushrooms

An excellent retirement day. No time wasted.This morning at the Museum the speaker was Douglas Herdson on Charles Darwin. He wins the prize for looking exactly like his subject - long white beard and frock coat. Great lecture too.

In the afternoon, with the Curious Club we had a tour of Forest Fungi in Dawlish Warren which grows and sells quality gourmet mushrooms to some of the best restaurants in Devon and Cornwall as well as in the onsite farm shop. They have developed growing rooms that recreate the optimum conditions that allow their  mushrooms to thrive as if in the wild. They use organic logs, organic woodchip and organic straw to ensure the best and most natural gourmet fungi.see extra.  They use no chemicals or manmade fertilisers, and control the temperature and humidity within the  grow rooms to ensure the taste and quality is pure.
Fascinating afternoon. The mural is by Jo Brown, a natural history illustrator, and was finished this week. It is on the end of a former bungalow converted into a grow room