It has been a while since I've made a gardening blog post (I was surprised that it was in 2022!). As indicated in earlier posts we made the move from Texas to Washington and learned that gardening in WA is completely different than gardening in TX. Our vegetable garden is significantly smaller in WA than it was in TX but we are still actively gardening.
Recently I was diagnosed with stage 3 metastatic breast cancer in February 2025. Since the diagnosis I’ve learned every breast cancer is different. Mine is “triple negative” occult breast cancer. It is “occult” breast cancer because the original tumor could not be identified via MRI, CT or bone scans. Only 2 enlarged lymph nodes in my armpit carry the cancer cells. I began 6 months of chemotherapy on April 4, 2025, after my chest port was surgically inserted. It is considered aggressive. My doctors tell me chemotherapy is very effective against it and surgery will follow. Of course I have been reading information regarding the diagnosis and what to expect. Since one of my interests is gardening I have learned there have been several studies on Turkey Tail Mushrooms that have shown some promise in the fight against several kinds of cancer. See "Can Turkey Tail Mushrooms Help Fight Cancer?"
https://www.healthline.com/health/cancer/turkey-tail-mushroom-cancer#health-benefits
Several companies offer Turkey Tail Mushroom Kits. I decided to go with the Myco Labs product.
https://www.mycolabs.com/turkey-tail-mushroom-grow-kit-5lbs.aspx
I also ordered a portable humidity mushroom tent.
See: https://www.mycolabs.com/portable-mushroom-humidity-tent.aspx
Next step was to remove the mushroom infused brick from the box and cut 5 cm holes in the plastic to allow the mushrooms to grow out of the side slits.
Next I placed the humidity grow bag over the large stainless steel bowl I'm using to grown the mushrooms in (it will collect liquids that come off the mushroom bag as the mushrooms grow) and I inserted a Thermometer/Hygrometer in the bowl to monitor both the temperature and humidity.
Temperature; 58-74 degrees.
Humidity: 90% humidity during the initial stages of mycelial growth and then gradually decrease humicity to around 70-80% during fruiting.
I sprayed the inside of the bag with unchlorinated water and then moved the plastic covered bowl to my food pantry which has indirect light during the day as suggested in the instructions.
The instructions indicate it will take 1-2 months to grow to full size mushrooms. After that I will consider several methods to dry and pulverize them into a powder to add to tea and coffee. I will not be consuming them until AFTER I have completed chemotherapy since there is a concern that their use can interefer with the efficacy of the chemotherapy drugs I am being treated by.
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