Today, we can buy mushrooms of all shapes and sizes, feed them in the fields and forests, and even grow them ourselves.

Merlin Sheldrake, a biologist and mushroom expert, says that fungi are more than just eating them.

Some fungi can change the weather, some can survive in deep space, and others can consume nuclear waste, he wrote in his critically acclaimed book "The Entangled Life." He discovered that almost all life on earth depends on fungi to survive and survive.

"As long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by fungi and the transformations they cause. When I was a teenager, I solved my confusion by finding ways to involve myself in fungi. I picked mushrooms in my bedroom and grew mushrooms. In the forest, in the laboratory or in the kitchen, fungi have changed my understanding of how life happens."

How easy is it to grow mushrooms in your garden? "Many species will grow in the garden without any help," he said. "Some may appear on rotting logs or fence posts, or as brackets on trees. Others may sprout from the lawn.

"There are many species that can be cultivated for people who want to play a more active role. Many delicious mushroom species can be purchased as pins and drilled into logs, including shiitake mushrooms, lion's mane mushrooms, and oyster mushrooms. Some, such as Chlorella, can be established In the sawdust bed."

Why are they so important to the environment? "Mushrooms are just the fruiting bodies of fungi: in most cases, fungi live in the form of a branched and fused tubular cell network (called mycelium). The mycelial network is carried through plant roots and buds, animal bodies, and the content of the seabed. Weave of sulfur deposits, grasslands and forests.

"The fungus increases the amount of water the soil can absorb and reduces the nutrients leached from the soil by rainfall by 50%.

"Of the carbon found in the soil-it is worth noting that its amount is twice the total amount of carbon in the plants and the atmosphere-a large part is combined with the tough organic compounds produced by the fungal mycelium. Through the fungal passage The influx of carbon into the soil supports the intricate food web."

Where can you buy mushrooms to grow? "The planting kit (available from experts and online retailers, including Amazon) is probably the easiest way to start. A piece of fungal mycelium is put in a bag, and you open the bag and spray water. Within a few days, the mushrooms start germination.

"You can also buy wooden pegs inoculated with fungal mycelium and drill them into logs, or buy bags of inoculated sawdust to make fungal beds in your garden.

"By the way, almost all plants depend on symbiotic fungi that live in roots and shoots. What we call "plants" are actually fungi that have evolved into algae cultivation and algae that have evolved into cultivation fungi.

"If you care about plants, you will care about fungi. Without fungi, plants cannot survive. Any plant we buy from a garden center has its own fungal community, and we can grow these fungal communities without further consideration."

The magic of mushrooms: "Fungi are metabolic wizards that can be explored, cleared and rescued skillfully. Few environments are too extreme," he pointed out.

“The species isolated from mining waste is one of the most radiation-resistant organisms discovered so far. The nuclear reactor of the Chernobyl explosion is home to a large number of these fungi. Many of these radiation-tolerant species are even moving towards radioactivity.” "Hot" particles grow and seem to be able to use radiation as an energy source because plants use energy from sunlight.

"Some species release spores explosively, at a speed that is 10,000 times faster than the space shuttle launched directly after launch, and can reach a speed of 100 kilometers per hour-this is the fastest movement speed any organism can achieve."

"The fungus produces about 50 megatons of spores each year — equivalent to the weight of 500,000 blue whales — making them the largest source of living particles in the air. The spores exist in the clouds and trigger water droplets that form rain and form snow, The formation of ice crystals from sleet and hail affects the weather.

"Many species of fungi produce bioluminescence, which makes their mushrooms and mycelium glow in the dark. In the 19th century, British coal miners reported that the bioluminescence fungi growing on wooden pit props were bright enough to'see Their hands'."

Entangled life: how fungi create our world, change our minds and shape our future, Merlin Sheldrake published by Bodleian Hyde is now available in hardcover, priced at £20; paperback by Vintage on September 2 Published, priced at 10.99 pounds.

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