When the dark days of the year chase us indoors, we look for ways to keep in touch with the earth. Seed catalogs, houseplants, frozen broccoli in the garden last year-all these remind people that life is still going on and will come back.

Let's add mushrooms to the list of ways to insert the life cycle in winter. They can be grown anywhere, which is why small mushroom farms can be found everywhere, just like mushrooms after rain, connected by a large underground brain.

A few months ago at the farmers’ market, I bought mushrooms from a grower, and the grower’s stall was filled with mushrooms of different shapes and colors. They are arranged in a basket like a flower arrangement. Each mushroom has a different shape and color, including lion’s mane, chestnuts and several types of oysters. Mushroom growers are obviously cleaner than other farmers, which makes sense after I learned more about mushroom cultivation.

Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of subterranean fungal mycelium and do not require light to grow, which makes them an important part of a comprehensive winter garden and a scientific project. You might argue that a family farm is like a huge compost pile in which bacteria can freely move from soil, compost to crops. This is not an unsafe situation, because bacteria and fungal spores are everywhere, and we live with them-this is especially true on farms.

But while mushroom growers are harnessing the same chaotic vitality, they must be wary of pollution, lest the wrong spores have the upper hand. Farmers plant seeds in the soil, which is basically an extension of the compost pile, while mushroom growers inoculate the substrate under sterile conditions.

He shared that there are important differences between commercial mushroom varieties (such as white button and portobello mushrooms) and the varieties preferred by most small growers like him, both of which belong to the mushroom species. Agaricus blazei grows on compost, which can be composed of many different things, including manure, which raises the issue of where the manure is collected. If it comes from the stables on the racetrack where the horse racing is doing business, there may be antibiotics, steroids and other chemicals. Whether the nitrogen comes from manure or chemical urea, the use of compost adds uncertainty.

Our mushroom grower only uses mushrooms grown on a wood chip-based "woody substrate". These mushrooms are dust-free, which explains why he looks cleaner than his neighbors. When we paid, my son asked if the mushrooms could be eaten raw.

"I think that mushrooms should be cooked to suit their taste and make their nutrients more readily available," said the grower. "Mushroom cells have hard walls that prevent nutrients from being absorbed, but heat destroys these walls and releases nutrients."

He added, “If you want the feeling of regenerating mushrooms, sauté them lightly in oil or butter with white wine or balsamic vinegar, and then place them on a salad, where you can still feel the original freshness. At the same time you can access all the nutrition."

I want to match my mushrooms with meat, so I want something brighter. I ended up cooking with butter, minced onion and nutmeg, or deglazed with dry sherry and chicken broth, and finally squeezed a little lemon and a few drops of cream. I cook them with cut button mushrooms to make them bigger, just like I did with precious or semi-precious fungal fruiting bodies. You will end up with more and it will not dilute the flavor.

Last fall, growers started selling mushroom growing kits at the farmers’ market. The rough size and shape of a loaf of bread, these compressed wood chips and mushroom mycelium logs are wrapped in plastic, ready to sprout when sprayed. Their growth is fun and satisfying, just like any garden. If you watch it develop and change, you will get a lot of mushrooms. We brainstormed for friends to give gift packages as gifts.

No matter where you are, the local farmers' market may offer locally grown mushrooms and planting kits. So keep your eyes open. They will light up your winter.

On the longest and darkest night of the year, we left a planting kit at the door of a friend's house. A few weeks later, a can of mushroom sauce appeared at our door, made by a friend, and she successfully planted and harvested her own mushrooms from the kit. She said that this recipe was found in a dream, which seemed appropriate. After all, these are dark days. And these are dark art.

Want to give mushrooms as a gift? Purchase kits from Cascadia Mushrooms at Bellingham Farmers Market on December 11 or 18, or visit http://www.cascadiamushrooms.com to order.

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