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.

At the farmers’ market a few months ago, I bought mushrooms from a serious-looking grower. There were mushrooms of different shapes and colors, including lion’s mane, chestnuts and many kinds of oysters. They are packed in a basket like a flower arrangement.

Mushroom growers are obviously cleaner than soil 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 obvious part of a comprehensive winter garden and more like a scientific project. You might argue that a family farm is a bit like a huge compost pile, where bacteria can freely move from soil and compost to crops. This is not an unsafe situation, because bacteria and fungal spores are everywhere and we live with them. But while the mushroom growers are harnessing the same chaotic vitality, they must be alert to 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.

Growers believe that there are important differences between commercial mushroom varieties such as white button and portobello (both belonging to the mushroom genus) and the varieties that most small growers like him prefer. Agaricus blazei grows on compost, which can be composed of many different things, including manure, which raises the problem of collecting manure. If it comes from a stable operated by a racehorse, it may contain 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 dust-free sawdust "wood substrate", 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 the cooking of mushrooms should suit their taste, and at the same time they should make their nutrients more accessible," 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 put 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 onions 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, mushroom growers started selling kits at the farmers’ market. The rough size and shape of a loaf of bread, these compressed wood chips and logs of mushroom mycelium 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.

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 who successfully planted and harvested mushrooms. She said that this recipe was found in a dream, which seemed appropriate. After all, these are dark days.

• ½ pound of oysters or chestnut mushrooms

• ½ teaspoon salt and pepper

Pour the mushrooms into olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic and bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes. calm. Add lemon and onion, puree or chop in a food processor. The blender makes it too smooth.