Garden Club: Mushroom BLT's

For the first Garden Club of December, we invited Te’Lario from Tiger Mushroom Farms to join us in making BLT’s with mushroom bacon and creating recipes for a contest they were hosting as a campaign to end hunger.

Te’Lario speaking at Garden Club about his Mushroom Farm

Mushroom BLT’s!

Te’Lario, a sharp boy around the age of the kids in Garden Club, already has his own mushroom business (Highland Youth Garden sells next to his booth at the farmer’s market!), a book, a website, and does regular guest speaking events. We were thrilled to have him come chat with the Garden Club students about what it was like to have a mushroom business, the health benefits of mushrooms, and how much he loved growing things.

All of the students were invited to try some of his mushroom “bacon,” an item that got absolutely rave reviews from the kids. Everyone made “mushroom BLTs” with sliced tomato, freshly picked lettuce from the garden, mushroom bacon, vegan mayonnaise, and avocado slices. Many of the students had never tried neither avocado or mushrooms, and everyone seemed to enjoy both!

After enjoying their sandwiches, students made “recipes” to submit to Te’Larior’s Tiger Mushroom Farms’ campaign to end hunger. We talked about the components of a recipe as students worked on them. Some did serious recipes, like sweet potato stew, some did silly ones, like “recipe for a beautiful smile.” Everyone enjoyed exercising their creativity and designing their own personal “recipe.” Thanks, Te’Lario, for being such a great guest! We’ll have to have some more mushroom bacon, soon!