Okay, so the blogging actually hasn't quite kept pace with the mushroom growing, but here is an update after the first couple/few days of the kit's removal from the shipping bag.
Here is my mushroom growing kit sitting on the kitchen table near our glass sliding door. The directions say that the "humidity tent" and bright natural light (though not direct sunlight) are important.
After removing the kit I've noticed a couple of small mushrooms growing on the right-hand side! There is a little bit of a white, downy mold growing on the kit in spots. I'm not sure if I should be concerned with this or not...
Here's a close up view so you can see the bumpy surface and white, downy mold on the mushroom kit. Hmmm...
Here's a better view of the new, sprouting mushrooms.
What a bumpy, crackly surface! It smells like mushrooms too. The kit is composed of "red alder sawdust, organic rye grain, organic bran, gypsum and pure shiitake mushroom culture," according the the instruction sheet received from Sno-Valley Mushrooms.
I decided to flip the kit over to see what the bottom looks like. I've discovered some more of the white downy mold(?) and other little mushroom sprouts on the bottom!