Snails are burrowers and live beneath the soil or in shaded areas. They have a spiral shell which doubles as protection and shade. The shell is 98% calcium-based. The pedal gland produces an adhesive substance that allows the snail to crawl. Land snails also have a muscular foot, one or two pairs of tentacles, and […]

They say that life is that stuff that happens to you while you are out there frantically making plans. And so it is. Not only that. These things that make up life are not straight forward and plain. Well not for me anyway. This is not a complaint, merely an observation. From exotic mushrooms to […]

Mushrooms are a unique biota which assembles their food by secreting degrading enzymes and decompose the complex food materials present in the biomass where they grow, to generate simpler compounds, which they then absorb, and transform into their own peculiar tissues. If a section of the gills is cut and examined under the microscope, spores […]

One early spring morning in 2010 Barefoot and Tiptoe was conceived. The idea was for a business in food production that ascribed to the notions of usage of resources in an eco friendly way to viably and commercially produce food. The food category had to be both of high nourishment value as well as be able […]

It has been a long and winding road to quote a certain Mr McCartney. A road filled with many forks, dead ends and challenges. Strangely though none of them really related to the mycelia – the mushroom . that has resolutely been the single stable aspect of the journey. To fulfil the dream of a […]

Following a long career in Business Management and Marketing / Advertising,  in mid 2010, I decided to do something new and closer to where my interests now lay. As a quite keen and long time garden designer and vegetable grower I embarked on this as a venture beyond the realms of just subsistence growing on […]