Saturday, December 28, 2013

Another new gateway.

I know that a lot of people know about all this organic business and small farming etc. but after trying it in my twenties then fleeing to the city and turning my back on Mother Earth News, I have rediscovered how much fun this all is. We are now planning on growing mushrooms indoors which is a little more complicated than inoculating logs. We are having so much fun learning and experimenting. I am totally looking forward to our trip in February to Jekyl Island for the Georgia Organics Conference. We are also looking at a few other things to do in our small forest farm. Now is a great time to plan and research since the weather is cold and rainy - cold for Georgia anyway. I still miss the road, and find myself day dreaming about Florida, or Arizona, or Nevada, or Texas.... But having Christmas here at the house this year was terrific. And making our house a home again feels right. Stay tuned for more on mushrooms.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Maitake

Today we placed Maitake spawn in logs using the wedge method. This mushroom is also known as "hen of the woods". It is considered a medicinal mushroom used in treatment of cancer, the immune system, diabetes and heart disease. They are also very delicious to eat. There is tons of information on the web about all these mushrooms and that is where we get our info as well as from other growers and from books by Paul Stamets. Even though we did our research, this was our first time so, again, as with the shiitake, we followed what we learned and seeded our land with maitake spawn and hope for the best. Here are a few pictures.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Finished with the logs

December 1st and our shiitake inoculation is complete at least as far as using logs is concerned. We're still going to "seed" our small forest with maitake spawn and perhaps look into using our shed for shiitake fruiting in a substrate of sawdust and wood chips. Our research into growing ginsing is coming along as well. We have a lot of work to do to prepare the beds, but plenty of time to do it. We didn't inoculate as many logs as planned but look forward to the first flush, hopefully this spring.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Saturday November 30, 2013

Anything we do that we know nothing about always takes a learning curve and time for experience. Vic spent a lot of energy and hard work felling and cutting three white oak trees only to find out they have something like black heart rot in the core. These types of logs cannot be used by Shiitake growers because the core rot competes with the Shiitake mycelium and compromises the purity of the mushrooms or so we found out after doing a lot of research and phone calls to our mentors Tim and Jane in Kentucky. I still may not have the information correct but we do know that we cannot use our white oak logs. Learning curve just got higher. How we view this is simply to cut our losses and hope the other logs produce a great amount of mushrooms for us. Whether or not this endeavor is successful, the experience and learning has been invaluable. We have branched out into educating ourselves about all things organic, sustainability, and small community markets. We went to McDonough's farmers market at Heritage Park and were delighted to meet so many enthusiastic and friendly people. You would think that at 63 years old I would have tried just about all things vegetable, however, I have become MORE of a veggie fan and bought some brussel sprout greens. These are the best greens my taste buds have ever experienced and I will definitely seek them out whenever I can. We also bought local honey, eggs and pumpkin/pecan salsa. The salsa also proved to be the best I have ever tasted.It is such a shame I have waited this long to frequent the local fresh markets. After this, going to the grocery store is a real let down. Here are some of the logs we can't use. Who knew? We do now.

Monday, November 18, 2013

It is Monday morning after our first two days of inoculating logs. Standing for 5 hours at a time for me was a little daunting and I fulling expected to wake up this morning and not be able to move, but gratefully I feel wonderful and I am stoked to get started on another batch today. Woohoo. Pics are of our "operation" in the garage. On another note: There has been so much weather related tragedy here in the USA and abroad in the Philippines. This morning my prayers are for all who suffer. I hope help gets to them quickly.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

This past weekend we hooked up the camper trailer and headed for Berea, Kentucky where we attended an absolutely wonderful workshop on gourmet mushroom cultivation. The weather was basically cooperative although a little more sunshine would have been nice. This Georgia girl likes warm sunny weather. We enjoyed the changing foliage of fall and the vistas from the mountain tops. We arrived at Forest Retreats outside of Berea and were delightfully surprised by the beautiful log cabin and organic gardens. Good food was served for brunch. We were educationally entertained on all things organic including tasty mushroom recipes as well as the rudiments of inoculating logs with shiitake spawn. We observed Tim's log "field" throughout the surrounding forest hills and learned quite a bit about other mushrooms and their required environments for growth. We are looking forward to cutting our own logs for Shiitake and Oyster mushroom inoculation in the coming weeks.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Well talk about slacking on this blog. I offer no explanation or excuse. But let me catch up. Since Kentucky we traveled to Florida and found a great place to stay for a few months. Suwannee River Rendezvous Camp Ground and Resort is on the Suwannee River. Convict Springs,one of many springs in Florida, is on site as well. Great fishing, canoeing, hiking and biking. Grandma Susie's Cookin Shack is open on weekends to accommodate Karaoke,Bingo and the Salt Water Cowboys Band. My favorite was the dazzling pool, hot tub and jacuzzi. The nearest town is Mayo, Florida population 1,243. We got to know the area and found the towns of Live Oak, Lake City and Steinhatchee fulfilled our needs quite adequately. We met many people who are now friends and have fond memories of our stay. Alas, we had to pick up and move back to our home in Georgia due to renter problems and medical needs. So here we are, not willingly because we found out the road is where we belong. But to make the most of our situation, we are fixing up our house and yard. We live on 2 acres of mostly oak trees and have decided to do a little forest farming and grow mushrooms, mainly Shiitake and Oyster for now. We know nothing about it but we have the resources to do this easily. So here we go on our next adventure.