Dear future self, This is a letter post with notes to my future self as well as friends and visitors, logging thoughts and insights about what we did with mushrooms in 2024. I found we forget lessons and insights from recent years and maybe this will help! ![]() - Mushroom logs, March 31 - We cut logs from oak for shiitake mushroom inoculation. Another wood that would work well is alder, of which we have a lot. For oyster, we could use our willows, down the line. Northspore.com has a great overview chart. - For the spawn plugs next time, remember to USE SAWDUST and the matching tools: the angle grinder adapter, a 12mm drill bit, and a thumb-press log inoculation tool. I forgot that we had these tools, and instead we got wooden plugs, and used a regular drill to make the holes. It took two days of labor to inoculate 36 logs; with the sawdust tools it would take half of that time. - We used one of our little saucepans to melt the wax, which resulted in a long and painful clean-up. Ella said one of her mushroom growing friends uses a small crockpot, dedicated just to wax melting. You can even save left-over wax in it, and pick one up from Goodwill or something for $5. Good tip. - To daub on the wax, we don't need wax daubers because we can make a better one at home. Grab a bit of clean sheep wool, some twine, and a 12" stick. Wrap the sheep wool around the end of the stick so it's the size of a ping-pong ball and secure with the twine. June 17 - Shiitake logs that are smallest in diameter (2") did not fruit after soaking. Maybe too small and dried up? - Piopino from last year in straw was totally dead (as expected). - OYSTERS IN BUCKETS are consistently pretty successful. - KING oyster does not work in buckets - the small babies fall off, they can't hold on to the small holes that they fruit out of. Also did not colonize very well. - Snow oysters started April 10 in buckets gave a nice harvest of 15 pints (all three buckets) on May 21 and another one pint June 8, but probably these need to be started earlier. - Pink oysters fruit 3 weeks after inoculation! - CHESTNUTS in monotub with newspaper pellets - substrate inseemed to be too wet. We did experiments with just adding water to the newspaper pellets and not letting it soak, just putting the pellets right into the bins (to reduce time that the pellets were in the open air). One one set (put in pellets, pour water over) there was complete failure. In another set (mix pellets very briefly before putting into monotub we do get fruiting, but it looks kind of slimy. not very apetizing. First flush tossed out for chicken food. I am going to try an experiment with adding lime water to the pellets and letting them do the regular 10 minute soak to get properly hydrated, and then putting into monotub.
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Babette WIlsBabette is a permaculture farmer in Western Massachusetts. She and people who are working with her on the farm are experimenting and learning on the go. Archives
April 2024
CategoriesHappy 2024!It’s 2024 and we are excited for this coming year. Lots of plans: integrating trees and livestock in silvopasture; working with other farmers in the area to promote agroforestry and make it a viable farming option; expanding our berry patches; and of course continuing our offerings at the Greenfield and Turners Falls farmers markets with our partner Just Roots!
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