Shiitake Mushrooms

Ben and I went into the woods this evening to harvest a maple tree for purposes of sporing Shiitakes. We selected a maple tree about 20 feet tall and cut it up into 2-3 foot sections. Ben has started drilling his and inserting the plugs already. Here are some examples of what we are doing.



First, of course, I took the shiitake spore plugs I ordered a few months ago out of the fridge.



As you can see, even in the fridge the mold has started to grow out of the plugs. This is good, and illustrates how fertile these plugs are.



Ben drilled out the holes about 2-3 inches apart in the logs with an electric drill.



He then selected the spores one by one out of the bag. The mold had already grown so much that they plugs were grown together. It was really kinda neat.



He then tapped them in with a hammer so they were flush with the log. Later he is going to put a thin coat of bee's wax over the plug holes to help protect against foreign germs and fungi. Overall this process if fairly easy, but it could take up to two years to see if it works out or not. I am anxious to see what results come of the project. I will be seeding the plugs in the rest of the logs at my house near the end of this week.

Potatoes

Yes, yes, Sunday before the rain sat in I was able to get in my potatoes just in time. I did not plant very many, 3 rows, 15 feet long in my second garden at the far end of the yard. I planted fingerling potatoes. I had looked for weeks and was about to order 2 pounds of seed potatoes offline at a whopping total of 30 dollars after shipping. Before I made this mistake, I was in Krogers on Saturday and ran across the same potatoes for sale (accept as food) for 3 dollars a pound... I bought 2 pounds, cut, and planted those in hills. We will see how they turn out, but I have found seed from the grocery store grows just as well as any other seed. I have even planted pinto beans from the 1 pound bags they often sell at the grocery store and they grew just fine. Considering these were organic potatoes, I guess that makes them organic seed? Ha.



I have also had a few other curiosities happen around the garden the past week. For one, some of the onions I had stored in the cellar for the winter had gotten moist and began to sprout. So, I collected them and planted them in an old porcelain bedpan (don't worry, its not been used in at least 30 years and mom has had it as a planter for years.) They are looking mighty scrumptious to me.



My aloe plants indoors have been dividing and growing rapidly. I will have to give some away. I took the liberty of going out Monday and planting some peas, spinach, and carrots where my corn will go in 2 months. I am not so concerned with getting any peas off the plants, though it would be a nice bonus. I planted them to add some nitrogen to the soil. I have also got some leaves coming out on my Catawba Grape starter I cut in January.

Spring is officially here!

Just got back in from checking on my garden. I have garlic and chives coming up through the ground. It is very nice and I instantly feel wonderful. Just thought I would share.

Spring is Coming!

Today was a nice day outside. It was still a little chilly here in Fraziers Bottom, WV, but a good day to get outside after the snow just a few weeks ago. I surveyed my garden plots today and everything looks good. I spread around some alpaca poo as well to get the soil enrichment process started. My garlic is already starting to bud up from the dirt. I still have some turnips and radishes in the garden from last seasons fall garden, but they are no good to eat. I have spent the last 3 weeks collecting seeds from several stores. For my summer garden I will be planting Brandywine tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Gypsy peppers (I had so many of them last year I had to throw away about 40 lbs of them), several types of hot peppers, Ruby Queen sweet corn, Silver Queen corn, Yellow sweet corn, red onions, white onions, yellow onions, pickling cucumbers, tobacco, Tenderloin bush beans, Blue Lake bush means, Contender bush beans and hopefully some fingerling potatoes. My fall garden will include a vast assortment of things, from lettuce and carrots, to sweet peas and beets. I now have to wait until it dries out a bit more so I can begin to work the earth and get some more organic matter added to the soil before April. That will give it time to break down before major planting near the end of May.