Spring is slowly, slowly heading our way and we have a long list of things to get done before it gets here.  Our first huge project, of course is this year’s logs to be inoculation party.  But before that can happen we have some smaller project to get done.

Ron has plans to expand our mushroom area by getting us on the other side of the stream.  That involves a bridge, strong enough for him to drive the 4 wheeler across.  So he talked with his new Amish connections and they came through for him.

We have a little tweaking to do. Some kind of ramp for each end, but I think this should do the job quite nicely.  To Ron’s right is the pond where we get the water needed to soak the logs.   Our current logs are off on the right too but he wants to get more going  on Jo’s side of the stream.   We still have some serious work to do, anybody up for some land clearing?, but it will be good to have another area to work in  that is closer to our water source.

Ron had already gotten cherry logs so we could try growing a new variety of mushrooms, nameko.   We just had to get them inoculated.   The weather conspired against every weekend.  Too much rain or just too darn cold.   Even with our great tent to work in, we needed some measure of comfort.

Finally President’s Day weekend we decided that it could not be put off any longer.  Monday it was going to be clear enough and the weather people were sure it was going to be over 40 degrees.   So as soon as the sun was up and it the temp was over 35, we loaded up and head out.  It was just the 3 of us and the load was pretty lite.  Too lite in fact.  Jo realized we had forgotten to bring the spawn so I headed back to get it.  Ron was struggling to get the grill going.  We use it to melt the wax we need to seal the spawn in.  And to grill lunch when we have more people around.   At least 3 mice had made their home in it and obviously they had chewed up a few things.

When I got back with the spawn, Ron was still fighting with it.  He had gotten out his flame thrower (don’t ask) and burned everything out of it and tried using the flame to jump start it.  No luck.  Then he decided to get the burn barrel going so we would have that option for melting wax.  30 minutes later it was barely going.  I had given up on that process and was keeping our hot plate and double boiler going.  And that actually worked.  We had wax ready to go.

Ron did the drilling, Jo the inoculation and I was in charge of the wax and getting the logs stacked up outside.

Just about 2 hours and we were done.  And so much for the  promised 40 degrees.  The cold drizzle we got hit with made it feel even colder.  Our tent kept us dry but not really warm.  Though as long as we were working, it wasn’t too bad.  The walk back to the road is when the chill really hit us.  Such a relief to have one thing checked off our list.

Of course we have now added fixing the grill to our list.

I have been working on soap for the past month.  Interestingly I confirmed what I read about goat’s milk soap.  If you keep your loaf covered with a towel for the first couple of days, the color will eventually darken.  This is all the same soap, the small round pieces were left uncovered and stayed lighter in color.

Yesterday we got hit with a major snow storm.  They were calling for  12 -18 inches and they were spot on.  I was already scheduled to work from home, Ron got a snow day and Jo was at home too.  I worked on my computer and watched the snow come down while they worked to keep the driveway clear.  There was some worry about the snow on our new tent.  We really did not have it in us to deal with another disaster.

Jo was off to work Saturday morning and Ron and I headed of to THF.  Long boots, double layers, a shovel and new parts for the grill.  Ron had already replaced the tubes with no luck.  We parked in our usual spot, took a deep breath and started the long, slow walk (wading really) through the knee deep snow.  There were more than few stops to catch our breath.   Ron decided we might have an easier time walking further in the trees once we reached them and he was right.  We got closer to our work area and felt huge relief to see the tent standing tall.

We dug out the back end and Ron got busy working on the grill.  Not total success, but he got two of the bars going.  More than enough to grill some lunch and melt lots of wax.  Yea team.  Then we headed out to our shed to get the broom there so we could use it to knock the snow off the tent roof.  By this time I was soaking wet from the knees down from all the snow that fell into my boots.  Broom in hand and we went back to the tent.   Ron went to the far end and reached up with the broom to push against the tent room.  There was a massive noise that I have never heard before and as I stood there frozen, all the snow slide off the roof.  We had just had our own small avalanche.  It scared the heck out of me, but how cool.  No more worries about the tent for now.

We had only been out at the farm for 90 minutes and we were done and ready to head home with two big items checked off our to do list.  A good day at THF.