Who are willing to come out to THF and work hard for us.

Just too tired to think or type last night, even though I was home about 3:30 pm.   It had been a long day.  Thank goodness we had some left over burgers and hotdogs.  Already grilled too.  Made for an easy dinner once Ron finally got home about 6 pm.  He stayed out there talking with the boys.   He had headed out at THF before 7 am, getting the fire barrel started and finalizing our setup.  I had a couple of last minute things to get done or pick up so I got there about 8.  Jo followed with the coffee.   I had to send her frantic text to make last stop at home. I forgot to bring my homemade cookies.   Got to have my cookies.

John, Don and Jesse arrived next and the day got started.  My friend Josi was there next.  We were also expecting her daughter Sophi, but she was not feeling well.  This would be the first time Josi would have the chance the see the whole operation.  Her last two visits had been to deliver the logs with no time for exploring.  Big changes since she was there last.

Ron was expecting visitors from Oswego NY.  He had met Jerry and Mary  Ann Hartman at a shiitake workshop a few months ago.  They are thinking about doing their own logs and Ron talked them into coming to Augusta to get some hands on experience.  Two birds with one stone.  He gets to share his story and get some work out of his captive audience.

Jesse was already up and running with the drilling and was happy to show Mary  Ann and Jerry the routine.  We had to make some changes to the setup because Ron cut down his support tree.  It was in the way of our new tent.  Ron was keeping himself doing busy work, anything to keep him out of the real stuff.  Getting this or that, suggesting what someone else could be doing and just chatting.  You know, the kind of stuff a supervisor might do.

With the additional workstations Ron built, we now could have double the work going on.   Josi and Jo set to work with the inoculation and Don and I did the waxing.   Then the logs were loaded into the wagon to be hauled across the stream.  Big improvement over last year when we left all the logs stacked up and waiting until later when Ron, Jo and I did the moving.   The extra help we had this year made this step part of the process.  Huge relief.

Ron’s friend Shelly was back again this year.  She had been here last to help with the pawpaw and elderberry planting.  Doing the mushroom logs would be much easier work.  No digging in our rock filled dirt with this project.  Just a lot of bending and lifting.

My friend, Lynne was also back this year.  It is always a good thing to have experienced workers back on site.  She brought her sister, Lori Jo with her and they took over the waxing process.  We really have to come up with a better plan for having melted wax ready to go.  We used the double boiler again, but had to watch it carefully.  A couple of time we let all the water boil away and that caused a delay.  I stacked two of those foil baking pans together and put them onto the grill with wax chunks in it to melt. A good plan that worked well, until it was time to move the wax.   Then it was precarious.  Having heard the tales of the tripping hazards out of THF, you can picture me moving very slowly with my wobbly pan of hot wax.

We had two more newbies this year.  Another friend from work , Jessica and her daughter Zoey.    Once they escaped from Ron’s introductory talk, they jumped right into the work flow.  We had lost Jo by this time.  She had to head off to her “real job”, but the logs continued to move out of our tent and across the stream.

No one wanted to work the grill so Ron had to assume that job.  We all took a break for lunch and a good stretch.  Discovered that Miss Zoey does like her sweets. A girl after my own heart.  We have learned that as long as you provide lots of good food and some serious yummies, you can con almost anyone into working for you.  Good conversation and laughter, especially at Ron’s expense kept the day full of fun.

One disaster for the day.  Both of our grinders lost their set screws.  I borrowed a magnet first from Jerry and then from Jesse and somehow managed to find one buried in the wood chips and sawdust piled up on the workstation.   Decision was made to just keep going and see how it went.  Took awhile but the grinder that was still missing the set screw finally had it.  Jesse and Ron tried to get the sheared off drill bit out, but no luck.  The drilling went on with just the one.

By 2 pm we were just about done with the logs and could see the promised rain in the distance.  It was a great relief when the last log was drilled, inoculated, waxed and loaded into the wagon.  And just in time as the rain started to come down heavier.

The last thing we had to do with pack up the food to take home and store all the supplies in the tent.  One last laugh as Josi found the bottle of back and body pain pills I had on site.   Last goodbyes and everyone headed home.

With Jesse’s help I loaded all the food into my car and the Transit.  Then I went home.  There I put away the food and sat down on the couch.   I was still feeling the effects of my fall last week and my right shoulder was aching big time.  Blast Ron.  I couldn’t have my glass of wine until he was safely home.  I always have to be ready to zip back to THF and rescue him.  Sometimes he can be downright dangerous.