After the wicked weather in early July, we had a lot of work and clean up to get done. I was still hoping we could find more of our missing logs and my friend Josi thought a log hunt sounded like good fun. Ron was more interested in getting the logs we still had moved to the south end of our farm for safety. Josi offered to come out last week end and help with the moving.
The plan originally was to get the last 75 logs inoculated with oyster spawn on Saturday July 8, but a family event took priority. Josi agreed to come out Sunday morning for this “quick” project.
It was just the four of us but we all knew what the drill and everything was already set up.  I just brought a few sausage biscuits for breakfast and lots of water.  Josi arrived at 8 am and we jumped right in.

Ron handled the grinding and Jo, Josi and I did the inoculation, waxing and stacking.  In just over 2 hours we were done.  But the day was not over.  Josi had not been across the stream yet to see the operation in progress.   She was about to get more involved than she planned.

First it was shiitake picking time.

Ron gave her a quick lesson on what they look for and he and Jo got started.  I took Josi on a walking tour to the south end to show her what we have going on and planned for that part of THF.  Our path was very over grown and still had pools of water in spots.  But no damage to any of our planted areas.

When we got back to the mushrooms, Ron was gone.  The bags they brought to hold the shiitakes had too many holes in them. He went back to the Transit it find some others.  Came back with one and his missing Leatherman tool and the extra knife.  We had not been able to find them in months.   Now that he had those, Josi was able to help harvest the mushrooms.

It is definitely a learning process.   You have to select the right size, one that is not squished and not too chewed up by critters.  Ron tends to pick them smaller than I would, but I don’t have his eye.  Jo, on the other hand, her picking is up to his standards.   It helps to have more hands as the logs need to be turned and then re-settled on the pallet.  God help you if you spin it too much and it lands in the mud.  Guess who did that?

Boots are a must out there.  We have some serious mud to work in.  If you are not careful you can easily lose your balance or your boots.

Picking all done and now it was time to soak the next set of logs.  Now that we have actual customers with a buying schedule we have to keep the shiitakes growing.  That means soaking logs for 24 hours at a time, a week before you need to pick.

While Ron and Jo had brought the cleaned up water pump back to the farm and run it for an hour to make sure all was well, the thing did not want to start.  I believe it was just annoyed with Ron.  After all, it usually runs for just 15 minutes at a time.

Once they got it running, I handed hose to Josi . She was going to re-fresh the water in our  soaking tanks.  We use the water for as many soaking sessions as we can.

This, of course is the biggest reason for all the mud we are dealing with.  We use lots of water in this project.  Good thing is that none of it goes to waste.  It all ends back in the ground to be used again.   Once all of the tanks were overflowing, it was time to get the logs in the water.

35 logs are divided between the 4 tanks, shoved down into the water and held there with cinder blocks.

Just after 1 pm, we were finally done.  Well, Josi’s part was done.  She got to head home to get  few things done for herself.  Jo, Ron and I headed home to started cleaning and bagging the shiitakes.  That added a few more hours to our day.

Another long day at THF. Made easier with the addition of hard worker, my friend Josi.  Volunteers and visitors are always welcome at Tiny House Farm, but be aware.  If we work a friend this hard, you can expect the same.  Boots and gloves suggested.