But it takes a lot of work. The Mohawk Valley Garlic Festival is this Saturday and we are in crunch mode getting ready for it. This involves pulling our tent, tables and assorted other supplies out of the storage shed and dumping them back in our living room. Talk about an obstacle course. We have bins for the smaller stuff; the cooking supplies, table covers, display pieces, and all the other odds and ends we will need. Then we have the coolers and wood rack for our logs. My leg muscles are getting a good work out with all the stretching I am doing, making sure I clear each bin as I make my way around the room.
We have finally cleaned all the garlic we plan to bring. Now comes the final sort and Ron tackling his new project. He bought some nifty bags that he is going to fill with heads of garlic and offer them for sale. And a few more boxes are added to the pile.
This was my project. We are taking 21 logs with us this time and I had to make bows for each of them. I did it over a couple days, getting each step done for them all before moving on. Tuesday night just after 10 pm I was done. Had gotten started with the final gluing and was simply going to get them all done that night. This time we were sure to add the length of wire before I glued the middle piece on. One lesson learned from the CCE Herb and Flower Festival. Hot glue and I don’t really get along. I woke the next morning with more than a few scorched fingers.
Last weekend we took the time to do a practice run for our shitake sample procedure. Jo was going to be in charge of filling the little boats, adding the pesto and the dot of sriracha. Another lesson, we need to have a way to keep the boats from flying away in a breeze. Which is why we have the plate sitting inside a plastic bin.
Ron will be manning the stove and I will be the one handing out the samples, encouraging people to try and then buy our shiitakes.
It was windy as we practiced and that reminded Ron that we needed a proper napkin holder, one with an arm to hold the stack down. One of his potholders caught fire so we need to replace that too. And we need the right sized plastic spoons for Jo to use. Once again we determined that using the pastry bag for the pesto was just not going to work.
On top of all this, the mushrooms still have to be grown. Which means trips out to THF for lots of soaking and hauling and worrying over our logs. The weather is not being helpful with the cooler temps and rain. This is the first year we are actively working to grow shiitakes this late in the year. It has been slightly stressful as we really don’t know what to expect. It would be so much easier on our nerves if we were selling a non perishable product. Maybe Jo has the right idea when she talks about making plush mushrooms.
Ron and I both arranged to take Friday off, giving us more time to get ready for Saturday. I had a few extra days off to schedule and decided to take today too. That was a good decision. Jo and I headed out first thing this morning to dust one set of logs with diatomaceous earth in our continuous battle with the blood thirsty slugs. Or are they shiitake hungry? So wet out on THF and the mud made it difficult to get around. The mushrooms looked pretty good though. Then home to get assorted errands done. I managed to find the right spoons for the pesto which made my day very happy. I got some more organizing done but somehow managed to lose our master list. Cannot find it anywhere.
Ron got home and we got ready to go pick mushrooms. Rainy weather caused a delay but we finally started out. We got out to the logs just in time for a pouring rain storm. Had to make mad dash for our tent to get out of it. Soaking wet by that time and chilled to the bone. Wet mushrooms are not good at all, so there would be no picking until the rain stopped.
The rain died off and we raced out to get the shiitakes picked and our “pretties” pulled out of the soaking tanks and loaded into the wagon. Raced might be a bit of a stretch. The mud really makes it hard to move around.
Some pretty shiitakes. So hoping they sell well on Saturday. And hoping we see a few familiar faces at the Mohawk Valley Garlic Festival in Little Falls, NY.