Now that we had the 200 bolts neatly stacked at creek’s edge our next job was to get them across the creek, then about 200 feet up a small hill, across a tiny brook and then up into the pine trees to their final resting place. Should be a piece of cake, right? Yeah. Sure.
It was mid April and still chilly which actually made it easier to work. Light jackets were all we needed to stay warm without getting over heated. All three of us were home from work by 3:30 so at 4 pm we headed out to the farm. We loaded the little wagon up with water bottles, gloves, tie down straps and assorted tools and made our way to the creek. Jo and I crossed the creek and got set up across from where the bolts were stacked. Ron put a few of them at a time into his rigid sled and then Jo and I hauled it across the water. We unloaded the “boat” and put the bolts into the wagon. Them we had to get them out to where Ron had the pallets set up.

It only took a couple of trips for Jo and me to realize that this was not going to be a breeze. This was no lovely straight garden path that we were using. This was pulling a wagon load of logs over rocks, around the trees and their roots, up and down what seemed like hills and valleys, though the muddy brook and up into the trees. Three loads in and we were not keeping pace with Ron. He had the nerve to chastise us. I told him to zip it. He did and we kept going. Thank God we had decided we were only going to do this for 2 hours. Then we had to load everything back in the little wagon and get it and us back to the Transit. So glad to get home. We were wiped, but it did feel good to have the end in sight.

Two days later we were back for another run. This time I decided we would move a bunch of bolts across the creek and then the 3 of us would push and pull them up to the trees. That really did work better and was much easier on all of us. We do make a good team. Again we only worked for 2 hours but we made another good dent in the project.
Sadly all this work made me realize I was going to have to cave and agree to buy a 4 wheeler. If Ron and I were 20 or even 10 years younger I might have resisted more. Once Ron got the green light, he was off to the internet to find the best deal. And he did. But it meant a drive up to Amsterdam NY with our trailer to it pick. Ron insists the massive savings was well worth it. On the way home, I made him stop at the Fort Plain cemetery in Fort Plain NY to see if I could find some of my Fikes’ relatives. I had no luck but it is a lovely place and one of the nicest cemeteries we have visited. Without an indication of where they were actually buried, we had to settle for walking around looking.

A happy man with a new toy. And it made a huge difference in our next run the with bolts. Now we just hooked the wagon up the to wheeler, pulled it across the creek and then just kept going to the pine trees. Not without issues though. Turns out the wagon not really designed for this project. We had a couple of loads dump into the creek and Ron had major trouble backing up. Guess that will come with practice, but nephew Jessie had brilliant idea of just unhooking the blasted thing and repositioning it by hand. Much less yelling going on now. Don and Jessie had stopped by to see how things were going and were shanghaied into helping. And a massive help they were because we got all the bolts moved. Done. Next.
By the way, I was the one who figured out how to put the wheeler into reverse. When Jo and I arrived earlier, Ron was fuming because he couldn’t remember how to do that. I read the instruction manual and by looking at the pictures was able to figure out what he was doing wrong. What would he do without me? Men, they really do hate reading the manuals, don’t they?

So we now had 100 bolts stacked next to our garage. These were all hardwood and about 40 inches long and between 4 – 6 inches in diameter. This is all based on one person being able to move them around. After dinner on April 3, Ron got his grinder out looking to get set up for the next day. He is taking Friday off and has brothers John and Don coming over to take the first crack at the inoculation process. Jo is not scheduled to work so she is part of the work crew too. As this is one of our projects, we have our usual and expected first glitch. The blankety blank shaft was the wrong size and the adaptor did not fit. He checked internet to see if he could find a fix. No such luck. So off to Lowes with bits and adaptor in hand to find solution. No surprise, he came home with another grinder. Cha Ching and Ron has a new toy.
Being Ron, (I do tend to say that a lot) he does an enormous amount of research on any project. Youtube videos are his favorite learning tool. In one video, the guy had used a spring pole and rope to hang his grinder from. That meant he did not have to put it down and pick it up every time. As Ron wants to find a better, faster, well actually easier way to do things. He used bungie cords to hold / suspend the grinder and to ease the weight and repetition of drilling 40 – 50 holes per mushroom bolt.

He was right, this rig up did make it easier on him. And when he shared with other mushroom growers, they thought it was brilliant.
Being no fool, I did not take the day off and escaped bright and early the next morning for work. I had no idea what the plan was or what I would come home to find.

He spent a lot of time thinking out the procedure but not so much on the end result. It was still April and weather not warm enough to be totally outside. He doesn’t yet have a generator (anybody got a spare 2 grand so he can buy his dream one) so he had to have access to power and they set up in our garage. He shoved everything out of his way and set up two long work tables. They are another example of his wheeling and dealing. Bought them from Woodstock Rome and have put them to use many times over the years.Now a garage is not by nature neat and tidy and ours is no exception. But this project left a huge mess. Wood chips were flying everywhere. I expect we will be finding them for years to come. When I got home, I jumped into the fray with my camera first and then with the actual work. We finally did the last bolt about 6 pm with a huge sigh of relief. The four of them were totally wiped. Hugs all around and Don and John headed home.
First half was done, but now we needed to get the other 100 bolts home. On Easter Sunday Ron and I headed north to pick them up, again we had to make two trips but it was a nice day. Much warmer than the last time. We were on our own this time when it came to the inoculation process. That meant getting it done over several days.

Ron rigged up a lighting system for us using bamboo poles and more bungie cords. Made it much easier to see what we were doing. We had a good system going and by Friday night we had them all done. Just in time as Josi and Ryan were going to bring a 4 wheeler and help us get the bolts out to the farm on Saturday.

We started out with one load on our trailer and then using Ron’s new wagon to haul about 5 bolts at a time across the field and into the woods with the wheeler. Ryan decided we would make quicker work of it if he drove to our house and loaded up his pickup and then down the path to where we entered the woods. Boy, was he right. By 11 am we were done and heading home. Sadly the wagon was already a bit worse for wear. Ron not sure that it was going to hold up.
to be continued …. again