After a brief scare, the weather channel has assured me that Saturday April 16 is going to be fabulous.  Sunny and 66 degrees for the high.  So happy.  We did have lots on rain on Monday so we will still be dealing with a bit of mud.  Please wear solid shoes or work boots.  And if you want to get across the stream to take a tour the rest of the farm, you will to bring a pair of tall boots.  Would not suggest you plan to wear them all day though. Unless they are comfortable.  Most of the work will be done standing and walking.  We will have a couple of pairs that you can borrow if need be.  Or you can take a chance on hitching a ride in our trailer.

Wear work clothes that you won’t mind getting dirty and dress in layers.  It will be cooler in the morning.   We will have extra work gloves, but if you have your own, please bring them.
We plan to get started at 9 am and will go as long as the work and our crew lasts.  It would be wonderful to not only get all the logs inoculated but also across the stream and stacked in their final resting place.

It is easy enough to find us.  THF is right on Route 26 in Augusta NY.  Parking will be along the road where our street number sign is.  Make sure you pull in far enough to be safely off the road.  There is a lot of traffic along that route.  You will know you are in the right place when you see Ron’s red Transit.  You will drive past us and use Munz Road as your turn around spot.

Once you park you will walk to the entrance, just past our street sign and then head down the path.  By the time you get there, Ron will have everything set up and ready. He is so excited that I have had to put my foot down and tell him that, no, he is not camping out and he will wait until the sun comes up before he heads over.

Our work stations will be in the tent. Tables set up for the drilling, inoculating and waxing. I can tell you from experience that each job is harder than it sounds, so we will have people switch jobs after awhile. After all, you need to learn all aspects of this project.

Being us, and knowing full well that stuff happens, we will try to be prepared for all unexpected events. First aid kit, protective eye wear, bug spray, tissues and lots of TP will all be on hand. Along with an assortment of tools and duck tape. Breakfast and lunch are on us as well as snacks and some treats.  Coffee will be available and hot water for those tea drinkers. Like me.  Water and juice too. If there is anything special you need, please let me know. Lynne, we already have your Fritos. Please let us know if you are coming so we can have a rough head count.

Fair warning we have lots of tripping and snagging hazards out on THF.   We will have a burn barrel set up, so you can toss any little branch into that to get it out of your way.  Again we remind you about the left behind garbage we are still dealing with.  So keep your eyes open while moving about the place. And lousy cell service out there. Just so you know.

We finally have a winner in THF raffle. Our tiny house has finally been used.

Kate was part of the fabulous team that helped us get the mushroom bolts from up north down to Augusta. It was Ron and me, brothers Don and John with nephew Jesse who drove up with a rented truck. Decided that making one trip with a large load would be easier on us and our Transit. We were meet by Josi, her son Ryan, sister Kate and her husband, Pete. Ryan, our log provider and his daughter Camryn were also there finishing up.

Excuse the sun spots but it is the best picture I got of our work crew.
We made quick work of loading up over 330 logs and then headed back to THF. It was a lovely drive along Route 12. Little traffic, good company and lots of sunshine. Snapped a quick photo of most of the crew before we got the second half of the job done.

John swept out the truck while Kate and Pete’s dog, Bernadette checked his work. Many hands make light work. We were done in about 30 minutes.

Of course, being one of Ron’s adventures, all could not possibly go smoothly. When all the logs were unloaded and stacked, and Kate used our tiny house, we loaded up to head home. And the truck got stuck. It was muddier than we thought it was and the truck was just not having it. Thank goodness Ron thought to ask Pete to hang around to make sure we got out. He came back in with his pickup, Jesse got behind the wheel of the truck and the rest of us searched the remaining junk piles for something, anything we could shove under the tires. I found a piece of plywood but Don, he saved us by finding two car mats. That, and the rest of us pushing did the trick. I must be getting used to all this. Never doubted for a minute that we would get out. Of course, I did think we might have to call on Dick’s tractor again. Hugh sigh of relief, hugs all around and we all headed home. Another wonderful day.
Kate, your prize will be waiting for you at THF mushroom inoculation party next Saturday. You must attend to claim it.
All others, while you won’t be getting a prize for coming on April 16 you will learn how you can grow your own Shiitake mushrooms, have some great food and great fun. Come on – if you have read even one of my posts, you know we always have fun at THF. And everyone should live through one of Ron’s adventures. I promise, it will only make you stronger.

It is the beginning of our 2016 mushroom season. Last year, as we knew just enough to be dangerous, we managed to get our 200 bolts hauled home and stacked, drilled, inoculated, waxed, and stacked again with just the five of us doing the work. It is probably a good thing that we did not know just how much work it was going to be. We might not have even started the process. Took us over two and half days. I was only able to help for a few hours each day. Work, you know. Then we had to load all the bolts up and get them over to THF. All that work paid off early with some great Shiitake mushrooms. This year we are going to be doing 350 logs and are smart enough to realize that we need a few more hands involved.

Over the past 5 years, I have tried to persuade, coax, cajole, or simply brainwash friends into helping me pull down the wallpaper in our hallway. Even with bribes of drink and good food, I was not able to convince even one person. But this will be different. This is not a run of the mill boring, everyday task. This is something new and different.

Ron has received confirmation on delivery date of our mushroom spawn and we are finalizing date of log pick up. So we are shooting for April 16 as our inoculation date. We are looking for volunteers to come and learn the process by helping us out. Our volunteers will not only learn the process of inoculation but be offered Shiitakes when we start harvesting later this year. We are not planning to start selling them until 2017 but we should have quite a few to share this year.

As usual, these 3 Delaneys will be out at THF bright and early Saturday morning doing final set up for the day. Well, after the sun is up that is. While we did all the work last year in our garage, we ended up doubling our effort. Not only did we have to bring the logs to our house, we then had to get them out to the farm. This time we are going to the work where the mushrooms will then grow. We will have work stations for each task. Drilling, inoculating, waxing and stacking. With tents, a generator, work gloves for all, an ATV for possible hauling duties, and hopefully lots of laughter. Come for a couple of hours, come for half the day, come for the whole day.

There will be lots of good food; breakfast of sausage biscuits and muffins and lunch with snacks too. Coffee and hot water for tea.

If enough people show up, one of you will finally be the first person to use our lovely outhouse. Don’t worry, we have a heater for it now so no risk of a cold tush. I will be doing one of my most fun things in preparation for the day. Baking lots of cookies to share; including fan favorite soft molasses. We promise, all the tools will be out of the way.
We are hoping for a good sized crew to show up on the 16th, but we do have to ask that small children not come. This is a farm project and we will be working with tools and there will be lot of people milling about the place. We have a stream, lots of rocks, and still way to much garbage about the place. Including glass and metal.

We got about 5 inches of snow last night. So hoping that this is a one time thing and spring will decide to stick around. We can work in the heat, in the rain, and kind of in wind. But not in the blowing snow.
So plug the address of THF into your GPS – 2242 Rt 26 Oriskany Falls NY and meet us there on Saturday, April 16 starting at 9 am. If you cannot come then, we will probably still be working on Sunday.

I was safely at work on the 31st while Ron dragged Jo and brother Don out to THF for another project. It was time to get our winter mushrooms to be set up in lean-to stacks. The winter variety does not need to be soaked for 24 hours in order to force the fruit. All I know is that I looks like they will be easier to harvest this way. Leaving them in crib stacks may take up less space, but you then have to take the stacks apart and get down in the dirt to get all your mushrooms. Besides we are not growing on a flat area and lean-to works best there too. And it will be easier to cover the logs once they start pinning.  Soggy mushrooms are not a good thing.
Ron, being Ron  had been pondering about a solution for about a year.  He had done of a lot of research on how to create the best lean-to, but wanted less work and expense involved. Had pretty much decided how he was going to get this done, but he never knows exactly how his plans are going to work   He just gets started and waits to see how things go. Fixing and jerry rigging things on the fly.  I don’t know if he watched much of the MacGyver TV show in the late 1980’s but I was a huge fan. Now that “mcgyvering” is an official verb, he just loves using it.  His solutions are never as dramatic as the stuff done on the show, but they are fun and work.

This was the final support system he came up with. His first attempt using just wire to hold the side beams together was not strong enough. Usually he does this kind of thing by himself or with me. I have learned exactly how to offer suggestions to him, though it has taken me years to develop the right technique. When Ron works with his brothers, things don’t always go as well. All three of them have their own ideas of how things could or should be done and they are so alike. It can get a bit testy at times. Working with just Jo goes pretty well for him too. She doesn’t offer suggestions, simply follows his lead. She might be the smartest of all of us.

I did have to question Ron though. My research showed the log ends actually resting on the ground. I wanted to know what was with the pallets. He had a good reason – slugs. A major bane of mushroom growers. Nobody wants to buy a slug chewed Shiitake. He is hoping that by keeping the logs up off the ground that will give him one more level of protection. It will mean he has to keep a closer watch on the moisture level of the logs. But he thinks it will be a more than even trade-off.

Ron must have told her to show him how she really feels. While Jo is a solid hard worker, you can tell that she is not thrilled. Can’t blame her.  A day of hauling boards, shifting logs and dealing with her Dad.  She would be much happier back at home, warm and dry and sitting in front of her laptop. Though they had spots of sunshine, it was a cold and rainy day with thunder sounding in the background.  Their hard work paid off, with 5 racks done with 3 more to go.  I can see a trip out to THF in my near future.