Tag Archives: shiitakes

Mohawk Valley Garlic Fest 2019

Learning Adventures, , ,

It is Tuesday morning; I have the day off and we are still slowly working our way through packing up the event supplies. Things have to be washed, sorted and organized. This has been an event saving policy for me. Nothing was forgotten this time, though I must admit supplies were not always found where they should have been. There was a scramble to find the hand soap and I thought I forgot to bring my camera.

We did adhere to Ron’s time line and were out of the house by 5:30 am and pulling into our spot just before 6:30, We were so early we beat the spot markers and had to wait for them to measure and draw the needed lines. But we weren’t the first vendors there. We made the “brilliant” decision to unload everything and get the vehicles parked. Ron’s favorite word used to describe both good and bad moves on someone’s part. Once our chalk lines were in place we jumped into down loading our stuff. We needed to get both vehicles emptied so we could get them parked and out of the way. Brother-in-law Don arrived early too. And his help was greatly appreciated as we struggled to get the tent up. It is a beast to maneuver and the fourth set of hands was a blessing. The forecast called for a rainy day and we needed the tent up fast. I thought we would then be able to take a breath and take our time getting the setup just right. I had forgotten who I was married to. I guess because we had not been the first vendor to arrive, the goal now was to be the first one ready to go.

This was easier said that done. We were able to get the cooking and samples section up and ready to go quickly, but we had to deal with how to set up our new T shirt display and a changed mushroom bolt set up. Ron’s shop class skills came into play again. He had a new sign printed and laminated but they would not able to give him the rigidity he wanted. So he needed to come up with a plan.

And he did. The wire hanger was strong but light and the sign did not flop over. Getting it secured to the middle tent post was another matter. That took some wire and the rubber bands I found.

Only a few hiccups in the process but soon everything in its place and ready to go. We have to tweak the T shirt display. The sign describing it was up too high and most people did not read it. The shirt itself, was a big hit and got a laugh out of everyone. I will be keeping my new location in the future. I liked having my skin care products on the front row as it was easier to catch attendees’ attention and make my pitch.

So there we were, set up and ready to go by 9 am. Just waiting for potential customers. One problem. They would not be arriving until 10 am. The vendor paper work clearly stated opening time. We just did not register that. Well, at least that gave me time to run over and get breakfast sandwiches for us. We were going to need the fuel in order to get through the day.

After a slow start, we had a steady stream of customers all day. The hook was Ron cooking shiitakes for samples and his constant stream of chatter. They listened and bought. Jo once again manned the sample prep table, handing them off to me for sharing with crowd. Don sold all our logs again. People who came asking about them told us again and again they had seen someone carrying one again. They wanted to know what they were for. I ran the register again. We had 11 credit card transactions this time. Ones we probably would not have made without using the Square, but cash was used for the bulk of all purchases. This is why I don’t understand why some keep pushing the idea we will and should be a cashless society.


We learned again that people can be odd. More than one person wanted to eat the shiitakes we had on display. Ron had to be vigilant in making sure they did not follow through on this process. We will have a sign at the next event stating for display only. Do Not Eat. I brought a jar of dehydrated shiitakes with us to show folks what they could do with an extra bag or two. I pulled one out to show a customer. She caught me off guard when she took it from me and bit off a piece to try it.

The rainy day did not materialize and this made the day better for all of us. The bread lady was next to us again and the garlic guy across the aisle. We had been shifted down the row a bit this year. The pickle man was on the end of the row across from us and he always has a line around his booth. The organizers wanted to make sure the aisle did not get jammed up. The crowds started thinning out after 4:45 and I was able to send Jo off to get something to eat. None of us had left the tent since the first customer stopped to watch Ron. Promptly at 5 pm everyone started breaking down their site. We pulled everything out of the tent so we could collapse it. Being so large, it would have blocked others from getting their vehicles close enough to load up their stuff. We dumped what we could back into bins and then sat down to wait for a break in the traffic congestion. I was able to get the Outback moved in and we loaded that up. Ron was finally able to bring in the trailer and we were soon heading home.

Once there we unload only what was most important, and collapsed on the couch. Jo had to work the next day so she was soon off to sleep. Ron and I talked shop while we each had a drink and decompressed. There are things we will change for our next event and others that worked out just the way we hoped. One of those was my idea to bring our “staff” Tiny House Farm T shirts and offer them for sale. And I sold one to a young lady who loved the mushroom house.

Sunday morning was unload day for Ron and me. Jo missed all the fun by being at work. We also had to head out to THF to check on the shiitakes and drop off the supplies. We took a chance and drove the Transit onto the property. It made it so much easier to unload the trailer. One trip in and out. Neither one of us was up for a lot of work. We picked what shiitakes we could and headed home. The plan was to dehydrate them for later use. Over the next few days we will get the rest of the supplies stored away. Lists have already been started with the things we need to replace and ideas for what we need or can change. One big take away is my taking time off before and after is a huge benefit. I was able to help Ron bring in the mushrooms and supplies. And now I am able to get the stuff all put away.

It was another good day for Tiny House Farm. And we are looking forward to attending again in 2020. It is anyone’s guess what Ron will come up with for us to add into our product line.

“eat my shiitakes”

Learning Adventures, , ,

Though Ron would love to find a few more events for THF to sell our wares at, Mohawk Valley Garlic Fest is the last one we are doing this year. He has looked into a few others in our area; but we are not ready for two day events and others are too far away or just cost too much. Sometimes you are just not a good fit for the event too. That is something a vendor always has to factor in when deciding which events to sign up for. It can be very disheartening to run your tally at day’s end and discover you have just barely covered your costs. You also have to factor in the expected clientele at each event. That will change the items that you bring to sell.

We have made a few changes this year to our set up. The biggest (pun indeed) was purchase of a larger tent. Most event sites are ten feet wide but you can pay for a double space. We have done that for the past few years as ten feet is really not that much. At the CCE Herb & Flower Fest we had great wings on each side that gave us more covered space to work with. Turns out Ron thinks it does not look “professional” and he pushed for a different tent. That way we won’t have to worry about getting enough protection from the elements. Because we liked the brand we had, we went with their larger model.

We had a beautiful Saturday morning to work with so we loaded up the new tent; along with the tables, coolers and stove and headed out to Tiny House Farm for a practice set up. There was no way this testing could be done in our yard; the tent was just too big. A practice run was necessary as we did not want to be struggling to get the darn thing up at the Garlic fest on September 14th. We had set up and taken down the smaller tent numerous times over the past few year. It should have been easy enough, but the new one was a totally difference beast. The thing is twice the size of our other tent, obviously. But it took more than twice the effort to get it set up. You have to put the canopy on before you raise the tent frame up. Unless you are someone who can float in midair, you are not going to get it on after the fact. The problem is that once it is on the frame it adds to much weight that Jo and I struggled to get the legs we were working with up high enough to set the pegs.

This is going to be such a change for us. There is so much space inside the tent now that it feels a bit empty. But the biggest difference I will have to deal with is being inside, not outside. My table has always been outside and that left me free to move around, bagging the shiitakes, handling sales, and hawking my products. Now most of my time will be inside and I will have some figuring out to do. We will no longer have our logs outside on right side either. Which will change the way our salesman, Don is going to manage. Right now Ron is planning on having the logs front and center (literally) and Don working his magic from there. Ron will be cooking on the right side of the tent with Jo behind him getting the samples ready.

Once again our mushroom bolts will be sold un-soaked as we are offering them as Christmas presents. I am making special bows for them too. Ones with a more Christmassy feel. But not going over the top.

Ron will be hawking our bolts as the perfect gift when you are looking for something unusual. My skin care products will also be included in the Christmas push. They will make great stocking stuffers. They just need to right signage to catch the attention of those walking by.

A big attention getter we will have at this event and one we hope will sell well, is our new Tiny House Farm T shirts. We had THF shirts made three years ago but they were planned for staff wearing and giving to our returning shitake inoculation volunteers. This shirt was specifically designed for us to see. Ron went all out with it. The shirt itself is a combination of hemp and organic cotton, all sourced from the US. Did you know that New York states is new one of the sources for hemp? And before anyone asks, suggests or even thinks about it… NO we will not be growing hemp on Tiny House Farm. Turns out that crop is even more fiddley than shiitakes are.

The process of getting these shirts made was more than a struggle. To start with we had to decide if the large investment would be worth it. Once we all agreed it was, Ron tweaked his design until he was happy with it. Finding the right company to work with is made much easier by the internet. He was able to contact multiple companies at the same time. The price point was a huge factor in choosing the printing company. But then we had to deal with additional expenses as they advised we needed to use 6 different ink colors in order to get Ron’s desired result. We even took a hit from Labor Day as our shipping was delayed until the day after. BUT, the boxes arrived on Friday. Ron sent me a picture and my response was… Are you happy? It was a stressful couple of minutes before he replied with a strong yes. Both of us took huge deep breaths of relief. The whole process had been nerve racking. Until we had shirts in hand we had no way of knowing if they were going to be right. We also had no idea what the heck we would have done if they were terribly wrong.

But they are fabulous. I had pushed Ron into getting 4 sizes; small, medium, large and extra large. That was really all we could afford to go with as we had to get 50 of each size. So that ending up being a total of 200 shirts. We are going to be selling them for $30, tax included. I know that seems a bit high for a t shirt, but these are 60% hemp and 40% organic cotton. We had them printed by a company in North Carolina so we can state, truthfully this is a completely American made product. We did have one last battle over the shirts. Ron is determined that people will notice the shirts so just stacking them neatly on our tables was not going to do. I do believe that if he had his way, a female model wearing the shirt with the full sales pitch memorized would be a new addition to our event set up. He went through the gambit of possibilities from a simple carboard shirt form to a set of 2 human sized standing forms that would cost us $200. I put the kibosh on that plan. He settled to two flat torso forms that we can hang from the tent frame.

Ron’s immediate thought for advertising our new product was to go back to his friend Jennifer and have her do a make over of her previous shiitake shot. The two of us headed to Rome with cell phones and camera in hand. I tend to get better results with my trusty camera and those shots are easier to upload into my blog. Jen was happy to sign off on his model release with payment of the t shirt, some shiitakes and the promise of lifelong friendship. What she doesn’t realize is that her continued participation in our shiitake inoculation events is assumed.

He has already posted the final result on THF Facebook and our Instagram pages. But I got a couple good shots of him tweaking the scene. He really does love to tweak.

And you can bet Ron will be doing some serious tweaking on to our event planning right up to opening time.

CCE Herb & Flower Fest 2019

Learning Adventures, ,

There are 4 stages to being a vendor at any event. Prep is one of the longest as that entails getting everything ready for sale. This means growing or making your products. Which can mean actual months of work depending on what you are selling. And you have to get your booth set up ready and pray for good weather. The final prep, of course is getting yourself and stock to the site and then getting set up there. Which is a task in and of itself.

This is the third year that Tiny House Farm was a vendor at the Herb & Flower Fest so we knew the routine going in. It should have been smooth sailing for us, but Ron just had to throw in a curve ball with the addition of microgreens being offered for sale. We had no idea if they would sell at all, but we had hopes and of course all the needed supplies. At the last minute and after much discussion, we decided to buy the Square. Now we can give our customers the option to use their credit card.

As always we were up at the crack of dawn so we could repackage our shiitakes into one quart bags. It works out great that way as all we have to do is grab one of the bags out of the cooler and slip it into our stamped bags. We had gobs of shiitakes and I carefully stuffed as many as I could into each cooler. Then it was a quick breakfast, then showers and we started loading up the trailer. By 630 am we were on our way to the Fest.

We took all three vehicles with us this time and somehow, we ended up needed all of that space. Of course the microgreens in their trays took up all of the rear space in my Outback and nothing could be stacked on top of them. When we arrived on site, we discovered that we had been very smart to lower our tent and set out the heavy weights. The wind had kicked up overnight and blown a few other tents over. But the wind had also helped dry the place out. The grass was still soggy but at least the puddles on the roadway were gone. Jo, Ron and I raised the tent and started unloading and setting up. This again was familiar routine. Don arrived and helped us with the finishing touches. Ron’s idea to prop up my shade cloth was a good one. He had attached a PVC pipe T to a six foot long piece of the pipe. Then he drilled a hole into the side bar holding up the shade cloth and through a PVC cap. The cap was affixed to the shade cloth bar and the pole went into the cap. And viola, no more bumping of the head.

Start time was 9 am and by 830 Ron was getting his station set up. He just needed to know where the thermometers were. They are required by the health department. Oh boy, I had forgotten to bring them. Guess what is going to be added to the show stopper list? Jo grabbed her keys and headed home to get them. As she would not be back before we got started, I would be in charges of getting the samples put together. I slipped on Jo’s apron (remember this) washed my hands using our hot water dispenser and pulled on rubber gloves. In the midst of all this, Josi arrived and we were ready to go.

The second stage is the actual event. The gates opened, folks were walking by and Ron was hawking his wares. A mushroom bolt was our first sale. Customer told Don that they wanted to buy a log at our last event but we were sold out by the time they came back around. Jo came back with every kitchen thermometer we had in the house and I gave her back the apron and her spot at the sample table.

Don was kept busy with our logs. He always had a crowd around him and he never stopped his sales pitch. Some logs were taken right away, while others sprouted sold labels. Then we got our first credit card purchase. Now to use the Square you have to plug it into your cell phone or a tablet. My phone was nowhere to be found. I knew it was in the tent area because I had used it to send text to Jo while she was dashing back to Sherrill. She tried calling my phone and we could hear it ring, but still couldn’t find it. Thank goodness the customer pulled out cash so we did not lose the sale. I was supposed to be working the microgreens and my skin care products, but I really needed to find the phone. Jo kept calling it and we kept hearing the ring but no phone. It was 15 minutes later and we had our second request to use a credit card when Jo came to the rescue. My phone had been in the apron pocket all this time. Which explained why when Jo and I were searching the same area we both clearly heard the thing. Good grief. We do have our crisis’s, don’t we?

It was lovely day with a good crowd of people and lots of sunshine. The wind did cause a few issues with our tablecloths, but fix is in the works. Don sold all of our logs included the display. And we did sell some of our greens. Everyone who tried them thought they were delicious. The sticking point seems to be how to use them. I think we will need to a few actual dish ideas to toss out. Maybe even print up a few recipes to hand out.

The third stage of an event is packing up to go home. Everyone is tired, hungry and a bit cranky but it we have to get it done. With so many vendors all wanting to get out, there was little hope Ron could our trailer into play. We packed up everything and waited for the traffic to clear. Our left over greens were given to one of the CCE staffers for her chickens and some were just tossed into their compost bin. Sadly some of our shiitakes ended up in there too. We were luckier than other vendors. Our open trailer allowed us to basically toss stuff onto. As long as we covered it with a strapped down tarp, they would be safe. Other things were shoved into one of the vehicles, hugs for Josi and Don and we were off.

Well, Jo and I left. Ron hung around a bit longer as we were waiting for one of our log buyers to come back and get her log. As of today, Silvia hasn’t made herself known. At home finally, the cars were emptied out and we were done. Well, for that day we were.

The fourth stage is the clean up. This is the most boring, time consuming and annoying stage. We have to unload everything and clean it all before putting it back in the bins. Making note of anything that needs to be replaced too. It poured rain most of Sunday, and we waited until late afternoon to empty the trailer. Now the living room is once again crammed full of stuff. Rainy days all week kept us from getting it all back to the farm. Our next event is the MV Garlic Fest on September 17 and we cannot function with all of this underfoot for the next three months.

There is actually a fifth stage. The after action report. This involves counting the money made, getting said money into the bank account and lots of discussion of how the day went. Every time we do an event we learn something new. Josi recommended I do a better job of hanging up my milkweed stuffed mushrooms. She believes most people thought they were a decoration and not for sale. Ron thinks we need to buy a bigger tent for us to use. My budget is shuddering as I type this. We need to buy another thermometer that I then leave in the cooking supplies bin. We made eight sales using the Square so that was a good addition. I spent some time getting our account organized with prices plus the service charge and photos. And I made sure Ron had the app set up on his phone too. I need a nice sign for my skin care products as people don’t always see what other items we have for sale. Ron and the shiitakes samples are center stage so I need to step up my game a bit.

June 15, 2019 was another good day for Tiny House Farm. We are definitely getting more comfortable in our own skin. But that is the trouble. Jo and I are giddy with happiness when we know what we are doing and what to expect. Ron, on the other hand, to put it plainly, gets bored. And that is when he finds a monkey wrench to throw into our lives. Just to shake things up a bit. And to see what more we can do. One day he just might find out what his two girls can do, when we toss him in the compost pile.

Prepping at THF

Learning Adventures

Not end of the world planning, though being able to grow our own mushrooms, lavender and elderberries might come in handy. No, we are prepping for our first 2019 sales event. June 15 is the Cornell Cooperative Extension Herb & Flower Fest. And we have a lot of work to get done.

It was just two weeks ago when Ron, Jo and I finished the last of our logs for 2019. We went home, drew a breath and jumped right into planning for the CCE. We have all the equipment we need, thank goodness. We just have to buy the a few supplies. But we still have to replace our business cards and signage. Now that we will be selling the microgreens we will need to include them on cards and signage. I am sure you all know what that means. More costs and more work.

Ron created a new area for the process of soaking and dusting the logs. He calls it over the bridge to nowhere. The area we have been using for years gets so water logged that we struggle to get through the mud at times. Not only does the rain cause muddy conditions, but so do we went fill and then empty our soaking tanks. We also had to set up protection for our producing logs. Once the mushrooms are pinning, they have to be kept dry. One stray rain storm and we will lose them all.

So a flat, open area needs to be found and there have to be enough trees close by enough. We use them for necessary shade and to tie tarps to so we have one set up over each A frame set in our efforts to keep the rain away.

Minor setback on this post. I did a update last weekend and believe it or not, something went kerflooey. I couldn’t log in and no one else could get in either. The nice people at HostGater got me back in on Wednesday, but they couldn’t figure what caused the issue. No matter, I am up and running again.

And just in time. Ron and Jo have been zipping out the Tiny House Farm everyday and coming back with pounds and pounds of shiitakes. We moved the air compressor out there so the cleaning can now be done on site. Makes the process much easier but it still a lot of work. Ron had been nervous about our mushrooms, really when isn’t he, as other growers reported flushes much earlier than we did. So he did what he always does, soaked gobs of logs. Now we are close to drowning in shiitakes.

We are also keeping a nervous eye on our mirco greens. These are not just toss the seeds in and water every so often. You have to check them every night to see how they are doing and keep the water lever just right. And worry that they are growing too slowly or too fast. Either one is not good. So hoping people will buy them on Saturday.

All three of us took today off so we have today to get final things done. A wise move on our parts. There is always something that gets forgotten until the last minute. Four days ago I taped our “show stopper” list to the front door. Front and center is the cash box. I will not forget that again. We have pulled all of the equipment from the widespread storage spots and it is collected in our living room.

And hallway.

We learned over the past two years that we need to pull everything out well before the event day. Going through each bin to make sure we have all the supplies and equipment we need is so important. That is when the lists come into play. Each item gets checked off and I put it into correct bin.

The CCE Herb & Flower Fest is the first event we went to as a vendor and, we have to say it remains our favorite. Being just 30 minutes away is a big plus and they let vendors set up the night before. We were out there at 3 pm and got our tent set up. Ron had a plan in mind to fix my shade cover. It works a treat for keeping the sun off me and my products, but it hangs down too low and everyone had to duck to get under it. I banged my head once every five minutes on it. We took the all the heavy things we could. That will make things a bit easier tomorrow. Now all we have to do is get a last batch of my cream made, labels on the jars and some more of our soap labelled. Ron had to get the instructions for the logs to get put together. I am sure there a few more things we need to get done tonight, but it they don’t spring to mind, they are going to wait until tomorrow.

One last thing. Ron pondered most of the winter on a new bag design for our shiitakes. He ordered five different rubber stamps. At the last minute he decided that he wanted the mushroom name to be in red. I had a couple of ink pads left over from my (very brief) rubber stamping days and he really liked the one called cherry red. It was in sad shape from sitting in the box for the last five years. And of course, the company discontinued that color. Poor Ron had to settle for another shade of red. But it turned out great. Now he just has to make sure he gets enough stamped and ready to go.

Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day. Don and Josi will be out there again with us. There is no way the three of us can handle events like these by ourselves. Maybe we could if we stopped offering the samples. But Ron will not hear of that. He wants to have that hook to get folks to stop and taste what he is cooking. After all, we cannot sell them anything if they don’t stop to look, taste and listen.

We have HOW many logs to inoculate?

Mushrooms

Six hundred as a number does not sound that bad. It could be a reasonable enough mortgage or car payment, a nice windfall if it is dollar bills but not so great an amount if you are talking about pennies.  Picking up and moving six hundred of anything can be work, but add to that moving, drilling, then moving again, inoculating and moving again, waxing and moving again. Two last moves into the wagon and then into their waiting stacks. All of this makes 600 almost an insermountable number. Especially when the big event is over and you are back to being just three working together to get the rest done.

Saturday, May 4 was really a nice day. We got a break in the rain and the sun was actually going to shine a bit. Ron and Jo were out on Tiny House Farm early getting final set up completed. I was doing the usual last minute coffee and donut run before I headed out. Learning from last year and having our sheds on site, we were able to haul some of our supplies out the day before. And I was not going to repeat the charcoaled sausage biscuits. This time each piece was heated up separately and it worked a treat. We pre-grilled the hotdogs and hamburgers too. I stuffed them all into a cooler lined with towels and then used Sterno fuel to keep them piping hot until lunch time. That really worked too. Made it much easier to bring the food out and have everyone eat and then jump right back into work.

Our crew this year was again a combination of seasoned and newbie workers. We had Josi, Lynne, Jenn, Don and John back again as the backbone of our day. Lynne did us a solid by bringing two others with her; Pam and her son, Tom. Lynne’s son Karl and his friend Max came too and spent their time taking pictures and video of the process.

Ron was in his glory as he truly loves sharing knowledge with others. But he was even happier to find out that one of our new workers, Terri has been growing microgreens and was more than happy to talk with him about it. If it wasn’t for the work we had to get done, he would have spent the entire time talking with her about his new favorite subject. He soaks up knowledge every chance he can from any source he can find. People with experience are his favorite source.

Once the safety briefing was over and everyone had themselves a sausage biscuit, we jumped into the work process. There were a lot of logs to get done. I know I have said that before, but it was so true. Rich and Mike Davis took to the drilling right away and that freed Ron up to do the log runs across the steam and down to our south end. Jo, Don Josi and I showed the newbies how the other jobs needed to be done and we got started. We made sure that everyone took a turn at each job and the logs worked their way through the work tent and into the trailer.

We broke for a quick lunch of hotdogs or burgers and got back to work. Over the course of the day, we slowly lost our workers. By 5 pm it was just Ron, Jo and me and we were totally beat. A serious dent had been made in our log stacks, but we still had more than half of them left to get done. The three of us slowly made our way up to the road for the trip home. Me, I was walking very slowly. I had made a huge mistake by wearing my rubber boots for the entire day. They have no support in them and I paid the price.

Ron and I headed back to THF on Sunday. Jo, lucky girl was at work so she missed out on this second day. I made sure to bring my old sneakers with us. No more wearing those boots all day for me. We were just going to get done what we could between the two of us. Ron thought it would be a great idea to show me how to do the drilling. Turns out I am not good at that job. It was easier on my nerves to have Ron do that part of the job. Once he had a stack done, we both inoculated and then waxed logs. We stayed again until about 5 pm and then dragged ourselves back to the road and drove home. Thank goodness we still had hotdogs in the frig that we just needed to reheat.


With more logs still to get done, we made the decision try and get some done after work during the week. Those shifts were really hard. I was the last one home from work at 4 pm and we didn’t get out to the farm until 4:30. We could only work until 7:30 or so and we had to get home and get some sleep. The weather got in our way too. As did other farm projects. We still had our lavender to get planted. That is another story.

The weather was warming up and it probably was a good thing that it was usually only the three of us working in the tent. As the day went along, it got warmer and warmer. We were lucky with the breeze that blew through every so often. The heat made the work harder and we seemed to move slowly through the work. But we kept at it, slogging our way through the stacks of logs.

We learned a few new tricks to get the logs inoculated. Getting the blasted things to stop rolling around was always the hardest part of this process. Ron was good enough at the drilling to hold each log with one hand and drill with the other. While waxing you could also hold the log still and dab the wax with the other. But inoculating; you needed both hands on the plunger. Most of us don’t have a third hand to hold the log still. Jo started bracing one end actually against the wheels and that work pretty well for the most difficult logs.

It was long, tiring job but finally, finally on May 25th we were done with the last log.

An lovely empty space is all that remains now that all the logs safely across the stream and busy getting ready to give us shiitakes next year.

We have learned more this year. No more batches of 600 logs for sure. That really is too much. Especially if we have only one day for our shiitake event. Next year we are either going to plan for two days of volunteers, all in one weekend or over two weekends. Or we will have do some serious prep work before hand. It might end up being a combination of the two. We cannot really have a lot more workers on site at the same time. Our tent isn’t that big and we don’t want to have them off doing something just for the sake of keeping busy. They are coming to learn how this process works, not pick up rocks or to do some weeding in our three acre field. Those might make other really fun work events though. Something to keep in mind I think.

MV Garlic Fest 2018

Learning Adventures,

We three are slowing recovering from our day.  For the first time, it was just the three of us manning our booth.  And, boy was it an eye opener.

As usual getting ready for September 8 started weeks in advance.  Ron had to plan which and how many logs we were going to soak in order for us to have enough shiitakes to sell.  The weather this year had played havoc with all of his plans.  So hot and dry and then days of rain.  It really messed with his schedule.  So, being Ron, he decided to take no chances.  We would soak just about every log that we could.  I honestly don’t know how we survived the last week of August and first week of September.  Every night after work we headed to THF to pull logs out of the tanks and toss another load in.  That was moving a totally of 100 logs each night.  Exhausting work even in the best of time, but when you add in the heat and humidity we were dealing with…. it got old very fast.  Of course we still had to pick what shiitakes were ready, clean them and get them into the frig.

I was also busy getting more things ready to sell.  I decided to try my hand at sewing lavender sachets.  My plan was to get started on this project in July.  But I was dealt a serious set back when I discovered my sewing machine laying on the floor. Seems my Milly cat knocked it off the table.  I didn’t think much of it, as it landed on the thick rug and really did not fall that far.  The next week when I sat down to start sewing I was greeted by an ugly grinding noise.  A couple of phones calls later and I had a place I could take it to. Unfortunately they were closed until the beginning of August.  I had to be patient, but it was well worth the wait. Not only did they fix my machine, but they also sharpened my sewing shears.  It was lovely to have them cutting properly again.

I went through my stash of material and cut out lots of 4 inch squares.  A few minutes of sewing, a bit of iron use and I had a small pile of lovely lavender sachets.   I think they are pretty darn cute and they smell great too.

Without warning all of our soaked logs suddenly decided to start doing their job and produced shiitakes for us.  After the first few days of picking 12 and 15 pounds at a time, we began to get a bit nervous.  They just kept coming.  We crammed every bag we could into the big frig, the tiny one and then Ron took 15 pounds to his brother, John’s frig for storage.  It was crazy.   How were we going to get all of them to Little Falls?   Not sure we had enough coolers and I really did not want to buy another one.

In the middle of all this I still had to work with my elderberries.  Picking, cleaning and freezing them in one pound bags.  Right now I have 15 pounds in our freezer waiting for me to find the time to try making jelly.  I did get another batch of my tincture going and some elderberry syrup too.  That is always a lovely thing to have in your frig.  And I broke the little toe on my right foot.  I smashed it into the same chair, twice.  Just want I needed this week.

I had taken Thursday and Friday off, while Ron had Friday off.  Trips to the bank, the store, John’s house, and all the other last minute things were done by Friday afternoon.  Or so I thought.  At 8 pm we got set up in the kitchen to re-bag the shiitakes into quart bags.   At our first event we measured them out on site and learned immediately that we needed a better way.  We got started and quickly worked our way through our first 100 lunch bags.  That was when Ron realized we only had 200 bags total.  This to use for what was just over 100 pounds of shiitakes we had on site.  For some reason when I was at the store I grabbed one bag not thinking we should have extra on hand.  So another trip to the store for me.  By 9:30 pm we were done.  All shiitakes stuffed back into the frigs and we headed to bed.  Early wake up call tomorrow.

So beat from the past two weeks of hard work, Ron and I just could not sleep.  Thank goodness we had already loaded most of the equipment on the trailer and in my Camry.     Up at 3:30 am and jumped right into the day.  All of my natural skin care products into the car, along with cash box and other small boxes.  Then it was time to get the shiitakes into coolers.  Ice into the coolers and then as many bags as I could fit in. Thank goodness they fit into the coolers we had.  These went into the back of Ron’s Transit and we all grabbed a quick breakfast.  Showers, dressed and out the door we went.  It was a hour drive to Little Falls and we arrived right on Ron’s scheduled time.

After doing four events, our set up system goes really well.  Unload everything and move the vehicles.  Tent goes up first and then everything else fits in and around it.   We were done with plenty of time for getting another breakfast and bathroom calls.  Each vendor was given a discount on a breakfast sandwich from the Ann Street Restaurant & Deli.  It was just eggs, with sausage, ham or bacon, and I don’t know what they did, but it was simply delicious.

The gates opened at 10 am and we did not have another spare minute.  With just 3 of us running the show,  it was all hands on deck for all tasks involved.  By 5 pm, I had just over 20,000 steps on my Fitbit most of it done in our 20 foot wide vendor space.  Back and forth from offering up samples, to the mushroom log spiel then across to ask if someone wanted to try my calendula cream.  I was in charge of the money again, while Ron again was the grill master and Jo was putting together the samples.  All of us focused on selling the products.

It was a long day but again we had fun, burned a ton of calories and as always, learned a lot.   Planning is the key.  Making lists and checking things off is the way to ensure you don’t forget something.  Even then you will, but you will find a way around that if you have planned well enough.  Preparing for one of these events is seriously hard work, but getting everything put away again is even harder.  We got home about 7:30 pm and just left everything on the trailer.  Beat to the bone, none of us had the energy to bring anything more than ourselves into the house.  All the equipment and supplies were covered with a tarp and strapped down.  After all it is not a matter of just getting it into the house.  Everything has to be cleaned and repacked into one of our many bins.  We still don’t have the shed on THF moved to its new location (that is another day’s post) so it is all going back in the living room for now.  And I have already started making a list of things we need to replace, like the frying pans and heat diffuser. And the two hot pot holders that Ron burned to a crisp.  He has a habit of doing that.  I may have to look into finding him flame proof ones that he simply cannot destroy.

As exhausting as these events are, they are crazy fun.  We learn something new at each one so we get better and better at it.  And the people we meet are just terrific.  Both other vendors and customers.   There is a special kick you get when someone stops by and says they brought from you at the last event and are back for more.  Repeat customers; a very cool thing.