Starting Fresh

Into the woods

The chosen tree

Timber!!

The inoculated dowels before being hammered in the log

Wax on!



I have titled this post "Starting Fresh" because that is what I'm doing with this blog. My original idea for starting the blog was to look appealing for a farming grant I thought I was going to apply for. It turns out I didn't feel ready for the commitment to the grant- although I am still committed to really getting serious about homesteading. This has always been our plan anyway, to grow and raise our own food. I am ready for the challenge. I know nothing will happen over night so to keep me from getting discouraged I am going to blog about our accomplishments and successes and also our failures and mistakes. I am also blogging so I will have a way to remember all the cute things my kids say and do along the way.
Today has been very windy- I mean scary windy. The wind has blown the cover off our well house and loosened a few nails in some metal roofing on the top of the well house so that it makes this loud noise every few minutes. Our power was even off for about three hours, which was very hard for my plugged in kids. They survived and actually had some fun making music and playing with playdoh.
This past weekend Allen and I inoculated eight oak and one sweetgum log with shiitake mushrooms. It was fun -kinda like building instead of gardening. First we cut down the oak, then cut it into 4 to 5 foot long sections and then we hauled the logs to the barn- which was difficult only because the lawnmower cart we were using came apart. Once we finally got the logs back to the barn we cleaned them with a scrub brush, just to remove the moss and dirt, then we drilled holes about 4 inches apart. In the holes we hammered in wooden dowels(I ordered online at Oyster Creek Mushroom Company) that were inoculated with the shiitake spores. Over the holes we "painted" melted canning wax. Lastly we found a good shady stand of pines and laid the logs on a pallet cabin style. Now we wait if all goes well we should have shiitakes this spring and fall for the next few years.