Posted on 11/11/2023 5:55:25 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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Can’t say I didn’t envision it with corrugated metal roofing on it. I think 6 foot truss spacing is a bit big for that though.
Easiest mushroom to grow outdoors. Red Wine Cap.
Stropharia rugoso-annulata
“Wine Cap features a white stalk with a port wine colored cap. These crisp, slightly nutty flavored mushrooms are great for braising, sauteing, grilling and pickling. Besides being a choice edible, Wine Cap is also a natural soil builder, weed suppressor and attractive landscape ornamental. They can quickly be grown as an annual on straw, or as a short lived perennial if planted on a denser woody substrate such as wood chips. Wine Cap can fruit throughout the growing season, especially after a heavy rainfall or change in temperature. Beds can often produce more than you can eat!”
https://www.fieldforest.net/category/wine-cap-mushroom-spawn
Most people growing shiitake to sell, get their spawn from Field and Forest. I’m going to have another go at them come Spring. Finally figured out a good way to set up the 80% shade they need and keep critters away, like my goats.
Pallets with fairly tightly spaced boards. One on the ground, four as walls and one as a roof. Should easily fit a dozen 3 foot logs in there. Now that I have a tank sprayer, it will be easy to mist the logs to keep them from drying out which is what happened last year.
They also sell indoor growing kits for many varieties;
“Table Top Farm mushroom grow kits are an excellent choice for kitchen growing, gifting, and class projects. Our pre-inoculated and incubated hardwood sawdust blocks arrive ready to fruit. They’re easy to grow, and we guarantee the first fruiting!”
https://www.fieldforest.net/category/ready-to-fruit-mushroom-kits
At less than $30 per single variety kit, it’s a good way to try a variety to see how you like them.
Throw some in with your roasted veggies.
Thanks for posting! I love most mushrooms but am still a bit squeamish around them.
Sometimes, if we've had a rainy year, we get "mushrooms" that look like this on the sides of our trees:
Another time a neighbor found some unusual mushrooms in her yard, posted a photo on NextDoor asking what they were and it turned out they were a much sought-after delicacy - she sold them for $1200 to a fancy restaurant! Now those are mushrooms I would welcome in my yard.
Today is a Catch-Up-On-Canning day ..... working on the Apple Maple Jam. I have that peck of Winesaps I bought last Tuesday at the orchard & I need to use them before they start deteriorating. I ate one yesterday & it is really sweet, more so than when I bought them.
All my canning stuff got put away when we had company, so I have to drag it out again :-( I do not want to have to drag it out a 3rd time, so today/tomorrow are the days I am trying to finish up.
If the Apple Maple Jam experience is uneventful, I may try to to do the Blackberry Merlot today as well .... that would give me all the jelly/jam I need for Christmas presents - I have to give some of the presents at Thanksgiving, when I see out of town folks. The Rosemary Fig Wine jam is not a “necessity”, but it would be nice to have that as well ... we’ll see how things go today/tomorrow.
“I’ll only be digging one pair of holes today to get that first frame in the ground so it can set up overnight.”
Digging holes is the fashion around here this week, too. Beau is replacing the posts at the entry to the barn yard so he can hang a better gate there. It gets used a lot and after 35 years it was due.
We also finished the last two kennel upgrades in the Kennel Shed. They all have cement surrounds now - the male dogs pee on the fencing, which eventually rusts it. We also made them longer so each dog has more room to run up and down. I got to mix cement this week, which was actually a lot of fun. We used the take-off shaft from the skid steer, attached to the ‘teeth’ that turn the cement bucket. I’m probably not naming the parts correctly, but it worked like a charm.
My only problem is getting up into the skid steer in the first p;ace. I’m only 5’ 1” tall (to Beau’s 6’3”) so I bring a step-stool to get into the machine in the first place. Meh. You do what has to be done no matter how dumb you look while doing it, LOL!
Nice dirt! :)
“I’m not 100% certain what to do with the rhubarb roots when I dig them out. I think I’ll pot them and mulch around the pots, then figure out where to replant them come spring. If that’s wrong thinking someone please let me know.”
They’re dormant by now, so that should work. The only thing I’ve ever known to kill Rhubarb is if it gets Crown Rot from being too wet. And it has to be really, REALLY wet - standing water wet - for that to happen.
I’m still waiting! ‘Catalog Season’ is my favorite time of the year! :)
LOL! We’ll all have ‘High Tunnel Envy’ when you’re done! :)
Again, that Apple Maple Jam is DA BOMB! That’s some of the best stuff I’ve ever made. So happy you shared that recipe. Or did I? LOL! I forget.
I found this recipe, though they’re using the glaze on chicken.
https://thebikinichef.com/recipe/sesame-honey-glaze/
Thank you! I will see if this works. I’m surprised to see if soy sauce can be made to turn white by adding raw honey. Unless I’m reading this wrong. The photo shows a white sauce in a bowl next to the meat, and it does look like what we ate. Super find! Try it yourself over air fried or roasted Brussels sprouts. It was very tasty! Thanks again!
Getting no where quick on holes, even with a digging bar. I’m 18” down in the first one and am about to go do what I should have done last night. Pour some water in the holes. It’s dry as a bone and heavy soil gets hard when dry. Going to pour it in until it’s 1-2” deep. Let that soak in, repeat as needed. Hopefully it won’t all just go sideways instead of down.
I’ll start the rest of the holes in the meantime. That way I can start watering those too. Need to get water today so I guess I’ll stick one of my IBC tanks down by the tunnel spot and fill it. Then I can run two hoses at a tiny trickle overnight in pairs of holes.
On a good note, at that 18”, I’m just starting to see a color change to orange/red clay subsoil. That means I have 18” of brownish yellow top soil. Clayey loam is what it’s classified as. I know it gets as shallow as 12” of top soil but I can’t complain about that.
Ah sure I can. Why can’t it be fluffy brown loam? Oh yeah, I gotta make it that way.
I was checking out St Louis Compost this morning. The closest location for their certified organic compost is 1-1/2 hours away or 80 miles. One yard in the bed of the truck and four yards on the trailer will give me 3” in the tunnel.
Just decided that I will not be putting plastic film on the tunnel until after we get a bunch of rain and the soil is moist all the way to China. Can only imagine how much water it would take to get it moist down to 1 foot right now. Maintaining a certain moisture level won’t be so bad.
The winter onions don't get very big. We use them any time green onions/shallots are needed for a recipe. They have a nice oniony flavor and don't typically get hot until the weather gets hot.
My folks dug their original starts at an old farmstead across the road not long after they built out here in '63. That house was torn down in the '70s but the onion patch is still there in spite of 50-ish years of utter neglect. They require absolutely no care. My patch started as one shovelful that I dug from Pops patch few years back. Stick em in the dirt and they'll be there as long as there's dirt for them to grow in.
and just like that, a quart of water, let sit 10 minutes, jab around with the digging bar to help it go downwards, another 10 minutes, dig around again to mix and pull 3” of muddy soil out. That puts me at 21” deep on those two holes. Do that a few more times and I’ll be at my 30”. Poles are going in 27-28”.
In other good news. I went from 8 frames, 5’ on center to 7 frames, 6’ on center.
My 6th hole was at 30’ and now, my 5th hole will be at 30’. (5x6=30) (6x5=30)
The starter hole is only 10” deep but that’s 10” x 2 holes that I don’t have to dig. I also spent a lot of time laying out those starter holes so it’s good to have the first pair and now a pair near the other end already/still in place.
I’m going to get this one frame in and then I’ve got other things to do. Might still water, jab and dig at holes a little here and there in between other stuff. Will see how many I can get in the ground Thurs/Fri when I’m off again. Might poke around in the holes a little after work tomorrow and Wed, by flashlight.
Back to digging.
I found that recipe in my Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving - page 122. It looked good & I knew you had apples & maple syrup, so I passed it on to you!
My first batch is in the canner - 4 half pints (makes 8 total), but I can only process 4-5 at a time - glass top stove, so don’t want the pot to be too heavy. I am thinking, if I can get another batch of apples, I’d like to do a couple of pints - a half pint won’t last long.
I had maybe a cup to a cup & a half of ‘juice’ left - it’s going to make a tasty syrup for something! You mentioned the jam looks great in the jars - it does!! :-)
Ball’s Complete Book of Home Preserving, 2006, Pg 158, Brandied Apple Rings is pretty good.
I ended up with quite a bit of juice which I also canned. I could see the juice mixed with syrup poured over the top of the apple rings on top of vanilla ice cream.
I want one
I once made a comment "hydraulics are mankind's greatest invention". Might have been here. I can't recall.
Someone came back with "hydraulics are great, but I vote for hot running water".
I'm still going with hydraulics. I can wash up with cold water, but I can't move lots of heavy stuff without that machine.
Oh yum! The Apple Maple Jam would probably be good with a little bourbon or rum in it, too.
have already ordered and rec'd seeds for next year from MNGardner...heirloom seeds....of course I saved some seeds from this year's crop as well....
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