Hen of the Woods

This is 11 pounds of Hen of the Woods mushroom. Grifola frondosa, which also goes by the common name Sheep's Head, is a fantastically good eating mushroom. Add to that the fact that it would be almost impossible to mistake anything else for it and you will understand why this is one of my favorites. This is the third year we have picked from the same area so if you find one remember to look again next year. Specimens over 100 pounds have been found but this 11 pound cluster is fairly normal. This one is safely dried and stored away, ready to add it's distinctive touch to many meals to come. I like to powder some of the dried mushroom and use it as you would use a spice in almost any meat dish. A Cream of Mushroom soup made with these has the unfortunate side effect of making any other mushroom soup you try bland and unappetizing. Look for Hen of the Woods near the base of  big,old hardwoods, especially oaks.

Wool Gathering

  Here I am with my trusty helper,Lily. Fortunately watching me type turned out to be boring so she has gone back to harassing the cat. The cat doesn't seem to mind that much as she only occasionally uses her claws to discourage Lily's interest.
   The most viewed post for this week was one I called, DIY Drum Carder. I have had several request for plans from that post and am sorry to say I do not have any. Most of my projects come about when a need runs into a pile of junk within the depths of my shop. I very seldom start out with more than a rough idea of how the thing is going to work. I just start building with what ever I have on hand that will do the job. Sometimes a project will stall due to lack of parts and sit for months until that  AH HA moment when something shows up that will work.The point I'm trying to make is that these projects are not necessarily designed all that well but were designed to work with what I had.
  All that said, I am perfectly happy to answer questions about these projects, just don't expect A to Z directions on how you should build them.

Here is one pic of part of our garden. Closest row cabbage, broccoli in next row, then Poc Choi, garlic in the back row. This years garden is doing very good so far. If we don't get a early frost it will be the best in quite a few years. The cucumber beetles have wrecked one variety of squash but the other varieties of squash and pumpkins seem to be more resistant and have not shown signs of wilt yet despite fairly high counts on the cucumber beetles. I will not plant that particular variety of squash again. Variety selection can mean the difference between a good crop and a poor crop when it comes to organic gardening. No sign of any blight on tomatoes and potatoes which has had me worried since it has been a wet ,humid summer. Those conditions foster blight and wilt problems.

These are black raspberries which are doing good this year as all the berries seem to be doing. I even have blossoms on my lingon berries which is a first. I re-acidified the soil around them and added lots of bark mulch/compost so maybe that's what they needed. I've also started building my perma- culture beds around the existing raspberry plantings. The idea there is to duplicate the conditions I see wild berries doing good in. I am mixing large amounts of wood, both solid logs and chipped brush, with soil in a mound around the canes.I give the whole thing a big dose of mushroom spawn to help start breaking down the wood.So far it seems to be working very well for the raspberries and I will be trying it on some of my new blueberry plantings this year. I'll get some pics when I do that and show a in-depth look at what I'm doing.