We finally inoculated the rest of our shiitake logs Monday.  I didn't mean for it to go so late, but it turns out that one drill battery only holds enough juice to prepare one log.  Since we only have two good batteries, that would have meant a lot of walking back and forth between the logs (at the parking area) and the battery charger.  It seemed smarter to wait until Mark had his ATV, allowing us to haul the logs back to the trailer and drill them with the plug-in drill on the porch.

As if to reward us for finally getting the new logs plugged, one of our ancient shiitake logs (inoculated in 2007) pushed out five big fruits.  I would have taken a photo, but felt more inspired to pick kale rapini and saute both treats up in some butter and garlic.  Topped with parmesan, the mushroom and rapini side dish made the meal.

As a side note, if you'd like to read more about how to grow shiitake and oyster mushrooms on logs (the easiest method and varieties for backyard growers), check out Weekend Homesteader: March.  I didn't think I liked eating anything in the fungal kingdom before we started growing our own mushrooms, and now oysters and shiitakes are one of my favorite ways to turn a simple meal gourmet.

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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