Update on the Mushroom Tree

As I was out feeding the chickens this morning, I spotted something kinda gross looking, and potentially very exciting.

Last fall, some of you may remember, I got the idea to inoculate a stump in our chicken yard with wild edible mushrooms. Due to the species of the tree, I chose Chicken of the Woods mushrooms (Laetiporus sulphureus), and set about plugging the stump.

The beautiful bloom depicted on the right is not the stump in my back yard, but a bit of a dream picture of what it could look like as early as this fall.

Below is a picture of the state of the "dry" or "inactive-looking" plugs in the stump. If you click it to get a better view, you can see a number of the dowels sticking out from the bark, looking quite "dowelly", and not super biologically active.



And next are two picture of what look to me to be fully active, early-stage spots of growth at some of the "active" plugs. Unless this is newbish ignorance, like some kind of successful immune-response from the stump, I believe we have liftoff. They are even a creamy orange color, which fits the species of mushroom I chose to grow in this stump.





Enjoy turning waste wood into beautiful food,

Bp

[top picture courtesy of Wiki Commons]

Tea Kettles, Plastic and Aluminum poisons, and the Precautionary Principle

Ever since The Wife's pregnancy, the fact that our electric tea kettle (which gets scads of use from the tonnage of tasty tasty Jasmine Pearl Tea Merchants teas that get brewed here every day) has an aluminum heating tray and plastic water reservoir has been bugging me.

[Why yes, that was a blatant plug for our friends' tea business]

Are studies absolutely conclusive that aluminum causes Alzheimer's? Well, not conclusive no -- it's probably multi-vector, etc etc. Is it conclusive that heating food substances in plastics is dangerous? Well -- if they have Biphenol A it probably is, but I'm not sure our kettle does.

Regardless -- a father frets.

I decided to go with the Precautionary Principle on this one. I did some research looking for stainless steel electric kettles. I found out that many have stainless on the outside but not the inside. Many still have plastic water reservoirs. No go.

The Aroma Stainless Steel Electric Water Kettle has neither. The only contact water makes with plastic is a little bit goes into a side reservoir to display your water level in the kettle. Considering all the other options, I'll take it.

I'm sure there are sexier (and much, much more expensive -- this one is only $30) stainless kettles out there, but I just need functional, not fancy. Plus, the customer support lady from Aroma was very helpful, responsive, and friendly when answering my questions. That clinched the deal.

Time to go have some Bombay Breakfast with this new non-toxic water.

[Yep, another shameless plug]

Enjoy not poisoning your family,

Bp

Baking Boots -- the art of Sno Seal application

My beloved hiking boots (Men's Vasque Sundowner Classics
for the curious in the crowd) were looking a little scuffed and dried up. On my last mushrooming trip my feet were *virtually* dry at the end, but they weren't bone dry. So I decided it was time to re-waterproof my boots.

The only kind of waterproofing I could find was Sno-Seal Original Beeswax. I'd heard about Sno Seal for years, but always blew it off because I heard Nikwax was a lot easier: rub it on, done.

But the appeal of beeswax and the old timey aspect got to me. It smelled (yes I smelled before I bought, don't YOU) of beeswax and kerosene -- which, again, set off my old-timey alarms, so I picked some up.


I set my oven on "warm" (approx. 120) and cleaned my boots while it got to temperature. I baked the boots for about 15 minutes, and then brought them out and gave them the first application of Sno Seal. It did melt right into the leather, as advertised.

I rubbed and buffed and carefully overloaded the seam areas, and when the boot looked all done, I stuck it back in the oven for about 15 more minutes. When I pulled it out, the toes and the backs were dry all over again. Like before I'd started. Much of the rest of the boot looked "finished" but these scuffed areas drank up a lot of sealer.

So I changed tactics, I slathered the stuff thickly on the dry areas -- enough that it left a film on the leather. I still buffed up the other areas lightly, and then baked the boots again. Sure enough the dry areas drank up most of the sealer yet again -- but much more of the boot now looked finished. I repeated the last step one more time and now I'm done.

I'm sure now that had I put a thick, goopy layer of the stuff on the first time, it would have melted in and I would have been done in less time than my 3-4 repetitions took.

I'm surprised how much sealer the boots sucked up.

I'm excited now to head out to The Palouse and chase birds with Estu in my spiffy dry boots.

Enjoy taking care of your equipment and reaping the benefits of said care,

Bp

[Note: See the comments below -- I will report back to see if I have over-proofed my boots or not]

Random Chore Man gets green on a Saturday morning (and accidentally induces the need for a quick rant)

[Disclaimer regarding the use of the term "green" -- some folks know I have a severe and sudden allergy to the word "sustainable" as its being used in advertising and greenwashing campaigns lately. It's overused, and an actually sustainable human endeavor is a VERY high bar to set, if you actually include all the costs you really have to offset before you can consider something sustainable. I prefer the term "green" because, although it sets no bar on how environmentally sound the idea is, it does imply that you are at least trying. It strikes me as more intellectually honest. *gets off soapbox* and now for your regularly scheduled posting.]

Random Chore Man showed up this morning to hang a Sunline retractable clothesline we purchased from Hankins Hardware over on MLK. I dig that hardware store.

Anyway, we have had clotheslines under the car port before, but eventually we'd stop using them because they'd get dirty and be a pain in the butt to clean. The answer was a retractable -- stays clean when not in use, and out of the way. Trappin' Pat (who comments often on this blog) suggested this model for me, and I had a hell of a time finding it at first, until I got a hold of Hankins.

Now we have our 4-season clothesline in. Clothes dry just fine in the winter as well, just takes a bit more time. When it's hot in the summer, they dry very fast.





Enjoy the simplicity of some of life's correct decisions,

Bp

Random Chore Man (tm) imitates winter storm

The Wife has this title for me -- Random Chore Man (tm). I can't believe I haven't brought it up in the blog, because it is so prevalent in our home life.

Random Chore Man struck this morning, having decided that it was high time he trim down the plum tree in our parking strip. Of course it was going to be "just a light trim" -- but as the picture attests, it turned out to be a big 'ol effing deal.

When I tried to defend my seemingly random desire to attack this chore today, The Wife just smirked at me and patted me on the shoulder saying something dismissive like "you go get 'em honey, you sic 'em."

Since she won't listen, I'll explain to ya'll.

For one, I've been noticing how the tree is reaching up into the power lines. It is also taking more and more light away from our front yard every year. I also noticed how many vertical suckers it had developed, and I know that those are always removed by orchardists as they reduce fruit production. Even though this is an "ornamental" plum tree -- it does produce fruit, so I figured if I treated it more like a fruit tree it might be encouraged in this endeavor. Also, the tree has *just* started putting on its flower buds, so this is the last weekend where I could trim it this winter. Once the energy was flowing, and the flowers blooming, it would be bad for the tree.

In essence, I had my reasons dammit.

The Wife thinks the whole "fruit tree" element is hilarious, "It's an ORNAMENTAL plum hun," -- but supported me in my exertions regardless, because the tree really did need a strong pruning. She called a friend of hers from work and invited him over to behold Random Chore Man, of whom he had heard so much.

Look, those pillows in the front room were dusty and had cat hair on them, fluffing them in the dryer was entirely appropriate -- who else was going to do it. Sheesh -- always chappin' my arse around here...

Random Chore Man signing out.

Bp