Oyster Mushroom Photos Here's the link to the oyster mushroom kit photos
by Joe  Contact Me

Oyster Mushrooms

One of the fun things that we do in the club is mushroom cultivation. Last year each member received an oyster mushroom cultivation kit. Our mushroom spawn languished in the refrigerator for a couple of months because we were dealing with the garden and other things. Finally we got the kits together and eventually had two or three fruitings of oyster mushrooms. (None of those fruitings were very large.) At this point the cultivation committee wisdom is to discard the kits and not to try to regenerate them as there is the danger of introducing unwanted or bad mushrooms into the mix.

However, I broke the kits down and mixed them with pasteurized straw. I was in a hurry because of the holidays so I didn't cut the straw before pasteurization and there was too much air space in the mix. Nothing happened. So I took both kits, combined them into one and put them into a plastic bag. I put the plastic bag into a large bucket and packed it down with my foot and then let it sit for about a week hoping that nature would take it's course.

For quite awhile nothing happened, and just as I was tempted to retire the kit to the compost heap, I could see that we were in business. I began to take a single photo of the kit each day and I hope to post the photos soon.

Check back here often and I'll try and keep you informed on how matters are progressing.

by Joe  Contact Me

Publicity Chair Please welcome and congratulate Susan Baker who has volunteered to be the Publicity Committee Chair.
by Joe  Contact Me

First Sign of Spring

Yesterday was a beautiful day to be outside. I was tempted to head off into the woods for a stroll but instead took the more responsible route of taking down some more of the Christmas lights. While I was doing that I noticed that the crocus were blooming and further investigation revealed that many of the other plants around the house are beginning to show their spring growth. How they handle the next few days of predicted cold weather remains to be seen.

We are now only a month away from our first meeting at Beechwood Farms on March 15th. I am looking forward to the first meeting of the year. I hope to pick up some useful tips on using my gps and compass.

The April/May newsletter should be arriving in March. I've had a peek at it's contents and there is a lot of interesting reading there.

Remember that dues are due and volunteers are needed for many of our committees.
by Joe  Contact Me

Brrrrrrrr

Winter's back! Hopefully I can get out on the cross country skis tomorrow. Today I was pruning my apple tree and the wind went right thru me. I did find some mushrooms today. I'm getting to the bottom of the woodpile and there are always a few polypores hiding in there.

We are getting closer to finalizing our arrangements for mushroom mania in September. Keep an eye on this space for details.

by Joe  Contact Me

On the stump

Finally I've got the President's blog up and running. I will from time to time post information here. Some news, some information concerning the club and personal rants.

Volunteers
We are in need of volunteers to fill the Publicity Chair position and for some help with tabulating sign in sheets from walks and forays.

by Joe  Contact Me

Membership Committee We are in need of a volunteer to help tabulate sign in sheets from our walks, forays and meetings. We want to be sure that we contact potential members and supply them with a newsletter and a membership package.
by Joe  Contact Me

Spring Fever

Today as I was bringing in some of the Christmas decorations I noticed that the lilies were poking out of the ground and that the buds on the aspen trees were breaking their dormancy. How long until we see the first morel.

by Joe  Contact Me

Help Wanted

We are in need of a chair person for our Publicity Committee.

These are the duties of the publicity committee:

Shall be responsible for the publicity program of the Club to insure newspaper and radio coverage of significant club activities. Copies of newspaper clippings, etc., will be given to the Secretary for Club records.

by Joe  Contact Me

Groundhog Day

Well Phil says that we are to have six more weeks of winter. I don't mind. I hate to rush the season. Whether you can deal with 6 more weeks of winter probably depends on how you spend your winter. I cross country ski so the thought of more snow appeals to me. Not that spring is far away. I've already begun to plan my garden. In a few weeks the first of the seeds will go into flats

Hopefully we will have a more normal spring and not go from winter directly into summer as we did last year. The weather really messed up the morel season. With few exceptions everyone I've talked to had a disappointing year.

Club meeting will resume at Beechwood Farms in March. March 16th I believe. We have a lot of fun activities planned for the year. The topic for our first meeting will be navigation and orientation both with compass and gps.

I purchased a Garman e-trek gps last year at Aldi's for $79. The cable to connect it to the pc was expensive about $38 (imagine) but I got it from Santa at Christmas. I didn't purchase any software but went the freeware route. More on that when I get familiar with it. I hope to use it in the spring to mark morel spots. One year I found a spot that had several giant morels but I could never find the exact spot again. The gps should get me back within about 20 feet.

As I said before we have a lot of fun things planned for this year. If you'd like to lend a hand fill out the form that came with your membership renewal and return it to us or contact us thru the club website.

by Joe  Contact Me