Whiteley Creek Homestead

As far back as my memory takes me, I remember the words of my father. "Make sure there are two or three eyes in each chunk and place them in the row cut side down." He was teaching me how to prepare and plant seed potatoes. We planted many. Enough to carry us through the winter. Now, I do the same in my own garden.

My dad planted all russet potatoes. For varied health benefits, I plant white, purple, and red-skinned varieties. The purple and red have colored flesh, as well.

I have no root cellar. I would like one. Until that day, potatoes keep well in the coolness of my porch until the temps fall below freezing. Then, the produce drawers of my fridge are filled. I'm continually incorporating them into meals, so they go quickly. 

For a quick and easy meal, simply brown sliced or cubed potatoes along with bacon, then add sauteed onions and garlic. (I do the onions separately because they tend to make the potatoes soggy and my goal is crispy.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Scatter raw shredded cheddar cheese over top to melt. Mashed potatoes smothered in mushroom gravy, a center cut pork chop, and brown sugar sweetened buttercup squash is my favorite meal. The pork I choose to eat comes from central Minnesota's Fox Farm in Browerville which is 60 miles from Brainerd. In September, an interview with the pork producer Laurence Fox was featured in a newsletter from St. Cloud's Good Earth Co-op.

Shiitake mushrooms. Meaty texture and flavor. Nutritionally beneficial. Pricey. So, I decided to grow my own on logs. The best time to inoculate is in the spring, therefore on April 23, 2014, I ordered 100 shiitake mushroom mycelium plug spawn. 100 vibrant orange and yellow Chicken of the Woods mushroom plugs, too. From Fungi Perfecti fulfilled through Amazon. Then, life got busy. As the plugs chilled in the fridge to ensure dormancy, the months passed. Tick tock. Tick tock. The final recommended inoculation window "30-45 days before consistently (i.e. 'round the clock) freezing temps set in for the winter" was rapidly approaching. It is now October 24, 2014. Yes, a full 6 months has passed. The urgency that other tasks had held this day, took a backseat to my mushroom project. I got busy.

First, I positioned the four hardwood (oak) logs, that Dick had cut in 3-4 foot lengths several weeks ago, to allow time for the "anti-fungal compounds that trees naturally produce to degrade," in a crosshatch pattern to encourage air flow. One of my Welsummer hens, perched atop one of the logs, observed me curiously as I worked.

Independently gathering plug spawn insertion supplies is an option, but I chose to order a kit that included a 5/16" drill bit with a stop collar, rubber mallet, 1 lb soy-based sealing wax, and a 1" wax application brush. As I began to drill the "2-inch deep holes no more than 4 inches apart, evenly spaced in a diamond pattern along the length and around the full circumference of the logs," the drill bit's stop collar kept slipping, so I subbed a strip of painters' masking tape wrapped around the bit.

After gently pounding a mushroom plug into each drilled opening, I heated the wax over low heat provided by an electric burner set atop a cement block.

According to the Fungi Perfecti website, "Holes can be sealed with cheese wax or beeswax (or the soy-based wax that is included in the company's plug spawn kit) to protect the mycelium from weather and insects while it is growing; although this step can be helpful, it is not absolutely necessary." My decision to seal the holes is, optimistically speaking, my insurance policy against this autumn's sudden cold temperatures. Remember, it is recommended that logs be inoculated 30-45 days before consistent day and night freezing temps set in. "The idea is to allow the mushroom mycelium growing on the plug spawn time to establish itself in its new home before it goes into dormancy over the winter." (Source: http://www.fungi.com) It is October 25, 2014 as I finish colonizing my logs. The high and low temps here in Brainerd, Minnesota are 57/35. On 10-26, 61/25. 10-27, 50/37. 10-28, 41/35. 10-29, 37/33. 10-30, 39/28. 10-31, 37/21. Are you beginning to see the slippery slope? In ten more days, on November 10, the temps takes a serious dip to 21/19. 11-13, 19/10. 11-14, 19/1. 11-15, 19/-4. 11-20, 14/-5. 11-27, 6/-9. I will provide a mushroom growth success rate update after winter's thaw progresses into spring and summer's warmth. Note: The final photo in this post is a chicken of the woods mushroom that happily made its home on a tree down a wooded trail on our property. It fueled my desire to inoculate logs with this species so that I may cause walks in our woods to be even more beautiful. It is recommended that softwoods (i.e. douglas fir) be used when inoculating chicken of the woods mushrooms, however this species grows wild on oak trees in our woods, therefore I used oak logs. This whole mushroom growing project has turned out to be an experiment. A wait-and-see game. But, isn't that what makes life fun? The here-and-now coupled with the anticipation of what's to come.

As I began my fall garden cleanup today, my mind drifted back to May when my garden soil was still cool from the spring thaw. Not yet warm enough to direct-sow the heirloom "Crystal Apple" and "Poona Kheera" cucumber seeds that I had purchased at Seed Savers Exchange during our visit to Decorah, Iowa earlier in the month. In the warmth of my little greenhouse, however, they had sprouted and were awaiting their home in the garden.

Supported by the natural arch of concrete reinforcement wire, the cucumber vines happily grew and blossomed during June's warmth. Until cucumbers began to form.

The seeds that I scooped and dried from just two cucumbers will provide next season's planting.

A complete life cycle. To witness the gradual transformation from seed to vegetable… it's nothing short of a miracle.

An article in a July/August 2012 issue of Natural Home & Garden Magazine "planted the seed."

I knew that one day I would visit Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. Then, one day came. Dick and I spent an afternoon and a day on this first weekend in May 2014 at SSE's annual spring plant sale.

Saving seeds. This is the heartbeat of Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. Why is it important? To honor the farmers and home gardeners who came before us and to pass biodiverse sustenance on to future generations. Seeds… Heirloom. Open Pollinated. Hybrid. Important terms to understand. Click on the welcome sign photo above to read an explanation of the terms as well as SSE's history and mission.

After purchasing seeds and transplants, we explored a little corner of SSE's 890-acre Heritage Farm. Rolling hills and rock cliffs. Crystal clear trout stream. Meandering hiking trails. One trail led us past Ancient White Park Cattle which is a rare breed that SSE is nurturing back from near extinction. They are white with black eyes and distinctive black coloring on their nose, hooves, teats, horn tips, and inside their ears.  

When we desired rest as we hiked, this lovely weathered bench beckoned.

Mark your calendar and plan to attend SSE's 34th Annual Conference & Campout July 18-20, 2014. An impressive line-up of keynote speakers include "Bryan Welch, the publisher of Mother Earth News and other Ogden publications, who will talk about the importance of seed saving in the back-to-the-land movement; Cornell University geneticist Susan McCouch will discuss plant breeding for stress-prone environments and changing climate; Virginia Nazarea from the University of Georgia will speak about the importance of place and stories in seed saving and sharing; and Andrew Still and Sarah Kleeger of Adaptive Seeds in Sweet Home, Oregon will talk about seed stewardship and their work with the Seed Ambassadors Project. A full schedule of workshops run the gamut – from seed saving to cooking to forming a seed library – to give you the skills you need for improving your garding and seed saving practices. Throw in good food, lively entertainment, a chance to meet old friends and new, and you have the fixings for a great weekend." (Info source: SSE Conference & Campout Brochure) Visit http://www.seedsavers.org to learn more.

Decorah has so much to offer. SSE. The landscape. Its college town vibe. But that is a story to tell of another day. Tomorrow.

Dick was reading ArbLIFE Spring 2014, a publication that we receive in the mail through our Northland Arboretum membership. (The Northland Arboretum is a 583-acre nature preserve located within the city limits of Brainerd/Baxter. It is the site of a former 40-acre landfill that closed in 1972.) He showed me an article titled, "A Fungus Among Us… Can it be a Cure for Cancer?" This wood decaying mushroom species, that is found on birch and other trees in cold climates, is the chaga mushroom. (Photo source: wikimedia.org)

According to the article, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is researching the chaga mushroom's potential in helping the body slow and stop the growth of cancerous tumors and reduce the toxicity associated with radiation. It has also exhibited antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties and an ability to stimulate the immune system. It is generally ingested as a tea. A locally made chaga tincture to add to water can be purchased at the Northland Arboretum. Life Preserver Natural Foods in Baxter stocks chaga chunks with tea instructions enclosed inside the package. A hand-harvested herbal tea blend that I received in one of my monthly Birds Eye Tea shipments contains chaga mushroom.

The ArbLIFE article cautions… "Widespread chopping of chaga conks off of trees threatens a delicate ecological balance. A solution to over-harvesting chaga is cultivation. Cultivation is a sustainable practice, while commercial harvesting of wild chaga is making this mushroom harder to find."