Cool, thanks. I think ours was a Christmas present and we started it right away, which may have been our key mistake. It gets so dry here every winter that all our older wooden furniture needs to be re-glued every few years.
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I have a wood bit that Iāve used solely for cleaning marijuana tar from my pipe, and itās still sharp but sticky. It could go well with 'shrooms. /s
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Drop by this weekend, weāll have a great time 
If you start driving now, you juuuust might make it.
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A few more things I learned about the mushroom logs.
Fresh tree sap is naturally antifungal, so you might want to wait a couple-three weeks before plugging your logs.
The hole-drilling is very tedious if you have more than just a few logs. We used a special bit attached to an angle grinder to very rapidly drill many holes to the right depth.
This gadget will drill a hole in a fraction of a second. Basically you just ābounceā the spinning bit against the log.
If your logs are hard (sugar) maple, youāre in luck! This wood is ideal for several different mushroom species. Thereās a handy wood-suitability chart here.
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Ours ARE sugar mapleā¦I may need to make a second order for some lionās mane. The guide said those are āintermediateā in difficulty so I kind of shied away, but it looks like they are ideally suited to the sugar maple so maybe itāll even out.
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Lionās mane on sugar maple was one of the logs we did. However, my woodsy acquaintance who ran the workshop said that combo didnāt work for him previously. It sounds like the lionās mane fungi are just persnickety. We still gave them a shot.
You donāt say whether youāre interested in mushrooms for medicinal benefits, but maple logs seem like the best (or only) choice for reishi
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Tell me a little more about your method. What wood(s) does your sawdust come from? How do you pasteurize sawdust? Do you set the buckets outside at all? Do you purchase spawn or just re-spawn from earlier buckets?
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I work in hardwoods mostly, maple, fruitwood (prunings from my orchard, branches that fall from some very old maples in the front yard) as well as locally harvested walnut, ash and cherry. I use both chips from carvings and from the planer and jointer as well as dust from the saws and sanders. They seem to like different shapes, sizes and textures.
I pile the chips into a large plastic tote, bring water to a boil in a 22 qt pot on a gas burner in the yard and pour it over them. Usually takes 2 pot fulls to cover the wood, then let it soak overnight (or until it cools to environmental temp)
Then I add l add a layer of wood chips to the bucket (I use the rectangular kitty litter buckets, because I have them, they hold about 5 gal) throw in a few handfuls of coffee grounds that I have saved up. I really donāt think that is a necessary step, but it adds some nitrogen to the mix. then throw in a couple handfuls of spawn. I have done both purchased spawn (from Field and Forest, a really good company to do business with) and reusing spent medium form previous batch. Both work, but the purchsed is more consistent. No real shock there. I donāt do a lot of the sterile technique that is advised in a lot of places, but since I grow hyper-aggressive oyster mushrooms, itās not a big deal. Probably could not get away with it if you are growling more delicate strains, though. Then I place the buckets under a shade tree and wait. Generally a few weeks later, I am bringing in more than you can deal with. I have sold some, but they really do come all at once, in huge quantities, and do not last long. Luckily, they dehydrate beautifully and can be used for soups, sauces and etc all winter. I usually plant 6-8 buckets at a time, and get 5-10# of 'shrooms per bucket. Minimal effort, no real care required after planting, excellent return. My kind of gardening!
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We used to call those ātractor wrenchesā because back in the day (think pre-WWII) heavy agricultural equipment would typically come with a tool like that.
It was arguable whether the manufacturer put all the tools on one handle to save money, to save space, or for the convenience of the farmer who could have a basic tool set with the tractor all the time instead of having to walk a mile back to the shop to get the tool box. So we argued about it.
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What Iāve been working on besides my garden is a documentary film!
Itās not a film yet, but in June, weāll be taking an epic road trip into history and filming it. I have a 1939 Triptik, with a route set out from Cleveland, Ohio to Biddeford, Maine and back, and weāre following the Triptik, staying on the old alignments of the US Highways as much as possible, and visiting the Recommended Establishments listed in the Triptik (when they still exist).
Iāve been doing the pre-production on this for either the past six months or the past 15 years, depending on whether you measure it by when it started, or when I seriously started working on it.
My chronic illnesses and the medications I was on really precluded me being able to go out and make documentary films about the road and the roadsides, and when I got my health under control and my brain fog mostly lifted, I wanted to pursue my dreams again.
Iāve launched a Kickstarter for the production costs, but even if we have to just max out all the credit cards, weāre making this movie. The āweā is me and the husband, who loves road trips and is also my video editor and sound guy. Our first road trip (on Route 66) was liveblogged in 2005 to LiveJournal from my Powerbook, using dial-up and optimized pix. All the video was on tape, and there was no way to really edit on the road. This time, we have the ability to post video updates and livestreams from the road almost anywhere, anytime, and a lightweight laptop and an HDMI cable lets us edit in our hotel room at night.
Itās like science fiction to me, all the technology for portable filmmaking.
The real reason Iām sharing all this isnāt to get a signal boost (altho yes, thatās a main reason) but to get some local knowledge. Weāll be traveling in parts of the country that neither of us have visited, and one of the things we want to do is visit roadside attractions and eat local food. Of course Iāve researched the areas on the web, but I canāt tell if the glowing reviews for a place are sponsored or real nowadays. And not every weird, interesting, or historical place is listed on RoadsideAmerica or AtlasObscura.
Hereās the route: Route 20 out of Cleveland to Albany Troy, with a small shortcut up through Jamestown and the Finger Lakes, then across Vermont and New Hampshire on 7 and 9 (with a detour to visit King Arthur Bakingās store in Vermont), then 202 and 101 to Biddeford, Maine. Why Biddeford? We donāt know, except a person from Biddefordās Historical Society told me Biddeford Pool was a popular tourist attraction back then. Then down Route 1 through Boston, and Route 6 all the way home, through Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.
If anyone knows of a good mini-golf, cavern, or crab shack on our route, Iād love to hear about it. Iām planning on eating as much local food as I can, at the kinds of places that would have been available to travelers in 1939 - diners, mom-and-pop restaurants, and farmerās markets - and Iād love to have solid recommendations for at least a few places along the route.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/followthetriptik/follow-the-triptik
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I think the only caverns would require a back track.
We used to hit caverns in Ohio when we were kids, would love to see some of those again
I think the closest are just west of the beginning of your route. Seneca Caverns.
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Seneca Caverns was the first cavern I ever visited! I know there are a few in New York off US Route 20, and one of them, Secret Caverns, is on our Must-Stop list.They have crazy billboards!
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From experience, itās a wonderful place. Tons of character and mutant-adjacent humor. Enjoy!
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a mail label I drew. recipientās last name is a homonym for ābash 'emā so he and his brother have a joke that they will become the Bash 'Em Brothers tag-team wrestlers
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I donāt know why but it never occurred to me before this year to just paint food coloring directly onto the Easter eggs by hand. Had some fun doodling Easter Beasts.
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Cool project! If you were staying on 202 a little longer youād be able to give me a wave as you drove by 
Iām more familiar with farmers markets and such a bit north of your route, but if you take a short ride north from Biddeford youāll find Old Orchard Beach, a classic amusement park established in 1902. I havenāt been for a few years, but it has a train stop (seasonal) on the Downeaster, skee-ball, bumper cars, cotton candy, itās like a mix between a carnival and a theme park.
Iāll let you know if I think of anything else more in line with your interests on your route.
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Thanks! That sounds exactly like what Iām looking for, and weāll be there on a Friday night, so it could be picturesque!
I could also use any good road food recommendations - or rather, recommendations for good local food. Iām more into clams and lobsters than hot dogs and fries, and would really prefer to just pick up some food at a farmerās market.
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