Retirement Projects
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WOW! Didn't know mushrooms grew so fast!
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I harvested the King Oyster mushrooms today, 8 days after going into the grow tent.First flush was 872 grams or 1 pound 9 ounces. enough to fill two paper lunch bags. Not bad at all for my first ever mushroom harvest. The block has been flipped and returned to the grow tent for a second flush. We'll have to see how long it takes for it to pin.
King Oysters have a long and thick stem. They say if you cut the stem into inch long pieces, they closely resemble scallops when sauteed, so I gave it a try using olive oil and a dab of butter. Also gave slicing the stem length wise to resemble chicken strips a try and sauteed those too. I just sliced the caps and sauteed them. No other seasonings at all. They say you can shred the stems and have a convencing "pulled pork" looking dish. We'll have to try that next.
The "scallops" were very good (I'd have to try them side-by-side with real ones), the "chicken strips" were great mushrooms but so-so as chicken.
We only cooked up two of the mushrooms as my wife does suffer from a wide range of food allergies, so I put the uncooked (probably still a pound and a half) and the leftover cooked ones in the fridge. An hour after eating and no adverse effects. I think we can try king oysters as a main dish tomorrow night.
My wife is happy with my new hobby.
Shiitakes are still a few days away from harvesting. Chestnuts are just beginning to pin.
I’ve ordered supplies to begin cloning mushrooms. Hopefully those supplies will come in with time for me to start cultures of these three varieties.
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I thought I'd post a photo of the Chestnut mushroom pins. These are about the size of those sewing pins with the round colored plastic heads, all in clusters.When ready for harvest they should look like these.
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I like mushrooms but my knowledge of them is very limited. My stepson is far more knowledgeable but he prefers to wild-gather. Not sure why.d_thomas02 wrote: »I thought I'd post a photo of the Chestnut mushroom pins. These are about the size of those sewing pins with the round colored plastic heads, all in clusters.When ready for harvest they should look like these.0 -
Some of the mushrooms David is growing don't occur in the wild around here. Shiitake are not very aggressive. I have some logs inocculated, and my friend found a couple more logs. I still have a few plugs to try. They have to be cared for in a way that prevents competition from other fungi. One of the mushrooms he is growing does occur in the wild where he lives, but not where I do.
Growing mushrooms on compressed sawdust or grains is much faster than logs. I grow logs because my friend who grows spawn is a big proponent of them. There's a lot of waste that goes along with growing on sawdust or grain. Her company sells the spawn, either in those compressed blocks or as dowel plugs. She would love to get a small autoclave so she can continue to grow various mushrooms as a hobby after she retires.
We have been way short on rain, but it's in the forecast for tomorrow. I need to go toss my logs outside so they can get wet. I bring them under cover so they don't stay TOO wet, but that hasn't been a problem the last few weeks. I may go ahead and bring the bonsai back out from under cover, too. I'll probably have to water them though if I put them out in the sun. They've just been dormant for a month or so since we had VERY cold weather. When the soil is frozen, if the sun shines on them it can kill them because they are trying to photosynthesize but their roots can't pull any water out of the tiny block of frozen soil they're planted in. It's worse if there's wind AND sun and the soil is frozen.1 -
I
I like mushrooms but my knowledge of them is very limited. My stepson is far more knowledgeable but he prefers to wild-gather. Not sure why.d_thomas02 wrote: »I thought I'd post a photo of the Chestnut mushroom pins. These are about the size of those sewing pins with the round colored plastic heads, all in clusters.When ready for harvest they should look like these.
I'd prefer to wild gather too, but it seems my area is just too dry most of the time. They do grow in areas that retain moisture, river bottom and such, but I live on the ridge tops (no worries about flooding).
@mtaratoot I'm not sure what you mean by "a lot of waste" when growing on sawdust and grain. All of the spent blocks, paper products, and other media are composted while the plastic can be recycled.1 -
I harvested my Shiitakes yesterday, ten days after going into the grow tent. They started out looking great but stalled around day five and I'm not sure exactly why but I'm guessing they need a higher humidity than the 80-85% I was keeping in the grow tent since the plastic bag is stripped completely off for fruiting. I'll try 90-95% next time.Day 5I only got sorry looking 9 ounces off the first flush. The block will need to be left out to dry for two to three weeks and then soaked in a bucket overnight before being cold shocked in the fridge for another night. Back into the grow tent after that for a second flush.
Day 10
They still tasted great.
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d_thomas02 wrote: »I
I like mushrooms but my knowledge of them is very limited. My stepson is far more knowledgeable but he prefers to wild-gather. Not sure why.d_thomas02 wrote: »I thought I'd post a photo of the Chestnut mushroom pins. These are about the size of those sewing pins with the round colored plastic heads, all in clusters.When ready for harvest they should look like these.
I'd prefer to wild gather too, but it seems my area is just too dry most of the time. They do grow in areas that retain moisture, river bottom and such, but I live on the ridge tops (no worries about flooding).
@mtaratoot I'm not sure what you mean by "a lot of waste" when growing on sawdust and grain. All of the spent blocks, paper products, and other media are composted while the plastic can be recycled.
I suspect very few people compost the spent grains/sawdust or recycle the plastic. I think the plastic has to be washed first. I'm not even sure where I would recycle them if I had them. Where I live we used to have much more comprehensive recycling programs, but the last few years since China quit taking most of our recyclable items, mostly because we as end users couldn't do a good enough job of avoiding contamination, many things that CAN be recycled aren't. Some are collected and transferred to the landfill. The only recyclable plastics we can get back into the system are "bottles, jugs, and tubs," and even with them, no lids. We can recycle aluminum foil if it isn't contaminated. At least cardboard that is contaminated with food, or any food waste, can go in our green cart to be composted along with yard waste.
There's also a lot of waste on the production end. I am the happy recipient of lots of used grain bags. They can't be recycled, at least not where I live. I use them for trash hauling on river trips or as bags for used cans to keep them from damaging the raft. They are fairly strong and last a few trips, but even then they still end up in the landfill.
Once you start culturing your own mushrooms to grow them before fruiting, you'll cut down on some of the waste. It will take longer, but you'll be more hands-on. Kind of neat actually. The company my friend works for has over 350 different strains. Sometimes she has to just re-culture them to keep them alive. They are otherwise stored in liquid nitrogen. The petri dishes they use for culturing can't be recycled either, or reused.
It's also possible that my friend is hyper-sensitive to the amount of waste generated.
I put my logs out in the yard yesterday afternoon. It started raining overnight. I'll leave them out until tomorrow or Wednesday and put them back in the carport once they're "heavy" again. The oldest one might be spent, or it might have one more flush. The middle one should fruit at least twice this summer. The newest one might not even fruit yet this summer; maybe fall. It should go a couple more years. I have a few more dowels left, and I think we've found some more oak to inocculate, so I'll have a fourth log that starts right before spring. Almost perfect.2 -
I was enjoying a pint with my mushroom friends the other day, and I asked more about her disdain for sawdust block growing.
One thing she said that sort of made sense, especially when I saw what you've set up for your grow chamber, is that growing on blocks is much more difficult because the blocks are more finicky than logs. With the logs, you just inoculate and toss 'em out back. It does, however, take a lot longer. You also have to FIND the logs. For shiitake, they need to be fresh, and ideally they are both big in diameter and mostly sapwood. They will also grow on maple, but they love oak. They can grow on other hardwoods, but ones with thick bark/cambium are best. That's where the mycelium grow.
She brought me a couple more logs. I have some dowels left. I'm going to go drill the big one and pound in the dowels. If there are enough dowels left, I'll do the small one. If not, she'll bring more plugs. Maybe I will expand to growing some other species. I sure don't want to do it as a business, but I love to eat mushrooms. I think they are delicious and come in so many variations of flavors and textures.
I probably don't really need more hobbies, but hey - why not? I doubt I'll ever make beer again. Wine or mead, maybe. I'll continue to make fermented foods when the temperature isn't too warm. I'll keep growing fruits and vegetables. I'll keep paddling canoes and kayaks and rowing rafts. I have thought for years that when I retire I might like to take up ceramics. Now I'm thinking about maybe having a very small business where I cook food for others. Not a restaurant; just make more food than I can eat and sell it to other people who don't like cooking but like to eat. I will use a lot of mushrooms....
I did pull a package of chanterelles out of the freezer yesterday. I was going to use them in some beans, but decided not to. I might make a leek and potato soup today; they'll go good in that. I like to make sure to use them throughout the year but not so often I run out before they fruit again in the fall.
Mmmmm..... Mushrooms!
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I was enjoying a pint with my mushroom friends the other day, and I asked more about her disdain for sawdust block growing.
One thing she said that sort of made sense, especially when I saw what you've set up for your grow chamber, is that growing on blocks is much more difficult because the blocks are more finicky than logs. With the logs, you just inoculate and toss 'em out back. It does, however, take a lot longer. You also have to FIND the logs. For shiitake, they need to be fresh, and ideally they are both big in diameter and mostly sapwood. They will also grow on maple, but they love oak. They can grow on other hardwoods, but ones with thick bark/cambium are best. That's where the mycelium grow.
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Mmmmm..... Mushrooms!
I guess I can see her point.
Both growing methods have advantages and disadvantages. The grower using blocks may have to change certain growing conditions depending on what species he wants to grow, but that really isn't hard to do. Mostly it's a matter of adjusting the mix of the substrate base (50%/50% wood pellets to soy hull pellets or 80%/20% straw to wheat bran, that sort of thing) and raising or lowering the humidity and/or temperature. The block grower has a near endless variety of species he can cultivate. And he can grow hundreds of blocks in a limited space. Think two car garage size or basement. Blocks usually colonize fast, two to six weeks depending on species. Spores from mature mushrooms just before harvest can be problematic but a good ventilation system and PPE can take care of that.
The log grower is limited to species that grow on logs and, as you mentioned, has to wait for the log to colonize (several months to maybe a year) and must keep them outdoors for the most part. While they can be stacked, sort of, moving the blocks around would probably be problematic. I’m guessing harvest would be smaller per unit but the log would continue to produce far longer than the block.
Spent logs would certainly be easier to get rid of. Just throw them on the compost heap. Blocks have to be stripped of their plastic first before disposal and then there is the plastic waste. I’ll have to check with my local recycle center to see if the bags would have to be washed first. They do make “biodegradable” plastic bags but I hear those aren’t as successful as had been hoped. I don’t know if mushroom bags are available in “compostable” plastics.
Spent blocks are either composted on site or sold to others. There are folks that buy spent blocks, rehydrate them to grow a third and maybe even a fourth flush. Depending on the substrate (straw and wheat bran for instance), some blocks can be ground up and used as roughage in livestock feed. Vermiculture is a good industry in need of spent blocks for their worms. Also mealworm and superworm breeders can make use of spent blocks as food and bedding.
No sense throwing away something others are willing to pay for.
I think my Chestnuts will be ready to harvest tomorrow. I'm seeing a few second flush pins on the King Oyster block. And I'll be rehydrating the Shiitake block later this week before starting it's second flush.
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Proceeding with the chick crafts. ATM, I'm making stitch markers for my very accomplished knitting buddy, who makes amazing delicate knit shawls and such (sample below in photo, not blocked yet so slightly rough, but those with an eye for it can see the delicacy, fineness, detail. (It's maybe 3x3 feet-ish or so, a square shawl).)
But that's not my piece. Not that skilled or patient: So, so many hours of detailed work!
Knitters slip stitch markers on their needles to track patterns (such as the points of diamonds in the shawl shown), then work the markers off as they go along. My task now is to make stitch markers worthy of such lovely pieces - daunting!
These are my prototypes, below. I needed to get some Argentium silver, an alloy with more pure silver content than Sterling, and different working characteristics; then learn to fuse (not solder) rings, make ball-end headpins from it, with a hand-held butane torch, in order to make the stitch markers. This will serve me well in future jewelry projects!
Argentium is IMO better in this application, because its low tarnish qualities will reduce chances of discoloring the knitting yarns. while doing the work.
The beads shown are Nevada turquoise, rutilated quartz, glass pearl, fossil coral, quartz crystal (maybe somewhat rutile?), fossil (maybe small orthoceras? Not sure - dunno my fossils), garnet, all joined via ball-end wrapped-loop head pins (made from 20ga wire) to the 8-9mm ID fused Argentium rings.
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Update on the mushroom farm.
The pins on the king oyster aborted, probably the result of too little water in the 5 lb block. The seller did say they'd only guaranty a first flush. I finished soaking and chilling the shiitake block before putting it back in the grow tent.
I let the chestnuts get too mature and they spored... a lot! Dark brown spores all over the grow tent. Being over mature the mushrooms were a bit tough and stringy, particularly the stems. Kind of like biting into celery. Taste was fine but that texture was too much. Live and learn.
The spores from the chestnuts could be why the king oysters aborted. I've heard that mushrooms don't like to fruit with a heavy bioload, so I'm going to do a deep clean on the grow tent.
I'm going to take that opportunity while handling the blocks to attempt to clone both the king oyster and the shiitake.
Earlier this week I cut down a small red oak out in an overcrowded draw on the southwest corner of my property. Roughly eight inch at the base. I cut twelve seven inch sections from the bottom and have been running them through my new 23 qt pressure cooker, one at a time for two hours. Here is the rolling rack stored in my root cellar (seven done, five to go).
I'll be inoculating 6 with maitake (hen-of-the-woods) and the other six with chicken-of-the-woods. After they colonize in two to three months, I'll plant them in my wife's Hosta garden (the Hostas should be done for the year before the mushrooms fruit in the late Summer/early Fall). Probably won't see fruit this year but should next year.(maitake on the left) Should add interest to a flower gardens, don't you think?
I decided not to waste the top of the tree so yesterday I cut it up to make shiitake logs. Here they are on the north side of my machine shed to cure for anywhere from two weeks to three months. About a dozen logs ranging from 3-ish to 7-ish inches in diameter and about 40 inches in length.I'm hoping to clone that shiitake block and then make my own plugs to inoculate the logs. If that doesn't go well, I'll buy shiitake plugs. @mtaratoot, I wonder if your friend would consider selling me about 500 shiitake plugs if I can't make my own.
Been too cold to do much with the smithy but as Spring draws nearer I look forward to reacquiring my hammer skills.
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@d_thomas02
I sent you a PM how to contact them. I bet they'd be happy to sell 500 plugs. You'll have to chat with them to determine what strain you want, or maybe they'd send more than one. They have hundreds of strains cultured.
Those look like good candidates for shiitake. Plenty of sapwood, and long enough/thick enough to fruit for a few years. My friend usually says to inoculate as soon as possible. Never heard of letting them cure, but I'm an amateur. Shiitake doesn't like to compete with other fungi. I think that's why it's good to get them growing quickly. I think March is a good month to inoculate.1 -
Thanks @mtaratoot
I read somewhere that you have to wait for the tree's natural antimicrobial functions to die before inoculating.
But what do I know. I've never done this before. LOL1 -
My information from my friend is STRICTLY related to shiitake. That's her favorite. They do supply mushroom farms with many other species. They have maybe 20 or more different strains of shiitake. The one she gave me recently is an "indoor strain," but she said she's had luck with it on logs. She recently already has a log fruiting... she said THAT one is a cold weather strain.
Anyway, she says fresher is better. She says you want as much sapwood and as little heartwood as possible. She has some little drill bits that are pre-set to depth. She says when you tap the dowels in, don't pound them past the bark; you want inoculate the cambium. Some instructions say you should cap them with wax. She doesn't bother, and she told me not to bother either.
With so much rain this time of year, I bring my logs under a roof if we have constant rain for days on end. Then I bring them out to have them "gain weight" when they "get light." In summer, I leave them in the shade and water them enough to keep them hydrated, usually by letting them sit in a bucket of water one at a time for a while. Now that I have more logs, it will probably take several days to get them all soaked. One log is probably spent. She uses kiddie pools to keep the rain off and to soak them in the summer.
I thanked her for the logs and dowels a few weeks ago. She told me not to thank HER for the work I did, but to thank her when I eat some of the mushrooms.2 -
Quick update from the mushroom farm.
The oak chunks I inoculated Saturday; March 12 are doing well.
Here is a chunk with maitake growing over it.(The white is the mycelium. The orange is the sawdust substrate the spawn grew on.)
And one with chicken-of-the-woods.(Note the finer texture of the mycelium and an orange tint.)
Six blocks of each. 10 days done, 80 days to go before planting them in her Hosta bed. 2 -
Well....
There's a chance I'll be posting some retirement projects. I turned in my retirement notice yesterday afternoon. I think first I'll take some much needed rest and then get busy running rivers.1 -
Well....
There's a chance I'll be posting some retirement projects. I turned in my retirement notice yesterday afternoon. I think first I'll take some much needed rest and then get busy running rivers.
Woo-hoo: Congrats!
FWIW: Though I wasn't expecting this, I went through a kind of weird phase for a while immediately post retirement, until I got myself into a new routine and new frame of mind.
I was having fun, but not very focused, kind of feeling (physically!) like I should be switching topics every few minutes, because that's what I'd done in my high-stress job. I think some of my colleagues who retired were distressed by similar feelings, and that's why they eventually returned to full-time work in their former field.
I was not going to do that, and trusted myself to get things on a good basis, with patience. Worth it!
You have so much going on in your life that you probably won't have the problem, but I always mention it to folks I know who're retiring. Some have later told me that they experienced similar things, so the observation helped them. 🤷♀️
I think you're making a good move, based on my experience. I've been retired since 2006 (the year I turned 51) - having decided to retire as early as feasible due to my cancer recurrence risk - and I haven't regretted the retirement at all yet. 😉
Wishing you much happiness in retirement!2 -
Thanks @AnnPT77
I am at least a little concerned about finances. I'm cutting it really close, but I have a 90% chance of not running out of money. Sequence of Returns Risk was something I kept in mind the last year or so, and... almost looks like it's coming to pass. Another year at my employer might take five years off my life, so I think I'll just move forward. If I have to pick up some part time work or do some consulting, I can make that decision later. First I plan to take six months and not work a bit for money. I will keep up my volunteer work and may add an extra shift or two.
I already have a plan to be a safety boater for a fundraising two-day overnight river trip for an organization I support in June. It's a wine-focused trip. They ask me to cover the cost of my food. No problem. I donate money to them anyway. They even carry my camping gear so I have an unladen boat. I just have to keep an eye on folks and offer assistance if needed. I can do that.
In August they have a five-day four-night trip that runs about 85 miles or so on the Willamette. I'll sign up to be safety boat for them, too. A few days after I get back, I take my raft down to the southern part of the state to run the Rogue. I'm invited on another Rogue trip in the fall. Also in the fall, that organization does a two-day "Harvest" paddle. I will help with that. That one will feature beer and cider.
I also will be able to spend a lot more time in my garden. I just spent a few hours out there. I'm afraid I let the weeds get out of control in the garlic. I hope I was able to rescue some of it. It's been SO wet that it might not do well anyway. We shall see. Next year I might take a year off from the garden since I will be on a Grand Canyon raft trip for pretty much the entire month of April.
I have a good friend who has family property in New Hampshire. I was the officiant of her wedding. She also has taken at least a break from working. She thinks I'd like to see New Hampshire in the fall, so maybe we'll go. I kind of think it would be a hoot to go see the Southwest during the winter, or maybe wander down to Baja.
Being a Taurus, I sometimes struggle with change. It could be that's all this is; just the discomfort of walking away from "the devil you know."
A whitewater-loving friend took a VERY early retirement during a buyout from the company he worked for. He told me:"...people talk about how good retirement is. They are wrong. It's better than that. And I guarantee you that the best physical health you will have in retirement is your first day when you're youngest. And the only way to guarantee you don't run out of money is die at your desk, and that doesn't work for people like us."
There's someone I used to work with who came to wish another co-worker off for their retirement. Joe said that it's true some people take a little while to get used to being retired. He said it took him at least two or three... seconds.2 -
@Mtaratoot, I hear you on the financial question. I was never a seriously high earner, so retiring at 51 was a big decision. I'd been saving some for years (403(b), 457, some post-tax stuff) and implicitly practicing living below my means.
After cancer (when I was 44-45), and cancer widowhood (when I was 43), it was pretty clear in my mind that I'd feel really irritable if I got metastatic cancer and died (which was about a 40% chance, on the good side of the odds but seriously non-zero) before I got a chance to retire. That was the point when I really doubled down on strategies to retire as early as I could make it happen, even with some risk.
Sequence of returns risk? My retirement was 2006. Remember 2008? 🤣 But it's worked out OK, so far. I'm still not taking SS, despite being full retirement age, because I can get along OK, and nothing else is implicitly growing at 8% annually at that investment risk level. I'm thinking about pulling that trigger though, but purely on numbers it'd probably better to keep waiting.
I did work part time (about 25%, flexible schedule) for a few years, after a few months' post-retirement break. The income was nice - particularly because somehow the folks I was working for bought into paying me an hourly rate close to what I'd made in salary (if we assumed 40 hours, which I'd worked more than) when a middle manager responsible for around 30 people . . . for a part-time gig as sort of an internal consultant who could opine about stuff, but have no line accountability. That was sorta fun. I think the income made me feel better financially about the transition, and didn't hurt the numbers. There needed to be a conceptual shift from focusing on net worth (what I'd done while working, i.e., build phase) to managing cash flows - different mindset, different skillset. (I think a lot of other people focused more on cashflows while working . . . ? Even though my net worth wasn't big, that was what made more sense to me, especially as retirement prep.)
For me, I'd say the psychological retirement transition took a few months, honestly, at least. The first weeks were familiar-feeling, like being on vacation. After that, it was odd. It didn't feel bad, but it was like my attention span's autopilot was on that 30 minutes to an hour cycle that I was used to from the workplace, so I'd find myself switching activities for no good reason except that it viscerally felt like I should. Not really bad in any objective way, but weird. Twitchy!
I had a colleague sit me down after I announced my retirement, tell me I'd never make it work: He'd tried to retire, felt purposeless or non-contributing or something, I guess. He was sure I'd feel similar, I guess because I was fairly driven at work. (IMO it's more fun to try to be good at a job, if I'm going to bother to be there, y'know?) I was sure he was wrong . . . and he was. I'm a big fan of the purposeless, non-contributing life, I guess.1
