Day 5-6

 I shut in all of the eve's of the roof at the grow barn and the birds still found a small sliver of light to use as their front door, so i'll fix that today and then the barn will be sealed.  Mike and I talked about the construction of the gothic structures for the grow houses to control moisture flow and rain drop fall and decided against it and to go with a sawtooth structure, that will do the same thing and maximize space for more growth.

 The sawtooth roof style has the advantage of a sloping roof that draws air from the ventilation system in a circular motion around the grow house and carries water droplets from the high humidity levels to a side drainage pit that shoots out the back of the houses.

This is a diagram of the Stamet's design for small to medium grow rooms and is the bases for our temperature control, but it will be modified for costs efficiency and for the size of the rooms they will be controlling the temp, humidity and air exchange in.  This system is the key to growing successfully, when the mycelium runs throughout the substrate it is growing on, it produces a LOT of CO2 and needs timed fresh air intake exchange that is controlled (run through a heating and cooling unit and a course and HEPA filter) to make sure their is fresh air and no stale pockets of CO2 rich air that can ultimately kill the mycelium by spreading disease and harmful bacteria preventing mushroom fruiting all together.

Ganoderma Lucidum or the "Reishi" mushroom has become of extreme interest to me.  It has been used for over 2000 years in parts of Asia as the 'mushroom of immortality' with it's unlimited number of medicinal uses, it prevents and cures a number of 'ailments' like, Neurasthenia, Debility from prolonged illness, insomnia, anorexia, dizziness, chronic hepatitis, hypercholesterolemia, mushroom poisoning, coronary heart disease, ulsers, hypertension, altitude sickness, carcinoma, bronchial cough in the elderly, inhibition of cholesterol synthesis, It promotes longevity, sex drive and many many other things among its ever growing list.

So in studying this mushroom, i could really like to grow it here, it is gaining popularity and is generally consumed by boiling for tea water, or cooked into soups and even grilled as a side dish.  Among this mushroom, i would love to grow Grifola Fondosa (Hen of the Woods/ Maitake) and Lentinula Edodes (Shiitake) to begin with.  These three mushrooms are all delicious and extremely Medicinal.  I'm still interested in the King Oyster and Pink Oyster, but only have three grow rooms so we will see what grows, what sells, and what we need to rotate to bring to the Markets.