Laboratory

TRUFFLES? NOPE!

Once again more early morning pics from Miss Kathleen back east, finding this time an array of what i first thought was White Truffles!  But, once we checked in with our good myco-pals Joe and Julia Torra, we discovered they were actually 'Pigskin Puffballs' Scleroderma Citrinum.

Reroof

After Withstanding the monsoons out here, the roof we had originally constructed failed to keep water from leaking in, so we reconstructed the entire thing!  And now it is sealed and ready for the little rain we do get out here.  The air system arrived yesterday and after repairing some drywall in the lab, we shall install it!  All our Lab equipment is here and we should be growing ASAP!

Finally getting there

AIR systems and ELECTRICITY!!!  Ordered the cultures today and rest of the materials forthe lab and grow rooms!  SOOOOOO close!

Laetiporus Sulphureus

Another East Coast Chicken-Of-The-Woods Treasure via Lisa Pixley my mushroom hunting buddy from Maine!

Shrooms in the Desert!

Conocybe Cyanopus

I was pleasantly surprised to find these treasures in and among the beet rows of one of our fields...in ARIZONA! WHAT!?!?  see ya'll in (PS)cyber Space!

Baby Goats!

So i was on my way over the the grow houses to install the rest of the air systems, when i noticed that our pregnant goat Nancy had partially given birth to one goat, so i ran over and out the first white goat poped! Then about 40 minutes later the second came out in a nice gross blob of placenta!  EEEWWW...there might be a third one on the way but for now only two!  Sorry for the graphic nature of pic two hehe.

Air Systems

Well now I'm just waiting on the Family Electrician to come wire the grow rooms and laboratory and we will be Running Mycelium!  So today I install the air systems!

Shiitake East

So Miss Kathleen texted me this pic this morning...she just harvested a bunch of Shiitakes at the Farm she is working on back east, Silverbrook Farm.  I can't say I'm not jealous!  While we are almost ready to start lab work, she is already flushing!  Soooo Exciting!

Might I Add...

If anyone wants the details of what the growing air systems include and how they work contact me via email: elomen@gmail.com and ill give you the goods!

Air Systems GO!

 An exciting day!  The three independent air systems arrived and are ready to be installed.  I opted to try out the Stamets Air System II for all three grow rooms.  Basically these systems control the high humidity and air exchange needed to flush the CO2 from the growing mushrooms.  After emailing back and forth with a few folks, I'm going to set it up a bit differently to get a more accurate temp and humidity level in the rooms.  The air is going to be brought to the correct temperature with swamp coolers out side of the grow rooms then it will be channeled via a duct to the blowers that forces air through a HEPA filter and into the grow rooms, there is also a Humidifan with a running water line that Atomizes the water droplets to humidify the room up to 100%...The change that I'm going to make is pretty simple.  It is suggested to place the Humidistat in the ducting right after the conditioned air penetrates the HEPA filter...I'm going to instead put the Humidistat on the wall of the grow room, giving a better reading for the rooms humidity level.  This is a common problem with this system and i believe it can be fixed by doing this.  We will see!

The Laboratory is coming along quickly, everything is painted  and sealed except for the floor.  I'm going to open the pours of the concrete tomorrow with an acid and then seal it with a colored stain.  I know there is no good way to paint and seal concrete so that it doesn't need to be painted constantly, but luckily there are no shoes allowed in the lab!  Only Booties or clean socks because of the high amount of bacteria levels found on shoes...so i know the wear and tear on the sealant/stain will be minimal.  If i had all the time in the world, id lay down linoleum but that ain't gonna happen this season!  End of this week and next we will Install dust sealed lights and electrical outlets, build our laminar flow hood for sterile transfers, slanted grain jar shelving and finally bring in metal racks on wheels for our sterilized substrate to incubate on.  The last step we are figuring out is what kind of initial air system to install.  It has to maintain  a constant temperature and be filtered through an electrostatic filter and be able to do hourly air exchanges.  We are thinking an air recuperation that saves on heating and cooling coasts by using the recirculating air to equalize the temperature of the incoming air without the streams ever coming in contact with one another.  The Laminar Flow Hood will recycle the electrostatic filtered air already in the lab's positive pressure environment, thus lengthening the life of the costly HEPA filters that are part of the Laminar Flow Hood.    

I'm really hoping to have grain spawn incubating by the beginning of the month, this way we will have the time to finish up the growing rooms air systems and build out custom 55 gallon drum Autoclaves for steam sterilizing the substrate!

YES!

Make way for a door and insuulation!

Reishi extract and a cat!

4 weeks of allowing Reishi to stew in a jar of Vodka and finally i have a 50/50 tincture of my own Ganoderma Lucidum!

Kabuki doing some light Gerrit Lansing reading/dreaming

A Young Runaway From Pittsfield Georgia

Last known picture of Miss Kathleen spotted on the farm...off she goes east coast bound...her company will be missed!

Lab Gettin' There

Worked like mad and got the lab painted...times getting close to get some racks and start the mycelial growth!

MARKET break

It's good to get out and interact with folks after spending a solid 30 days working pretty much alone 10 hours a day.  Going to markets definitely gives you some sanity back!

Run Mycelium, RUN!

Kathleen and I had a great sign making session today!  She made this dope Mycelium X-ING sign today for the LAB! Gotta love her!

Muddin' and such

The Lab is ready for finish work and a concrete insulted blanketed to adorn the outside of its shell!

TIME for MUD!

Dryad's Saddle

Being in the desert for the spring, summer and fall is a sad state of affairs, when you wake up to other peoples finds on your phone.  I got this text at 5am (AZ time) from Miss Kathleen, whose back east until Saturday...and nothing has shot me outta bed faster.  This is a Dryad's Saddle (Polyporus Squamosus) an edible polypore, at the perfect stage for picking and eating.  Some might say this isn't a very tasty mushroom, but given the right recipe, it is rather tasty!

Continuing to rock the sheets

 Got the Antechamber framed out and started to get the lid sheetrock up.  Got the metal that runs the length of the outside of the lab screwed down and sealed with a heavy tar caulking.