Isn't that a silly number!? Only ten logs left to collect for inoculating! We got the count of logs last week and Jeremy only needed 10 more. He thought about going back out into the woods to just get them, but it was already late so he decided not to.
It's so close you can't even see the tiny gap at the top!
We'll get those last ten logs this week, a little bit more firewood, and some longer pieces for skids and another project. We'll hopefully be getting to inoculations very soon. We're still working on the rough little room in the high tunnel. It just needs a little more plastic sheeting for walls and should be good to go.
We can start any time because we just picked up all of our spawn for the year! Last weekend we drove over to eastern Wisconsin to our friends at Field & Forest Products. For many years we had the spawn shipped to us (and we still have blocks shipped to us throughout the year) but our spawn order is big enough that it saves us a lot on shipping to pick it up ourselves.
It's also fun to catch up with everyone there and talk about all the things going on in the mushroom world. And it's a little bit of a vacation for us!
This large box of a LOT of spawn just barely fit inside our van. We packed the rest of the van with more boxes and managed to fit it all in!
Usually I climb inside the box, inside the van, to pull out spawn. But they switched to a taller box and I couldn't get into it! Since our skidsteer is still at the logging site, the intern and I took turns pulling out a bag at a time. Then they were wheeled into a cooler in the packshed (which I don't seem to have a picture of). But they're all tucked away and ready for inoculations to start any day now!
CSA season is nearly here!
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a way for folks to come together to support local farmers and make sure they can keep farming - and you get a box of veggies every week throughout the growing season. Many CSA farms now offer add-ons - extra items produced either by that farm or another.
Every year we offer a mushroom add-on through a number of CSAs - so you can have mushrooms in your CSA box along with all those yummy veggies! We are still working on our list of CSA partners for 2022. We're excited to be working with almost all the same farms from last year, and there is a new one or two in the works.
If you're in the market for a CSA veggie box and want some mushrooms on the side, take a look at any of these excellent CSAs:
Blackbrook Farm
Farm Farm
Fresh Earth Farms
Foxtail Farm
Good Acre
Growing Lots Urban Farm
Sweet Top
Threshing Table Farm
Turnip Rock - We won't have an add-on with Turnip Rock, but we'll have products listed in their online farm stand.
Lastly, we are bringing back our direct-from-our-farm CSA this summer - in case you already have a CSA and it's not one of those listed above.
Here are the details!
Pick up will be from our booth at the Mill City Farmers Market during market hours
Pick up dates are every-other-week from May 6th through October 22nd
What you get: in the course of 13 deliveries you will receive 10 third-of-a-pound boxes of fresh mushrooms, a reishi brownie, a jar of shiitake powder, and a mushroom butter.
The price is $89.61. (If you want to pay in cash or with a check at the farmers market it's $87!)
If you often shop at the Mill City Farmers Market and purchase our mushrooms, you may be wondering why you’d purchase a farm share instead of just purchasing from our booth. There are a few reasons:
You’ll get a great variety of mushrooms – including ones that aren’t available at our market booth.
Because our farm share is direct, we can offer it to members for a good value, between 25% and 33% less expensive than other market sales
Since direct farm shares are paid for ahead of time, you can step up to our booth and pick up your share with no fuss!
Please note: If you forget to pick up your share, we won't be organizing how to replace that share in a following week. It's just too complicated when we've tried that in the past This year, any unclaimed shares will be donated to folks in need of some fresh produce – and mushrooms! It will go to the MCFM Greens for Good program.
Go to our shop and look for our Mushroom Farm Share - the one that says "pick up at Mill City Farmers Market." There is another listing for a CSA, but that one is for folks who are with Farm Farm.
Look at that cute little face!!
