Making it thrugh another year, '24-'25

[doc henderson]

There is a "white" Avalanche pickup in the background in pic # 2.

[SawyerTed]

Tom, how long does a mushroom log produce?  

[doc henderson]

Tom, can you saw some of the bigger diameter logs in half.  make a stable base some may like and get two to sell.  does that reduce the sugar and growing potential in any way?

[Old Greenhorn]

Doc yes I can, in fact I offer this to every client as they pull in to load and also tell them they can pick their logs (within reason) by passing the ones they don't like. But understand that growers have to handle and stack their logs in some way. Many use the log cabin style to use a small footprint and still get maximum air flow. SO having all the logs the same length makes that workable. Others are more flexible. Logs 'last' as long as the nutrients hold out and they do not get completely dry inside. This is why they are stacked in cool, shady places, preferably by moving water. As we all know, logs dry fastest from the cut end. So yeah, cutting in half will shorten effective life, but I can't say by how much. I don't think its a lot on large logs. Think about how long a 2' long chunk of fresh and green red oak would take to be burnable without splitting. It's quite a while.  Which leads to Ted's question. It's a function of drying time and how much nutrients and sugars the log contains. So an 8" oak log 40" long may last up to 5 years if cared for properly, but will likely beginning to show less yield after 3 years or so.
 Commercial growers will rotate in new logs every year or so and rotate out the poor yielding or 'dud' logs.
 One year I did cut some special order logs for a client that were 10-14" diameter and 40" long. Those near killed me. But he was using the to grow Lion's Mane in a totem log arrangement. The logs weighed in around 100-150 pounds. But totem logs get 'plated' upright and don't get moved. The log is prepped much differently. You can google it I think and find examples, there is a wide variety of techniques owing to the fact that there is much not known about mushrooms and what is 'best'.

[doc henderson]

I meant length wise so they could have a flat bottom with inoculants on the upper half-moon side.  so, a 3-foot log would make two 3-foot half-moon pieces.  sell as two logs from a larger diameter log.  you have a sawmill.    Do not get Howard started, or he will have you standing them up to trim the ends on the sawmill!

[beenthere]

If length-wise would work for the mushroom growers, then seems that slabs from sawmills would/could also work. Slabs meaning "first cuts" to square up the logs. My good friend that grew shitake mushrooms liked 4' lengths of 4-5" diameter oak. His process included periodic soaking in water tank to apparently keep moisture in the oak. Point being that he wanted wood that he could easily move around by hand, i.e. I'd guess about 75 pounds.

[Old Greenhorn]

Sorry, lengthwise is pretty much a non-starter. The log would dry quickly cutting any effective life by 70% or more. I suppose you could play around with arborseal and such, but that just adds more work, maintenance, and cost. Of course, anybody is welcome to do a test study and let us know how it goes.
 
 Certain strains of Shiitakes will accept 'forcing' which is done by soaking either in a tub, stream, or shower. This simulates a heavy spring or fall rain and 'forces' the mushrooms to go active and fruit. Using this technique, a grower can do a certain number of logs, wait 1 week, then do another group, wait one week, etc. Eventually, there are enough logs in the cycle that each group will fruit one week apart. The logs require a months rest (IIRC) after harvest before they can be forced again. So if you have enough logs to do 8 weeks worth of log groups, as you as you complete one full cycle, you can force the first group again.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well catching up here a little, on Tuesday my first client came for pickup. They ordered 250 logs, I had 270 on the deck, but I always allow clients to pick or reject logs by their needs, within reason. Any clean log between 4 and 6" diameter should be good, those bigger and smaller or ones with a slight hollow heat may be reject for some or takers for others. It always has worked out fine in the past so I don't 'force' anybody to take what they don't want unless of course they specifically asked  for it, then decide when they see it that it's too big or small. Tod bad, that's what you asked for, I cut it special, you just bought it.
 So the folks on Tuesday only left with 200 logs. They had taken a bunch of large ones, but they could only work with so many of those and all I had left were large logs up to 9 or 10". The other reason was they were pretty much out of room in the dump truck.  But they have no problem coming back for the last 50 whenever I have them ready, they enjoy the trip and getting out of the city. 2 days later now and I already pretty much have those 50 ready to go. Probably done tomorrow. Also with what they left I had enough logs that meet the needs of my next client, so he is coming up Tuesday to get them. It all works out. Funny thing. When I cut up the trees and I run my 40" marks down the truck I keep going until I am down to about 3" sometimes a tad less. Now I know these are too small for mushrooms and they are too large for broom handles, but I cut them and throw them in anyway figuring I will make them into firewood. But I throw them on the stacks at home because al these folks who teach sometimes like to take a few small ones for kids or the elderly folks. I usually throw those on for free. But these folks Tuesday took just about every undersized 'log' I had. So you just can't figure some folks out.
 Tuesday was so nice that after I ran my errands in town I grabbed my book and sat in the sun reading even though I should have gone back to the woods.
 Wednesday I went down and did another 20 log load and some other chores. Today I went down and put another 20+ on the ground, cut to length and brush work all cleared up, but I didn't haul them out. I will do that tomorrow combined with a couple more trees. My buddy Bob was coming by and I didn't want to be late or keep him waiting.
 Bob dropped me off a 'gift bucket' which contains (I hope   ) all the parts to make a 372 including some extras. It should be a fun project I am not going to rush into, I will enjoy it and have some fun with it.
---------------------------------
So I mentioned a few weeks back I think that I got this request from a writer to be interviewed for her newspaper as well as some other things. I donated one of my stools the the fundraiser auction for the John Burroughs Woodchuck lodge and we have been corresponding about that, the Burroughs Biography I was reading and other stuff off an on for a week or so. Today I got a large envelope in the mail with the latest issue of the paper. It is an advertising newspaper and contains two major articles in each issue. One is local history and the other seems to be a personal interview. I like the writing and the articles are well researched and thorough. So we'll see how this goes. Ironically, the feature article in the current issues is about Julian Burroughs, John's son, who was just as interesting as John but much less well known. It will be interesting to see how this interview goes. I keep telling her to keep her expectations pretty low and have a backup subject handy. She read my 'writings' on my web page and somehow thinks there is something there, but I just don't know.

 Back into the woods tomorrow for another day.

[GRANITEstateMP]

Glad you got your first log delivery done, and the start of your mushroom log cash flow!  As to the small logs and understanding customers, yeah, every time I think I've got them figured out, they go and throw me a curve!

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, getting the first and largest order done is a good feeling, but no time to dwell on it. time is wasting and spring is coming. My next pickup[ is a new client who is an instructor at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) and wants to teach his students how to grow the best mushrooms. New clients are always a question mark. Then I have 2 more orders totaling 190 logs or so and then some logs for me.

 SO Wednesday evening Bill dropped a tree where is he going to cut in a new access road to a piece of his property, this was a RO about 24" on the stump. I am taking out most all of the top wood for logs. I worked on that for a couple of hours yesterday and added a new dent to my truck went I slid sideways into the butt log while trying to yank a big branch down to work on it. When I get that cleaned up there are more to work on. I got about 20 logs out of it, but more to come, then I fetched out the 20 logs I had ready from the day before plus those 20 and added them to the pile at home. I left a few on the ground, the truck was full. That gave me enough to finish up that 250 order with 'right sized' logs for them, so they can pick up the last 50 anytime now.
 Solid overcast today but 40° so it's not a pretty day, but workable. I will head down and get back on it after breakfast.
It's another day.

[thecfarm]

CIA, that must be poughkissee?
Been there a couple times.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yup, that's the one. I ate there once. It was 'interesting'.

[Old Greenhorn]

Ever have one of those days when it would have been cheaper and more productive to stay in bed? Yeah, like that.

So Sunday at the end of my cutting session I wanted to lower and level off two stumps as I do with all of them. However I found a rock inside one of those stumps and I rocked the chain pretty good.  SO I came  home and unloaded then put some time into the chain. I got the top plates pretty good but the side plates still had a lot more to go. I gave it a try and it seemed to cut 'OK'. Didn't cut on Monday because of rain. Today I had a pickup come in the morning and he didn't bring enough cash, so it was a short sale. not a big deal, but I'm not happy. I shook that off and I got down to finish cleanup on that big tree I started Sunday and the saw cut lousy unless I pushed it. I didn't have a lot of cutting to do anyway, then I headed to another spot and tried to drop a tree but the chain was lousy and I could not get my cuts right and since I was cutting at cheat height it was even harder. I made a total mess of it, the tree is still hung and I just quit. Came back home and did a more in depth filing on that chain. Still it cut like crap. I pulled the chain and although the top plates look pretty good, the side plates and corners are heavy rounded. I'd have to bring all the teeth back 1/8" to get it clean again and I ain't doing that with a file. Checked my bag and I don't have a new chain for this bar in X-cut. Since I needed gas in the truck anyway, I went too town and got gas then to tractor supply and paid 30 bucks for another x-cut. Now it cuts great again. SO no production today and it feels wasted.
Tomorrow we have the monthly food shopping so I lose half a day and then I'll see if I can correct this trend.

[SawyerTed]

Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes cartoon "Lucky Rocketship Underpants" is worth the time to search for it.   It captures the feeling of having a day like that.  

I have to reference that cartoon with some frequency.  

[Old Greenhorn]

May 17, 2015 which ironically is my birthday, is the one, and yeah, that's exactly it. I don't have lucky rocketship underpants, but if I did, they likely would not have helped me either. It was just one of 'those' days. I am hoping tomorrow is better.

[Old Greenhorn]

It's pretty safe to say that the day I had today was not the day I had planned.
 It was our monthly food shopping day and that went as per normal pretty much. On our way home around 12:30 or so we stopped at my Daughters work to pick  something up. While waiting I got a phone call from my friends Mike and Ruth who live a mile for us and are touring musicians I have mentioned a few times. Anyway, Ruth sounds excited and jsut ask "Are You on your way?!" I asked her 'to what?". SHe said "The Fire! Did you hear the explosion?! I don't even know if anyone called 911 yet." SO I calmy told her to hang up the phone and call 911 and give them all the details she could. She said "H wait, I hear the firehouse horns going off now." I said 'call anyway' an she hung up. I called Bill knowing that even if he had his pager with him, he might not hear it if he was operating equipment. He didn't have it so he made a call and got on the road. I guess Ruth forgot I left the fire Dept. about 7 years ago.
 We got home about 10 minutes later and I was listening to all the initial dispatches as I unloaded. mutual aid requested from 4 departments besides our own and also a medivac placed on standby for people missing at the scene and possible entrapment. When I was bringing in the last bag I heard them send a mutual aid company to set up a draft site at my old firehouse. This didn't sound good all the way around. SO I hopped in the truck knowing it was likely I could at least lend a hand at the draft site. Turned out I was right. The crew that came in was not familiar with draft operations and was trying to pull suction on a dry hydrant with a soft 6" hose. That won't work, plus they grabbed the furthest dry hydrant from the pond, making it worse. SO I got them on the right hydrant and setup with hard suction which worked a lot better.  Still I couldn't be pushy but I tried to tell the pump operator what he needed to do to get his prime going. He had his way and didn't want to hear mine, so it took a while. Eventually he got it primed and pumping and we filled a few trucks in the rotation. We were about 3/4 mile from the scene. Mutual aid kept coming in, we had a ATF team from 2 counties away come in for an investigation and lot of cops and more investigators plus the medical examiner and still more folks.
 Bottom line, an acetylene tank exploded and there were 2 deceased. The residence was flattened and burned through. The home owner is known to me and the father in law one Bill's best guy on his crew. Bill had managed to grab the first truck in and as I type this is still sitting on the scene watching investigators poke through rubble. It's a small town and this will have a big ripple effect throughout the community. 
 As I said, not the day I expected. I didn't belong at that job, but I figured I might be able to help and I did, so I stayed until they relieved us. Nobody from my own (former) department even knew I was there until we were packing up. By the time the guys from the mutual aid company realized I was "retired' they had already decided I was worth having around, so it was all good, I guess. I got a sandwich and a bottle of water for my afternoon of work. Good enough. Tomorrow is another day.