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Another cherry season
Another cherry season is beginning. Only the earliest varieties of cherries are ripe. I gathered 4 pounds for the office yesterday and tomorrow I will gather more. I hope the orchards will sell cherry pitters this year because I want to freeze some cherries. You cannot get anything so good in the store ( Read more... ) -
Elderbery season
On the weekend of the longest day of the year I:
* Picked 6 pounds of cherries (and ate most of them)
* Made cherry tarts
* Placed third in a spinning competition
* Bought four fleeces
* Picked elderberries and made elderberry juice
Not a bad weekend!
ElderberriesElderberries grow here in great profusion, so that the branches of the tree bend ( Read more... ) -
Golden currants!
Golden currants are ripe ( Read more... ) -
Plate to...?
Tissue cloning - a learning experience
My cloning practices are primitive, but so far surprisingly effective. I added tissue to the plates immediately after boiling the agar, so as to minimize the number of times I opened the plates and risked contamination. I've made a small start with 8 plates of oyster mushroom from Whole Foods, 8 of Agaricus ( Read more... ) -
Morel hunt
This sunday was the LAMS morel hunt! We went to the mountains above Redlands and spent many happy hours pottering about the woods looking for mushrooms. I did not find any morels, but other people did, proving that there were morels to be found. I hope that I have an opportunity to go hunting morels again this season in order to redeem myself.
I ( Read more... ) -
Cultures
Lost OM 0 to bacteria, I and III to green mold. OM II has a small spot of mold in the corner and what may be bacteria growing around the OM piece itself ( Read more... ) -
Agar report
Getting near the 1 week mark. I've got substantial growth (and agar colonization) on all oysters. My 0 agaricus is noticably growing, but also appears contaminated (bacterial); some of the other agaricus look like they might be quietly colonizing the agar but not substantially ( Read more... ) -
Tiny cultures
Two days ago, I made 19 cups of agar and started 6 Agaricus bisporus (crimini) tissue cultures, 6 of an unidentified oyster mushroom, 6 controls, and 1 deliberately contaminated control ( Read more... )
