Nick Williams

Same, I'm about three years in, so no experience with older beds. I will say that I've added material every year and the mycelium has spread to the new media just fine, so I don't know why it wouldn't be infinitely sustainable.

Anne Miller wrote:Here is one that is all stainless steel:

https://www.amazon.com/Germany-Multifunctional-Stainless-Steel-Basin/dp/B0CLLTV22J

It is also a multifunction:

Salad Spinner; Fruit Vegetable Rice Washing; Strainer Basket Bowl, and Food Graters with Container

I might get one of those as I need a grater.

How does one go about spinning it? Just seems like a colander in a bowl.

I've never seen one that's entirely plastic free, though there are some that don't have any plastic touching the contents at least: https://www.amazon.com/MOUNW-Spinner-Stainless-Vegetable-Washer%EF%BC%8C/dp/B0CWD4S68B


Or you could go old school. My mom always used to put greens in a tea towel and spin it over her head outside. She did detest a unitasker in the kitchen...

I dice and boil waxy potatoes in heavily salted water until tender. Drain, and spread out on a sheet pan to cool and dry. I'll usually sprinkle some vinegar on the hot potatoes (generally dill vinegar). Once cool, I add chopped hard boiled egg whites and pickles. Hard boiled egg yolk gets mashed and mixed with mayonnaise, a touch of sour cream, yellow mustard, white pepper, celery seed and maybe a bit of pickle juice and a pinch of sugar if it feels like it needs it. That all gets mixed together and into the fridge for at least a few hours for all the flavors to get to know each other.

Friend of a friend has an ATV that has two springy pieces of steel out at a 45 in front, and a high powered blower at the bottom of the vee blowing into a big bag. Drives through fields, the wires kick the grass up, and the grasshoppers jump inwards towards the middle of the vee where they get sucked into the bag.


In a more low-tech version, I saw a book once that had plans for what I think was called a "grasshopper tractor". Basically two skids. At the front of the two skids was a wire stretched that does the same thing, causes grasshoppers to jump. Mounted towards the back of the skids was a wide, flat pan filled with water with a thin coat of oil. There were vertical posts to push the contraption at the very back, and a screen between the operator and the pan, so grasshoppers jumped up as the tractor is pushed, bounce against the screen and fall into the oily water to drown. Might be something to tinker with...  

In certain localities (eastern Tennessee in particular is the one I'm aware of), structures were taxed on their footprint, so the cantilever barn was born. Large hayloft (which is what that door is for), storage space on the ground floor for tools, large overhang to keep animals dry, but teeensy little taxable footprint.

Not sure if that's the same intention of this particular barn, but it has precedent...

I'd probably bolt it down myself, but looking at the product review photos, looks like there's plenty of folks that didn't.

Could take the middle ground and put a couple hundred pounds on the baseplate? Couple sandbags or that sort of thing...

Do you get any water out at all?


Is there a foot valve, or are you relying on the check valve to maintain prime?

Joshua Frank wrote:

Nick Williams wrote:That's generally considered achieved at about 250 F.

I don't have a pressure cooker, but I do have an InstantPot, which is said to hit 10 to 12 psi above sea level pressure and reach 239°F to 245°F.

Would it be sufficient, do you think, to leave it at that temperature for 90 minutes or so?

Yeah, that will do it.

Joshua Frank wrote:

Nick Williams wrote:you'll want to STERILIZE, not just pasteurize

Do you have any guidance on the difference here? Is it just a matter of hotter or longer in the pressure cooker, or some essentially different procedure?

Basically, pasteurization kills most live organisms, weakens the rest, and doesn't do anything to most spores. Need 167 F for a sustained period (like a couple hours) to prepare substrate. That's fine for low nutrient density substrates and aggressive mycelium, because bacteria (for instance) digests cellulose a LOT slower than say... oyster mushrooms, so the mushroom mycelium can outcompete any contaminants.

When you have something like grains, or flours, there's a lot of starches and sugars that are easily digestible by your competing microorganisms, so you need to sterilize (i.e. kill EVERYTING, including spores) the media. That's generally considered achieved at about 250 F.