Brendan DeVincent

Hey gang!
Congrats Fred! Hope the first month has treated you well..my uncle used to live in Madison, not too far from where you are I believe.
Sounds like you've got a bit on your plate - glad to hear you've got a solid vision, so all the best on your ventures!

Just wanted to drop in and introduce myself...I'm in the process of moving in with my brother and his family in henniker. 30 acres to play with as long as I play uncle from time to time - works for me!!
A bit overwhelmed at the moment with the opportunity but excited to get cracking

May start a thread myself about the property to float some ideas etc but wanted to at least say hello
Cheers all!
Brendan

Hey all! Long time no post

Took a stroll in the woods today and came across what I believe to be Reishi! Found it on a few dead/dying hemlock which further supports my notion
However, the only downside is that the specimens I discovered look to be a bit too mature, and some have suffered from frost and insect damage. There were still a few up on standing trees, but I wasn't prepared to scale up and check them out
Anyways, I guess my question is, at what point is it too late to consider reishi harvestable?
The photos I'm attaching are just a few of what I found, but for the most part mirror what ever else was there
Obviously I'd love to come out of this with something for my basket, but if not, I'm still totally stoked to have found some at last!
Thoughts?
I'm holding out hope that the ones out of reach are a bit healthier
Also - my apologies if I've misidentified. My excitement may have gotten the best of me
Thanks all!
Brendan

Hey all
So I'm actually in a very similar situation - I live in eastern central mass and have a young Chicago hardy fig which I purchased a few months back. I currently have it in a pot inside but have been debating whether to transplant it outside or not, which I'm starting to lean towards.
As I've read this discussion I got excited at the prospect of cuttings too...
The question is, Is there a time when a tree is too young to pull cuttings from?
The place i rent could really benefit from a couple of nice fig trees, but I don't want to jeopardize the health of the one I have at the potential for more growies
Thoughts?
Would a picture help to determine whether it could withstand the process or not?
Many thanks!
Brendan

Hey Keith
I'm not David nor am I any sort of expert but a good friend of mine had about 50lbs of chard(I know because I hauled it all off) sitting in her garden that was just going to be left to rot. I brought it home and made some chard chips and threw some in the vitamix so now I've got several gallons in the freezer for smoothies. However - I was still left with a HUGE mound of chard on my kitchen table. Hmmm what to do..
Well I love fermented foods and had never had a go at it myself so I figured why not give it a shot
6 quart jars later and I put a significant dent in mt. Chard
Just cracked the first batch last night - damn tasty!
Pretty simple recipe too..used 1-3 tbs of salt some garlic onion ginger turmeric chilies and of course a little bit of that love...each batch a bit different and now an awesome snack I've got for the next few weeks. Between the cultures and the natural benefits of chard as is I'm pretty stoked...actually munching on some as I type now
Anyways just wanted to share as I finally went ahead and registered...time to give a little after receiving so much
Something to at least consider
Take care
Brendan