Malek Beitinjan

Faye Tellese wrote:
Thank you so much for the info on relatively their short shelf lives, as I hadn't even thought to press around for that info yet. I think that must be one of the reasons they're virtually absent from the commercial scene but all over home mycologists' discourse!

To be clear, they last as long as any other mushroom on the shelf. While they are in the ground, the will become woody and unpalatable after a day or two. So you should pick them as soon as you see them.

I succesfully grew wine cap mushrooms in plant containers that had a layer of wood chip mulch on them in the San Francisco bay area of California. They are a strong growing mushroom, and the nice thing is that you don't have to do any upkeep - they'll just grow on their own given enough plant debris to eat. The downside is that you need to harvest them as soon as they pop up, as they start getting worse after a day or two. But that's just extra motivation to walk your garden every day!

That looks amazing. Well done! How did you build the smoker?

I'd buy one

Katherine Quick wrote:My 2 daughters and I are building a hugelkultur in our backyard for the gardening badge. Can we work on this together as long as we each do every part of the process? Thanks, Katherine Quick

I believe you would each need to create a hugel of the required size, and each plant all the seeds/buds required. It says in the BB the following:

 
- 7 feet tall, 7 feet wide, 6 feet long
 - mulch it with at least 4 different kinds of mulch
 - seed/plant at least a dozen different species
 - seeds are mostly nitrogen fixers (>75% by volume)
 - at least three comfrey plants
 - at least three sunchokes
 - at least a dozen sepp holzer grains (currently available as a prize for anyone who reaches BB20)

So you would each need to make a hugel 7 feet tall, 7 feet wide, and 6 feet long. And each need to plant at least three comfrey plants, three sunchokes, a dozen sepp holzer grains. And each mulch with at least four different kinds of mulch.

When I earned this BB at the SKIP event, four of us did it at the same time by making a very long hugel - it was 7 feet tall and wide, and 24 feet long so that the total size could be divided into four portions, one for each individual.

Beyond that, I think it's okay if you help each other with some of the physical labor involved, but each individual should do the mulching, digging, etc. on their section.

Wheaton Labs is located in Montana and they have a lot of events focused on homesteading. If you went there for a visit you'd probably pick up some good tips.

https://wheaton-labs.com/events/

Start a fire with flint/tinder

Make a snow shelter

Cook something in a pit

Split a log using only nonpowered hand tools

A lot of the natural building PEP badges would apply here as well

Welcome to Permies! If you're interested in developing your skills for a permaculture lifestyle, consider doing the SKIP program. It features a list of specific tasks organized into categories like gardening, woodworking, commerce, community, and more. By doing the tasks you can learn some stuff and demonstrate to others here your permaculture skills!

It's too true....

If you click the button with an ellipsis (3 dots) at the top right of the post, that should give you an option to edit.