'Shroom to Grow

Next task: Growing mushrooms. 1. Cut down small hardwood (we chose the hated sweetgum.) 2. Drill series of holes. 3. Plug them with shiitake and oyster mushroom spawn. 4. Cover with melted wax. 5. Stack in forest next to orchard. 6. Wait

Hopefully next fall we'll have abundant flushes of fresh mushrooms. Yum!

Holy Insecticide, Batman!

While we haven't had an issue so far with mosquitoes, we're taking no chances. We also want insect control in the garden without having to resort to spraying. So Mark built two bat houses, each with five chambers that can hold scores of bats that will clear the air of all the things that bug us.

Hung one near the lake lot and one overlooking the orchard and garden. Used the deer climber tree stand to put them well out up of the way.

Bee Friendly

With so many fruit trees, we wanted to make sure we started supporting pollination. We have several pollinator gardens, with perennials such comfrey, baptista, yarrow, St. John, asters, etc. We also wanted to keep bees nearby. After a lot of research, we decided to wait before tackling honey bees. However, Orchard Mason Bees are another thing. These tiny bees work much harder than honey bees, are quite docile, and lay their eggs in tubes that they seal with mud. All we have to do is give them a convenient home and find a place for them to hibernate over the winter.

So, we ordered 20 bee cocoons, kept them in the fridge until it warmed up this weekend, then placed them in a bee house Mark built. Looking forward to raising a large population over the next few years.