On July 28, 2013 I visited a property outside of Bingen, WA. It is approximately 22 acres of mixed oak and pine, but I would consider it open space. This property would make a good site to contrast more densely wooded sites. It’s a beautiful drive, but takes about 90 minutes to get there. Moxie-Jo joined me, so it was an opportunity to observe her reaction to being away from Mom and see how she liked being in the field with Dad. The temperature was cool when we arrived in the morning, but quickly warmed up and was a nice sunny day. As I was thinking about how to set up sample areas on this property, I was also wondering about how Moxie-Jo felt about being in the woods. I was glad to have packed a sweater for her, since it was chilly in the morning. Her mom didn’t let me leave without having a supply of diapers, wipes, sunblock, food, and water. It’s important to pack the right stuff so that an outdoor adventure doesn’t become an unpleasant experience.
Moxie-Jo and I visited another property on August 1, 2013. This property is approximately 4 acres of fir, but the owner is guiding succession towards oak. The property is located on Rt. 30 close to Forest Park. It’s not an ideal site for the study due to the proposed subsample requirements. It was a bit rainy, so was a little worried about how Moxie-Jo would like walking in the rain. I packed her rain jacket along with other essentials. She was happy when we were walking, but a little fussy when we stopped to talk for more than a few minutes. The highlight of her outing was finding blackberries to pick and eat.
While visiting this property, Jordan from JordansMushrooms.com and the property owner inoculated logs with plug spawn. The logs were freshly cut from a maple tree, and were inoculated with either Hericium erinaceous (Lion’s Mane) or Pleurotus ostreatus (Blue Oyster). Both are choice edibles, but we’ll have to wait till next spring to find out! I took some video on how to do this but will have to share with you later as I’m not finished editing it!
-Ed
