Following the last two mushroom bags I made, I decided to eventually use up the leftover oyster mushroom spawn I was procreating then. It was sitting in a dry cool an dark place so I’m cautiously optimistic it might still be alive. This time, I wanted to try it with a straw growing substrate as shown in many internet publications and videos. So here’s a summary of what I did and in about a month’s time I hopefully can post an update on some progress.
How to: Grow Basil at Home
I sincerely love Basil. Best used fresh, this herb an enrichment for for a lot of dishes from pesto to all kinds of pasta, also poultry and countless sauces and even soups. Always a great addition.
Unfortunately, Basil a is a little diva-ish to have around and grow. I f***ed up numberless times when I tried to grow or even just maintain my basil plants, but finally, meanwhile I seem to have developed at least a little knack for it. I have actually managed to germinate as well as propagate, grow, perpetuate and correctly prune several basil plants on my southern windowsill! Here’s what I can share:
Mushroom Cultivation Logs
I tried inoculating some logs from the garden with mushroom spores. I had some month-old beechwood logs here from the last annual spring tree cleanup which were fresh, solid and wet enough for the task. Furthermore, I stumbled upon some reduced Oyster Mushroom (pleurotus ostreatus) mycelium dowels from the garden center. I don’t know if they’re still capable of reproduction since they’re a little over their expiration date but they seemed lively and fresh enough, so I tried them out.
Homebrew Drain Cleaner
My kitchen sink drained very slowly and not properly anymore (that’s ok after 10 years of ample use). Thanks to the vastness of the internet I came across an easy and convenient manly hint on the topic requiring only household items, so I tried that.
The summary? In my case, this did actually work 🙂 Here’s how:
Cooking Rice – Knuckle Method
My. Rice. Cooker. Died. Don’t laugh, this is serious, no kidding. I cooked rice without one before but I’m absolutely not experienced with it and a rice cooker really is very convenient.
Now, lots of people have smiled over Uncle Roger’s hilarious YouTube reaction on somebody’s rice cooking, so, of course I tried his “finger method”, just for the test. No measuring of rice and water, just use your index finger’s knuckles and somewhat “eyeball” everything. There’s a nice and comprehensible explanation here that I shamelessly copied – see below.
And it works! I got fluffy, perfectly cooked and delicious rice. So easy, so convenient, so idiot proof. I’m even thinking about NOT buying a new rice cooker now 🙂
Update: Chicken Care Cheat Sheets
Now that a year and a half have passed, I have learned geometrically and gained a lot of experience tending to my brave and pretty chickens. So here are my updated notes on chicken care and feeding. Maybe someone will find this useful, since they’re solely born from experience and, well, trial and error – but that makes these notes all the more “original” and reliable for me.
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