Watering Mushrooms

After this summer's drought we aren't entirely sure that any of our mushroom logs are still alive.  While Robert watered them a lot throughout the summer, at some point the entire farm came into a state of triage and as we were barely staying afloat there were times that the mushroom logs may not have gotten their share of our attention.  Robert has been determined to come up with a better watering system for future mushroom production and started working on it last weekend.  

While I spent all day Sunday cutting hay for Bruce, the boys made a trip to the big box store and came home loaded with supplies for their project.  I got home in time for Milan to wake up from his nap and we went to check on Robert's progress.

I need to mention that Milan is more than a little obsessed with letters right now so while it may look like he's simply holding up sticks in these pictures, use a little imagination and know that they are really letters.

Up near the highway is where the old homeplace used to be on our property.  Not much is left of it now but there is still a working well.  This is what we intend to use as our water source for mushroom production because it will provide us with unlimited un-chlorinated water.  

It is also not far from the cedar lined lane we decided would be the mushroom logs permanent home.  It's about the only place on our property that has large cedar trees providing shade throughout the entire day that is easily accessible.  

A few weeks ago Robert picked up a couple of used food-grade plastic tanks to hold the water he will pump out of the well.  

To give him enough pressure to water the logs he decided to build a platform out of cinder blocks, rebar and quikrete for the tanks to sit on.  

Milan's job when the tractor was moving was to sit on a cinder block and eat crackers.  

He did a good job.  

One tank in the air.  One more to go.  More pictures to come.  Taking suggestions on how to make these water tanks look pretty from the highway.  Or invisible.