http://www.houseofcranks.com/journal Pacific Northwest Crank Museum, Research Institute and Experimental Farm Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:42:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The temporary chicken run didn't work out so well--the wire sides folded over and the top netting sagged enough that Miss Thing managed to get herself tangled up in it and nearly strangled herself. So a more permanent solution was called for. Our more permanent (but still constructed in such ... http://www.houseofcranks.com/journal/2008/11/chicken-run-mark-2/ We haven't had a car (working or otherwise) in over two years, and we have no plans to get another. We do have plans for a lot more vegetable gardening, though, and the driveway was just taking up space we could be using for more raised beds. So last weekend ... http://www.houseofcranks.com/journal/2008/11/good-bye-driveway/ I swear, I looked away for just a moment, and pow! Mushrooms! The kit I started on the 19th has started producing, right on time. Unfortunately, the mushrooms are showing the long skinny "octopus" formation that indicates that they're not getting enough light. I'm not yet sure what to do ... http://www.houseofcranks.com/journal/2008/11/we-have-mushrooms/ Still no eggs. The chickens are still growing, I'm pretty sure, though much more slowly now. I'm sorry to say that Trouble is losing her beautiful pristine white color and gaining some yellowish patches. She's also getting really good at leaping from the ground to my shoulder, and I'm having to ... http://www.houseofcranks.com/journal/2008/10/chicken-update/ I taught a quick class on basic bicycle maintenance at the Sustainable Ballard festival today, and gave a couple people the houseofcranks.com URL as a place to get notes from the class. Unfortunately, I forgot to add a link to the class notes. And I'm not quite sure how to ... http://www.houseofcranks.com/journal/2008/09/bicycle-maintenance-class-notes/ Well, my slapdash attempt at growing oyster mushrooms is coming right along. There's definitely some mold contamination in some spots, but it's very limited. [ETA 9/28: Yeah, not so much with the limited anymore.] The mycelium is doing its thing. You can get a kit from Fungi Perfecti for growing a ... http://www.houseofcranks.com/journal/2008/09/pleurotus-bucket-is-growing-compost-is-confusing/ Today I inoculated half a five-gallon bucket full of espresso grounds with about 50g of oyster mushrooms, using these instructions. If I were really going for it, I would have been a whole lot more careful with sterile technique. (Espresso grounds are more or less steam-pasteurized, but I didn't bother sterilizing ... http://www.houseofcranks.com/journal/2008/09/first-shot-at-growing-pleurotus/ Yesterday, Josh and I -- mostly Josh -- put up a temporary extra run for the chickens under the plum tree. We netted the top with trellis netting, which with any luck will keep the chickens in while letting plums drop through. I've been cultivating a clover meadow under the ... http://www.houseofcranks.com/journal/2008/09/chicken-run-mark-i/ Yesterday was the second anniversary of our somewhat unscheduled switch to a car-free lifestyle. Which is to say, we haven't owned a working car in two years. All things considered, I think we've done pretty well. We haven't really used a car much at all since ZipCar and FlexCar merged. We've ... http://www.houseofcranks.com/journal/2008/07/happy-car-free-anniversary/ I haven't seen a raccoon in our back yard in at least a year, probably more. After we cut some branches out of the tree on the back property line, they seemed to be less interested in hanging out back there. I guess they were just waiting for a reason ... http://www.houseofcranks.com/journal/2008/06/raccoons/