Quartz Night is the first of a series that will make up a village. They're creatures of habitation. They are hidden some what in tall grasses. There is a path that brings a person physically closer to them. I don't know how many more there will be but this one is calling for company. There is a large quartz bolder at the bottom and a vein of quartz pebbles that drift from the bolder to the top. The roof is made of galvanized sheet steel and the entire steel structure is painted aluminium.

This is very satisfying for me to see. What a birthday cake!!! This was taken yesterday and now many of the shiitake are on a drying rack which is shown above the cake. It's known that dried upside down in the sun increases the health benefits dramatically. How much exactly? Very dramatically........

Shiitake

Shiitake wow I finally am growing them. Rita got me the plugs for my birthday and they arived . The logs we found cut on the side of the road last winter ready for the chipper. I knew enough to grab them early as they need to dry out a bit. That was feburary and it's June now . The logs are ready and I drilled holes in them acording to the instructions that arived with the "plug spawn" , ohoo all these new terms. This link is where mine came from, www.fungi.com also

you'l need cheese wax at www.cheesemaking.com and proably other sources.

Next the cheese wax gets dbl.boiler melted to pour or as I did dribble with a paintbrush over the spaun plugs and the ends of the logs. this keeps competing fungi from the shiitake and keeps moisture in.

The image above is of the logs in a shady, moist and foliage over top kind of place.

Who knows if it will work but you can't successfully fail if you dont try! Now I just have to foreget all about them for 6-9 months unless it becomes dry and they'l need a sprinkle of water.

The Roof Top Garden is out side for the first time. It is not finished allthough the rough form is here. It will be part of a group of others like it. They'l be positioned in another area of the garden with different types of grasses growing around them and a path to be able to visit each one. There is more too but that will have to come as a supprise and in an image only.

We (most of us) live with a roof over our heads. I also like the way alpaka's interact. These are two of the motivations for The Roof Top Garden .

One very fun thing I like to do is make believe I'm some where else while sitting at a table with ink, brush, paper and water. Adding Japan, mountains,agriculture,homes and great views equals this. A new place to visit.

Roofusbe contenti

Thinking about the real estate of things and the parts that are good about it I'm content to recognise the simlper aspects are the better ones.

These drawings have started to become sculpture. I'll enter an image soon as it becomes presentable. A big umbrella is wonderfull in the pouring rain.

Black Earth

Googling bio-char will describe better than I can the benefits of this practice. In the middle of the vegetable garden I put a barrel of steel with a lid that has a hole in the middle. All the debris from last years growth gets burned in it. The charcoal gets spread over the garden beds and dug in. When there is a lot of hot coals in the barrel

the lid goes on. The barrel has a few holes around the sides that at this point get plugged up with some loose fitting bolts.

Now it simmer burns into a pile of charcoal. When it cools down a bit I take the lid off and add snow to stop it or water. In the morning the charcoal gets spread on the beds. It's fun too.