Edible Log Farm Weekly Blog
January always means getting ready for the coming season. The trees have to be chosen and the logistics of the getting the logs to the log farm(s) with the least amount of effort is always an interesting puzzle. On Friday I was able to go with a forest ranger from a national organisation that manages nature reserves to look at a small forest plot that has to be thinned. Half of the oak trees have to be removed so that the other half have more space and nutrients to grow into big and healthy trees. These oak trees have just the right diameter and the plot is close to the road which is handy for transport. We walked through the forest examening the trees and the situation together. We have been working together for quite a few years now so we did not have to stay long. With this one plot I should have enough logs to innoculate in March. Time to work out how to get the trees to my workplace!
Earlier this week I received a visit from a Food Designer from Arnhem. She arrived with her two student assistents to learn more about edible wood. She is doing background research for a collective project from a number of municipalities in the region. They want to find out more about small-scale agriculture in their region and what connects the different products to the land and to each other. Despite it being middle in the winter we were able to pick some late-flowering shii-take mushrooms and tasted them right there and then. We also found some velvet-shank mushrooms that were eagerly taken back to their homes to join the shii-takes in a tasty evening meal.
