When I first convinced Vince that we had to go to the Mother Earth News Fair, I was happy he was going . . I hadn’t been to Belton yet and I wasn’t sure about bridges I might encounter, so I needed a driver! I didn’t want to go by myself and spend a weekend in a hotel, but I was so determined to go. When he agreed to go, I wasn’t sure if he might drop me off at the fair and then go exploring Belton and the surrounding area. When the list of workshops was published, Vince seemed pretty interested in the classes offered so I was even more hopeful. By the time we got to the fair, I knew he was going to have as much fun as I would and I was thrilled! In my opinion, Vince needs a hobby. He works and that consumes so much of his days, but then he seems to spend the rest of his time doing the things I need done . . till the garden, install the irrigation system here and there, help with the bluebirds, fix this, repair that . . help me figure this out. I want to see Vince get as fired up about something as I do about knitting and gardening and spinning, and chickens .. sometimes it bothers me that he works and I have all the fun.
Coming home from Belton both days, it was funny for me to listen and participate in our conversations. Usually it’s me running on and on about some crazy idea I have . . we need a smokehouse is my current craze. But after taking the classes, Vince would talk about mushrooms like I talk about my ideas. Mushrooms are interesting for me too so I can see us doing that together and having fun.
Vince’s classes at the Mother Earth News Fair were mostly about beekeeping and growing mushrooms. He liked the guy who was teaching the growing mushrooms classes and I think he took 3 classes from him. Vince is so enthusiastic about growing the mushrooms, and even though our location isn’t ideal (lack of humidity and way hot), he thinks he can do it. Mushrooms grow extremely quickly. There are many varieties – they were saying one, when fried, tastes like fried shrimp. Another tastes like lobster. I’m looking for the variety that tastes like crawfish! 🙂
There were quite a few beekeeping classes and vendors there. Vince took 2 beekeeping classes. He had just started with bees in Missouri when we found out we were moving to Texas and he’s been afraid of the Africanized bees in our area. I’m not sure Vince is going to do the bees again .. so many problems with the bees themselves these days, as well as external problems (mites, drought) and the bees are very hard to get and quite expensive. Folks in our area are reporting that they just aren’t coming across hives these days. Getting started in beekeeping seems like a crapshoot and it can be expensive to get started and it seems the chance of success, especially in this area, maybe slim.
Vince took another class in offgrid aquaponics and another on something to do with chickens.
Of the classes he took, and ideas he explored I think he’ll end growing mushrooms first. I’m betting that by tonight he has his spores or spawn or whatever it’s called . . ordered and has rounded up some growing medium for the mushrooms and if all goes well, we’ll be picking our own mushrooms soon. I’ll keep you posted.
Linda Mincher says
I’ll be interested to see how the mushroom growing goes. I’ve been thinking about that myself. We are planning on going to the fair in April in NC…we are in TN. My hubby is trying to figure out which speakers he wants to see. On the bee front…I just watched something on PBS this weekend about beekeeping and they were talking about people who will place their hives in other people’s yard. They tend the hive once a week and you get the benefits of pollination and they get the benefit of diversity in their honey. This was in Georgia I believe. They would give the people a jar of their honey for allowing them to keep the hives in their yard (plus their plants get pollinated). It was kind of like an intro to bee keeping without all the expense and the work. I think they mentioned to check with local beekeeping groups.
Sherrill says
Dr. Oz was talking bees and honey today and had Daymond Johns (of FUBU fame) from Shark Tank on. One of the Shark Tank episodes had a guy that was building hives (or hive containers?) as a biz and don’t think he got a deal but apparently Daymond became very interested in bees and now has like a million bees on his property (in upstate NY). He’s a billionaire and said it was very difficult to get a queen for his hive but was able to obtain one through his contacts. So I gotta figure the average joe would REALLY have a hard time. Probably mushrooms would be easier 🙂
Susan says
I don’t like mushrooms, no matter what people say they taste like. To me, they always taste like dirt! But I can see it would be fun to grow them, and you can dehydrate them – don’t know about freezing.
katie says
Back in the day, I knew a guy who was growing mushrooms in his basement. He had a pile of sawdust and grew them on that. Minnesota basements can be quite humid. He was Italian and liked to make his own sauces. I can see Vince doing that.
Anne says
I live in the SE corner of Arizona. We have a family in our church who keep bees. He has many hives. And he’s constantly getting calls to come and get large amounts of bees out of peoples homes, barns, garages, water heater openings, under mobile homes etc. He can’t get them all and so many of them are sprayed and killed.
I believe he’s told me that all the bees around here are africanized. Lots of bee keepers don’t want to deal with them. But he’s getting a good amount of honey and it’s good honey taste wise. And he kind of shrugs his shoulders when I ask him if they are a lot more aggressive, so I guess it doesn’t concern him a lot.
I’m sure Vince will enjoy his mushrooms and I am jealous cause I love mushrooms!
Rebecca in SoCal says
I looked up the Mother Earth News fairs…the nearest to me is 1,001 miles away. Glad you got to enjoy your event!
I remember being in line at the post office once (decades ago…last century) with a man who had a buzzing box. He was shipping bees! They don’t do that anymore.
Growing mushrooms sounds safer than hunting wild ones. That always makes me nervous, although my husband and his parents did it in Michigan. I expect to see some mushroom recipes soon. Oooh, dehydrate! I saw a couple Chinese recipes calling for mushroom powder as a flavor enhancer and MSG replacement. You certainly wouldn’t have to limit it to Chinese food!
wanda j says
Judy,
You and VInce need to go to Madisonville. They grow all kinds of mushrooms there. They have a festival each October. It is great . They sell to all kinds of mushrooms to groceries stores. You can also get the stuff you grown them in. We get to put in our gardens and lower beds. It is great.Maybe some weekend or even go online they may be there too. I don’t know what the name of place is just love their shrooms.