Last Day in Makeni

Constructing a shed to protect convection oven from rain.

For the first part of the day, we spent time outside adding to our steaming system. We were told by our advisor that the oven would run into issues with rain putting out the fire so we dedicated ourselves to constructing a small shed from leftover materials. We tried to emulate steps our carpenter used for the MPS with some success; we dug holes and used rocks to stabilize our posts in the ground. Our shed is a little uneven, but overall should get the job done.

We inoculated our substrate logs with straw mushrooms. This is our only jar of straw mushroom spawn and is an important trial so we can find the optimal method for growing mushrooms. The jar showed some contamination but could still give us information on how well the mycelium grows. We have more spawn in a syringe that can be used for grain spawn after we leave to continue these trials.

We also shared 2.0 copies of our manuals and worksheets with Jawara and set up a plan for next semester. It was bittersweet; we are excited to see the project move forward with someone so dedicated, but sad we won't be able to be in country to work with him more.