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  • Beans on Toast

    I grew up with beans on toast for breakfast, lunch or tea and it's my breakfast dish in Thailand. The day can throw what it likes at me as long as I've had beans for breakfast! So when the wife decided that we should move into the tree-house I was okay with the idea, just as long as we could have beans on toast...

    ...It's not quite a tree-house, just my affectionate name for it, since it was made from the trees we cut down over Christmas to make way for our new house.

    house_4.jpg

    The plot is about 3 rai (just over an acre) and we needed to have a house to get electricity to build the main house. We put in some temporary poles to get the power (~200m away) and have dug a bore hole for water so no problem with mod-cons...

    house_am_1.jpg

    The first week was pretty hot and we spent the nights sleeping on the balcony...awakening to the cacophony of cicadas providing the dawn chorus...and a very sleepy sun rising in the mist, taking a good hour or two to burn through and provide some sizzling hot days. The area planned for my veg plot was being used as a driveway and drastic action was needed to stop this becoming the norm. Furthermore, the neighbours' cows had easy access to anything we planted.

    fence_posts.jpg

    A fence was needed to keep these inquisitive creatures at bay...

    cows.jpg

    I had a feeling it was going to be a busy couple of weeks and the butterfly photos were going to come a little way down the to-do list.

  • #2
    It is mushroom season in our part of Isaan at the moment with people coming from afar to search for them in the woods...making it pretty difficult to silently creep up on butterflies and ask for their portrait anyway.

    BIL and family came up with the idea of growing mushrooms on my vegetable patch. They had already grown them on someone else's land with success and I liked the idea since it would help improve the soil as well as making it easier for them when it came to picking....you need to be up around 2-3am to pick them.

    So without further ado, let me introduce you all to the art of growing mushrooms.

    There is a place selling the necessary in our province, that being:

    Ingredients:

    ingredients_compost_1.jpg
    1. Mushroom Compost, which I think is cassava based and this is 2 tons and enough to grow around 100Kg straw mushrooms.

    ingredients_spores_2.jpg

    2. Mushroom spores: I forgot to count how many came with the 2 tons of compost. Actually we bought a 4 ton kit but only grow 2 tons at a time because any more becomes difficult to sell.

    3. Plastic sheeting, which I didn't photograph but you will see it later, when it is being laid.

    ingredients_manure_kwai_1.jpg
    4. Buffalo or Cow manure (not supplied as part of the kit)

    ingredients_wood_hoops_1.jpg
    5. Wooden hoops to make the cover (not supplied)

    6. Straw to cover (not supplied)

    ingredients_wood_hoops_1.jpg

    Tools

    tools_tractor.jpg

    A lot-thai isn't strictly necessary but helps to make the furrows.

    A compost block former, to make the compost blocks (see in later photos)

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    • #3
      Method

      rake_furrow_2.jpg

      After ploughing, make the furrows, picture is better than any description I can come up with...


      water_furrow_1.jpg

      Water and add manure


      compost_blocks_4.jpg

      Then, using the former, make the compost blocks

      three_stages_2.jpg

      Add the wooden hoops to create a tent, add the spores and then cover with the plastic sheet. The plastic is then covered with straw to keep the heat in.

      close_up_block_1.jpg

      A close-up of the blocks with spores before being covered with straw.

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      • #4
        The kit with two tons costs B2,500 and it is possible to grow enough mushrooms to sell for B5000 if you go around the villages selling rather than sell wholesale to the market.

        finished_rows_2.jpg

        This is the finished rows containing the 2 tons of compost to give you an idea. It takes around 6-10 days for the mushrooms to be ready for picking.

        mushroom_market.jpg

        Market price last week, although it's possible to charge more for your premium product.

        While I was at the market, I bought a few baskets of leaf-cuts to add greens to my compost heap.
        compost_heap_1.jpg
        At B10 a basket I was quite pleased to get the green layer material to add to the dried leaves.

        Just before my time was up, I managed to spot one of the cicadas and it kindly came down to my level so it could have its portrait taken...

        cicada_1.jpg

        The wife says it is an Isaan/Laos delicacy rather than mainstream Thai and they make quite a din in the local markets...although not the ones below, which are females:

        cicada_market.jpg

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        • #5
          I managed a few hours a day in the second week to photo butterflies and I will update that thread when I have sorted the photos.

          It was also rather fun to while away the afternoon hours watching the swallows flying low circuits over the land. I didn't stand much chance capturing them in flight but one did pose for a few minutes:

          swallow.jpg

          No dangerous snakes seen, only a painted bronzeback (Dendrelaphis pictus), which came by in the evenings on the off-chance of finding a gecko or two. The first time it was spotted we moved it back to the woods but after he decided to come back we let him stay. He pops down from his tree in the evenings for a couple of hours before returning. Completely harmless but gave the girls a fright to start with.

          painted_bronzeback.jpg

          We've only been back 2 days and missing the place already....

          house_road.jpg

          ...So lovely to be out in the sticks...
          house_3.jpg
          Last edited by troy; 03-29-2015, 01:39 AM.

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          • #6
            Very interesting troy. Have had an interest in mushrooms for a while in fact I correspond with a Ex army guy down south from here, he is into the exotic varieties.

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            • #7
              I like beans on toast - I may even have them for breakfast after my corn flakes starter.
              Have you considered adding to the basic beans in order to vary the taste?
              I commonly add herbs, spices and/or a sauce to make things more interesting.
              They can be sweet with a spring roll sauce, or spicy if you add a chili sauce.
              Herbs and spices are commonly more subtle, but add an interesting range of flavours.

              It's very much like bondage and S+M - it spices up things and keeps interest.....so I'm told.

              Comment


              • #8
                ^ I prefer my beans as they are thanks. I love the mini sausages added by heinz and the pork added in cambells but that's about it.

                I recaĺl many an argument at school about which beans were best with the top two being hp and heinz. I don't see the hp tins around anymore. Are they still making them? I was brought up on the heinz with 8 mini sausages but any tin will do nowadays....as long as the sauce isn't too thick, like certain French brands.

                The simple diet and outside life meant I didn't need the diabetes tablets and I could have a couple of bottles of beer most afternoons to keep the sugar level from dropping too low. This means I am seriously considering jacking in the work altogether once the main house is built.

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                • #9
                  Mushrooms on toast are very nice indeed. As is your Isaan property.

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                  • #10
                    I like mushrooms on toast as well, best made by my late mum, she made a simple sauce like found on SOS much lived by Americans, served on toasted whole grain bread, delightful.

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                    • #11
                      I sometimes add mushrooms to my beans, but I find beef or chicken more interesting.

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                      • #12
                        Very nice pictorial thread. Thanks for sharing.

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                        • #13
                          So since I am agriculturally not with it, Once you have harvested crop, is that it? Or can the mushrooms (re-spore?) and then you get a second crop?

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                          • #14
                            I believe you can get two crops (flushes) about 9 -10 days apart. It may be possible to get more on a much smaller scale before other fungi take over but I don't know and I doubt the quality would make it worthwhile.

                            Once spent, the compost bricks are dug in to improve the soil. I'm not sure how many times the straw can be used before that ends up on my compost heap as well. The important part for me is a way to improve the soil, ready for growing veg when we return. Previous attempts at getting the family to compost and look after veg plots have failed miserably. This new way may be mutually beneficial.

                            It is also possible to obtain spores from the grown mushrooms but it requires a sterile environment, which may prove a little tricky.

                            For now, if they can double the outlay and reinvest half each time for a couple of months, before the rain becomes too much then I shall be more than happy.

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                            • #15
                              Seems like you have a good plan. Every fall we have a huge crop of pine and chantell (spelling) mushrooms in the bush here. Most get sold to Asia. Used to be big money to pick, but big business got the contract and keeps the pickers working for a few dollars a pound.

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