Khanjan and other teams traveled to Freetown with two of our vehicles this morning to expand on their projects and pick up our missing luggage. This left us with Swallu to drive 4 teams to their desired locations. We waited to be picked up at 9am and left to gather Jawara and visit Sheku. Sheku and his workers had all major columns erected when we arrived. They informed us that they would need around 3 bundles of zinc siding and Sheku insisted that he be paid at least 500,000 SLL for his work thus far which we obliged. We then headed to a village about 15 minutes out that Jawara suspected would have some substrate options. We arrived and learned that their rice straw had been recently finished off for their roofing and bedding. They had banana trees, but they were not in season until around October and November. A man approached us and offered his services in searching nearby villages for whatever substrate we ask him for. He would search around for us, bring what he found, and we could pay him what we believe his services were worth, although he wanted a deposit. We told him we would consider and call him if we would like to proceed. We showed a group of people a picture of Will with our mushrooms and they recognized our oysters as a mushroom that they locally forage. They said they enjoy eating it in their sauces but have never sold it; anything scavenged was eaten by the families. Muz recommended we try one more village and see if we could get a better option. We drove another 10 minutes and met two men eager to help us. They said we have come during the wrong season as now they are planting their crops, but one man said he would walk around the village and source banana leaves from the homeowners. None of us could establish a price so we would have to accept his offer once he collected. We again told him we would consider our options and get back to him, although we were much happier with his proposition and eagerness to provide his services. We drove back to town and bought 2 bundles of zinc for Sheku as well as drinks for Swallu, Jawara, and Sheku and his men. We got back to Jawara’s plot and gave out the drinks as well as the initial payment and the men were very thankful. We left them for the day and returned to WH. We discussed the new observations from the day and decided on a plan for substrate. We will ask our contact to collect what he thinks will fit in a sack of rice and we will be there to pick up on Saturday. After a couple hours of work we left for the market to buy rice for substrate and a pot to cook the rice in. We were able to cook the rice in the kitchen of the resort with the help of Evelyn and pasteurized it outside. After a few hours of pasteurization we drained and laid out the rice to dry. We will soon bag and inoculate in hopes of having additional spawn that can replace the sawdust spawn if it is in fact antifungal.

The concrete has been poured and columns are erected.