October 28th, 2023 Issue

The Soil Food Web / Keeping Your Eyes On The Conductor / Soil Block Seedlings / How To Avoid The Dangers Of Foraging Food / Float Fishing Lesson #4- Float Attachment / Fly Tying Lesson #4- Hooks

When I made the decision midweek to publish an extra newsletter, because of how much extra writing time I had with the rain storms. I published and sent it to you with the October 28th date, on October 24th. I changed it on my Substack listings, but wanted you to be aware that you may have two different issues, that are totally different, in your email inbox labeled October 28th. 

Don’t Miss Out On The Full Series Of Articles

The articles in each issue of this newsletter, are part of a teaching series. In order to get the full benefit of what is being taught, you will definitely want to read the previous newsletters. If your email provider is not able to show you the full newsletter, then you can follow this link to go to my Substack website, where you will find all the past issues in their entirety. I hope you are enjoying the content. Craig Schaaf

---

The Soil Food Web

This lesson today, will be one of the most important that I will teach you. It is pivotal to understanding why I have designed my garden they way I have, and why the plants in my garden very rarely struggle with bad pests or diseases. If you can learn how to take this information and put it to practical use, you are really going to enjoy your garden and watch it thrive. 

So what is the soil food web? A couple years ago I walked into my garden and I noticed that there was a flush of mushrooms growing from my four foot wide, wood chipped service paths, that go throughout my garden. There are hundreds of feet of these paths that are interconnected throughout. The amazing thing though, is that everywhere the paths went, these mushrooms were fruiting. It was a bit of an epiphany for me. I had been studying how the mushrooms mycelial networks, throughout really healthy soil, will bring everything together symbiotically in a very healthy garden. These mycelial networks can be vast, taking up acres of area, and bringing everything together in so many ways. In well inoculated soil, a cubic inch can host three miles of mycelial strands. Why is that important? Because many plants are dependent on a symbiotic relationship with mushrooms. Ninety percent of all the plants on the planet can utilize this relationship. Some have to have it in order to survive, but most plants need it to thrive. 

So why does a mushroom need plants? They especially need carbon, in order to expand their networks and repair them. Plants through photosynthesis, create carbohydrates, sugars. A really healthy plant sheds, through their roots a large percentage of those sugars, through what are called root exudates. Why would the plant do that? Because there are many functions that the plants need from the soil life, that they cannot accomplish by themselves. True symbiosis, and mutually beneficial. You see mushrooms are dependent on plants for their carbon, but mushrooms are able to accomplish many tasks that plants are not capable of. The mushrooms mycelia can go up to a rock and secret acids and extract important minerals from the rocks, that the plants need. After extracting the necessary minerals they transport them, sometimes great distances, to the plants rhizosphere. The rhizosphere is the area directly around the root of the plant, where much of the symbiosis takes place. Have you ever pulled a weed in your garden and noticed how the roots were encased with a rich soil, looking like worms hanging from the base of the plant. That dark soil, that is sticking to the roots of the plants, is where the main work is accomplished between the plant and the beneficial soil life. 

Something I need to expand on, is this concept of the mushrooms mycelia transporting things. It is amazing what they have been learning about what mycelia is capable of. It is like a fiber optic network, sending messages from one plant to another. It can travel through a dry pocket of soil by lubricating itself, not only that but other soil life can travel over this lubricated network, treating it as a microbial super highway. I have seen video footage of minerals being transported one direction, inside the mycelia, and bacteria traveling on the outside surface the opposite direction. Through this communicative network a tree can communicate its needs to other plants and those plants can be a part of meeting the trees needs and vise versa. That is why it is referred to as the soil food web. If your garden lacks these mycelial networks then the potential of the whole garden is limited greatly. 

In upcoming issues we are going to be exploring the many techniques I use to enhance this web that is spread throughout my garden, and how you can start a garden from scratch and develop it as well. My goal is that you will be able to put this information to practical use. As I start to share with you how to feed this web, you will understand. 

This next photo I took yesterday when I was mulching my strawberries for the winter with wood chips. That will give you an idea of how there can be three miles of mycelia in a cubic inch.

---

Keeping Your Eyes On The Conductor

I have heard my father say it many times over the years, “Your mother and I moved to Haslett, because we heard the school system was good, and wanted to provide you and your sister with the best education we could”. Maybe not an exact quote, but awfully close. As I get older I can see more clearly how my parents sought to give my sister and I the best upbringing they could. Well my sister made the most of it for sure, graduating top of her class. Me, on the other hand, was fortunate enough to graduate at all. In fact, I was the younger brother that entered the Chemistry class, and had the teacher say in front of everyone, “your Sallie’s brother? If it hadn’t been for music ,and the high grades I received there, I know I wouldn’t have graduated. You can tell from my writing and punctuation that English was something I struggled with. I’m not going to let that keep me from blessing people. (English majors will just have to give me some grace). But the Lord had used my parents, to place me where He wanted me, at a very important time.

When I was in middle school, I think in the seventh grade, the Haslett school system hired a new choral music teacher. They were extremely fortunate to get this particular director. In fact the University of Michigan had been trying to get her. But she had a dream. That dream was to see just how well she could train public school students. She wanted to start with middle school students, and see what she could do by the time they were in 12th grade. The Lord orchestrated it for me to have been in her choir, from early middle school, all the way through to 12th grade. In other words, I was fortunate enough to have been in that dream of hers.

Her name is Mary Alice Stollak. She is retired now, and has had a very celebrated career. I put a video link, under this article, that will give you a very good representation of what I remember, from over 30 years ago. In fact, you will hear her say “good is the enemy of excellence”. If I were to reflect back at how her training effected me, this would certainly be one of the biggest takeaways. The idea of something being good enough, never entered the equation. In fact one of her greatest talents, was striving for excellence in such a way, that it never occurred to you to say “how come nothing is ever good enough for you?” No you had the sense, that you were part of something special, and she wanted to draw out of you all she possibly could. Space won’t permit me to tell everything I would like to, but I do want to share with you how her training culminated when I entered high school.

Just to give you an idea of the level of excellence she was able to draw out of us. I can remember coming out on stage, at an adjudicated state festival, and seeing the judges put down their pencils and sit back in their seats to listen. They knew there was nothing that they were going to critique us for. They had to judge us at a high school level. But Mary Alice had us singing at a collage level. It was common for us to sing eight part arrangements. I can’t tell you how much I miss singing in that choir. Many times, when we were in extremely important concerts, and she was drawing out of us all she possibly could, the quality was so outstanding the hair would stand up on the back of my neck, and I would get goose bumps. Her work with us culminated in an invitation, to be one of six choirs chosen from all over the United States, to go to Rome Italy, and sing at the Vatican, at Christmas. For those of you that are older than me, you might remember the terrorist attack on the Rome airport back in 1986. We were in the airport when the shooting took place. In fact some of the people that had been killed, had sat not far from me on the plane. When we were brought into the airport, our whole choir had been escorted down stairs, probably to organize us and not to congest things with the rest of the passengers. It was the rest of the passengers, that found themselves in harms way.

For those of you that have been following me for awhile you can see how this training, with a focus on excellence, has profoundly continued to effect me. With me, as I am in the garden, I always want to see just how well it can be done. My mind generally doesn’t think in terms of it being good enough. I am always thinking of new ways that I can make things a little better than before. Having a relationship, with the Creator and Designer of all these things, has been the important factor in me achieving what I have. Mary Alice understood choral music, and knew how too direct in such a way to pull everything out of you she possibly could. This is the main reason I am writing this post. There is a really important spiritual illustration I want you to understand.

Just before a really important concert, one of the things that I remember very clearly, is how as we were practicing, she would change slightly how she was conducting the arrangement we had practiced and practiced so many hundreds of times. This changing how she was conducting was super important. What it did, was make you very aware of how important it was to keep your eyes glued to her. If she had always conducted the arrangement the same identical way, we would have become complacent, and not paid so close attention. You were also very aware, that almost nothing escaped her ear. Here you are in the midst of 100’s of voices, and you make the slightest error, let say slightly out of tune, and her eyes would meet yours in an instant. Not with a look of condemnation, but simply awareness. In fact I wish every Christian could experience this level of relationship, with a fine world class conductor, because it would enrich your relationship with the Lord. 

You see the Lord is the Composer and Conductor, and if you can grasp what I am about to convey to you, it could have a very deep impact on your relationship with the Him, and therefore His Kingdom. The Lord wants you to learn to keep your eyes glued to Him at all times. There is no clearer indication in the scriptures, of the Lord’s awareness of how important it is to change how He conducts things, than to observe the Life of Christ. Let’s take His gift of healing as an example. If you were to go through the new testament and make a list of every time Jesus healed someone and how He did it, you would quickly realize it was often different each time. Why is this important? Because if He had just spit in the mud and always rubbed it on the person, then what would we be doing? Just that. Saying “thank you Lord I got it from here”. In fact I think this is the key to why many revivals in the past died, and why certain denominations patterned things the way they have. They experienced the Lord do something powerful, and then just set about to continue to replicate it, in their own efforts. 

If you want your Heavenly Conductor to draw out of you everything He possibly can, it is really up to you. In fact that is one of the reasons this illustration is so important. Now catch these next few sentences, they are really important. You see we had to willingly submit ourselves to Mary Alice and allow her to do the things she did. I could never have experienced what I did just on my own, left to my own understanding. No it took the perfect blending of a conductor that had great skill, and the willing submission on our part to achieve the desired outcome. So, how much more is the Lord capable of doing, with lives that are submitted and fixed on Him? 

You see one of the things I have been accused of many times, is setting the bar too high in the Kingdom of God. You see I have experienced what the flesh is capable of achieving. Achieving things that the world marvels at. How much more with the Lord as the conductor? In fact Jesus said Himself, that those that believe on Him would do greater things than He did. How come we don’t see that? Every once in a while you will see an individual that it is obviously watching the conductor, and the Lord is doing things through them that they would never be capable of on their own. But how about corporately, in the Body? Where do you see a group of believers, that has their eyes fixed on the Conductor, so that every nuance of the Conductors body language, hands and facial expressions is conveyed to a lost and dying world? My Heavenly Conductor has amazing arrangements He is longing for His Body to perform. Are you willing to be trained? Are you willing to submit yourself 100%, not holding anything back? Willing to allow the Conductor to convey His abilities through you, drawing out of you things that never would have been possible if left to your own devises? I hope your answer is yes. Begin to fix your eyes on Him. 

---

If you know someone you think would benefit or enjoy this newsletters content, please take time to share it with them. Thank you!

---

Soil Block Seedlings

Growing plants in potless cubes of soil is not really new. It goes as far back as the Incas. In our modern day though, it has been taken to a new level. 

Why grow plants in a soil block vs a pot? One of the big reasons is the natural root pruning that is accomplished. In a pot, we are all familiar with the roots of the plant circling the edge of the plastic and becoming root bound. In a soil block, those roots will come to the outside of the block, and come out maybe a little, but will stop, and put the plants photosynthetic energy to use creating new roots inside the block. These roots are posed at the edge of the block, ready to go once the plants are put in the ground. There is much less transplant shock with a soil block seedling, and way more plastic that isn’t being put in the landfill. 

Another great advantage is the ability to take smaller blocks, and place them inside of larger blocks. Making the “potting up” process very efficient. So you start you plants in small blocks, and if they need more time, then you just put them in a larger block. I will be talking specifically about this timing, in a future post. My plan, is to have you super well informed about growing really great seedling, by the time you need to start them next spring. This link will take you to a really Interesting video, where I share with you about different soil block makers, some of which we designed ourselves, and you or a friend, could make very easily. 

https://rumble.com/user/Schaafcraig?q=soil%20block

---

How To Avoid The Dangers Of Foraging Food

I will often refer to my foraging trips, as going to God’s free grocery store. As I am foraging, it is common for me to meet families taking a walk along a trail. The reaction to what I am doing is almost always the same, one of deep interest, but also very cautious as well. That is totally understandable. What we are living in is not the norm historically. Our ancestors were dependent on understanding the many resources that were all around them. There is part of us that yearns to do the same. But there is also a great wariness as well. But that is healthy. There are many things in the fields and forest that can make you sick, or even kill you. So how does someone reclaim their heritage in this area, and do it in a way that is enjoyable and nourishing as well?

The very best way, is to find someone in your local area that is very knowledgeable. To those that live in the Great Lakes Region of the United States, my posts here will be very beneficial to you. But many that are reading this newsletter, come from all over the United States and other parts of the world. All those regions have very different foraging opportunities. Your very best way to learn, is to find someone in those regions. If you are interested in mushroom hunting, and you should be, there are Mycology groups in almost all regions. The great thing about these groups, is that most people that are proficient in mushroom hunting, are also knowledgeable in other forms of foraging. 

I have only had the internet personally for several years. When I was learning, years ago, I would travel to different libraries all over the state, or use inner library loan. But I would have to pour through books looking for important information. Or I would travel and spend time with people that had an extensive knowledge of the topic I was studying. These trips took me coast to coast. These trips were not just about foraging, but gardening and farming. Now days, with the internet, and especially YouTube, you have access to an enormous amount of information. Choose your sources wisely. But make your sources many if you can. You will find nuggets of important information from many different teachers. 

One way to find someone that will train you one on one, is to find foraging books that are region specific. The authors of those books probably live in your region and you should seek them out. If only at a seminar, or a meeting of a club where they speak. Someone that truly has the gift of teaching, will be excited to meet someone that is a diligent learner. The way to get the most out of a gifted teacher, is to diligently study and ask educated questions. Show them that you take your learning seriously. 

Now I am not going to be writing technical posts about different wild edibles. I have learned that one of my primary purposes, with my teaching, is to inspire people. At times I certainly know how to get technical. But overall, my posts are going to show you some of what I am doing in my region, where I live. Honestly, one of the reasons I won’t get very technical, is that is not how I learned. Even though I have learned much from books, my most important learning experiences came one on one. I spent time with a family many years ago that harvested half their food from wild sources. Taking walks with them was really Interesting. They were not technical though, nor did they need to be. They helped me learn a visual identification that made me proficient. But we never discussed scientific names and picked apart every nuance of the plants. There is certainly nothing wrong with being technical. I have had so many areas of interest over the years that I have educated myself, that I tend to make my education very practical and lifestyle oriented. In other words, I’m not going to wait to start consuming a new wild edible until I have the scientific name memorized and can describe every part like a botanist. If a friend introduces me to something new, I will probably do a search on the internet about it, especially YouTube, and see what other foragers are saying about it. Are only certain parts edible, during certain seasons? Are there concerns with eating too much of it? Does it have to be cooked first, and how? All the practical important questions, that you will learn with time. Some things are especially medicinal, and should only be consumed for certain health reasons, by woman. This brings out another good group to seek out. There are good groups out there that study and teach medicinal herbs. But again, many of those people will be proficient in other areas of foraging, or they will know someone. 

A really good rule to follow when foraging a new food, is to consume only a small amount at first, by itself. See if you react to it in a negative way. Everyone is very different. What one person can eat, another cannot. If you are just beginning, stick to things that don’t have a poisonous look alike. This is a very good rule in mushroom hunting. I have around 50 species of wild mushrooms that I harvest, that don’t have poisonous look alikes. Personally, if I need a microscope to look at the shape of a spore to tell if I can eat a mushroom, I’m not interested. I know there are people that get a kick out of it, more power to them. 

Becoming a proficient forager will take you many years. It is as easy as falling off a log, for a culture to lose its collective knowledge about something. It takes great effort and time to regain it back, if it is even possible. What our ancestors took for granted, most people today are oblivious too. I hope that my posts will inspire you to begin your journey, if you haven’t already, and help guide you some as well. 

---

Float Fishing Lesson #4- Ways To Attach Floats To Your Line

In this lesson we are going to focus on some of the most common ways to attach a float to your fishing line. We learned in a previous lesson how the different shapes, or styles of floats, play into our choice for different conditions. Now that we have made a general choice of style, we will consider how they are attached to our line to achieve other important tasks. 

Let’s consider the fifth float from the right again. You are not able to see it in the photo, but at the base of the float there is a small plastic stem that has a small eye in it. Similar to the one you see on the first float. Do you see that really small hole at the bottom? You simply run your line through that hole. But before you do that, you need to determine how deep you intend to fish. If I want my bait presented to fish that are ten feet deep, then I will need to apply a float stop to my line first. The small yellow threads, that are tied around the black tubing at the lower right corner, is an example of a float stop. I simply slide the black tube on my line and when it is in the general area on my line I would like my depth to be set, then I slide the yellow thread off the tube and gently pull the knot tight. Once the knot is tight, you remove the black tubing from your line. How tight to pull this knot is something you will learn. If you pull it too tight, it can damage your line as you seek to adjust the stop up and down your line, as you change depth. If it is too loose, then you will lose your placement by it sliding around on its own, or from the pressure of going through your rods guides when you cast. I see some fisherman that will leave the threads ends on without trimming them, so they can continue to tighten the knot if it starts to loosen over time. I have found that I get better casting distance by removing the thread ends fairly close to the knot. You will have to determine what your personal preference is. 

Once your float stop is on your line, then you will slide your float on the line as well. With some floats, like the really large black cigar float at the top of the photo, you will need to put a small plastic bead on your line first. With that particular float you slide your line down a tube that runs down the center of the float. But that tube hole, is a large enough diameter, that the thread stop may just get pulled right through the tube. So by putting a bead on your line before sliding the float on, the bead will come to the float first, and then the knot will stop at the bead. For most floats a bead is not necessary, but I do want you to be aware of that trick if your hole size is larger than your stop. 

Now I am not going to go into all the rest of the rigging, with hooks and split shot placement in this lesson. I just want to cover float attachment. Now if we are fishing shallow water, and we don’t need to use a float stop, then you just slide your float on your line, to the depth you want to fish, and place a split shot on each side of the eye of the float. Hopefully you have high quality split shot that are soft so they don’t damage your line, but will actually allow you to slide them if you need to adjust your depth at all. So with a float that has an eye on the bottom, you are either using them with a float stop, for deeper water, or fixed on the line with a shot on each side for shallow presentations. Now there is a lot we are going to cover in future posts about how to properly shot the rest of your line. But not today. 

The other most common way you attach a float to your line is with rubber sleeves. You just take the necessary sizes and slide them on to your line. Then you just take the sleeves and put them on your float. They hold the float to your line. One really nice advantage to sleeves, is that you can change the size of your float just by taking off the sleeves from one and putting on another. This will work, just as long as the floats are designed to take the same size sleeves. It is very easy to change your depth slightly, with this form of attachment as well. The first three floats from the left, are sleeved river floats. Not all of them have their sleeves stored on them in that photo. 

We may discuss some other techniques for attachment in future posts, but these are the main ones you will need to know in order to get started. 

---

Fly Tying Lesson #4- Hooks

In this weeks lesson, I will be discussing different kinds of hooks that we use for fly tying. This link will take you to the video.

https://rumble.com/vwj06j-fly-tying-class-lesson-4-hooks.html

---