Do you’re arranging and cleaning – dusting, sweeping, etc. – a day or so before setting up your equipment, to give things time to settle. (We live in a dusty old frame house, so I also like to wash the curtains in my bathroom “laboratory,” along with the clothes I’m going to wear when I do the actual work). Pack all of your tools, holders, cups and strainers, plus a couple of jars of water for sterile rinsing (foil tabs under the lids keep them from sealing too tightly), into the pressure-cooker for 20-30 minutes at 15 lbs pressure; allow the pressure to drop and the pot to cool, but don’t unseal the lid. (Squares of plain paper or paper-towels for working on may be either pressure-cooked in jars or heated in an oven in foil packets for 1 ½ hours at 325-350 degrees F. – turn off the oven and let them cool a bit before packing them up, or the plastic bags will melt!) Mop the floor, wash the counter and sink with bleach, and spray your transfer-hood, inside and out, with alcohol, taking special care to clean the glass. Spray anything else that you need to touch, like the faucet-handles, marking-pen, lighter and lamp, and make sure that you have all the extension-cords, etc. that you might need, clean and ready. While the alcohol-fumes are dissipating, soak your materials – bulblets, seedpods, buds, or whatever – in a solution of 10% bleach, with a drop or two of dish-detergent to break the surface-tension, for 20 minutes or so.

I drape a folded-over clean sheet on the tall, cushioned chair that I have to sit on while I work, spreading it out at the last minute. I change into my “lab” clothes – basically a short-sleeved shirt and jeans that I don’t mind splashing with bleach – and a clean apron. I cover my hair, wash my arms and face with soap and water, and then spread rubbing alcohol on my arms and hands (and also on the frame of my glasses, because I find that I’m always adjusting them when I do close work). I keep a finger-bowl of alcohol at the right of the transfer-box, in case I need to rinse my hands while I work.

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