Big happenings....

Such happenings on the homestead these days!

As you know, we were hoping to get bees this year.  Yesterday, I finally took the steps to email a company in southern Vermont who sells bees and bee equipment.  They are a solid 3+ hours away, but well worth the travels I think.  As long as we get our names on the list, we can reserve a bundle of bees for pick up in May.  Something tells me we will be taking the truck for that trip ;).

On other news, we are seriously considering installing a wood burning fireplace in the homestead.  Currently, we do not have any secondary heating source, but if we ever want to begin to step away from even part of the grid, we will have to start somewhere.  And, with our forested land across town, we should have plenty of food for the fire.  I am very excited, as I envision cosy warm nights, crocheting by the light of the flame.

Big happening down on the homestead!

House rules...

I am realizing that we have some weird rules in our house.  Most families have rules for their kids like, "Don't jump on the furniture", or "Wash your hands before dinner".  You know, things that make sense.

In our house, our rules are much more specific.  We have to be.  These kids are creative, and they try to out think us at every turn. 

You want some examples?  Hmmm...let's see.

Well, for starters, we have, "No Candy Canes in the Bathtub",

And "No Stockpiling Water Balloons in Your Bedroom".

There is also "No Climbing into Chicken Coops",

"No Watergun Standoffs in the Bathroom When Your Mother is Trying to Get You Out of the Water."

And "No Climbing Up the Front of the Refridgerator".

Necessary rules include "No Drawing on Your Brother"

And "No Sitting on Your Sister's Head".

I really think that I shouldn't have to say these things....but, in this house, we do. We have learned from experience, if we don't make a rule for it, it will happen.  And these kids have limitless energy and creativity....

I, on the other hand, am running out of energy... ;)

Technical difficulties....

I have tech issues.

This dang old computer is positively refusing to let me navigate to more than two web screen before it is freezing up.  This ole guy is slowing me down!

I am beginning to wonder if it is trying to send me a message.

Each morning, I am in a battle to do quite a bit. 

I get up way before the roosters (not that we have any...nasty old buggar), to make my husband's breakfast and pack his lunch.  Once he is on his way to work, it is a mad dash to care for all of the pets (including the chickens, 'cause, in our house, those ladies are never going to be dinner....), start some wash, deal with dishes, consider vaccuuming (and then settle on sweeping, since it doesn't require lugging a big machine around), and getting dressed.  Then it is time for the kids to get up. 

And I am sure you can imagine what that entails. 

And the end of it all, I can't wait to finally land at the office, 'cause they let me sit down there.  And I do so appreciate sitting down.  It is a good place to be.

Once the work day is done, it is the 45 minute drive home (longer, of course, when the Vermont weather decides to act up), during which I eat popcorn, which in turn is considered dinner, and land home just in time to get the kids to bed.

Once they are tucked away, it is off to the treadmill for 30 minutes, then a quick shower, and back to bed.

Then we get up the next time and do it again!

My life has become a race from morning to night.

Why is that?

And could the computer be telling me something?  By freezing up, is it telling me to slow down, enjoy the moments, exist in each second of each day instead of constantly planning the next one?

Or is the dang old computer breaking?  'Cause that would really mess up my rhythm! ;)

Just a thought.... ;)

No real changes...a fiber and literary non-update....

Good morning everyone!  It is Wednesday, and we are Yarning Along with Ginny and joining in with Tami's Amis' Work in Progress  and Ambassador Crochet today!

And I feel a bit silly joining in.  See, I am working on the same sweater, and reading the same book.  Nothing new here....

Except for a really bad photo....sorry about that!
But both are going well, and the book especially is eye opening.  This is one that I would love to see introduced to some high school reading lists....Even if you don't agree with Joel Salatin, his style is bluntly honest and refreshing.

Very, very thought provoking.

Well, that is all that I have for now.  The morning hours are coming upon me, and I have some lunches to pack...and kids to drag out of their beds to get ready for a day at school

  Head on over to Ginny's, Tami's, and Ambassador's Crochet other interesting ventures into literary and fiber fun.

Homebrewing...an update - Day 3

Just an early morning update on the home brew excitement.

The balloons filled with gas from the fermentation about 1 hour after they were capped on the bottles on Saturday.  Since then, they have remained filled.  I know that some of the gas is leaking through the pin pricks in the balloons, but those holes are so very small that I can't find them...oh well....details, details... ;)

In a close look at the bottles, you can really see that the fermentation is still in process, as tiny bubbles are in a constant race to the surface.

Homebrew, here we come!

The run to no where....is going somewhere!

So, it just occured to me that I haven't updated on the run to no where is ages!

Well, I am happy to report that it is back on and better than imagined.

After a week of no activity, and another week of slloowwwlllllyyyyy getting back in the groove, I am back to my daily dates with the treadmill.  And after a delicious dinner with friends, a plan has been made. 

We are doing a 5K!

Or, actually, we are doing 2 of them.

Now, I know that a 5K isn't all that daunting, and it isn't a marathon or anything, but this is brand new territory.  Organized anything is really not my scene....

But, with my friend by my side, we are going to tackle them.

So, we are in training. 'Course, this being the middle of winter, we have plenty of time for training (the runs taking place in the summer and all...) but such great motivation it is!

So, this is a Hurray!  We are IN!  And very excited!!

Adventures in homebrewing...

OK - the Day is Here!

No, I am not speaking of the Broncos v. Patroits (aka Tebow v. Brady).  While that game may dominate my house at the moment (Go Tebow!  Let 'Em Go!), this is not what we are speaking of today.

Today for the big homebrewing event!

Now, first to give proper credit - the recipe I based my brew on can be found here, but I will recap my fun below. 

And as you all know from my post earlier in the week, the recipe I used called for glass bottles.  And, as you all know, glass bottles are hard to find these days.  Plastic has taken over our world, and that is not all good.

So, where do we turn, you ask?  The trusty natural foods store, of course.  This was the only place that I could find glass bottles bigger than a beer bottle.  And what were these bottles holding?  Why, Vermont Organic Milk, of course! 

Feel free to cue angels singing...Now!

OK, but to be serious, and get now to business, the first course of action was to free up 2 of those glass bottles.  And my family can only drink so much milk.  So, into holding tanks they went (more about that later) and the now empty bottles had to be cleaned and sanitized.  I know that there was probably fancy ways to sanitize bottles for brewing and I found plenty of products on homebrewing sites, but here, we gotta work with what we got.  Which was bleach.

Yuck.

A small amount went into each bottle, and then we rinsed, rinsed, rinsed...and then rinsed again.  When absolutely no trace of bleach could be smelled, it was time to move forward.

The ingredients for this brew were very simple.  A gallon of unfiltered apple cider, four to six cups of sugar (white and/or brown), bread yeast, and some party balloons (more about that later, too).  The rule of thumb, as I read it, was that the more sugar, the sweeter the brew and the higher the alcohol content.  Now, as a complete novice, I can't vouch for this, but this is what I read.  So, to stick with a middle ground, I decided on 5 cups of brown sugar.

To start, you pour the sugar into a large sauce pan and then add about half of the cider.  Set another cup of cider aside for later.  On a low heat on the stove top, you mix the sugary solution until all of the sugar is dissolved.  This, of course, involves near constant stirring - burning would not be so good.

 

When the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat and let it cool a moment.  Then take the other half of the cider and split it between to the two clean 1/2 gallon containers.  You, of course, do all of this with 1 full gallon container, but I am just working with what I have.

Once the clean containers are each about 1/2 full with the cold cider, add equal parts of the warm ultra sweetened cider to each.  You want to leave about  2-3 inches open at the top, so if you fall short, this is when you use the cider you set aside to top it off. 

And then, it is time to add the yeast.  Just 1/4 teaspoon of yeast into each and it is set. 

All that is left is to get the balloons, rinse them out (cause of the non stick stuff inside), and put a pin prick into each.  The stretch one over the mouth of each balloon.  Now, as the yeast is working its magic, the fermentation will happen, and then the balloon will blow up.  As this happens, gas will be able to escape the pin prick, but no bacteria will get back in.  Simple enough.

And now the work for today is done.  I will just keep an eye on the fermenting brew for the next two to three weeks, making sure that the balloon remains secure.  Then we will "rack" it, and sent aside for another couple of weeks.  Come summer or early fall, we will have our own brew to enjoy!

And, before I forget...we did find a home for all of that milk.  How, you ask?  Well, for cheese, of course!!

Quiet contemplation ...

The morning has quietly come upon us.  I closed my eyes last night and 7 am raced to the forefront.  With snow....

Lots of snow...

Other years, pre-wanna-be-farmer years, this wouldn't have bothered me.  I would have simply creeped downstairs, brewed some coffee and poured juice into cups for the kids, laid on the couch, awaiting wakefulness.

Not anymore.

We still have strict rules regarding our coffee-first approach around here, but if daylight has broken, the chickens have gotta come first.

So, it was out to the garage for me, to don my winter wear and grab a shovel.  Although I shoveled a great amount (twice!) last night, Vermont come upon us during the sleeping hours, and there are still more to go before I could out the coop door.

But now, the work is done for the moment, and I can enjoy these moments of quiet comtemplation - my coffee by my side and my cat by my feet.

It is a good way to be.

Snow days...

Homebrew planning...

So, first let me say that I am not a big drinker.  I don't like beer, can't stand most wine, and straight liquor might as well be rubbing alcohal to my taste buds.

But, I love hard cider. 

Truely, truely love.

So, inspired by another blogger, I am going to try my own home brew of the good ole stuff. 

The ingredients are pretty simple.  Unfiltered apple juice (aka apple cider), bread yeast (!!) and sugar.  And glass bottles.

Ah yes, the glass bottles.

Until I started looking around, I didn't realize just home much plastic has taken over.  Hardly anything larger than a bottle of beer is in glass.  And I needed big containers.  Like gallon or half gallon size.

But, after much racking of the brain, I found a solution.

Vermont Organic Milk!

It is still packaged and sold in glass bottles!  So, I headed to the local natural foods store and bought four of these breakable babies. 

And due to their precious cargo status, I proceeded to secure their safety by buckling them up in my daughter's booster seat.  Fitting, don't you think?

Just don't tell her....

I am hoping to get down to the nitty gritty of the homebrewing this weekend, and will post some updates them.  Until then, wish me luck.

I think I will need it....