Month: November 2019

Fermented vegetables, take two: two week fermentation taste test

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Today, we got out one of my jars of probiotic fermented vegetable sauerkraut for a taste test!

Before I get into that, though, if you haven’t seen my earlier posts, you may want to visit the links below, first (they will open in new tabs, so you won’t lose this post!).

Take One (includes recipe)
The Failure
Take Two

The recipe I got from my friend said to leave it to ferment for 2-4 weeks. It’s 2 weeks today, so we’re trying the one jar, and will leave the other to ferment for another 2 weeks.

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All bent out of shape

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We are a bit behind on our Christmas decorating this year.

Usually, we start at least by Nov. 27 (the Feast of St. Catherine). However, this Christmas is a first for 3 felines.

So we set up the tree, but left it alone. We didn’t even fluff out the branches. The idea being, the cats can get used to the tree being there, and we can start training them to stay out of it, using a spray bottle.

The problem with that, however, is someone has to be in the room to catch them in the act, and we don’t exactly hang out in the dining room.

It’s going to take pliers to straighten some of these branches out. :-D

We can, however, start decorating the rest of the house. Tomorrow is the first day of Advent, so I at least want to get our Advent wreath and its candles set up.

I just have to figure out which of the bins it got put into. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Picture(s) of the Day: just hangin’

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With the wind knocking over the bird feeder so often, the hanging feeders were getting pretty damaged. So the last time it happened, I decided it was a good time to get a suet feeder for the winter.

I think it’s going over rather well, with the chickadees!

Ah, life.

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Today was my “day of rest”, during my daughter’s short shift. It was warm enough that I was able to do quite a bit of walking (playing Pokemon Go, of course. ;-) ), and was able to check out the conditions at the beach, too.

In the distance, you can see a ridge of ice on the lake. Beyond that is pretty much open water. At this time of year, and at these temperatures, the winds and waves are keeping the lake quite open, even in this comparatively narrow section of it; narrow enough that we can just see the opposite shore, though not in this photo. It will be some weeks, at least, before the ice is thick enough to drive on, and the ice fishing huts start getting set up.

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Tufts

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While doing my morning rounds and starting along the path to the trail cam, I immediately noticed something odd about one of the fence wires.

It’s hard to see in the photo, but one of the wires is all bent out of shape.

On the wire below, I could see why.

A couple of barbs has tufts of deer fur stuck in them.

The electrical cord that powers our lights by the gate runs along the top wire of the fence. It’s big and thick, making it quite visible, even in the dark (at least for a deer!). My guess is, the deer tried to duck under the electrical wire, but didn’t see the barbed wire below and got hung up.

I really want to get rid of this fence.

The Re-Farmer

Morning

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My husband is a morning person. He says views like this are part of what makes it so great.

I admire the view, to be sure, but if I had to choose between doing my morning rounds really early and getting shots like this, and bed, I’d choose bed. LOL

The Re-Farmer

Winterizing: main entry door

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Our first winter here, there were a few problems we noticed. Problems that were definitely adding to our electricity bill for heating!

This was taken just before our first Christmas here.

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Iced

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This past Sunday, the weather was mild enough that I was able to spend some time on the beach.

It was really fascinating.

The sand was frozen solid, but you could see the effects of water and ice. One dramatic visual was at the outflow for storm drains.

At the time I was there, the tide was still going out. There was ample evidence of how high it had gotten.

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Winterizing: filling the gap

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The new part of the house was added on in the mid-70’s or so. I still remember bits and pieces of the construction, including the pouring of concrete for the steps at the main entry.

After all these decades, it’s to be expected that those heavy steps would slowly sink, creating a gap.

A fairly large one.

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