The stairs went up today - and so did 62 sheets of subfloor, thanks to a rented scissor lift. Uncle Paul drove, while Charles, Ashley and I put boards onto the lift and then up on to the floor joists upstairs. Not a job for the faint-hearted or vertigo sufferers.
I then had to go to work for a couple of hours. One of our local doctors, Allen White, planted about 1,000 grape vines behind his office this year, and is looking at planting another couple thousand in a field not far from our own farm. He has some state cost-share funding to use and we discussed with him what we can do to help make his new vineyard successful. Dr White also said he would need to find an enologist before too long. I looked it up and that's a fancy word for winemaker. I can get a distance learning course out Rend Lake Community College in Illinois, so that may be a new project for next year. House first.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Oh, honey!
We finally have honey. I went down to the hives to do an inspection and there was capped honey up in the honey super (the layer of box with short frames to "catch" honey). So I stole it!
I don't have a machine to centrifuge the honey out of the comb, so I used the crush and drip method. I cut the comb off the frame, just dripping with honey, then mashed it all together with a potato masher. Then I put it all into a fine wire collander and let the honey drip out of the mash into a pan. It took 24 hours, but I got good, clear honey. Just under 4 pounds of it.
The beeswax went into a homemade solar wax melter, to be melted and filtered. I think I will use the wax to make more beauty products for sale - lip balm and perfume balm.
I have less honey than I would usually expect, but since I had a hive die last winter due to starvation, I decided to leave most of the honey stores in the hive. I didn't take any honey out of my second hive, because it was just started this year. Next year I hope to harvest from both of these hives.
I don't have a machine to centrifuge the honey out of the comb, so I used the crush and drip method. I cut the comb off the frame, just dripping with honey, then mashed it all together with a potato masher. Then I put it all into a fine wire collander and let the honey drip out of the mash into a pan. It took 24 hours, but I got good, clear honey. Just under 4 pounds of it.
The beeswax went into a homemade solar wax melter, to be melted and filtered. I think I will use the wax to make more beauty products for sale - lip balm and perfume balm.
I have less honey than I would usually expect, but since I had a hive die last winter due to starvation, I decided to leave most of the honey stores in the hive. I didn't take any honey out of my second hive, because it was just started this year. Next year I hope to harvest from both of these hives.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Main floor almost done
I haven't done an update devoted to our house in a while...I also haven't posted any photographs. That's because I have misplaced the cable that connects the camera to the computer, but I hope to find it this weekend. The number of places I where need to look is slowly dwindling.
I took Wednesday off work to help with the house and we made great progress. We finished laying the subfloor and putting up all the beams for the upper floor of the house. Now that doesn't sound like much, but we worked from 9:30 am to 7:00 pm. Yesterday, Charles put up three exterior walls, leaving him only one to do today. He will also probably finish the joist hangers for the upstairs floor.
Next week, Charles will start building stairs. We need one set at the front door, one at the back door, and one to go upstairs! The subfloor upstairs will be far less involved than downstairs - downstairs has tongue and groove flooring sheets, both glued and nailed in place. Upstairs will have less traffic, so it's just plain old plywood sheets and only nailed in place. Plus with the hole in the middle of the upstairs, there's just plain less subflooring to put down.
Our aim is still to have first two layers of "skin" in place before the end of October. That's one layer of plywood all over the house, and a layer of house wrap. That way it will at least be weather-resistant as we go into winter. At the beginning of November, we will install temporary electricity on site, so we will have light through these early nights, and get going on windows, doors and metal siding and roofing. By the end of November we will be moved in, by hook or by crook. Maybe by flashlight!
The contractor also arrived Wednesday morning and started installing our septic tank. Before they leave they will also complete our driveway/parking area.
I took Wednesday off work to help with the house and we made great progress. We finished laying the subfloor and putting up all the beams for the upper floor of the house. Now that doesn't sound like much, but we worked from 9:30 am to 7:00 pm. Yesterday, Charles put up three exterior walls, leaving him only one to do today. He will also probably finish the joist hangers for the upstairs floor.
Next week, Charles will start building stairs. We need one set at the front door, one at the back door, and one to go upstairs! The subfloor upstairs will be far less involved than downstairs - downstairs has tongue and groove flooring sheets, both glued and nailed in place. Upstairs will have less traffic, so it's just plain old plywood sheets and only nailed in place. Plus with the hole in the middle of the upstairs, there's just plain less subflooring to put down.
Our aim is still to have first two layers of "skin" in place before the end of October. That's one layer of plywood all over the house, and a layer of house wrap. That way it will at least be weather-resistant as we go into winter. At the beginning of November, we will install temporary electricity on site, so we will have light through these early nights, and get going on windows, doors and metal siding and roofing. By the end of November we will be moved in, by hook or by crook. Maybe by flashlight!
The contractor also arrived Wednesday morning and started installing our septic tank. Before they leave they will also complete our driveway/parking area.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Zucchini Bread is Top Seller
I can't seem to stop the zucchini (courgette, to our European friends and family) from growing. A plant will have a two-inch-long fruit on Sunday afternoon, and by Wednesday night it's a five-pound monster! I have zucchini and yellow squash in 5 gallon buckets all over the kitchen. When shredded, each fruit is averaging 18 cups of zucchini or enough to make 18 loaves of zucchini bread.
Fortunately, the rules of homebased processing in Kentucky allow me to produce baked goods that contain home-grown ingredients. I've made three deliveries to the farmers' market this month, and have almost sold out each time. I make large loaves (1.5 pounds), small loaves (1/2 pound) and muffins. I've made plain zucchini bread, chocolate zucchini bread, and zucchini-banana bread. The top seller is plain, 1.5 pound loaves. Which is actually my most economical item to produce.
I've also been canning - kosher dill pickles (some already scheduled on a flight to Dallas at Christmas), bread 'n' butter pickles, yellow squash sweet relish, and three temperatures of salsa. All of those will go to the farmers' market for sale. Some things I keep at home, though -my favorites: roasted red peppers, pesto and spaghetti sauce.
Fortunately, the rules of homebased processing in Kentucky allow me to produce baked goods that contain home-grown ingredients. I've made three deliveries to the farmers' market this month, and have almost sold out each time. I make large loaves (1.5 pounds), small loaves (1/2 pound) and muffins. I've made plain zucchini bread, chocolate zucchini bread, and zucchini-banana bread. The top seller is plain, 1.5 pound loaves. Which is actually my most economical item to produce.
I've also been canning - kosher dill pickles (some already scheduled on a flight to Dallas at Christmas), bread 'n' butter pickles, yellow squash sweet relish, and three temperatures of salsa. All of those will go to the farmers' market for sale. Some things I keep at home, though -my favorites: roasted red peppers, pesto and spaghetti sauce.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Work, Work, Work
All of a sudden it's harvest time! My vegetable garden is still not a pretty as I would like it to be - no weeds, tomatoes all staked up, beans and cucumbers growing up trellises, but this year has been the best year yet. When we took over our allotment in England, the weeds were tall, but the soil was rich. Our allotments were started during World War II, and had been continuously occupied. Especially in our first year, we grew far more vegetables than we knew what to do with.
It's all different over here in Kentucky. I've had to learn all over again when to sow seeds, when to plant out and when to harvest. What to plant and what to harvest. Since I am converting grass pasture into a vegetable garden, I'm battling grass, giant annual weeds, clay soil, soil compaction and low fertility. At least I have earthworms, now (I started with none). So there's a few things I'm just going to have to give up on for a couple of years - potatoes (ground's too hard) and sweetcorn (not fertile enough), to start with. Globe artichokes are struggling, and cucumbers (ground's too hard AND not fertile enough).
I have a cunning plan...this fall I will create three mushroom beds at the end of my garden. Once the mushrooms have digested all the straw, cardboard, wood shavings and weeds I can gather, I'll move the mushrooms to another location on the garden. The next spring I'll go where the mushrooms were, and plant a soil building mixture of legumes and long radishes, to fix nutrients in the soil and further break up compaction. I'll be able to plant my pickier crops the third year. I'll keep you posted on how the plan works!
It's all different over here in Kentucky. I've had to learn all over again when to sow seeds, when to plant out and when to harvest. What to plant and what to harvest. Since I am converting grass pasture into a vegetable garden, I'm battling grass, giant annual weeds, clay soil, soil compaction and low fertility. At least I have earthworms, now (I started with none). So there's a few things I'm just going to have to give up on for a couple of years - potatoes (ground's too hard) and sweetcorn (not fertile enough), to start with. Globe artichokes are struggling, and cucumbers (ground's too hard AND not fertile enough).
I have a cunning plan...this fall I will create three mushroom beds at the end of my garden. Once the mushrooms have digested all the straw, cardboard, wood shavings and weeds I can gather, I'll move the mushrooms to another location on the garden. The next spring I'll go where the mushrooms were, and plant a soil building mixture of legumes and long radishes, to fix nutrients in the soil and further break up compaction. I'll be able to plant my pickier crops the third year. I'll keep you posted on how the plan works!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Soap Star
I've always loved science, especially chemistry. Which is one reason why I like making cheese - it's like a science experiment in the kitchen. This summer I have a new outlet for my inner science geek; I'm making old-fashioned goat milk soap. There's a picture of me in my boiler suit, protective glasses and thick rubber gloves. Lye is nothing to mess with.
I've made two batches already. The first is a citrus scrub soap, that incorporates satsuma, grapefruit and lemongrasses essential oils and jojoba beads. It's very invigorating. The second batch was supposed to be chocolate, but will probably be labelled white chocolate because it really smells like sweet vanilla and looks like white chocolate fudge.
Three more batches are on the planning calendar - Amber Romance with calendula petals, cucumber and green tea, and an egg yolk soap scented with Pumpkin Pie and Lavender. I know the pumpkin-lavender combination sounds weird, but an article in Cosmo told me that scientists have discovered that these two scents when used together are a super nostril aphrodisiac (check out http://www.smellandtaste.org/index.cfm?action=research.sexual). I'll have then all ready in time to sell for Christmas, and I can sell goat milk soap in the farmers' market because it's a farm-based product.
I've made two batches already. The first is a citrus scrub soap, that incorporates satsuma, grapefruit and lemongrasses essential oils and jojoba beads. It's very invigorating. The second batch was supposed to be chocolate, but will probably be labelled white chocolate because it really smells like sweet vanilla and looks like white chocolate fudge.
Three more batches are on the planning calendar - Amber Romance with calendula petals, cucumber and green tea, and an egg yolk soap scented with Pumpkin Pie and Lavender. I know the pumpkin-lavender combination sounds weird, but an article in Cosmo told me that scientists have discovered that these two scents when used together are a super nostril aphrodisiac (check out http://www.smellandtaste.org/index.cfm?action=research.sexual). I'll have then all ready in time to sell for Christmas, and I can sell goat milk soap in the farmers' market because it's a farm-based product.
Friday, August 28, 2009
House Progress!
This week my Uncle Tom (Dad's middle brother) came to visit for a couple days, and brought his hammer with him. He and Charles just worked and worked and worked. They finished some beams, some sub-floor, some upstairs floor joists and some walls. They got the next load of lumber delivered and unloaded. And I hardly had to do anything! I told Uncle Tom he was welcome to come work on the house any time.
The wall for our front French doors is now in place, and a new set of concrete block steps. Now we can enter the house through a doorway, rather than in between the frame of the bathroom wall. Sub-floor is laid in the front five rooms, and then diagonally back to the pantry. The exterior pantry wall is now in place, leaving only 6 more exterior walls.
Next week, we're expecting some dry weather, so Charles is going to do farm work and catch up on some chores that we've neglected in favor of house-building. The main chore is cutting hay for winter feeding. It's been too wet for our low-tech machinery to bale. Maybe September will be dryer than the rest of the summer.
The wall for our front French doors is now in place, and a new set of concrete block steps. Now we can enter the house through a doorway, rather than in between the frame of the bathroom wall. Sub-floor is laid in the front five rooms, and then diagonally back to the pantry. The exterior pantry wall is now in place, leaving only 6 more exterior walls.
Next week, we're expecting some dry weather, so Charles is going to do farm work and catch up on some chores that we've neglected in favor of house-building. The main chore is cutting hay for winter feeding. It's been too wet for our low-tech machinery to bale. Maybe September will be dryer than the rest of the summer.
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