Did it once. Will never do it again. Tofurkey, that is. It had a flavor somewhat like chopped liver, the consistency of spam, and the visual appeal of a pile of...
And, speaking of shit, an update on the real poo story. It seems that $600.00 of pumping/repair to the septic system was caused by the failure of a 5 cent piece of plastic.
I seem to remember, a few blogs ago, I raved about the wonderfulness of zip ties.
I wish to retract that statement.
Or at least qualify it.
Zip ties should NEVER be used in conjunction with septic system pumps, or with any project where failure would cause the creation of a vacuum in a bank account.
In other words:
For the loss of a zip tie, the high water alarm was lost. For want of a high water alarm, the pump shut off was lost. For want of the pump shut off, the pump was lost. For want of the pump the system was lost.
Well Shit.
(Actually, in the country, you should probably never use those two words in conjunction)
Anyhoo, Hope everyone has a wonderful Givethanksing Day
Shit runs downhill, except when it is pumped up. Farmer Ann
And no, it is not a law firm, although it should be.
Well, here I am, shamefaced, after more than a month. But, here I am.
Bandy
I went to see Iris perform her debut Wizard Rock appearance in Greensboro last month.
I wish I had recorded one of her later songs, where people weren't talking, but listening. But I was floored. I know that she has many talents, but this one came as a very pleasant surprise. If you didn't know, you would have never guessed that this is the second time she ever performed in front of an audience. Anyhoo, go to her website and buy her songs. And pass it on!
I had one little disappointment. For those of you who don't know, Wizard rock are songs about Harry Potter (don't ask me to explain the phenom) So I went in costume. I don't have a picture, but I dressed up in a big hair wig, a workshirt, a garden apron with a spade and a rake and garden gloves in the pocket and a purse made out of a plastic pot. And NO ONE got it! It was a pun, you see. I was Hairy Potter, you see. Oh, forget it!
Brandy
About the middle of last month, our blueberry farmer down the road told us he had a few grapes left over from his harvest. He grows for Duplin winery.
"Do you want them?"
"Sure"
"They're in the cooler back of the house, come and get them."
"OK"
Now, I am not normally into grape wine, because there are so many wineries around, but I thought, why not, a few gallons to play with won't hurt. I sent Jim in the truck to get them, and he came back with about 20 bushels of grapes!!!
Holy crap! I was not set up to do this kind of production. But we slogged away at it for the whole day, out in the open, in front of God and every nectar loving insect in creation. This is so not how I work. We had gnats and yellow jackets and butterflies and bees in and around the juice the whole day. So absolutely unsanitary. Then I took enough juice for 10 gallons, put it in the primary fermenter and did my usual routine of mixing, measuring and adding yeast. Then I let it do it's thing. Then killed the yeast, added sugar and put it with the other carboys to let it age.
We will serve no wine before its time
Jim, on the other hand, schlepped his 50 gallons of juice into an old pickle barrel which he had been using as a chicken feeder. No sterilization, no science. Although I think he did wash the chicken feed out. No sugar added, no yeast added, no measuring. Just the wild yeast on the grape hulls and the natural sugar in the grape. He left his outside in the hot and cold and weather. It got rained on, sunned on, surrounded by gnats, etc. He racked it twice and tasted it. Good God!! It was WONDERFUL! Even without aging, you could tell it's going to be a great muscadine wine.
Really??!! REALLY!!!???
Well crap. I'm throwing all my books and science out.
Anyhoo, he and the blueberry farmer are going to distill it into brandy. Then I am going to attempt some port.
Sandy
We didn't have much trouble from Sandy. We lost the big apple tree, but it was leaning so far over anyway that I wasn't surprised. We never got but more than one or two apples, so I am putting in a pear tree. The chickens were molting so there were a lot of feathers blown around. It looks like a chicken pluckin took place.
Landy
The two frosts that we have had have taken the basil and the okra, but the collards, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower are growing. I am not sure that the broccoli and cauliflower will make before the hard freeze. I just can't seem to get my timing right for the fall garden. I hope to get some cabbages cause I want to make more sauer kraut. The first batch was so good.
I put my mini greenhouse up on the porch and attempted a drip system to water them. There are still leaking issues, but I have to wait til the next watering before I solve them.
Side 1
Side 2
I am attempting to get tomatoes throughout the winter. I have one old vine and three volunteers that I dug up from chicken tomatoes.
Old tomato plant
I hope they ripen
One of my aunties gave me some lemon grass, so I am trying to grow that too.
My venus flytrap, I think, now has a baby. I am trying to get ahold of the person who gave it to my auntie so I can find out how to separate them. In the meantime, it is eating everything it can close its mouths on:
wonder if the spider ever dreamed about this?
The chicklet and chickitas are all growed up. The chicklet has now become JW's favorite. She follows him around everywhere.
Chicklet now a hen
The chickens are still molting so not many eggs, but JW is so unroosterly without his tail feathers.
I am NOT a hen.
and finally...
Real Poo
Well, last Thursday, our septic pump went out. We need the pump to get the waste from the holding tank to the septic tank behind the pond. So, we had the septic guy out who removed the old pump and had to order a new one. We hope to have a pump truck here today to empty both tanks. The new pump should be here tomorrow, I hope. Country time. In the meantime, it's flush sporadically, dishes in tubs so we can throw the water out and no laundry. Fortunately, I can still take my baths, I just have to empty the tub with a bucket and throw it out the back. It's so 1800's!
