The Pines Are Falling!

Sorry to have yet another project delay my focus here, but there is a good reason. Honest.

The guys finally came to take the pines out. Wooo! We had a 40x60 space filled with pines that had been planted to be sold for Christmas trees. It didn't happen.



So, over the years, some have died, but most have lived, becoming far too tall, weak and dying to save any of them. So, they're down. They're not out, but they're down.

The first picture is taken about from our deck. The pines are in the background, far behind the garage.

The second picture is the view from behind where the pines stood, looking toward the house - which you can't see.

The third, is a compilation of many of the trees on the grown - but only about half.




This last picture is from about the same spot in the yard as the first picture, but with the pines gone.

So now, I get to chip all of the brush - of which there isn't much - and mark the trees to be cut into 10' sections for the hopeful sawmill in the spring. A friend of my brother's owns a portable saw mill and am more than willing to give him much of the wood just for cutting what little I want. We'll see.

Along with this, I have shell beans to pick, shell and can. Mowing, the walk to finish, a couple of quilts and basic every day crap. If my vertigo holds off some, I'll be able to come back soon, since this writing takes very little time. Keep your fingers crossed. It's been relatively bad lately.

Worm Musk

I made a discovery today that amazed me and slightly disgusted me at the same time.

Much like a snake does when highly stressed, a worm can "musk" you. Why they don't call it what it is - scaring the piss out of them (or shit, as the case may be)? I don't know why they don't just say it like it is, but that's not the point. I've discovered that worms can and do indeed excrete on you as a defense mechanism.

I guess all worms have this ability. I've not found anything to the contrary. I've also seen a picture of the process taking place, and mine didn't look like that. It was clear, colorless and scentless (as far as I could tell). Yes, like a first grader, I had to smell it.

The worm that "did it" to me - a night crawler. And our night crawlers are becoming more numerous and have increasing agility. I swear they're evolving into some new kind of snake. I've never seen worms move with the speed these buggers do.

So, what is this substance the little crapper placed in my hand as I was actually being KIND to him by moving him out of harms way? Coleomic Fluid. Yeah. Say that 10 times fast. Apparently, they have this tube that runs the length of their body that can be filled with this Coelomic Fluid. It does a couple of things - it reserves food for a later date - that would be nice. It transports nitrogenous waste away from the body - waste and extra food together. Mmm. Not so nice. And it works similarly to a hydraulic system, but allowing the worm to create rigid areas with muscular pressure - which helps them move.

Oh yeah - and to crap on other creatures that might be eating them at that particular moment. I'm guessing this last one doesn't work in the animal kingdom since I've never seen a robin turn a worm away. But, if that's my weapon of last resort, I guess I'd be using it too.


Shockingly, I couldn't find a single picture of what actually happened to me. There is one at Composting Red Worms. It's not a very exciting picture, and you can barely see the fluid. It's sad, for those of us who need to be creeped out by strange phenomena.

The slightly interesting part of this - night crawlers are changing our landscape. Literally even. Since those of us who live above the glacier line - such as NYS (gravel pit of America), have absolutely no native worm species. All of our forests and land in general, developed after the glacier left and without a single worm. For this reason, the deep bio matter on the forest floors developed its own little ecosystem, which developed a very large, diverse food chain.

And now, with people paying attention to worms, and worse - FISHING with them - they've invaded our woods, changing them forever. I'm guessing there is no way to remove them all from these remote locations, and thus, the forests will just become a very different ecosystem than what we have become accustomed to. It may spell doom for species like the Wood Thrush and Veerie - who's calls are by far the most beautiful and enchanting you'll ever hear. Or, species higher up on the food chain, will adapt and change their diet to include the new creepy crawlies abounding in the forest litter.

All of this because a worm peed on me.

The Reason I'm Absent

It's been one of those months. I just think I'm catching up or even getting ahead and a crisis hits.

My dad fell onto the deck from tripping on a badly laid stone in a gravel walk. So - I've been reworking the walk so that it's as level as possible, with steps built in, and all stone rather than gravel and large stones. I'll be filling in with mortar once the hand rails are in and the edging is in. Hopefully the hand rails will be in tomorrow and the edging started. We can only hope!

The first picture is the initial layout of the longest stretch of the walk.


This second pictures is looking from the deck toward the beginning of the walk


The third picture is looking from the second step of the walk, out toward the longest stretch of the walk.


This final picture is of the final step of the day, leading to the 2 concrete steps to access the neighboring parking lot.

The grinding wheels are the center line of the walk, and were my grandfather's when he was alive. He literally worked in his machine shop until the day he died.


The final aspect of this project will be installing hand rails at each step - 3 new and 2 old, edging so the stones stay in place - I had to raise the entire walk several inches to allow for the leveling process. So, in order for the stones to remain where they are and not migrate, I have to edge it somehow. After those 2 little tidbits are finished, the sand can be watered into to place to make it as firm as possible, and the mortar can be poured in, with another good soaking to work it into all of the nooks and crannies to truly hold the stones in place.

All of the stones were already on the property, and so was just a matter of finding them, pulling them out and setting them in place to the best of their abilities.

I'll need this completed in the next few days since I have another huge project looming that I need to do a fair amount of prep work for - tons of trees being felled by some professionals, and then my sister and I working on them to clean the area up. Joy.

Summer Harvest

Ahh, the joys of summer. It's harvest time! Woo! LOL While I love it, it does make for an exhausting day, week, month.

Today, I harvested my dill. I have 2 pint bags full of dill leaves that are going in the freezer. I'll put the heads out in areas I want it to volunteer for next year, since I have enough bloom heads for my pickles awaiting me in the fridge.

I also harvested beans. The first planting of wax beans will now go to shell. I suppose my green ones will too, since the second planting of both are just starting to come on. I have enough in the freezer for the next full year, but we like them fresh, and I like to give them away, so I'll pick them for awhile before letting them go to shell too. Basically, "going to shell" is letting them grow as big as possible and the shell gets dry and leather. Then, you pick them and shell them and either freeze or can. They are far superior to kidney beans for chili or soups.

I harvested spinach. My spinach didn't do much this year. I hate spinach. LOL But, we've had several meals and tonight's will be as a salad. None to freeze, but I'll live.

And bell peppers. Those will turn into stuffed peppers and frozen to be cooked at a later date.

Onions - I've pulled them, but am letting them dry in the garden some before I bring them in. I planted them mainly for bread and butter pickles, but will keep some for use throughout the winter. I'm not an onion lover, so these would last me a year. However, they won't last for Mom. She uses a LOT of onions.

My tomatoes got ripped out on Monday - Late Blight nailed them. Very sad and frustrating, but it doesn't hit the entire garden, so I just can't argue. And in all honesty, I can't argue too much about the tomatoes. I was actually dreading dealing with them this year. I enjoy canning them, but it does take a lot of time and that's something I tend to have in short supply. And while I LOVE home grown tomatoes, I'll live without them for a year. It'll just make next year's that much better!

Within the next few days will be another 4 pints of beets. They come on about every 10 days, so it's pretty easy to plan around them.

I have coriander galore since I never harvested it as cilantro. I may do a very small bag of leaves, but may not too. I think I'll harvest the seed and see if anyone wants any. Just because I can!

So, with all of that done, I shouldn't need to deal with the garden again for another 3 days, which means I'll be able to focus on the flower beds, 2 of which are in serious need. 1, Mom wants replanted entirely, and another needs weeding.

Summer Time And The Living Is Easy

I don't know that it's easy, but it's not cold. That's about all I'll give it for now. LOL

I am in the process of canning a bushel of peaches. I've gotten 14 pints finished thus far, and probably about that again in the next few days. Plus, a batch of peach nectar jelly and peach jam.

Am going to try a new way of canning. It's the same method, just a different syrup. Since I boil the skins, pits and bruised areas for jelly anyway, I thought I'd use part of a batch of that as the syrup base, rather than plain water. Add the sugar at the concentration I'd like - usually a light syrup - heat it to boiling and add it to the jars just like regular syrup.

The peaches should be a nicer color, and have a far better flavor than being watered down by plain syrup. I'll try it for the rest of this bushel, but no more than that since, if it doesn't work, that's an awful lot of mediocre peaches to eat.

And yes, the whole process is time consuming. And HOT. But it's enjoyable. And when you see an entire shelf of peaches glowing at you, it is SO worth it!

This year, the savings will be double that of last year. A bushel last year was $50. This year, only $20. They were smaller ones - well, I don't need huge peaches just to can and make jam! I don't care! I'm not canning for the state fair, and slice them up anyway. Why use the huge dinner peaches?

And the savings to the environment - HUGE. Less than 100 miles to get them here. Virtually no chemicals used in growing them. And my processing, which uses the microwave as much as possible to cut down on the heat in the kitchen. Process as much as you can at once to take advantage of the water already boiling and you're using even less. I would guess we're no worse than even - 1 calorie of energy to produce for 1 calorie of eating. Standard energy consumption for industrial food in the US is 10-20 calories of energy to produce 1 calorie for eating.

I'm liking life. It may not be Porgy and Bess easy, but it could be a whole lot worse.

Rain's Plenty

It is an absolutely gorgeous day. It started out muggy and sweaty and sticky, but then it started sprinkling. Within a half hour, it was a wonderful downpour. So far, we've gotten just over a half inch.

During that time, I was out playing, er, I mean *working* on the irrigation ditches I've got set up to take water away from the garage, and then also into the lower part of the side yard. Now that I'm back inside, out of my drippy clothes and enjoying watching it rain, I decided to make some calculations as only a nerd who likes to play in th rain can do...

There are 231 cubic inches in every US gallon. So, estimating the run-off from the one part of the roof and the portion of the driveway that I have draining into the side yard, I channel almost 200 gallons per 1/2" of rain. I'm also allowing another 200 gallons to be absorbed by a maple tree's drip line, rather than sitting on the garage foundation by having a trench dug to spread the water out.

Both of these ditches, with 1 having 2 branches to spread the wealth even more, means I'll have healthier perennials and far less run-off into town storm drains. It's free water! Why not use it?

Of Rain And Apples

It's been a longer week, and I have to say I'm faintly relieved it's over. I sit here, staring out the door at the light rain falling, listening to it hit the leaves of the bushes nearby, and have to say I still am not minding it being a wet spring/summer so far. I know others are ready to riot over it, but I am enjoying it very much.

It seems as if, until the week, I've been going at full speed and never catching up. I'm still not nearly caught up, but am taking a breath anyway. It's allowing me to see what I really need to do and to gear up for the next round of chaos. This past week has really shown how much I've run myself down. My allergies have really taken over, making a trip to the doctor with prednisone and eye drops being necessary for at least a week.

However, blueberries don't stop ripening, the grass doesn't stop growing and the list of big projects isn't getting any shorter. So I keep doing. Today, however, was a different story. I decided to work on 2 very neglected apple trees. They're on our neighbor's property, but as long as I give her some of the apples in the fall, I can do whatever I want to the trees. Considering I usually don't get a chance to work on them until September, it's obviously a little earlier than usual.

It's been at least 20 years since these trees had any significant pruning, so a few years ago I began. Today was another one of those pruning days. I always start out working on the ground and hope that I've got the trees so I can back Dad's truck up under it to work higher in the branches. By taking many of the smaller branches out, it allows the tree to get much needed air circulation througout its canopy. Plus, those branches take valuable energy away from the tree, making it far more susceptible to diseases and low grade fruit.

While pruning, a bunch of the green apples fell. It always makes me mad - it seems so wasteful. I know I have to thin many of the apples to get larger apples, but I still get mad to see them fall. I decided to try making green apple jelly. It had started to rain, and I had a couple of quarts of the little green rocks, so figured it would be a good time to play.

I washed them up, got my handy dandy chop wizard out and ca-chunked them into little pieces. Fast! I then set them to cook for about 30 minutes. Sieved them through a fine screen to make a thin apple sauce and then cooked them according to general apply jelly directions.

It's nothing special to look at, but it tastes just like apple pie! Wonderful stuff! I'm thrilled! A way to take waste and make it delicious and useful. There is nothing better. Apple pie on toast. I'm looking forward to it!

July 5

Wow, talk about it being a while. Sorry about that! Not that anyone reads this and not that I care. LOL

Right now I'm between harvests, which is *such* a wonderful feeling. I can get some of the less important, but far more dramatic looking, projects finished. Or at least a good amount of progress on them.

I just went through strawberries, of which there aren't many, but were perfect for jam. Rhubarb is finished. Peas are pretty much a bust with all of the efforts of 2 very persistent (but dead) woodchucks. I had hoped to freeze at least a few pints of peas, but that just isn't going to happen. They can only be pruned back so many times before it hurts the harvest.

Blueberries will be 1-2 weeks before they're really in peak season, so I have 1-2 weeks before the next round of chaos begins.

So! - I've started splitting wood, weeding and dead heading the flowers, transplanting flowers and hauling dirt. This property isn't so much about getting it "just right". It's more about keeping it a little closer to "good enough". LOL

But again, this chaos is ok by me. I always have something to do. I always have jobs to choose from. Anything can be improved upon. And I can't be fired! Ha! It suits my ADD brain perfectly, and my environmental beliefs very well. I can practice what I wish to preach, and can give advice on how best to practice it. I'm making mistakes left and right, but hopefully so others don't have to.

I hope to have pictures up of a few projects soon. As soon as they can be recognized as something other than - ooo a pile of dirt. LOL

Jam Making

I've been making jam. A lot of jam. For the farmer's market, which gives me a little cash flow, which is always nice. I can make jam - versus other far more perishable goods - when I have a little extra energy, rather than forcing the issue the day before the market. Like today!

I went and picked rhubarb at my aunt and uncles since my 2 clumps need a little time to recover. I've got enough for at least 8 batches, and probably more than that, if I really pushed the issue.

Since I hate regular store-bought jam, and since we've always made our own anyway, it seemed a natural thing for me to make to sell at the market. Sales are just starting to pick up, so I'm getting more hopeful about continuing to make it.

I always get angry when the jam doesn't set. Well, I have done a ton of research on the topic and have come to many conclusions...

Sugar is cheap. Fruit is expensive. Make jam with as much sugar as possible.

Pectin is a sugar, and needs regular sugar to help it set - it's a loose crystaline structure.

Pectin needs different cooking times with different fruits - whether you're using what's in the fruit only or supplementing with store-bought.

The sugar helps decrease cooking time as well as unify cooking times.

Rhubarb just coming up this spring.

By reading Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, I was able to see that longer cooking times might be needed - and won't ruin the setting. It gave the perfect visual que that the jam is ready - when the drops on the spoon suddenly congeal into one before they drop off the spoon. Ha! And that you can cook it too hotly. So if you have a longer cooking time, turn the heat down.

This also works with lower sugar amounts.

And while there are different types of pectin that will work better with high or low sugar or no sugar batches, you can putz around with it and make it work with just about any pectin. Which is why I bought a huge bag (10#) through Pacific Pectin. That'll be enough for roughly 80 batches of jam. LOL - I think I'll have enough. But still - at .80 v. 2.30 per batch, that's a huge price difference that I'd rather have in my pocket than sure jell's.

Last year's blueberries.

So right now, it's rhubarb jam and blueberry rhubarb jam. Very soon, the blubarb will be replaced with strawberry rhubarb, and strawberry. And very very soon, I'll be able to make a batch or two of rose petal jelly. The 7 sister's is getting ready to bloom, and so will use that. It's an old heritage rose that has gorgeous scent and color - perfect for jelly!

If you have a problem with your jam - cook it longer and at a lower temperature. It'll come together for you!

Jam Making

I make a lot of jam. I tend to know when it will set, when it won't, the different recipes you can fudge, the ones you can't. And rarely have problems with it not setting.

Of course, until I started making to sell.

I made 4 batches yesterday - 2 rhubarb and 2 rhubarb/blueberry mix (aka blubarb). I decided I'd make them all on the same day and really watch how I made them - being precise in my repetition to see if they'd all jell the same or not. The results I got were NOT expected.

There were jars in each *batch* that didn't set. What?! How can you have the exact same jars that were prepared at the exact same time in the same manner not set with the same batch of jam? It blows my mind. So, I have some jam, and some syrup. I'll probably try again with the syrup, just to see if I can get it to set, but WOW, who'd have guess THAT?

It's not me. It's not the pectin. It's not the weather. So what is it?

What a Spring

Getting ready for warmer weather is always hectic. But when warmer weather gets here before you're ready, woof!

I've overdone twice so far this spring, and it always comes back to haunt me. But, I'm never lacking in projects, so I just have to change direction, rather than fret over the inability to do what I had planned for a specific day.

I've made a quilt - Baby quilt for a friend's baby girl, Erika.It's a simple 9-patch block but with a little tweek to make it look like it has circles, which is always a fun thing to add. It has 39 different pinks in it - this is why I love quilting. It allows you to use scraps to create a completely new piece of fabric. Re-use at one of its more attractive moments.

I've also made a flag for the front yard to help my brother sell some of his eggs. This was a really fun project! It's part of an old sheet and crayons. I traced the picture on, and colored away! Well, warmed the fabric up with the iron, and then colored - it absorbs better that way. I hung it out today, but it was a tad windy this afternoon, making it a challenge. But, it's a prototype, so I'll keep working on it. Then I'll make one for my brother's property as well. Since he has constant wind where he is, it needs to be far tougher than here in the valley.

Pretty snazzy, huh?

So then I cleaned the fish pond. It's a puddle. But Dad likes it, so it was my turn to do the Spring cleaning of it. Never again. My brain is still spinning out from doing that. I did find out we have 8 fish instead of 6 instead of 4. We started with 4 3 years ago. Then we had 6. Now we have 8.

And I did find out that frogs indeed don't rot, but mummify. Pretty amazing! He was dead and just a bag of water when I scooped out some leaves, so just figured he'd burst and that would be the end of it. Nope - in only 3 days, he's completely dried and mummied. Mom turned green when I showed her, but her sister thought it was pretty cool.

I've gotten the first part of the garden planted - peas, spinach, salsify, sweet peas and onions. I can throw beets in any time, and will be putting shallots in just because I have some and can find the room. The rest, thankfully, has to wait another 4 weeks - or more. That allows me to work on other parts of the yard - like weeding the flower beds.

Daffodils are in full bloom, the weeping cherry is going to be in full bloom tomorrow - the first bud popped today. You can just watch that open up. Just gorgeous!

And the rhubarb is up! I've always been fascinated with how the leaves come up, but finally took a picture. It's like eggs hatching brains that unfold into the leaves. Very cool!

Name Change

I've changed the name, even though the address is the same. To protect the innocent? Ha! No innocence here.

Since becoming disabled 8 years ago this July, I've searched for a way to be independent. It's not easy since I have to be able to fit a day's worth of work into 3 hours or less, but this little obstacle doesn't stop me. It just makes me work to be more efficient.

About 2 years ago, I finally realized that I *like* living so simply. I've never been one to enjoy luxury of any sort - some even call me spartan. Years ago, my sister got me cable so she could watch when she visits. I would probably be without a TV if it were up to me. It used to be a great plant stand and that was it.

But truly, having a veggie garden, having a small orchard of fruit trees and bushes really makes me happy. Making the house as energy efficient as I can to cut down on monthly bills, really working with the wood stove for maximum whole-house heating are fun. They are challenges that take time to overcome, just like my disability.

And what is my disability? Vertigo. Vestibular Neuritis to be specific. I'm one of 2% of people who get it to become permanently disabled by it. I'd rather win the lottery, but this will have to do for now.

So, I'm working on making this 1-acre plot of my parents' into a homestead. And since I'm always spinning, it is the Spiraling Homestead. I like it!

My brother and his wife have green houses and chickens to sell their wares at a local farmer's market. I did some research and found out I can bake and cook certain things to also sell at the market to enhance their stall. And since I raise much of what I'd be using, it makes the effort about as local as possible. It also makes it cheaper for me and will create a better cash flow to give to the parents.

Most of all, it gives me hope. Hope that I can live on my own again someday. Hope that my example will inspire others to simplify their lives, even just a little. Hope that we may yet not destroy the earth. I do believe the earth will survive - it's humans that won't. And a host of other animals. So I'd like to think we can get ourselves out of this pickle and if me gettig disabled makes it so I convert to the simpler life, well I guess that's not so bad.

So hopefully this blog will be a bit more active. I will be posting ideas and articles like I have in the past, but will also post more about daily life and opinions - of which I have many - in hopes of helping others make the conversion a little easier.