Pigs, snow, garden, etc

We survived, and yes, even thrived through the record-breaking snow storm of  '13.  We lost power for a while, just long enough to feel like we wanted to hook up the generator that I had brought home in advance, just in case, but this made me realize that I need to figure out how to do that more efficiently.

Just for the record and for my own memory, we received 14" with one storm, over about 2 days, then another front moved through a day later and dumped another 6" on top of that, with little melting in between.  This was certainly more snow on the ground at once than I have ever seen.  Luckily, I had brought the Gehl tele-handler home from work and was able to strap on a reinforced piece or two of plywood and use it fairly well for a snow plow.  It really warmed my heart to see all us rural Americans busting out snowdrifts for ourselves and for our neighbors, with trucks, tractors, four wheelers, and forklifts. Most of us didn't have to get out, it wouldn't make any difference on a day like that, but I love seeing that independent American spirit of "I will get out, even if I don't have to get out."  

Somebody, some local farmer that I don't even know, just drove down the road with his big tractor and busted out the drifts in the driveways, and made a lap or two through everybody's driveway, just to pack it down so that people could at least have a chance at getting out.  He didn't attempt mine, probably because it's nearly a half mile long; he just broke through the entryway of the drive.  That's ok, we did just fine without it...

I also got a bunch more trees cut down out in the pasture; I may have mentioned how encouraged I am about it.  At this rate, I may have pasture before I am 90 years old! We burnt some colossal piles of brush, too.

Here are some pictures of our place that I took:

Above is a picture of a snow drift just outside of our driveway that is as high as my side mirrors of my pickup.  Glad I didn't have to bust through that one!

At that time we had no livestock at all, but now we are getting back into the swing of things.  We now have 30 chicks of a fryer/layer split, and 6 little piglets.

We went and got them from our friends the Kingsley's, who run the perfect little farm with nearly every imaginable farm animal on it. Sooo jealous! Sunday we got accidentally inspired and got the whole garden's old weeds pulled up (left from last years neglect because I built a shop loft instead) and then when I showed Brother in Law Jonathon my Roto-tiller, he was so taken with it, that he tilled the whole garden with it! Wednesday and Thursday, I planted Potatoes, radishes, onions, and beets.  No turnips, though; they couldn't be found anywhere in my town.  I looked at Westlake, Lowes, Walmart, and Home Depot!  I'm pretty sure it's a conspiracy; I'm just not real sure what the point is, though...

So we took advantage of some of the time we were "holed up" and made some German Sausage.  My two middle kids pictured here.  This I was able to pull off without barking at my kids or Wifey.  (See last post)

Finished product:

Root beer

So, I'm making Root Beer.  There's no way to say that and sound clever or cool; you just have to say it.  The only possible way to do it economically would be to go hunting, digging, and gathering for all the ingredients in the forests (which we are a little short of in south central KS) and dig up sassafras root, and 10 other ingredients that we don't have, with the exception of Dandelion Root, which I happen to have plenty of around here.  That would be very expensive in time, instead of very expensive in money buying all the different ingredients.

Lets just say, that if I would have "invested" the same money that I put into Root Beer ingredients into actual Root Beer; I would have never had to buy Root Beer again- EVER! Enough said about that, I'm not here trying to convince anyone of the merits of making it yourself; if anything, I'd try to steer people away from it.  Not to mention, I'm sure if you've grown up drinking commercially manufactured Root Beer, I doubt very much that it tastes anything like something made with real roots.

But the good news is it is really quite easy to make, after I spent literally 3 hours pursuing the internet scavenging the ingredients (Concentrates are cheap too!  But, noooo, not good enough for this dummy) to get everything I needed.  For my own reference, here is the recipe:

homemade root beer recipe

YIELD: 2 quarts 

PREP: 20 mins

COOK: 3 to 4 days (fermentation) 

READY IN: 23 mins 

Seasoned with sassafras, winter green, sarsaparilla and eight other herbs and spices, amassing the ingredients for this classic homemade root beer recipe can prove challenging. I recommend purchasing from Mountain Rose Herbs which stocks even the most obscure wild-crafted and organic herbs and spices. (note from Dan: not so much...)

Ingredients 1/4 cup sassafras root bark 

1/4 cup winter green leaf 

2 tablespoons sarsaparilla root 

1 tablespoon licorice root 

1 tablespoon ginger root 

1 tablespoon dandelion root 

1 tablespoon hops flowers 

1 tablespoon birch bark 

1 tablespoon wild cherry tree bark 

1 teaspoon juniper berries 

1 cinnamon stick 

1 cup unrefined cane sugar 

1/2 cup ginger bug or fresh whey or 1 packet kefir starter culture Instructions 

1.  Bring two and one-half quarts filtered water to a boil and stir in sassafras, sarsaparilla, wintergreen, licorice, ginger, hops, juniper, birch and wild cherry bark. 

2.  Reduce the heat to a slow simmer and simmer the roots, berries, barks, leaves and flowers for twenty minutes. 

3.  After twenty minutes, turn off the heat and strain the infusion through a fine-mesh sieve or a colander lined with cheesecloth into a pitcher. Stir unrefined cane sugar into the hot infusion until it dissolves and allow it to cool until it reaches blood temperature. 

4.  Once the sweetened infusion has cooled to blood temperature, stir in the ginger bug or fresh whey and pour into individual bottles (preferably flip-top bottles which are easy enough to find online) leaving at least one inch head space in each bottle.

 5.  Allow the root beer to ferment for three to four days at room temperature, then transfer to the refrigerator for an additional two days to age. 

6.  When you’re ready to serve the root beer, be careful as it, like any other fermented beverage, is under pressure due to the accumulation of carbon-dioxide, a byproduct of fermentation. Open it over a sink and note that homemade sodas, like this one, have been known to explode under pressure. Serve over ice.

I got this recipe from Nourished Kitchen, LLC.  

There are much less complicated recipes out there, though.  But, I didn't want to pick my recipe just because it was "easy" (a "four-lettered word" in my childhood home) so I picked the hardest, instead.  It really was simple to make; it fills the house with a very heady "Rootish" smell.  If you know what fresh ginger and fresh sassafras smell like, imagine it brewing in your kitchen for most of the evening.  Pretty fun!

The tough thing is that most of the reason (excuse?) I do this sort of thing is that "it is for the kids."  To have something fun to do with my kids.  The problem is; however, that this totally didn't happen last night.  The interest level of making Root Beer doesn't hold a candle to the level of fascination that, say, watching their uncle obsessively play "Temple Run" on the iPad does.  On top of that, if they happen to follow their little noses into the kitchen, they get barked at because I'm already irritated because I'm having to elbow Wifey out of the way because she has the nerve to be attempting to prepare my all time favorite meal for me while I am making Root Beer.  (before, during, and after supper.)

Now that I think about it; Jeez, what a jerk.  Sometimes I really impress myself with what a selfish jerk I am.  Blogging about it this morning makes me rethink my experience, and makes me realize it was probably a super crappy experience for everyone but me.  I guess I might spend a good share of the rest of my life bitter and alone after everyone leaves me, but at least I'll know how to make real Root Beer! In the future, I'll maybe try a little more intentionally to include the kids, and not do it on top of Herself making me supper.  Especially if she's making me Curry!!

Grace illustrated to me

This last week I had something of an experience that illustrated Grace to me.  I really pride myself (the good kind of pride, of course) on being a forthright person, one that says what he means, and means what he says.   And trustworthy; those are things that I would like said about me, Character traits that have high merit in my world view.  I don't want to get into too many details and bore anyone, but last week I found myself stretching the truth to someone in order to make myself look good.  It wasn't a lie, it really wasn't; it was more like Abraham's mistruth about Sarah being his sister.  He just chose which part of the truth to tell; except in my case it didn't have anything to do with my wife or my sister, and I happen to be fortunate enough that they are actually and truly two different people, thank goodness.
But anyway, like most people, and even more than some, I really enjoy looking good.  And in business, to a certain extent when you are trying to sell a product; you are actually selling "you", since you are the person they are buying from. So in this case I just really focused on this one point that made me look really good that wasn't really the "whole truth".
The end result was that it really turned out astonishingly well.  Not because of what I did or said, but despite it.  This seems an apt description of Grace.  God is always faithful; even though we are not.  This really brought me to my knees this week much more than getting slapped down by Him, in retrospect. I truly didn't deserve any favor, and yet it was plopped in front of me regardless, and in a way that it was sooo obvious that I had nothing to do with it that I was left with nothing to do but give thanks to God.

Remove and replace guttering?                                                                            about $4.50 per foot
Remove and replace shingles?                                                                              about $180 per square
To once again realize that I really have little to do with what goes on around me?  That is Priceless

firing the forge

So after last weekends project (see last post) with the pot rack, Herself pointed out that we had a few pots that didn't "hook-up" with any hangers on it.  It was a really  pleasant Saturday morning yesterday, so I decided to fire up the old forge and just make some.  Please understand, I have no misconceptions of having any skill or acumen by thinking that I am a blacksmith or anything like that; I am just fascinated by forges and anvils.  Anyway, of course the kids are all geeked about firing it up and they drag Uncle Jonathon out of bed to see what happening and he gets pretty interested in whats going on, as well.

Finished product:

Currently in service:

Then I spent the rest of the day hanging light fixtures in the shop.  I'm still pretty weak from being sick earlier last week, and those trips up the ladder wore me completely out. I was falling asleep on the floor around 8:15, and we even had company over. They were gracious and took the hint...

Winter projects and pasture clearing

Here's a little project I did Saturday morning;  I got Wifey a "pot-rack" for Christmas to re-arrange some kitchen stuff.  So, Saturday, I (and 4 kiddos and Hound Dog) braved the frigid wind on January day and ripped a hole in the roof in order to make for sure it would hold up all that cast iron. I beefed it up a little, just in case. 

Four silly kiddos and a danged Hound Dog:

Finished product; the plate rack was also newly installed the same day.

Here are a few pictures for my own use; the fruit of my labor (and certainly my brother-in-law's)  

He LOVES to cut firewood, and I LOVE my brother-in-law!  He cuts, cleans up brush, and stacks firewood like a mad man!  It's GREAT!

 Unfortunately, though, he just about got his face ripped off by this tree (below) he dropped.  When he finished it, it popped up and came after him, about 8 feet!  He couldn't get out of the way fast enough and it really scraped him up.  I thought it was the perfect wound to teach someone the dangers of cutting timber; he didn't lose any body parts, but it hurt pretty bad, so it made an impression on him.  It hasn't slowed him down any on cutting; but he did break 1 law of Manlyness: he let some woman bandage it for him.  Sheesh, wear your scars with pride, man!  His response to about dying?  He went and took a nap.  He fits right nicely in to my In-Law's family.

I spent a little time one the other Sunday afternoon building a box that would just strap onto the front of the four wheeler when I needed it.  I can pick it up by myself if I need to.  Its just strapped on, and it is well worth the time I spent. No more scrounging up tools, and throwing them in the trailer and rattling around; it's got everything I need, in one place.  Complete with tree chemical, gas, oil, files, "screnches" hatchet, extra chains, and yes, that is a Judge pistol, just to eliminate any psychotic squirrels that attack woodsmen.  Vicious little creatures! 

One reason I love to burn wood is that I can really feel that I am winning in at least two areas.  I love not spending my hard-earned money on heating-fuel, but not only am I cutting firewood, I feel like I am redeeming the land; restoring it to a usable pasture, hopefully sooner than later.  I would include the benefit of keeping healthy and fit, but I don't know if all the sore backs, etc really makes that worth it in the "health" area...  

As I was removing the old and completely dilapidated SIX STRAND barbed wire fence (albeit at least 2 were needing pulled out of the ground), I  felt as if Wifey's Grandpa or more likely Great Grandpa or even Great-Great Grandpa would somehow approve of me doing this; at least in the sense of redeeming the land back from forest to usability. Anybody that would put up a six strand fence has to care about his place.  It was a little bitter-sweet, ripping out someone else's fence that he obviously spent a lot of time and money on.  All the same, I'm very grateful for the timber; it helps me tremendously to not have to go a-begging for firewood.  And needing to clear pasture helps keep me motivated to keep from flipping that little thermostat switch that kicks the propane heat on.  I hadn't used it in 6 years (it wasn't hooked up most of the time) except while I went to China.  I'm glad to say that I haven't used it since, either. 

2012 In Pictorial Review

I was looking at some of my pictures online and thought I would make a little "scrapbook" of photos that defined 2012.

2012 was largely defined by us getting a "danged dog", Coco, about St. Patrick's day.

We didn't have much of a garden this year, due to deciding to build a loft apartment instead.  We just had tomatoes and cucumbers.  This color wheel (strip) is a result of Wifey going out and picking them right before First Frost.

At our nearly yearly Co Springs trip.  The kids first trip up Pike's Peak.

Balloon festival, stuffing their faces with doughnuts...

More danged dog pictures

 The summer (and spring) of 2012 was also largely defined by the preparation and execution of a large Haven area festivity, marking a momentous occasion, which we had planned on since February.  This included the slaughter of two small hogs and (one in a trial run, the other in actual occasion) and much help..  This was some of the hardest, hottest work of the summer, but the most fun.

 Another danged dog moment, with weird looking youngest; I have no idea what is going on with this photo..

"I'm Ready for church, Momma!"  I don't know if you can tell in this picture, or not; but not only are the shoes on the wrong feet, but the buttons don't quite line up right, either... An "A" for effort, though.

 More Danged Dog moments:

Pirate! complete with hairy chest and front like daddy!

And, of course, I can't leave out our trip to China!  How do I summarize that with a few pics; I can't, but if you have too much time and not enough reading material, you can start reading here.

October 

He got a better pirate costume for his birthday.

Bad Hair Day.

The boys got sport coats (only one shown here) and loved to play Mafia Gangsters, I guess.  They always walked around with their guns inside there jackets.

Christmas Girls with Christmas curls!  In new pajamas that their Gran makes them every year for Christmas. One of our very favorite neighbors put their hair up in rag curls on Christmas Eve.

The deer head. See earlier blog.  Wifey and I haven't REALLY decided on its final resting place...

One of the most satisfying things of 2012 was completion of some things in my shop.  I now have a nice little insulated shop with running water, and... 

a completed loft apartment above it; finally done!!  Yay!  I started that project in May and have been diligently working on it.  Feels so good to be done; now to catch up on everything else I've neglected in the meantime.  Other projects, firewood, Wifey's mini kitchen remodel, and projects I've been wanting to do for neigbors, etc.  To see more pictures of the process, see earlier blog.

That's all the interesting photos I had on my phone, anyway... happy new year!!!