Fire Wood and the First Fire

Ah, that first fire. Over the weekend DH and I hauled a bunch dried fire wood from the woodpile to the screened porch, and I cut up a lot of kindling. It was my first go with the small electric chainsaw that a friend gave us. It does the job! Another friend commented “My favorite …

Making Simple Mead

I started my first mead – fermented honey wine –  today. I used my own honey, of course. This little jar was from our last extraction (09/26). All the air bubbles that were “invited” into the honey when spinning it had risen to the top, taking the wax and propolis that had hitched a ride …

Two Ferments: Sauerkraut and Comfrey Liquor

The first one is sauerkraut. It is my first deliberately fermented food. A huge cabbage head came in our CSA box a couple of weeks ago. What to do with it? As I was reading Sandor Katz’s The Art of Fermentation, I couldn’t resist. My mom and I went looking for a good crock, but all the right …

Robbing Honey and Fall Hive Manipulations

Woah, I just did the most stressful honey robbing yet. A warm (80F) and sunny day, the bees were busy. Hive 3, my Super Hive I brought the super with the frames we harvested last week (green in the image). You return harvested frames to the hive so the bees can clean out the honey …

Riot for Austerity – September 2012 – Month 47

This is the Riot for the month of September 2012 for the three of us plus my parents for two weeks, so 4 people. My summary of our first three years is here. Edson fixed the calculator: all go tither to crunch those numbers! Gasoline.  Calculated per person. DH’s shuttle started running so he hasn’t been driving …