AL - Recording baby steps: Newest Addition

[AL]

A little spring tease for everyone ( I have already dug up the sheets I will use to cover my peach tree when we have another frost!)

This is our old pear tree - it was split in half during hurricane Ivan but grew back together. Here a few weeks ago when we had such bad storms, half broke off.

 

[AL]

So after reading on here I decided in order to be a properly healthy SSer I needed to have some Kombucha (sp?) tea. No where on here did I make the connection that it would taste like alcohol! I hate the taste of alcohol, but now I have 2 bottles of kombucha tea (original and "wild root" ) that I have to choke down!!
I did finally find some raw, unfiltered ACV. My friend came by yesterday after a trip to the feed store and she had 2 tiny little golden comet and black sex link chicks. I sent her home with a little ACV for their water
The same store that had that stuff has whole milk - the real whole milk from a local dairy. Of course it is pasteurized, but it has the heavy cream floating on top. YUM. That is the reason I was at the store in the first place, but I found all kinds of fun stuff!



I have been sleeping with my windows open at night... delicious! We are supposed to get some storms starting tomorrow, though, so I will have to close up the house.

My peas are sprouting now, and my little tomato sprouts are still hanging in there...I don't know if they are going to ever make it to the big garden though, I may just put them in containers somewhere. I have some little potato leaves coming up from the compost in the potato baskets - I am ridiculously excited to see how these work out.

Making a hotel reservation in texas to go for my niece's wedding. I hate to drive that far with gas prices where they are, but I love my niece more than life itself so if she wants me there, come hades or high water I'll be there. I'll be driving up one day, wedding the next, home the next - 10 hours one way. Rio is going to be with me and my niece's cousin will be riding back with me.

A couple of days after I get back from Texas a friend from Mississippi is bringing her son down for spring break. I really really have to do some serious cleaning! She doesn't know what she is in for staying at my house - 4 inside cats, a 14yr old dog, a 2 year old dog and , by then, a room full (hopefully) of chicks! Not to mention the rooster with the broken crow, and Buddy licking the windows. I dont' figure they'll stay long.

 

[BarredBuff]

on the peas! I love peas!

 

[Denim Deb]

Of course, you know if any of us came for a visit, we wouldn't be that easy to get rid of.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Get some apple juice to tone down the Kombucha.
Store bought is very strong. Its fermented for 30 days
If you make it yourself, you can stop the process much earlier on.

 

[lorihadams]

Oh baby, Kombucha shouldn't taste like that.....Use the store bought to start some of your own and stop it after about a week and it should taste like fizzy apple juice with a slight tang. My 6 yr old loves it!

Here are the instructions for making it that I use.

In a large stainless steel pot boil 3 quarts of water. Once it reaches the boiling point turn off the stove and add 5 decaffinated lipton tea bags (green or black tea, I use black).

Let the tea steep in the pot for 25 minutes and remove the tea bags. Add 1 cup of sugar or part sugar and part honey and stir to dissolve. Let it sit until it reaches room temperature. Pour into a one gallon glass jar (I use an old pickle jar that has been cleaned extremely well). Pour in the SCOBY, or mother, and 1 cup of starter tea. Cover the top with a coffee filter secured with a rubber band.

The SCOBY should rise to the top of the jar after 2-4 days (depending on the temp inside the house) and eventually a thin film will cover the top of the tea and get thicker as time goes by. It will usually be ready to drink after 5-7 days but sometimes it takes a little longer if the temps are cooler. Pour off a little after the "pancake" on top gets kind of thick and taste it. If it is too your liking then pour out the kombucha into another glass container and leave 1 cup of starter in the original jar with the pancake SCOBY. Use that to start your next batch.

The longer you let it sit the more acidic it will be and eventually will taste like vinegar. If it isn't palatable use it for your animals and start another batch. If you need to take a break from it just save 1 cup of starter tea and some of the scoby in a jar in the fridge.

MUCH better than store bought!

 

[AL]

duly noted


My old Buford dog isn't doing well. If he was sick, had cancer or some other disease, heart trouble etc I could make this decision so much easier. But he is healthy except for his cursed legs. He has been many many miles on this crazy journey of mine.


My day was also crappy because the winds were howling and blew my storm door open - the sudden stop against my porch rail shattered the entire pane of glass into 100 million little pieces. I got up as much as I could now the rest I suppose is waiting for dog paws, horse hooves or my bare feet.


I am exhausted and so sad about my Buford. The vet mentioned one more med we could try for his pain so I will visit them soon for that. I leave next Tuesday night for Texas and Buford will be stayin with the vet - and I will worry myself sick every minute away.

*sigh*

 

[i_am2bz]

I'm so sorry about Buford, AL. I have been where you are & it's a miserable, crappy place to be. I spent 3 months of long sleepless nights with my dog Chloe before I could make the decision, hoping against hope that we might find the magic Rx that would keep her going (or the Lord would see fit to take the decision out of my hands). It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. Prayers sent your way.

Oh yeah - we had a glass-topped patio table that the wind flipped over one day, busted into a bazillion pieces. To this day I still find glass in the mulch around the shrubs. :/

So sorry you're having a rough time.

 

[Farmfresh]

Two hugs ... one for you and one for good old Buford.

 

[AL]

thanks
just to add to the wonderful day:
my air conditioner isn't working. Gave it a test run today and it is blowing outside temp air. I have only had this trailer a year this past December and they have already worked on the AC a couple of times. I don't think it is still under warranty.... guess I'll find out later this week.

THEN when I got home from work I discovered that somehow the temp on the incubator was way up... around 108! I have no idea how long it was like that - I guess I'll candle in a couple of days and hope the chicks didn't cook.

left work for the first time pretty much ever, went to buy proper doseage of Tylenol for Buford and then came home to fix chicken and rice for him. I couldn't stop crying everytime someone asked me how I was doing.

I know some folks here don't "get" having a dog as more than a working animal... but my dogs are my friends. No, not furry little people - they are dogs - but they are companions, protectors, confidants and counselors. Buford has been many hard miles with me - an abusive relationship, losing a job, complete social isolation (self imposed) and then "growing up" from those things.

Anyway.....