Britesea - Living the good life in rural Oregon

[framing fowl]

Freemotion had a picture of her homemade cheese press on here somewhere. It seems to me it was cheap to build and looked very functional.

 

[rathbone]

Missing you. I will assume you are incredibly busy at this time of year.

 

[Britesea]

Well I'm back after a rather long hiatus. It's funny how once you stop doing something for a short while, it gets harder and harder to go back.

We've had rain the last two days here; unusual for the high desert at this time of year. At least my garden and baby trees all got a good soaking I had all kinds of plans yesterday to work in my kitchen, but I had issues with vertigo all day. I may be working on an ear infection or a cold. I took a decongestant yesterday morning and that started my nose running and post nasal drip. Today I don't have the vertigo, but I do have the beginnings of a sore throat. Time to drag out the honey and onion; I wonder if it's still good? I made some up last fall and it's been sitting in my refrigerator all winter and spring. I was hoping the honey would help preserve the onion juice, and it seems to have done so-- I don't see anything foreign in it. Should I worry about botulism?

There isn't too much to do in the garden since the rain took care of my watering chores, so I will probably try again to finish processing my carrots. I want to have some dried, some canned and some fermented.

 

[Denim Deb]

Britesea, do you have any other symptoms besides the vertigo? If it continues, get it checked out! It could be something other than an ear infection. In the meantime, check what you're eating. MSG can cause vertigo attacks if you're sensitive to it, as can caffeine, salt and alcohol.

 

[Britesea]

My vertigo seems to be gone. It was apparently just a one day thing. DH joked that sometimes it's just really hard to balance on a moving planet I do have the tiniest bit of a sore throat today though. I've been hitting the Vitamin C, and extra fluids in case this is a summer cold trying to manifest.

I was able to get all my carrots into the dehydrator- 8 1/2 trays! I also finished canning the butter I had bought on sale, and finished out the canner load with 5 pints of mexican- flavored black beans that will make lovely bean burritos for lunches. Got a load of clothes washed but I fell asleep before I could hang them out to dry so now I will have to hang them up in the utility room or wait until tomorrow morning.

We decided that we need to re organize the studio (a building that started out as a garage in another lifetime, then got enclosed and finished). Currently it houses what is left of my defunct jewelry making stuff, several bookshelves of overflow books, a couple of shelves of canned goods, and my son is living in there as well. It's all very disorganized. We decided that if we clear out the old jewelry stuff and sell as much as we can, store the rest in boxes, and move shelving units around, we can create a small 'apartment' for DS at the back and turn the front half into a very nice pantry for all my stocking up goods. This way, I can go to the pantry for a can of peaches without worrying about waking up DS.
It's going to be a rather drawn-out affair as I can only work on it a little at a time. In the meantime, I keep telling myself that no one cares if I have boxes of canned food all over the living room

 

[Britesea]

Today was baking day, so DH turned out 4 loaves of bread-- 3 whole wheat seed bread long loaves and one baked in a regular bread pan to make bigger slices for sandwiches. Two of the long loaves were bartered for a gallon of fresh Jersey milk; the other two are for our use.

I took the first big cutting of nettles today also. Got 5 trays in the dehydrator for tea (which DH drinks every morning and evening). I finished out the load with 4 trays of lovage, and I have some tarragon for tarragon vinegar (a necessary ingredient in our favorite summer pasta salad)

We laid out the footprint for the new duck yard and coop this afternoon also. DS is clearing it of any garbage right now. I hope to get the piers in place and the 4x4's cut; maybe we can even get the joists done tomorrow. I personally think DH is over-engineering it; but if it makes him feel better... I promised I wouldn't actually order any ducklings until the coop is finished, even though they will live in the utility room for the first couple of months at least.

Dinner tonight is dump chicken, green salad, sauteed garbanzos with garlic and lemon, and S'mores for dessert, followed by an episode of Poirot on Netflix.

 

[Britesea]

We started building our duck house today. First, after laying out the proposed yard and coop, we decided it was too small after all, and we doubled the size to 10'x20'. I had decided to put the coop up on piers- about 18" high so the ducks can investigate underneath if they want. We managed to get the piers in place, and the joists. If all goes well, the coop could be finished by next weekend.

The next available hatch date at the hatchery is July 1, and I really, really wanted to get my darlings as fast as possible. July 1 seems a dangerous date though, because if there is any kind of delay in the post- they wouldn't arrive on Wednesday; and since the post office will be closed for the holiday, that would mean I couldn't pick up the poor things until Friday! So I guess I'll wait until the hatch day after that- mid July.

The horses that keep the weeds down in the undeveloped land next to us wandered over and kibitzed while we worked, and seemed to agree that cold carrots of an afternoon are a civilized treat.

 

[Denim Deb]

Can't say I blame you for wanting to wait. I'd wait too.

And, I have yet to meet a horse that doesn't like carrots.

 

[Britesea]

I ordered my ducklings. Hatching day is Monday, so hopefully they will get here on Wednesday. I informed DH that he has to bottle his beer this weekend and get it out of the Utility Room since the carboy is sitting exactly where I want to put the ducks. One of my indoor washing lines hangs over that spot, and I'll be able to use it to hang the heat lamp and adjust the height to get the right temperature.

Duckingham Palace is coming along. The frame of the coop is mostly finished- all that's left is attaching the siding and the roof. The corner holes are dug for the fenced yard. Hopefully just a couple more weekends of work. It went extra slow since I've had a pinched nerve in my back and haven't been able to do anything but sit in a chair and supervise. DH is getting a little bit of a haunted look... I started talking about maybe raising earthworms for cash, compost, and duck treats, lol.... and a small greenhouse to start seedlings in, since I'm getting tired of having to drive to the community greenhouse for that... and I want about 6 more raised beds for the garden... and, and, and (I need to win the lottery!)

 

[Britesea]

Our ducks are growing like crazy- nearly tripled their size in the last week and a half. The box I have them in is simply too small now, and I don't have anything larger. If we don't get at least the coop built tomorrow, I will have to cobble something together like cutting open and taping several boxes together. Tomorrow looks to be cooler and clear, so I think maybe it will happen. We just need to attach the ramp and the door and the coop will be finished. I have pine shavings ready to go in there, and I can hang a heat lamp if it gets too cool for them. The duck yard still has just the corner posts in place, but once the coop is done, we'll be able to concentrate on driving in the T posts and then stretch the wire, then put up the hot wire... and then we'll be done! It's been going slow because I haven't been able to help at all.

My pinched nerve took two weeks to get better, even with using NSAIDS and ice packs, I've just barely been able to keep up with the dishes and laundry; and the heat has been unbearable. I ended up just turning off the heat lamp for the ducklings and they've been happier since I did. Even at night.

The tree surgeons came out and took down a couple of dead trees that I had been concerned about- they looked like the first winter storm would send them crashing into our house. The nice part is, I didn't have to pay for it-- the trees were on land that belongs to the electric company so they paid for the removal (one of the few times that living in a litigious society pays off!)

Everyone around here has pretty much given up getting a decent garden this year. We had snow or frosts until halfway through May, then near-record heat in June and continued heat in July-- everything either died from frost or got burned by the heat. Even watering every day, the plants are suffering. I have a handful of bean plants, 1 fava, 4 tomatoes (but not setting fruit) and 3 kale plants that are still doing well, and the perennials are doing ok. Everything else has given up the ghost. I think part of the problem is the soil in my garden is still rather poor-- not enough humus to hold the moisture yet. I'll keep building it up with compost, but it will take a while. The ducks will help me out with that