Solstice Salad

Friday was the winter solstice, which is my favorite day of the year. We burned a Yule log and ate a lovely meal.

The Yule log was decorated with offerings for prosperity and health in the new year, including a pepper for a good garden, an egg shell for our poultry, and part of an envelope from a holiday card with wishes for the health and happiness of our friends and family.

We soaked that envelope bit in scotch, because it's nice to have whiskey around too.


Tradition (according to the internet) says to light this year's Yule log with bits of last year's. So, we threw in the charred remains of the last log.

And, once it caught, added our new log - part of a peach tree that blew down in a storm this summer.

For dinner we had a mostly homegrown meal. This made us feel especially powerful and mighty to be able to eat food we grew even on the darkest day of the year. Sausage from our chickens, potatoes from our garden and a salad of lettuce and two types of radishes harvested that day from our cold frame.

I hope you all had a lovely solstice and are enjoying the returning light!

Happy Solstice from Indiana

We are in Indiana.

"Well, duh" you're thinking. "It says that right up there in the header ^."

Well, we're supposed to be in New York with our families for the holidays. But events have conspired and we're not. I'm not gonna lie. It sucks. It sucks a lot.

But we're trying to have some holiday spirit anyway. Today is the solstice and we celebrated with a Yule Log. The log must be cut by us on our property, so Bill picked out a great locust round.

We decorated it with a turkey feather for our birds, a (spouted) potato from our garden, and a bit of wool - all things we hope will be prosperous and abundant in the new year. We also included a cough drop for Bill and a bit of tape from my finger splint incident to keep us both healthy. Finally, on the very right is a bit of wrapping paper with a heart drawn on it - for happiness of everyone we love. We chose wrapping paper because the wrapped presents we won't be taking to NY this week are the most tangible reminder of our families right now.

Don't they look pretty??

The orange bobble ribbon is for my sister because she is funky and fun and her present should be too.

(sad face)

Ok - back to the Yule Log. We lit this year's log with the shard we kept from last year. Apparently keeping a bit of the Yule Log all year protects your house from lightening.

It totally worked for us.

Though, we did get hit by a tornado.

But it was a little tornado. It menaced our neighbors much worse than it did us.

So, anyway...that black coal in the center - that's last year's log chunk.

We saved a much bigger piece of this year's log - like half of it. Bill seemed to rather enjoy taking a flaming hunk of wood out of the stove, placing it on the ground outside and throwing water on it.

Boys.

We also cracked open the Rumtopf. We put this up with fruit leftovers from throughout the summer and fall. There's not a lot of drinking going on here this week, but we each ate a (very potent) peach slice.

We hope you all had a lovely solstice.

More and less

It's currently the very specific time of year which results in many conversations between Bill and me regarding wood supply. It's been wicked cold this week and our stacked wood is dwindling. Every individual log that goes into a fire initiates an estimate from Bill on how much wood we have left and if it will get us to spring.

We have this much left in the wood shed:

(can you see the tiny pile in the back? It's about 4 pieces)

And this much on the porch:


Current guess is that we'll be ok until March, but we will have to dig into the pile of unstacked wood which is under snow, but covered by a tarp.


While we have used much more wood this year, we haven't used any noticeable amount of propane. In fact, the batteries in our thermostat were dead for 2-3 weeks around Christmas break, meaning the furnace wasn't on at all, and we didn't even notice. It is possible the propane company may come take our tank from us, as they expect us to use at least 500 gallons per year.

(the tank just looks lonely and disused, doesn't it?)

Between last year and this year, I think we've used a total of 200 gallons. Far less than the 7-800 the first year we lived here. And - with two wood stoves and a proper amount of wood, we are much warmer than when we burned propane.

As an added bonus of using more wood and less propane - I love stacking wood...and boiling water for tea and hot chocolate on the stove...and even lugging carts of wood from the shed to the house through the snow. I love putting on my blue hat (knit from yarn I spun and dyed!), boots and gloves and venturing out into the cold - especially when the sky is blue and the ground is white. The cold is refreshing and I appreciate the warmth of the house even more when I come back in.

What's that? You haven't seen my blue hat yet? Well...here it is:



It was made with my first knitable handspun. I've spun more since then - it is more even and less bumpy, which is very exciting.

(new yarn- shows improvement!)

(bumpy "yarn" from my first attempts)

I believe I've now earned the chance to spin with colored roving. Bill helped me dye a pound of it yesterday. Both of these are dyed with the same 3 colors, but different distribution. On this one, I just plopped the green, brown and yellow all over randomly.


On this one, I kept the colors mostly segregated:

I'm interested to see how they spin up! More color, less white!

Plans, plans, plans.

I like scheduling things. Plans give me comfort. I like taking the time to do all the thinking and then - once the planning is done - jump in and get the actual work done with gusto. Just plow through it because the path has been decided.

In the world of Myers-Briggs, I'm a pretty strong J. A scheduler.

So, yesterday, I scheduled 2011.

Well, I made goals. I also made contingency goals, so that if all the initial goals are completed, a back up plan has also been scheduled. The goals are broken into three key areas and are as follows:

Farm

• Get Sheep - Such a simple statement! There is a lot of work involved with this one. The barn needs some repairs and the fence has to be reinforced. Plus, I have to find sheep. The plan is to start with 2 older ewes of any acceptable breed. I'm not too particular at this point with breed, as I don't have much experience and there are so many types it's a bit overwhelming. As these will be practice sheep and we won't be breeding them, to be acceptable, they should be hardy and have a desirable wool. Once we have more experience, we'll be looking for a good dual purpose breed for a sustainable flock.
  
  
• Can 20-30 quarts of veggies - About 95% of the canning around here is fruit. I'd like to put up some beans, tomatoes and other veggies this year.
  
  
• Build raised bed and plant fall greens - Extend our gardening beyond spring and summer.
  
  
• Drive pickup truck - It's time to reacquaint myself with a standard transmission.
  
  
• Kill chicken - Really not looking forward to this one, but I eat the meat and I think it's time I earn it. Plucking is certainly hard work, but it's not fair that I rely on Bill to do the really unpleasant part. This one is going to be hard - but it's a reality I'm (nearly) ready to face. Plus, Aaron Sorkin broke my heart with a ridiculous blog post about Sarah Palin and hunting which made me realize that until I take this step, I'm not really fully involved in what it means to eat meat. Blech.
  
  
• Convert 25% of Sugar's food to homemade - This is related to the chicken killing. Pet food is the major source of CAFO meat in our house. Feeding the dog 3-4 meals a week of homemade food is a pretty easy goal, especially in the summer when the chickens are laying prolifically.
  
  
• Learn to shoot rifle and shotgun - Also not excited about this - I've been promising Bill I'd learn for about 2 years now, but I keep wiggling out of it. However, I am even less excited when a raccoon kills our poultry. The goal is specifically not to learn to shoot well enough to hunt or defend our animals - but just to learn to shoot and not hate it. Small steps. I'll be putting this (and the chicken killing) off as long as possible, I'm sure.
  
  
• Paint and re-roof woodshed (stretch goal) - It needs it but it's a big job.

House

• Make curtains for Bill's Room and Guest Room - I can't think of anything more boring that sewing curtains, but the ratty lace has got to go.
  
  
• Trim 2 hearths - It's just wood and a little bit of grout. I don't know why we haven't done it yet!
  
  
• Paint bedroom floor, decorate walls - Our walls are a spunky orange, but the room is still pretty stark.
  
  
• Make upstairs landing into library nook - Move crap, paint floor and walls, make curtain, furnish.
  
  
• Strip wallpaper in upstairs bathroom (stretch goal) - Yeah, it's just wallpaper, but it happens to be on the ceiling, 12 feet up.
  

Knitting

• Complete 12 projects in Self-Imposed Yarn Club - Based on the brilliant idea of the Yarn Harlot. I took 12 yarns I've had in my stash for 2-3 years, but am still very excited about using, and packed them up with a matching pattern. They are wrapped in packing paper and each month I'll pick a random package to knit up. There is a mix of socks, shawls and other accessories.
  
  
• Knit sweater from handspun, hand-dyed yarn - We had a lesson on our wheel at the knit shop yesterday. I'm feeling confident!
  

Solstice!

I remember the exact moment I fully understood the purpose around celebrating the winter solstice. We were in Iceland, the day after Thanksgiving, and decorations were being hung in Reykjavík - evergreen boughs and festive lights.

It was cold (though the natives weren't bundled up as much as me and Bill) and dark. The sun rose around 10 and set by 4. Here is it just before noon:


A mere 6 hours of daylight, and it was still a month away from the shortest day of the year. So much darkness!

As I watched Reykjavík be decked with signs of life and light, I understood that marking the shortest day of the year - the longest night - was a big deal.


Since we moved to the farm, we definitely notice the change in seasons and enjoy celebrating the cycles of the year. For the past few weeks, we've been watching our supply of firewood dwindle (and our stock of eggs, since the chickens have stopped laying [which is related to the shortened day light]). Tonight, I pulled a cart of wood out of the shed - and through the snow - knowing that we've made it half-way. It will start getting easier, and lighter, and closer to spring tomorrow. Tonight, we celebrate!!

One of our celebrations involves this Yule Log. I don't know a lot about Yule Logs, but we took the concept and made it our own. The log was cut from our property, by us, and decorated with tokens to represent things we hope will prosper (or be abundant) over the next year.



It contains: a turkey feather for the productivity and health of our birds, pancake mix, wool and bacon (three things we hope to never run out of - ever), corn from our garden for a prosperous harvest, and wine to represent wine....and grapes ;)

The Yule Log is burning right now and the celebrations continue!

October 30 - First Fire, 2010

Indiana finally decided to be seasonally appropriate with the weather. On Tuesday (I think) a big ole storm blew through and left behind autumn. Today is our first we-need-to-heat-the-house fire (opposed to an aesthetic fire). It's actually pretty warm outside - mid 50s - but our dang brick house is holding on to the recent cold. So the wood stove is lit! Last year our first fire was 3 weeks earlier - we went away to California, drank some wine and came back to winter.

Fortunately, I got some knitting done, just in time, including Bill's Six Animal hat. It's made of undyed alpaca from at least 4 animals (a gift from my mom from her first Rhinebeck) and the white stripes are a handspun merino and possum blend from New Zealand that Chris and Kelly were so kind to spin and gift to us. New Zealand possums are an invasive species and there is a big effort to encourage folks to kill them. Often when an economy is built around an animal there is an incentive to maintain the animal at profitable levels - which is contrary to wanting to eradicate it. In NZ (at least when we were there) it is illegal to keep (farm, breed) any possums. They all need to be wild-caught.

Also, in case you are wondering why anyone would want a possum hat, NZ possums don't look anything like ours. They are more like badgers. But, that's enough ecology. On to the knitting!

Bill's hat:

And a cowl for me:

Sugar, helping with the photos:

Bill, being artistic. Apparently cowls make great egg cozies:

Summer excitement...

WE GOT WOOD DELIVERED!

I was giddy with excitement when the truck full of wood pulled into our driveway. It's been a bit difficult finding wood this season and prices are a bit higher than last year. I won't lie...it's been a bit stressful.

So, it was awesome to have the wood guy come with his big ole truck of split, seasoned (mostly) wood. It was even more awesome when he pushed a button on the truck and it dumped all the wood out without human intervention. Last year, it took us over an hour to help unload a trailer.

This is 5 ricks. I don't really know how much that is. Cord... face cord...whatever. It's about 3/4 as much as we used last winter in the two stoves. Fortunately, the wood guy is coming back at the end of the week to deliver more.

Unfortunately, we've got to stack all this wood this week so he has a place to leave the next load. (I was going to say "dump the next load" but that sounds kinda bad, eh?)

Also exciting is the start of a new shawl. They're never very pretty while they are being knit, but I know some day soon (or in 6 months), I'll get to block it and it will be wonderful. It'll look something like this.

The shawl is to distract me from these socks, which are boring me to death.

And these socks which are pooling unacceptably.

But, I expect there will be little time for knitting this week. I'VE GOT WOOD TO STACK!!!

Man, are we getting some snow!

I don't know if anyone out there can relate to the amount of snow we are going to get this weekend. It. Will. Be. In. Sane. They are predicting, like, 2 inches. Crazy right? Anyone out there know what we're going through?

How cute is my dog in the snow?

This is what our woodpile now looks like on the porch. Sad. We've been staying pretty warm though. As long as the temperature doesn't get below 25 we are nearly toasty. Below 25 it gets a little iffy.

Fortunately we still have lots of wood in the shed. Though, I can't just stroll out the living room door and grab it. Now, wood collecting is more of an adventure.

Stackin some wood.

Before:

After:

There is still gobs of wood to stack, but this is not a bad thing.

In demand of spring

We are confident that spring will come soon. I mean, it has to...right??? So, we are burning our wood with near reckless abandon and it is wonderful.


We've also got seeds for our garden and have been purchasing baby items for our chickens (not pictured as these items are in our car trunk and it is...you know, still winter outside).

We like tomatoes. A lot.

Fire!

We sah-ho do not have enough wood to last us the winter. Our fabulous, glorious wood pile of old is down to sad, sad scraps. While I partially blame this tragedy on a ridiculously early winter (like really early not just we've-been-living-in-DC-so-we-think-"winter"-is-a-week-or-two-in-January early), we also did not cut nearly enough wood. We've been selecting the best candidates for next year and will be chopping trees as soon as it gets warm.

We've also imposed rationing - no fire unless its below 20. Which means...WARM SOCKS! This pattern is called "Flame wave" and the yarn was dyed by Bill's former co-worker and fellow blogger, Julia (she also grows orchids and has the fluffiest bunny on the planet). I LOVE the yarn and can't put it down. I want to lick it.

And old-timey Christmas

In addition to Sugar's pheasant, the gifts under the tree this year were rather old-fashioned. For example, an old-timey popcorn maker to be used on campfires or the wood stove:


Mancala, perhaps the oldest game on the planet:


And a Roman oil lamp from the first century, AD. At least, that is what the antiquities dealer said.


We first saw oil lamps at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (which is a fabulous institution) when they hosted Roman art from the Louvre. There were mosaics, statues and other decorative relics, but also pieces of real life, like the oil lamps. The punks at the museum wouldn't let me touch anything, so Bill got me my very own Roman artifact for Christmas. We think the detail is a goat?

Living room in progress

Some dark photos of our living room as it is currently half painted. The transition zones:



Before and afters:
We traded two TVs for this fish tank, which fits so perfectly in this spot Bill thinks it was made just for us. It is somewhere around 50-70(?) gallons and will eventually be home to a range of live-bearing fish.

We plan to finish painting and put up a real live tree from a tree farm next weekend.

Our bird feeders were visited by a Sharp-shinned Hawk this afternoon. He scattered all the chickadees and juncos and got away with a house sparrow in his claws. The commotion caused another house sparrow to fly into our window. She was stunned enough to let us hold her for a full five minutes before flying away. We suspect the Sharpie will be back.