Christmas Candle Making

At the risk of telling all of my family and friends what they are getting for Christmas, I'm gonna go ahead and write this post. It was so fun making candles and documenting the process, I can't resist.

We don't have a fireplace in our house, so we like to pretend by lighting several candles and watching the flames flicker. Or we watch this video of a fireplace, but it just isn't quite the same as the live flame.

If you are making a lot of candles, it takes most of the day, so leave plenty of time for cooling.

Here are some more images from my day of candle-making.

First you start with your supplies: molds, wick with wire in it (I found this type to be easiest to work with), metal wick anchors, a stirring stick, an old pot for cooking down the wax, pliers for handling hot cans, old tin cans for melting wax in, and newspaper.

I like to recycle old candles to add color and scent to my new candles.

Cook down the first batch of wax with similar colors by putting the wax in a cleaned out tin can (paper removed) and "double boiling" it, with water around the can in the pot. You don't have to dig out the old wick or anything else that might be in the candle- it will sink to the bottom and you can pour the clean wax off the top.

While you are doing this, prepare the molds by cutting them down to just above the height you'd like your candle to be.

Cut your wick to the right length and squish it with pliers in the metal anchors and tighten them down.

When the wax is ready, carefully pour it into the mold you've selected, then pull the wick as strait as possible, and then place the wick and anchor in the very middle of the mold. I suggest using newspaper under the mold- wax is messy and hard to clean up.

If you do spill on fabric, here is a tip: put newspaper over the fabric and use a hot iron on it- the wax will melt and most of it will be pulled up into the newspaper.  

Next is the hard part- waiting and watching. Don't let the wax cool too quickly or it will deform the wick to one side, or worse yet, crack the wax. It is likely to form an indentation no matter how slow it cools, so save a bit of the wax from the original batch to fill it in once it is cooled down. You will likely have to remelt it, so keep it in the same can you cooked it in the first time.

Once the candle is completely cool (I usually wait overnight) peel the paper off the outside to reveal the candle inside. This is the best part!

I usually wait to make candles until I have a bunch of old candles sitting around, and I collect molds in the meantime.

You can get fancy-

• I've done layers with colors (waiting to pour the wax in until after the previous layer is completely cooled), 
• Put ice cubes in the mold, pour in one color, wait until it is cooled and the ice turns to water, dump out the water, then add a second color
• Add cinnamon sticks or other whole spices to bring out a scent and add some texture
• Add dried flowers or leaves or paper to the outside once you've pulled off the paper. Attach them by using a paint brush to apply some melted wax, place the decoration on, then paint over it with wax several more times.
• Use funky molds to add shape variety. I reuse milk, juice, or ice cream containers, and sometimes even plastic sandwich containers from the deli. Just make sure to clean them out very well before you store them, or you'll get a nasty surprise when you go to craft your candles in the future.

Happy Holidays!

Steady Tank Decline

Our beta, "The Dude" was one of the first to go

This morning I chopped off the head of a "Cori" catfish. It was very sad (and a little gross). Catfishes are tough and it took awhile to get the knife through him.

It was a mercy kill- he was very sick, and like many of the other fish in my tank, I performed the beheading with the best intentions.

I've spent the last few months pulling "morts" out of our tank (that's fish hatchery talk for "moralities"). It is so depressing to have to use a pair of tongs to pull a rigor mortis fish off the filter intake, or to have to dig behind the fake plastic plants for a dead body. Can you imagine how the rest of the fish must feel to see the big green net descending- yet again?

What astounds me is that a degree in marine ecology, five years of water quality monitoring experience, and a summer of working at a fish hatchery has not equipped me with the knowledge to prevent these deaths. This is the second tank in two years that has experienced this "steady tank decline", as my wise (ass) husband likes to call it. I've medicated, filtrated, cognated and advocated for these fish, and still they die off.

I wouldn't want a tank so badly if our baby SJ wasn't so into it. The sight of the bright fish swimming (or, in our case, twitching in the throes of death) and the sound of running water immediately soothes and lulls her off to sleep (the tank is next to her crib).

Good thing I'm aspiring to be an inland farmer. If anyone has any advise, I'm open!

Thelma and Louise

Thelma Thunder Thighs

New hens! Two new birds were delivered last weekend by a friend of a neighbor and they are beautiful.

I read in my Backyard Poultry Magazine about incorporating new birds into the flock. The article basically said "out with the old, in with the new". This is in order to avoid disease and pecking, but if you HAVE to mix it up, let them duke it out through a fence first.

I kept the new lovely (and BIG) ladies separated for two days adjacent to the main flock so that they wouldn't kick my other chickens' asses.

Prissy strutting her skinny stuff
for the new ladies

Cora, a smallish White Leghorn cross, got her comb bloodied on the first day by Louise, the obvious leader of newbies.

By the end of the second day they had all made peace and I let everyone in the bigger yard together. There was a bit of flapping and posturing, but mostly they all played it cool and pretended the other group wasn't there.

Meet and Greet

Now they are best buds- Thelma and Louise crowd onto a deck with the other younger birds at night to sleep. They don't quite fit (especially with fatty Thelma, who I think must be some sort of Buff Cochin- she is HUGE).

I think the fact that I added two chickens and they were so much bigger than the others helped them integrate a little easier. Now, to get these big meat birds to lay eggs...

Back from Baby

SJ with our neighbor's pumpkin harvest

Fell off the face of the earth with this blog for awhile. After marriage comes the baby in the baby carriage. AND HOW.

We got ourselves a youngin' on our little urban farm- Sonora Jane- and she is the reason for my prolonged hiatus (and my protruding tuckus, too, but I'm working on that).

I think I haven't written on this blog for a whole year, and here are my excuses:

• I was using all my creative energy to grow a baby. Or, pregnancy SUCKED, sapped my soul, and made me want to puke all the time- didn't want to risk getting vomit on the keyboard. 
• Once S.J. came along, sleep became my number one priority (I'm writing now in a sleep-deprived fog on Saturday afternoon- I should be taking a nap with the rest of the family). 
• Our little angel is ultimate farm animal- I vowed she is the last "pet" we'd get for a long while, yet we keep accumulating fish and chickens. Just. Cant. Stop.

In any case, we downsized the garden this year (in other words, we grew 7 crops instead of 25) and really worked to make things simple so we could concentrate on Babykins. I'm happy to say that I spent this morning in the garden, planting buckwheat/clover combination cover crop for the winter, mulching with hay, and generally putting it to bed.

Scott and Casper with the same look on their faces

I'm very excited for planning the garden out for next year and continuing this blog.  And though we  haven't yet acquired any goats, it is still the dream. As a matter of fact, since hunting earlier this month with our brother-in-law, Scott is very interested in Llamas too. Now that we have a child, this begs the question, "Is YOUR Mama a Llama?"

Stay tuned for more soon...

All Grown Up

Strange sensation, being proud of a chicken. Prissy, our White Leghorn pictured at left, laid her first egg on Saturday.

I feel like we need to have a coming of age ceremony for her. She made it through chick-hood without succumbing to whatever one of her cohorts did. She made it through the night earlier this summer when another youngster was abducted and eaten by a fox.

By luck, pluck, or maybe even cluck, she grew up and now prances around the yard like she owns it. Come on over for chicken bat mitzvah next weekend.

We also just acquired two new pullets from a friend of our neighbors to replace the ones we lost. So the head count is:

• Stella, Silver Laced Wyandotte (pictured at left)
• Edna, Araucauna
• Prissy, White Leghorn
• Cora, California White (cross between White Leghorn and California Grey)
• Bernice (Bertie), Speckled Sussex
• Bob, Black Australorp

Scott got to name this last one. He feels outnumbered by all our female pets, so he had to have one "dude" to bond with. I'm sure Bob's eggs will taste the best for Scott.

Meet the Spring Chicks: Gladys, Prissy, Bernadette (Bernie), and Cora

At long last it is spring. I feel like I'm one of those pills that you put in water and it expands into a dinosaur-shaped sponge. I'm coming out of my dormant cyst form. A flower from a bud.

Part of this feeling is always generated by planting seeds. The garden is no longer frozen- it actually went from having 3 feet of snow on top to dry top soil way too fast. One day I was digging through scattered piles of slush to plant some late garlic and the next I am planting spinach seeds that I actually need to water to get germinated.

The most exciting part of this spring, however, is the arrival of chicks. A little late for Easter, these puff balls are bringing smiles and warm joy to our frozen hearts (and hot drool to our dogs' mouths). We have them set up in the basement in a horse trough with a protective wire mesh covering over them to keep out domestic predators (a.k.a. Mona the cat, Roxy and Maisy the dogs).

It is always entertaining to watch them slowly fall asleep, eyes slowly drooping like a teenager in math class, until they tumble face-first asleep into the wood shavings. Priceless.

These chicks will eventually grow to join the ranks of Edna and Stella, our laying hens, to provide eggs for goodies like quiche, cookies, flan, and more (don't worry, there will surely be enough for our neighbors and friends too).

Mawwaige, that Bwessed Event...

Since I was 9, I said I'd never do it. I thought my personal hang-ups (or his for that matter) would prevent any kind of long-term,  commitment.  I thought I never wanted to risk being part of the 50% divorce rate. I thought, "I'm an independent, do-it-yourself kind of gal". But yet, here I am picking out wedding colors, dresses, and other girlie things I never thought I'd have to do. And to tell the truth, its kind of fun. 

I could even see some women getting married just to have a wedding. Another excuse to plan, plan, plan, spend money that isn't yours, and then party, complete with tears and the emotional ride.

However, I knew I found my guy in the first two weeks we were dating. No emotional hang-ups, chemistry is good, and most of all, I trust him.

So, here are my colors. Geek that I am, I used Color Picker  to get just the right shades of Green (C5DE49), Periwinkle (AAB1FA), and Tangerine (FFD23D). Next I'm gonna go to the hardware store for paint samples, just to make sure I got it right.

I'm trying to do at least one thing per day to plan. Yesterday, I impulse bought a wedding dress on-line. Watch out, who knows what I'll do today. Don't be surprised if you see me cruising town, hanging out of a limo window in order to make sure I have just the right amount of wind in my face as we take our leave of the reception. 

Car Knitting

In times of hustle and travel it is tough to get any time for side projects. I found a way to get around this by taking projects on the road (and strategies for not up-chucking my Wheaties along the way).

To avoid car sickness I recommend four things:

1.) Only knit if you are a passenger. I hope this one is for obvious reasons.


2.) Look up once in awhile. Momma always said to stop and smell the flowers, and traveling ain't fun unless you can take in the scenery.

3.) Stop knitting on winding stretches of road. These portions of the trip are often the best to offer to take a turn at the wheel (which often helps me if I'm feeling at all sick).

4.) Stitch and Bitch. Carry on a conversation or listen to music.  It helps keep me distracted from motion sickness, which I think could be 80% mental (if you don't think you feel sick, you can actually convince yourself you aren't- at least for awhile).

I finished this pattern for fingerless gloves on the way to a holiday rendezvous. These were a present for my niece Katie. Because I had to start over a few times and didn't want to undo my stitches, I just started another pair. I'm almost finished with that second pair now.

Next was a sweater vest. I worked on this mostly in the airport on a trip to see my nephews. Not your typical sweater vest- this one has a scoop neck design and a rib that took a long time. It is the biggest project I've done in years and much of it was done off the ground.

I actually had someone ask me if I was from Europe in the airport because they couldn't believe anyone from the US still knit.

Collaging again

Click to enlarge

 

Snow Builds Neighbors

The snow is flying, with 8 inches on the ground and an 80% chance of more tomorrow. At this time of the year my neighbors always amaze me. With the excitement of snow brings out the "helper" in everyone on this street.

At least three people on the block have snow blowers and are constantly doing powdery drive-bys on my front sidewalk. The boyscout down the street is bringing by the popcorn we ordered a few months back, and his sister is volunteering to take care of the chickens during our winter vacation.Scott brought hot cocoa to our landlady next door who was snow-blowing the 'hood and later she brought over two huge pieces of beef roast from her ranch.

Then there are always the "well intended" incidents, with not-so-hot outcomes. Like the city snow plow truck that took out the back light of an Explorer a few houses down. Or the rocky hill I made Scott sled down, which didn't have quite enough snow on it to render the rocks harmless (he doesn't have as much padding as I do).

I say, live by these principles and it is hard to go wrong (I have this on my fridge and above my desk):

Chicken Come Home

500 miles with chickens in the car isn't as bad as I thought it would be. If they can put 5 chickens in a crate on top of a bus in Central America, 2 in a pet carrier wouldn't be too bad.

After the first 200 miles it did smell a little farmish (they didn't take advantage of the rest stops we made and went in their hay). 

At one point there was more anxious clucking than usual from Stella for about 5 minutes, and my suspicions were confirmed when Scott dumped out the carrier after we had gotten home and found a broken egg on the ground.

When you gotta lay, you gotta lay.

Stella and Edna are the two newest members of our urban farm and are now safe and cozy in their coop.

Chicken Shizak

Officially, we are ready to be chicken owners. Now that it is legal for us to have them in town and our landlady is on board, we are getting two hens after Thanksgiving.

The plan is a wire-covered outdoor pen (to protect from predators, escapees, and our un-poultry-acclimated dogs) and a straw bale insulated coop.

I am such a wanna-be farmer. Look at our cars- we had three bales INSIDE and three on top. Each.

And, since I am all about renewable power and saving the world, we made it a passive solar chicken coop. Yep, urban yuppie pretender. Also, everything but the straw is recycled, reclaimed materials. Farm-happy hipster. Hokey yokel quack (or should I say cluck).

All I know is that they will be warm and cozy, and we even installed "wing" vents on the side that open to make sure we don't cook 'em.

You can't tell me this is a passing fad or that I'm crazy for being crazy for chickens. Check out This American Life this week: Poultry Slam 2008.

Or this other weirdo chicken freak in Durango.

Pantry is full

After many evenings fogging up the windows (with boiling water, not necessarily hot love), the pantry is full of canned food. Until he realized all the work would pay off in the form of food this winter, Scott was not a fan of all the canning I was doing, and was somewhat miffed that we weren't using that time to go "roost" some "gnar-gnar" trails (ride bikes).

However, since it dawned on him that we won't need to buy salsa or tomato soup for the next five months, he feels better (and maybe a little bit guilty for not helping more).

I know, this doesn't come close to those professional Mormon stockpilers, or a survivalist, with their barrels of water and stashes of wheat flour, but it is a start. Here is the inventory:

Jam (apricot, peach, cherry, and pear)
Peaches
Pears
Beets
Apple sauce (chunky and smooth)
Apple butter
Apple cider
Peach butter
Zucchini relish
Pickled Zucchini's
Tomatoes (for pasta sauce)
Tomato soup
Salsa
Peach/ginger chutney
BBQ sauce
Sweet and Sour Sauce
Cherries in brandy or vodka
Eggplant and sun-dried tomatoes in oil
Whole Pumpkin, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, and some apples

Not to give it away, but don't be surprised if some of you find Santa has filled your stocking with a sampling of these items come Christmas time.

A "Good" Apple

Two 40 year old apple trees call our backyard home. Both trees were trimmed this year by professionals. They were filled with blossoms this spring, and I swear that EVERY blossom turned into fruit this year.



Apple Harvesting started in August, with nephew Chris trucking them for his allowance, and it hasn't stopped yet.



I've made apple butter, apple sauce, barbecue sauce, sweet and sour sauce, apple crisp, canned cider, and multiple apple pies.

All our closest friends have come over to pick apples.

We rake up load after load for compost.

Two pickup truck loads (life sized) were hauled away for a cider party.

And yet, the lawn is still dappled with apples after the wind blows a little bit.

Just one more reason we should have goats (the dogs don't eat nearly enough to make a dent in our supply, and if they did, we'd be very sorry when we got home from work).

Harvest Recipes

It has been a busy fall (no time for blogging). Here is some of what we've been cookin' up.







Squash Patties

(Recipe from June)

INGREDIENTS

• 8 medium yellow squash, shredded
• 1 onion, shredded
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the squash and onion in a colander, sprinkle with salt, and drain about 30 minutes, until no longer moist. If you have less time (like me) then decrease the salt and squish the moisture out with your fist.
   
2. In a bowl, mix the squash and onion, flour, cornmeal, egg, and cheese. Season with pepper. My squash must have been bigger than their concept of medium because I ended up adding another egg and more flour/corn meal to get it to stick with the correct consistency.
   
3. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Drop squash mixture by heaping tablespoonfuls into the skillet, flatten with spatula, and cook 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. I used a lot more than 1 Tbs olive oil. I probably used 1 Tbs each time I cooked up 3 in the pan at a time.

I halved the recipe and still had LOTS.

Zucchini/Tomato Herb Casserole

This recipe came from Scott's mom Maggie. I tried it with the zucchini I had frozen using the technique below, and it turned out well.


Canned Peaches

Pick your own.org has some great peach recipes. See Peach Butter below...



Peach Butter










Zucchini Pickles
I haven't actually tasted these yet, but they look good in the jar.

Frozen Zucchini
It turns out a little "rubbery" once you defrost it and use it again, but it certainly tastes good and reduces the glut of zucchini this time of year!

June's Tomato Soup

Its the ripe home grown tomatoes that make it taste so good. I used this recipe:

110 ripe home grown tomatos

7 tbs flour

6 med onions

14 tbs butter

5 stalks celery

salt to taste

14 sprigs of parley (or can used dried)

4 tbs sugar

1 bay leaf

2 tsp pepper

dried basil to taste (or fresh)

Wash, blanch, skin and seed tomatoes. Reserve the juice. Chop onions, celery, parsley, bay leaf and basil. Place in a large pot with tomatoes. Cook until onion and celery are tender. Blend until smooth then return to boil. Mix butter and flour with tomato juice and add to boiling soup. Add salt, sugar and pepper. For a smoother consistency put through sieve (I skipped this). Fill clean jars to within 1 inch of top. Process in pressure cooker on 15 psi for 15 minutes (for my altitude).

What to do with a Girl like Zucchini

August was Zucchini time. Better not blink or there will be one the size of your forearm on the plant. Here is what we did about it:

Freezing: Found this article. We'll see if it doesn't turn them to mush when I defrost them!

Canning: Since the cucumbers are getting a slow start, we'll see if we can't pickle zucchini instead.

Cooking: Zucchini Bread. Zucchini gratin. And my favorite, Grilled Zucchini.

Giving them away: Don't leave your car unlocked if you come around my house in August.

Apricot Yum

My family helped a neighbor harvest her apricot tree awhile back and in return she gave us a bucketful.

We quickly got to work on making them into jam. I made 3 batches and also dehydrated quite a few.

I always thought that making jam was a pain, but I watched Melinda Shishim doing it with cherries a few weeks ago. I've been jammin' away ever since.

Essentially the process is this when using Pomona's Pectin:

1. Clean and blanch the fruit for a minute or so. This makes it easy to pull the skins off and pit them quickly.
2. Add lime juice and calcium water, and put it on the stove
3. Mix pectin and honey or sugar in a separate bowl, and then add to the stewing jam
4. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir to make sure the pectin is dissolved
5. Transfer the liquid into sterilized jars, wipe around the edges to make sure the tops will seal and add the caps (not tightening too much).
6. Place jars in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Add one minute for every 1000 feet in elevation
7. Allow the jars to cool. The jam congeals when it is completely cooled.

Pomona's Pectin requires much less sugar, making it a bit easier to swallow.

Thanks to my Mom for cooking with me last visit and the sista-in-law for inspiring me to jam this year!

Goats at the Fair

The County Fairgrounds, located conveniently across the street from my house, were the temporary home to GOATS this weekend for the La Plata County Fair.








There were some good lookin' nannys and kids, and I spoke to a guy who raises them- his kid took champion and first runner up with his goats. He said he knows a guy who is giving goats away right now- woe (and woa!) is me... my land lady would have a fit.

Also present were, chickens, pigs, cows (uck), sheep (eew) and an assortment of flashy fair rides.



Oink!