Brewing post -playing catch up

One of the things I love to do is brew. I make beer, cider, and wine. I am not an expert at any of this but have been doing this for several years now and won first and second place ribbons at my county fair last year. The second was for a Irish red ale another for my bourbon aged cider and the first place for my liebefraumilch wine. We shall see what I can do this year.

I brew with a friend (I'll link her blog when she gets back up) we did a sparkling wine from the grapes -concord- in her yard. and bottled it the week before Christmas. We are calling Baby Wine as we started the day before she found out she was pregnant and bottled a week before the birth of her daughter.  I also started a still red wine from those same grapes this fall.

I made my first whole grain beer this winter as well. It started out tasting mildly of ginger bread and was ready to drink at Christmas. It was alright, with a low alcohol content and a mild but pleasing taste. I am off and running with my second batch, which contains 2 row barley, a Belgium wheat, and a chocolate wheat. I am hoping to find some time to bottle that today.

I have a experimental peach wine going. Seven gallons of well I hope this works, it smells good.

Also fermenting is about 5 gallons of cider from my apples.

 All grain beer at the beginning of cooking.

 All grain beer fitted with blow off hose for fermentation. As the yeast grows the pressure can cause any lid you use to explode off which is not tasty and a huge mess. Using the tubing (the other end is submersed in water forming a seal for the bottle but allowing the gases a way out) you can not only avoid the scrub ceiling step of brewing but it will take some of the trapped particles left in the beer out.

 This is a garbage bucket of future peach wine. It got much bigger and was moved to a 7 gallon glass carboy (giant bottle.)

Lovely wonderful press I rented for local brewery store, for pressing out all my apples. I cut them in half and stored them in the extra freezer. I am small scale and getting the press rental in the correct season is difficult, since I have the space I take advantage of it. I really want to make myself on of these though.

I will try to update on brewing more often!~Julia

Yarn along a little late

Joining in with Ginny and the other ladies of the Yarn along! even though I am late.

I was sick since Friday. I am behind in everything.

 This is Mom's Sweater. She worked on it while waiting to hear about Dad's surgery. (He has a little infection in the knee but the doctor in not worried and he is otherwise doing well) This is Mom's first ever sweater and first ever color work. Her whales are less whale-like than they were supposed to be but she is going to try to fix that with her cross stitching skills after she finishes the sleeves.

 The Sweater for Butterfly may get done today - if I get off the computer - I ran out of the yarn I had made! So I blended some white wool with some chocolate alpaca and spun up more yarn. It is so soft. The other yarn was very soft but this is even more so. She love the row of hearts as she is calling the pink.

 Longer view this time without my toes. The sweater needs my to finish the color work, decrease, do the neck and sew the armpits. Oh and attach the pocket. I am re-reading Face the Fire by Nora Roberts. I love the characters she builds. In this story I particularly like how you work through with them how their actions long ago affected each other and why they made the choices they did. 

 While Mom was working on the sweater, I worked on the weather blanket. I had left it to get behind both because I wanted something to do the day of the surgery that I didn't have to think about so much and because I was working on the sweater for Butterfly. I did not catch up but I did get a lot done. I hope to get all caught up before the weekend is over.

~Julia

Update on my Dad

He cruised through the surgery! The Dr was very pleased with how well it went.

The story:
Mom and I sat out in the waiting room worried and fussing at each other. My Mom is disabled and has strong nesting instincts, she can't go anywhere with a hundred things. The morning of the surgery she had a tote bag, a purse, and a basket to take with her. and her walker. and her thermos bottle of soda. I brought my purse and the weather blanket -wanting a pattern I didn't have to think about. Mom's purse along weighted 30 pounds! The tote was overfilled and when Dad grumbled at her she grabbed her knitting bag out of the basket jammed in into the tote and we left for the hospital. Dad had his overnight bag for the stay which was to be left with us. Once dad got checked in and taken back, they told us it would be an hour until we could see him while they got him ready, then we could wait with him until it was time for the surgery. I decided, that as I was the one expected to carry all this stuff it was getting downsized. Mom -who was going to be with me the whole day and expected to go home that night - had 9 magazines for herself and 2 as a present for Dad, three coloring books, three packs of colored pencils and a book of crayons, a newspaper, 3 knit picks catalogs, 2 lion brand catalogs, a Mary Maxim's, and a Shopko ad., four knitting projects (included a beaded knitting project and several thousand seed beads,) nine tubes of lipstick, three compacts, 4 smushed candy bars, and all her meds and wallets. Plus about 30 expired coupons and some broken candy canes. I edited her take about 40 pounds of stuff, dad's bag, and everyone's coats back to the car.

We saw Dad, they took him back and the waiting began again. She knit, I crocheted. Three rows later she informed me she left the size 6 needles, she needed next, at home. Frustrated as I was at her having brought so much unnecessary stuff with her and left the thing she needed, I also found the whole thing funny. We decided the sweater would be just fine finished on the 7's. She has been working on her first ever sweater for a cousin's baby since the baby was born, mistakes have been made luckily one of them on the size of the sweater and nearly a year later she is almost done.

They told us he had done fine and asked us to wait another hour while he woke up and was moved to a room. She finished the sweater although the seed stitch end is about half seed and half k1/p1 rib. Stress knitting.

Dad did great got up and walked the first day, decided that he needed mom to stay with and we discovered his love of the cookies at the hospital. Like Scooby snacks Dad worked for those cookies. He is home now and working to gain back his mobility.

Mom and I both caught a terrible cold at the hospital. Hoping to feel all the way better soon.

Julia

Daddy

 My Daddy whose heart lives here and in my mother's chest, who taught me what being a father meant so I could find that in a man for my own children, who would start to explain some thing I was learning in school and end up teaching me about something much bigger  - like great circle routes of navigation - who makes beautiful things, who works hard to save lives that come into his care, and is heart-sore when he can't help or when a patient reminds him too much of my sister or me, who is always there, is having surgery. His knee has given up, so it will be replaced with titanium, Making him Bionic Daddy.

This is him (behind him is my sister)

His surgery is at 7:30. Mom and I are waiting to hear he is okay. If you would hold him in your thoughts.

Thank you,
Julia

home and family

yummy salad I made last week, with blueberries, nuts, and goat cheese.

 My husband works from home. He's job is corporate and stressful. He spends lots of time on the phone, in meetings and fixing things. Planing things and what my daddy calls putting out fires. A lot of the time he will come out of his office - a 8 by 8 room in the corner of the house which contains the only south facing window and which I painted a sunny yellow - to fixed himself lunch and he will tell me about his day. Often, I really only understand the people/office politics aspects of his day, as what he does is super technical, and there are rules about what he can and can't talk about which he honors. He works really hard, often working straight until dinner and going back in after the kids are in bed. They get good value-I think-from his work ethic in exchange for him not having a long commute or us having to move. Sometimes I find it frustrating as it often seems that just as I start to work on something he comes out to make lunch or because I would like to have the music on or whatever. Sometimes we take for granted that he is always there.

This waffle was made from scratch, by Badger, who also decorated it.

Sometimes he has to travel for work - it used to be much more often - and my house is quiet. I could play music as loud as I want. I can make the bed (he hates having it tucked) but I sleep alone. I can leave half finished projects out, but they suddenly drive me crazy. I can get lots of things done, partially because I can't sleep. We miss him. It seems the house even misses him. Everything seems harder and lonely. Then he comes home and we fly into his arms and the hard and the lonely melt away. I am so glad he is -were he belongs- home with us, in a sunny yellow room in the corner of the house and later he'll sit opposite me at the table, ask the kids what their favorite part of the day was and really listen to their answers.

He got home Friday and even yet the light seems golden. Later I'll post about the things that got done whilst he wasn't home. Some at his request.

~Julia

Garden Valentines

 My garden has started!!! I am trying to winter sow this year. Basically, you take milk bottles cut them out and turn them into mini green houses and plant your seeds inside. You put the whole mess outside in a sunny sheltered spot and ignore it. In theory come spring I should have plants ready and waiting. The post I read for this is here. I am trying some dye plants that I want to play with and as I collect more bottles I will start a few more things.

 Badger's Valentine box. The boxes had to be less the a foot square, have at least a 5 by 2 inch slit for cards and have at least one moving piece. This is what Badger with the help from mom, dad, and auntie made. The tail moves.

This is Butterfly's the slit is in the back and the jeans move so you can put the cards in. They also had to write out a meaningful appreciation on the card for each child in the class. Handwritten. The cards could be store bought or homemade but the child had to write something specific and caring to each classmate. They girls had quite a bit of help assembling the boxes. The did the painting and the paper mache, but we did the hot glue and structural work. What I really liked about this approach was that instead of a candy party sign it quick, the teachers made it be a design challenge and a change to think and express something nice about each classmate. 

I hope they brighten their classmates day and yours.
~ Julia

Yarn along - it's still Wednesday, right?

Swamped and hurting here - I slipped and fell and everything is hurting. The snow was prettier before I left the house.

Joining with Ginny and the other ladies of the Yarn Along.

 Two books I am reading right now, the novel is a fast read and the guide may end up living in my bag all the time.

 Butterfly's sweater is coming along.The body is done, now on to the sleeves. I am hoping to find a two color fair isle pattern flowers. I am really starting to like the yarn again.

The weather blanket. The safety pin marks the end of January.