Peeping Around the Corner to Spring

We're all loving the return of daylight savings time here, more hours in the evening to be outside. The weather has been stormy/rainy/windy/hail/sleet/cold though so I have to admit I've gotten absolutely nothing done in the garden. Somehow I'm just not motivated to go out in all of that!

Our little peepers are growing like weeds, and our older lady hens are starting to ramp up egg production again. It's easy to see why both pagan and religious holidays tend to center around the spring equinox with everything budding, blooming, growing, and being born.

Around Casa Blue Skies, Wayne has become King DIY. He has added to his homemade bread-baking repertoir with brewing beer and this week he started some kombucha. I've been making yogurt, and just got the supplies to make hummous (a family staple) out of the dried local transitional organic garbanzo beans I bought last fall. Making that at home would save us money and save the environment from all those little plastic containers.

The economic woes still feel like the sword of Damocles (which has given us a couple of good pokes but hasn't fallen yet), but so far we're just trying to ignore that and focus on the things we can be doing, moving forward.

Eeeeewwww, You're Drinking Fermented FUNGUS??

I've been scanning the internet this morning for instructions on brewing our own kombucha. I'd long heard about its probiotic properties and decided to try it for myself. Like many people I imagine, my first response was more or less "ick!". But it's an acquired taste and I guess I acquired it. Then I really got to like it. It's kind of like drinking a soda, but without the sweetness, and it's great for digestion and overall health.

Now of course Wayne and Mackenzie also became addicted to the stuff, so we're buying several expensive glass bottles of the stuff a week now. We especially like the Gingerberry flavor from Synergy. Time to make our own! I think I'm going to order this kombucha starter kit from The Happy Herbalist to get us started. You can't complain when your kids beg to drink something this healthy. Even if your daughter has been heard to say "Eeeeewwww, You're Drinking Fermented FUNGUS again???"

DIY Blog Carnival

One of my main interests this winter is learning to do more things for ourselves. Becoming more self-sufficient is not only environmentally-friendly and economically advantageous, but also fun and a great example to our kids, friends, and neighbors that not everything comes pre-packaged from a store. So if you're a blogger and want to submit a "I did this myself" blog post for the Carnival, you can email me at: blueskies19@comcast.net, with "DIY Carnival" in your email title. The more details you can include to help others, the better! Deadline: November 15.

DIY Yogurt

Speaking of making foods yourself, I made yogurt for the first time. We buy all of our milk raw from a local person with a few goats. It's really great goat's milk, miles better than what you can get in the store (very little of that goaty flavor, for one thing). And since the kids love yogurt, I thought I'd try my hand at making some from the goat's milk. I used the directions on this site: http://www.makeyourownyogurt.com/ and it worked out very well. I think I'll let the next batch go about half an hour longer though, just for a little more thickness.

The great thing is, my mom had this yogurt maker from sometime in the 1970s, and she brought it up to me and it works great! It's easier than leaving the yogurt on a hot pad or other warming methods, because it keeps it at a constant temperature that's just right. And since strawberry season it upon us, it's just the perfect time to get my yogurt-making underway.