Thanksgiving

Well, we had a wonderful time last week. Sunday evening I left with my brother Isaiah to go to Chattanooga where my Uncle Tim and his family live (Jether). We got in around 1am, went to bed. The ride to it was enjoyable. I got to talk about things I had been researching with my brother, talk about weird phenomenons and get his take on a lot of them. It is always good to get a 3D look on things, asking a friend or someone about it. You don't always see every angle from your perspective.

Monday morning Jether showed me his garden, and then we went to the Holly's, friends of theirs who have two milking cows. We got three pickup loads of cow manure. Fairly wet recent stuff, not very composted. We piled it in layers at the shed with sawdust in between. It made a big pile. 12ft by 8ft, maybe not quite that big, but several tons. By Spring, maybe late spring it should be good compost to spread on the garden.

Later in the day Jether showed me how to feed the rabbits and chickens and what they get. I finally got to see my cousin in laws trailer, the inside.

Tuesday my cousins had left, I fed the chickens and rabbits, brought back eggs. I made the filling for pumpkin pie and my Grandma made blueberry something. We had hamburgers for supper, and I fed the rabbits and chickens. Wednesday morning I woke up at 6am. Fed the chickens and rabbits, collected an egg, got a dumpster-dived frozen rotisserie chicken for Bear, the dog. Came back to the house, ate breakfast. By 7:28am we were leaving for Uncle Dan's. It took a little less than 2 hours to get to his house.

Now I will skip a few details. I played Pretty Pretty Princess with my 4 year old cousin, and had a tea party with her. My family arrived later in the day, around 4 pm. We heard that Uncle Scott and Uncle Bill were not coming that night after all. We were dismayed. Soon after supper (pizza) they arrived with many shouts of joy and gladness. They brought nuts, wine, sparkling juice, korean persimmons, and lots of fun!

I mixed up Sticky Bun dough around 6pm. Around 9pm I rolled it out. The yeast was pretty slow rising compared to ours, but it seemed to work. Around 10pm Uncle Scott, Uncle Bill, Isaiah and Josiah left to go to Uncle Scotts, about 55 minutes away. I slept on the couch in the living room (VERY comfortable, more so than I imagined). Around 4am I woke up (away from home etc, you know) and put the sticky buns on the counter to bring to room temp. At 6am my alarm went off (the Black Gate RotK). I put the sticky buns in at around 175F. About 7:30am I finally heated it up to baking at 350F.

We had an enjoyable breakfast of hot sticky buns and freshly roasted coffee. (Uncle Dan is the one who got me into roasting my own coffee) Uncle Scott and the rest arrived around 11am, we had saved them a few sticky buns. Around 11 I started rolls for Thanksgiving. For lunch we had vegetables, cheese (irish stout, irish whiskey cheese!), crackers and a little wine. By 1pm we were getting things starting cooking, like sweet potatoes and other dishes. We had a family coming that arrived around 4:30pm. We ended up eating Thanksgiving around 5:45pm, later than we have ever done it in the past. Usually we aim for around 1pm to 3pm. Basically so the kids can eat a light lunch and the older ones can hold off till the meal.

Thanksgiving meal was excellent. Sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, rolls, gravy, turkey, ham, vegetables, cranberry sauce, and other side dishes. We had some Merlot, Cabernet, Shiraz, Muscat, Concord, Fig Port, and Sparkling grape juice, and still cider. We had a great time. After the meal some people went to watch football (never quite understood that part of Thanksgiving, but...), and we watched movies that my grandfather took of my dad and his brothers growing up in Korea.

Thursday night we played a round of rook, Uncle Dan came up top. Around 10pm we, Londa, I, Josiah, Isaiah went with Uncle Scott and Uncle Bill. We enjoyed hanging out with Uncle Scott at his place in the morning. Around 11 we headed to the movie theater to watch Tangled. We arrived early so we went to Home Depot to pick up an electrical outlet cover for Uncle Scott. Tangled was very good. I really enjoyed it. Uncle Scott bought some popcorn and 1 free refill. We got 2 free refills. : )

We got back to Uncle Dan's around 3:15, Uncle Dan made some coffee, and Uncle Bill changed the oil in his car. That night we had devotions, talking about things we were thankful for, and then praying. After that we had some more rook games. Late that evening, around 11pm Uncle Scott and Uncle Bill left. Before they did so we went out to say good bye and all. The rest went in, but while Uncle Scott was getting in the car Uncle Bill turned on Taio Cruz - Dynamite, and started dancing to it. It was an awesome 10 seconds! Music blasting us all moving around!

Saturday morning we packed up, said good byes. And headed over to our cousins house, our grandparents live in the basement, and that is where we stayed. I did the rabbits and chickens. After supper Josiah, Isaiah and I played Catan. Sunday we left to go to the OPC in Atlanta, where our friend Scott Willet and his family are. Scott Willet was our pastor from 94-99.

Sunday afternoon after eating with them we left and came home. Today I worked for 11 hours, got tons of stuff from the trash, and went to our choir concert (performed).

I work again tomorrow, but hey, its TUESDAY!!!! I LOVE tuesday, Josiah has set a passion in me for Tuesday's, I love them because he made me love them. My dad and I are planning on watching the third Bourne (he hasen't seen it yet).

Well, I should go now. A LONG post! : )


English Vintner

Frost

We've had frost quite a lot. Starting last Saturday evening we got our first. Sunday our second. Last night our third or fourth, depending on who's counting.

I got my tomatoes, most of them in before the frost. About 80-90pounds total. The vines are dead, the garden is silent.

I would have done more this week except I got struck down with the flu/cold.

Plans to clean it up are for next week, and December. My mom wants me to get around our property looking a little better before we get chickens.

I finally ordered SEA-CROP. I am going to be doing a science experiment with it.

I ordered a book by Philip S. Callahan. I was reading some of the pages from the Look inside section on Amazon. It looks very good. At the end he tells you how to make miniature towers to test out paramagnetism. I can't wait to read it. I also ordered the presents for my brothers birthday.

Well, I guess I will go now.

English Vintner

Winter Squash

Went to see the sunrise this morning, climbed the pine tree, saw the cars race by, heard the dog bark in the distance, felt the cool wind rushing over my face. Sipping my coffee I felt relief from the cold. I had brewed it strong. More so than I meant too. I used about 6 ounces for enough for a 10 oz cup of strong coffee. Probably could have been cut in half for most people. It was good strong though. Nothing like some fresh roasted coffee, brewed strong. Light crept over the two hills in front of me. At quarter past seven by my guess I clambered down and went south. Creeping along the edge of the woods and highway. I was exploring where I wanted to plant the winter squash. I measured the one area that I want to do a lot. It is 9ft by 50ft, at the edges a few trees. I kept going, quite a few pine trees and low lying brush where I was going. I kept down so that the cars would not see me. At one point I saw a police car go by, I didn't want to talk to an officer or passerby so I kept low. I found quite a few other spots, long stretches where I could put winter squash.

While I relish the idea of all this winter squash I have to keep in mind that for every one winter squash it means one posthole 2ft deep, filled with manure or compost and soaked with 2 gallons of water. I hope to employ, or is it implore my younger siblings to carry the water and compost. I am saving a lot of butternut squash seeds, so I won't have to buy any of those seeds. I will probably plant exclusively butternut squash along the highway, and do any other squash in my garden beds. I'll probably do a few pumpkins in my garden beds. And do some above my garden.

I spent an hour in the woods, talking to God and exploring the forest. I found quite a few good stretches of clear area. I don't what would grow well in full shade and tolerate deer. Any ideas?

Cheers!
English Vintner

Cover Crops

I am writing stuff on videojug pages. It is a web based site that has information on a whole range of subjects. I am posting stuff, especially this month, because they are giving out prizes this month. So, to read about cover crops go to this website.

http://pages.videojug.com/revisions/7de004bf-d3a6-4a37-81ca-69ef5b4ee394

English Vintner