December 31, 2024

Garden Notes: December 2024

It's hard to believe it's the last day of 2024. Happy New Year everyone!
 
Rainfall
  • 9th: 1.08"
  • 10th: 3.14"
  • 11th: 0.83"
  • 15th: 0.44"
  • 16th: 0.06" 
  • 18th: 0.35"
  • 27th: 0.11"
  • 28th: 0.93"
  • 29th: 0.83"
  • 31st: 0.01"
  • Total: 7.78 inches
 Temperature
  • range of nighttime lows: 19 to 61°F (-7 to 16°C)
  • range of daytime highs: 33 to 70°F (0.5 to 21°C)
Weather Notes
  • We've had plenty of cold this month and plenty of rain, but never at the same time. 
  • In other words, no snow. 
  • But, this is a typical winter weather pattern for my part of the country. 
  • Which is just as well because if 1 inch of snow equals 10 to 12 inches of rain, we'd be buried in snow about now.

Garden Notes

  • When the weather is nice, I continue to tidy up and mulch last summer's beds with fallen leaves and aisles with wood chips. I'm hoping to stay ahead of the spring weeds.
  • Our frigid lows have pretty much killed off everything in the garden except the kale and turnips. And I still have a few well mulched daikons that I can harvest for kimchi.
  • We're getting a few things from the greenhouse (on which we've made progress, update post soon).

Harvested 
  • kale
  • turnips
  • daikons
  • chicory greens
  • chickweed
  • lettuce
  • Jerusalem artichokes 

Photos

Early December garden lettuce and countertop ripened tomato

Jerusalem artichoke

greenhouse growings

I don't have many photos because there's not a lot going on. I only planted a few pots of greens for the greenhouse because the interior still needed finishing and I didn't want a lot of pots in the way. But it's almost done now, so I'll be able to show you that soon. 

Anybody working on their 2025 garden plans?
 

December 27, 2024

My 2024 Reading List

I have always enjoyed other bloggers' reading lists. So much so, that I was inspired to keep my own reading and listening list this year. I'm including audiobooks because I seem to have gotten through more of these than paper books. Weaving, knitting, mending, sewing, and mundane tasks like shelling seeds or snapping green beans lend themselves to listening to books! 

Mine is not a fancy list. No reviews, no links, no pictures of book covers. Just a list. But I'm happy to answer questions if anyone has them.

Paper Books

  • Queen Isabella by Alison Weir
  • All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot
  • Killer's Wake by Bernard Cornwell
  • Crackdown by Bernard Cornwell
  • Wildtrack by Bernard Cornwell
  • Babe The Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith
  • How To Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
  • Natural Small Batch Cheesemaking by Kate Downham
  • Never Grow Up by Jackie Chan
  • Tying Up the Countermarch Loom by Joanne Hall
  • Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder
  • How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture by Francis A. Schaeffer
  • A Dyer's Garden by Rita Buchanan
  • The Stowaway by Laurie Gwen Shapiro
  • The Ark on Ararat by Tim La Haye and John Morris
  • Gallows Thief by Bernard Cornwell
  • Uthred's Feast by Bernard Cornwell with Suzanne Pollak
  • Weave Classic Crackle & More by Susan Wilson
  • A Crackle Weave Companion by Lucy M. Brusic
  • The Last White Rose by Alison Weir
  • People of the Wolf by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear
  • Wideacre by Phillipa Gregory

eBooks

  • A Beginner's View of Our Electric Universe by Tom Findlay
  • Permaculture Thorns by Paul Wheaton
  • The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Audiobooks

  • The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan
  • History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth
  • A Daughter of the Land by Gene Stratton-Porter
  • The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
  • Putting the Most Into Life by Booker T. Washington
  • In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides
  • Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol
  • Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
  • All in the Day's Work by Ida Tarbell
  • Vagabond Adventures by Ralph Keeler
  • The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
  • Across the Plains in 1844 by Catherine Sager Pringle
  • The Backwoods of Canada by Catharine Parr Traill
  • Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman
  • By Ox Team to California by Lavinia Honeyman Porter 
  • The Autobiography of a Clown by Jules Turnou
  • Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Rez Life by David Treuer
  • Fathers of Biology by Charles McRae
  • Scott's Last Expedition Vol. 1, The Journals of Robert Falcon Scott by Robert Falcon Scott
  • The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian Antarctic expedition in the Fram, 1910-12 by Roald Amundsen
  • Ancient Civilizations of Mexico and Central America by Herbert Spinden
  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  • Artemis by Andy Weir
  • Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass
  • Peaks of Shala by Rose Wilder Lane
  • Across Asia on a Bicycle by Thomas Gaskell Allen and William Lewis Sachtleben
  • The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, volumes 1 & 2, by Marco Polo as told to Rustichello da Pisa
  • The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston
  • Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory
  • The Martian by Andy Weir
  • The White Princess by Philippa Gregory
  • The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory
  • The Saga of the Greenlanders, author unknown, translated by Arthur Middleton Reeves
  • The English Governess at the Siamese Court by Anna Harriette Leonowens
  • Lucretia Borgia by Ferdinand Gregorovius 
  • Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
  • Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
 
My selections were random, i.e. whatever struck my fancy at the time. But I like that it's a relatively eclectic collection. I think by keeping the list, I made a more concerted effort to read. But also, by using my evenings for weaving instead of poking around the internet, I was able to listen to all those audiobooks (a more productive use of my time!) I plan to keep a reading list for 2025 too.
 
Does anybody else keep a reading list?

December 25, 2024

A Christmas Song of Hope for the Middle East

On Christmas Day, I'm going to share my very favorite Christmas hymn. This version is sung in English, Arabic, and Hebrew.


 

December 24, 2024

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Celtic

Continued from Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Anglo-Saxon

Digging deeper into my ancestral lines brings me to the Celts. The Celts are a diverse lot with a diversity of territories, languages, and cultures.

Source

The Celts were the inhabitants of the British Isles at the time of the Roman Invasion in 43. They are often referred to as Britons. Many of them fought the invaders, all the invaders actually: Romans, Saxons, and Danes. In the first century, missionaries introduced Christianity to them, so I can include the Celts in my Christmas song offerings. 

I've traced ancient ancestors from every country on the above map except the Isle of Man. Of these, the predominant group seems to be Welsh. So for the Christmas song, I chose a traditional Welsh carol. It's sung in Welsh, so the words won't be familiar, but the melody will be.

Next, a Christmas Song of Hope for the Middle East
 

December 23, 2024

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Anglo-Saxon

 
I've been able to trace several ancestral lines back to the Angles and the Saxons, who, along with the Jutes, began to invade England after the Romans left in the early 400s. 

By mbartelsm - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86531831

These Germanic invaders pushed the Celts (Britons) to the north and west, and eventually occupied much of what is England today.   
 
Source
 
The Anglo-Saxon language is also referred to as Old English. I have no idea about authentic Christmas songs and celebrations of the Saxons, so I have two offerings for you. The first is likely what the Saxons would have heard in church, the second is a more modern carol translated into Old English.
 
This time period predates Gregorian Chant, so in church, it likely would have been Old Roman Chant in Latin. This Alleluia is said to date back to the 2nd century.

 
To hear what Old English sounds like, click the image or caption below to view the video on YouTube. The carol itself isn't authentic for the time period, but the language is.

Click here to view on YouTube

Next, Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Celtic
 

December 22, 2024

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Vikings

Continued from Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Norman French

In 793, the Vikings made their first successful attack on England, and for the next two centuries, they kept on coming. The term "Viking" actually refers to the activity of raiding rather than a specific people group. At the time, they were referred to as Northmen. Today, they would be recognized as Scandinavian. 

Once the raiders successfully conquered the lands, they took to farming it. The Danes were so numerous and so successful, that they claimed a large portion of 9th century England as Danelaw.

public domain

Of the Scandinavian countries, my ancestral lines trace back mostly to Denmark and Norway. So I set about looking for a Christmas song in one or both of their ancient languages. Something I learned, was that Danish has it's roots in Old Norse.

This video is different from the others I've been sharing, in that it isn't embedded at the request of the artist. The image below is a screenshot linked to the video on YouTube. Click on either the caption or the image to hear a 16th century Latin carol sung in Old Norse.

Click here to play the video

Next, Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Anglo-Saxon
 

December 21, 2024

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Norman French

Continued from Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: English

About the time of the Norman invasion of England (1066), my family tree begins to fill with Norman French ancestors who migrated northward from Normandy to England. 

Normandy. Fobos92, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Northern France was originally populated by Celtic peoples. In the 9th century, the Vikings began raiding, and eventually, the territory was awarded to the Viking leader Rollo, who became the first duke of Normandy. Consequently, Norman French evolved as the language of Normandy. Also known as "Viking French" it was greatly influenced by the language of the Northmen. (Northman easily contracts to Norman, so that's easy to remember.) Two centuries later, Rollo's descendant Duke William of Normandy invaded and conquered England.

For this blog series, I find that the farther back I go, the harder it is to find examples of authentic Christmas songs in the original old languages. If I'm remembering my music history correctly, songs at the time were either sacred or secular. Christmas songs would have been sacred and sung in Latin as Gregorian chant. 

For this blog post, I offer two video clips. The first is what my ancestors might have heard when they attended Christmas Day Mass. The second isn't a song, but a sample of spoken Norman French. Maybe those of you who speak French will hear the difference.

 

December 20, 2024

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: English

Continued from Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Irish

Prior to my early American ancestors' migration to the New World from England, my family tree is filled with several centuries of primarily English ancestors. They were scattered about England, south to north.

This offering is an old traditional English Christmas carol sung in Middle English (spoken roughly from the 12th to 15th centuries).

December 19, 2024

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Irish

Continued from Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Native American

My 3x-great-grandfather migrated from Ireland to Canada sometime before 1835, which was when his oldest child was born in Nova Scotia. This child, my great-great-grandfather, "followed the sea" as they used to say, and ended up as a Master Mariner on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where he lived the rest of his life after meeting and marrying my great-great-grandmother.

Carul Loch Garman (The Wexford Carol) is a traditional Irish Christmas carol, with origins dating back to the 1400 or 1500s.

Next, Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: English

December 18, 2024

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Native American

Continued from Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Early American

My 9th-great grandmother was Wampanoag. She was the second wife of my 9th-great grandfather, who emigrated from England in 1651. They had four children, of which my 8th-great grandfather, born in 1674, was the youngest.

Map of Wampanoag lands (southeastern Massachusetts)
Noahedits, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Even though some Wampanoag adopted Christianity, I have no idea about possible songs that would have been sung at Christmas. Probably none, considering that the earliest European migrants to their area were Separatists, who did not celebrate Christmas. Noteworthy, however, is that the first Bible printed in North America was printed in 1663 in the Wampanoag language.  

I could find very few songs in the Wampanoag language. The closest Christmas song I could find to honor my indigenous ancestors was the Huron Carol, which is credited as being Canada's oldest Christmas hymn. The Huron (Wyandot, Wendat, or Huron-Wendat) and Wampanoag peoples are both considered eastern woodlands peoples of North America, but their languages have different roots. Wampanoag is Algonquian in origin, while Wendat is Iroquoian. This Christmas carol is sung in the Huron-Wendat language.

December 17, 2024

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Early American

One of my interests is genealogy. With the help of community efforts at familysearch.org, I've been able to map a generalized idea of my ethnic and cultural roots. My offering to you this Christmas season is a variety of traditional Christmas songs that might have been sung by my ancestors: Early American, Native American, Irish, English, Norman French, Viking, Anglo-Saxon, and Celtic. Between now and Christmas, I'll post one a day, starting with my early American ancestors.

The first of my ancestors to migrate to North America came from England in the early 1600s. The Separatists (who wanted to separate from the Church of England) migrated in the 1620s and the Puritans (who wanted to purify, i.e. reform, the Church of England) began arriving in the 1630s. The Separatists did not acknowledge Christmas, and the Puritans in England banned the singing of Christmas Carols in 1649. Both groups, however, likely sang from the Geneva Psalter, which is based on the Book of Psalms. I have no idea what they might have chosen for the birth of Christ, so I picked one that I liked.

December 11, 2024

What About Books?

I haven't done much to promote my books lately. Mostly because I assume that  regular blog readers who wanted them already have them. But with gift giving season upon us, I thought I'd give them a shout out, because books are always great gifts. 

My first book has been my most popular.
 
 
This is the book most people think of when "5 Acres & A Dream" is mentioned. It's been popular with people wanting to get started in homesteading, and even people who would never dreamed of homesteading have enjoyed it. That makes it a good choice for anyone interested in unusual lifestyles. 
 
What many people don't know, is that there is a sequel.
 

It's the story of how reality changes dreams. Which is another way to say that we learned so much from our experiences, that things changed. Not only the way we do things, but the way we understand things: nature, seasons, goals, critters, priorities. 

If you or someone you know enjoyed my first book, consider gifting them with this one.

The next one is for folks who want to understand what goes into buying and owning livestock. 
 

It's different in style from the first two, because it's my one professionally published book. That meant I was writing what the publisher had in mind, and that was an interesting experience for an Indie author and publisher. I did a lot of research for it, and you know what? I still pull it out from time to time to look something up, because I intended it to be not just an introduction, but a resource. It remains a valuable addition to my homestead library.

And here's one for the cooks and bakers on your list.

 
Oddly, I've had people think that this is a book about how to make baking powder, which is something one can find for free on the internet. WRONG! This is a book about kitchen chemistry and how to use everyday kitchen items to make light and tasty baked goods. It's a recipe book too, and so has a place on my cookbook shelf in the kitchen.

So if you're looking for something a little different for someone on your gift list, consider one of these. The prices are still very reasonable, which makes them a good option for everybody on your list.

December 6, 2024

Greenhouse: Rain Collection Problems

The only thing left on our greenhouse project is to finish the interior. Over the summer, however, one of the rain barrels sprang a leak. So this had to be dealt with first.

Original setup. Photo from last April.
The tank on the right was the leaky one.
 

At the time, Dan drained the barrels and took the leaky one down. He also wanted to change the pipe from the downspout, because the amount of water coming off that roof was more than the PVC pipe could handle. So we postponed dealing with the rain barrels and he set up a new collection tote outside.

Photo from last August

This set-up bypassed the greenhouse altogether, which was okay because I don't use the greenhouse in summer anyway. Now that the heater is done, it's time to get ready to put the greenhouse to use.

The experimental fix was to run a smaller tube off the downspout . . .

  . . . and into the remaining rainwater tank.

This will slow the flow or rainwater into the tank, hopefully not too much. It may need to be a little larger, but it's a start. We're supposed to get a good rain next weekend, so we'll know better then if a larger hose or other changes are needed. 

If this works out, we'll add a new second barrel soon.

November 28, 2024

Garden Notes: November 2024

Today is American Thanksgiving. In thinking and reflecting about what I'm thankful for, I have to say that our garden is a big one on my list. There are many reasons for this: food quality and freshness, less to buy at the grocery store, an opportunity to be outdoors and pursue an activity I enjoy, a sense of purpose, and the seasonal routine gardening offers. I've learned some important lessons too, a huge one being that I don't control as much as I think I control. And that has helped teach me to be adaptable; to carry on and do the best I can in spite of my circumstances; to not fret when I'm not getting what I planned to get. Life lessons. Important lessons for mundane living. 

Rainfall
  • 4th: 0.08"
  • 5th: 0.12"
  • 6th: 0.14"
  • 7th: 0.02"
  • 10th: 0.18"
  • 14th: 1.23"
  • 1th: 0.12"
  • 20th: 0.18" 
  • 26th: 0.06"
  • 28th: 0.31"
  • Total: 2.44 inches
 Temperature
  • range of nighttime lows: 23 to 64°F (-5 to 18°C)
  • range of daytime highs: to 50 to 82°F (10 to 28°C)
Weather notes
  • We've been losing the garden slowly, through a series of scattered frosts. But freezing temps are said to be pushing in the next day or so, so that will be the end of the summer garden. 
Greenhouse
  • Now that the masonry heater is done, we want to finish up the greenhouse. There isn't a lot left to do, mostly the interior. 
Planted
  • multiplier onions
Transplanted (into pots for the greenhouse)
  • chickweed
Harvested
  • okra
  • green tomatoes
  • cherry tomatoes
  • greens: lettuce, kale, mustard, chickweed, daikon & chicory leaves
  • oregano
  • winter squash
  • turnips
  • basil
  • green peppers
  • red raspberries
  • potatoes 
  • daikon
Preserved
  • "pumpkin powder," which is dehydrated winter squash puree (leftover from making our Thanksgiving pie) powdered in my power blender.
Photos

1st carrot, a purple cosmos. Lettuce and more carrots in the background.

Purple cosmos carrots have purple skin and orange insides

First turnips

Sweet potato squash in the back and first daikon. This one went into kimchi.

The last harvest bucket of summer produce

Lots of baby sweet potato squash, which are good in salads. The potatoes were a surprise, from some I missed in my summer harvest. The plants were really healthy, making me think I should experiment with summer potatoes next year.

Fall greens with the last of the pre-frost cherry tomatoes.

The salad dressing was an experiment made from chickpeas. Quite good!
 
And lastly . . .
 
Thanksgiving dessert, a winter squash pie

How is everyone else faring this time of year?

November 22, 2024

Masonry Stove: Tests and Tweaks

After stove construction was complete, it was time for a breaking-in fire to test for leaks. And this is where the adventure began. We knew from Permies (my go-to place for information and questions), that first fires in these stoves are smokey and full of surprises, so we picked a mild afternoon where we could open windows and doors if need be. 

Dan got the fire started and long story short, the room was so smokey we had to run out onto the front porch! It wasn't bad enough that there were billows of smoke rolling out of the open doors and windows, but bad enough to crank up all our fans to start to exhaust it. 

Since the experienced stove builders on Permies all knew about this, their advice was to keep the fire going. This is because part of the problem is that the stove is cold, and the chimney is cold, so there's no draft yet to pull the smoke out of the chimney. I learned this has to do with positive and negative pressure. As the bricks heat up negative pressure is created which assists in getting the draft going. This is a typical problem at the beginning of stove season and why people sometimes heat the chimney before starting the fire.

The second reason is that the bricks and mortar aren't completely cured yet. Not sure how that works, but we did notice that the back wall of the thermal mass (bell), the wall that was originally part of our woodstove alcove, didn't leak at all.

Lastly, there are often tiny spaces and cracks in the mortar that allow smoke to leak. If the stove is properly built, these leaks stop as soon as the draft gets going. The biggest culprit for us was around the doors, which needed more mortar for a better seal. We also took note of a number of seams that could be pointed with mortar to seal them. 

Once we got a good draft going, all the smoke leaks disappeared, which meant that the stove was functioning properly. We kept a low fire going for the rest of the day and the bell gradually heated up. We were pleasantly surprised that even a small fire heated the bell and heated the house. We would often keep small fires in our soapstone stove on cold days to preserve some coals, but we never got any heat out of that and the house was cold when we built up the fire again for the evening. So, already, we were getting more out of our wood!

The other bonus was that by the next morning, long after the fire had gone out, the brickwork is still very warm and the house was cooler but still comfortable. 

After the stove cooled, Dan set about to seal the doors and obvious cracks. I have to admit we were both a little nervous about that second fire. However, I heeded the advice on Permies to preheat the chimney and used one of our space heaters to warm the chimney first. I wanted a good draft from the git-go! 

Space heater to heat the cold chimney. Heating the
chimney is only needed when the stove is cold.

This worked beautifully and between that and Dan's pointing the mortar, our second stove fire was smoke free! No more smoke leaks and even the roof chimney exhaust was clean.

What a relief.

We're still in the breaking-in stage, and still learning about masonry stove and fire management. With a conventional wood stove, a fire must be kept going as long as  heat is wanted. With a masonry stove, only two fires per day are typically needed. Since the stove is already warm there are no more draft problems for the season.

I've been monitoring the temperature near the chimney flue . . .


Remember, the heat is retained in the bell so that the coolest air exits out the chimney.

100 F (38 C) at base of chimney

When the stove is heated, the bricks are very warm to touch. I can put my hand on them but they're too hot to leave my hand there. 


So, except for cleaning up the bricks a bit after the mortaring, a big project is complete. We're already getting more heat out of less wood, so it's fulfilling what it's promised. Very happy about that!

November 18, 2024

Masonry Stove: Chimney

Well, this took longer than we thought it would.


But at last, the chimney is installed. The holdup was getting the chimney pipe pieces. Used to be that everything was available locally, from a choice of sellers. Everyone has gone to stocking less and directing customers to order online and have it shipped to the store for pickup.

To be fair, I understand this trend. I understand the decision not to stock less common items in the store. But the problem for the buyer is that hands on information is extremely important. Sometimes its a matter of judging the quality. Or fit. Is it the right size? The website information isn't always accurate on this. Often it's just an approximate size, or worse, some sellers don't know the difference between height, width, and depth. Sometimes the item sent doesn't look anything like the picture. Or it'd flawed or damaged. Yes, they say free returns, but there's another trip we have to take and more time lost.

Another holdup is that shipping is not as fast as it used to be, so it took awhile. The two long pieces od chimney pipe were ordered at the same time but arrived on different days! For awhile we were thinking one of them had gotten lost. Thankfully, everything arrived and everything fit. 

If you haven't been following this series, then you may be wondering why the chimney exits from the bottom of the stove. I'll refer you back to my introductory post, with more detail about how a masonry stove works. The gist of it is that the firebox is contained in a large hollow masonry "bell." The bell warms up and retains the heat, which radiates into the room, keeping it warm for most of the day. To better retain that heat, the chimney flue is at the bottom of the bell, so that the coolest air exits the chimney and keeps heat loss to a minimum. Very different from the common wood stove or fireplace. 


So there it is, curing and ready for a breaking in fire. We've got a cold front heading our way, so that should be soon. 

November 11, 2024

Of Goats and Breeding Plans

Kinder goat sales collapsed this year. Of the registered kids I had on offer, I didn't even receive an inquiry on any of them. Of people who wanted to be notified of this year's batch, no one was still interested. In one of my rare visits to the Kinder Goat Breeder Association's facebook page, I discovered that I wasn't alone. Breeder after breeder across the US was reporting no sales, no interest, and people backing out of previously arranged sales. Individual goats and entire herds were being advertised for sale at big discounts. 

This is a huge turnaround from when I first got into Kinders. Then, I had a 2-year waiting list for kids. Most breeders did. This year, I made the decision to cancel my fall breeding plans until I could do something about thinning my herd. If I couldn't get down to manageable winter numbers, I wasn't going to add more goats. It was definitely time to rethink things.

I've never considered myself a professional breeder. While I love the breed and have had fun working toward improving my stock according to the breed standard, it's never been a business or a money-maker for me. I've been fortunate that since I started with registered Kinders, I've been able to break even. Every year I've made enough sales to buy feed and hay until the next year's sales. My goats have been self-supporting. The bonus for us has been the milk and dairy products I make, manure, brush control, some occasional chevon, a sense of purpose, and hours of entertainment and joy. Kinders' personalities and antics never cease to make us happy. 

The knee jerk reaction to this turnaround is to blame the economy. I do think this is the underlying problem. Animal feeds, for example, have skyrocketed. Except for the lucky few, most of us have gotten to the point of having to make tough decisions about our household finances. I've overheard sad conversations in the grocery stores of people having to give up their pets. We've managed because of our homesteading lifestyle. Yes, we've been forced to choose to not buy many things, but because we produce quite a bit of our own food, we've been able to hang in there. Even with our pets because our cats are working animals. They keep the rodent population down and supplement their own diet in the process. To that I add eggs and milk, and so keep the boughten kibble to a manageable amount.

Of course the economy always rises and falls. This is nothing new. But one thing that I find different from the past, is that in the past, what was seen as an untrustworthy economy usually found people flocking to buy land, seeds, and livestock to become more self-sufficient. My first experience of this was the anti-establishment back-to-the-land movement, of which I was a part. Eventually, participants trickled back to society as we know it and sold off. Life went on.

But that wasn't the only time I observed this as a social trend. 

  • The 1980s, when my kids were little and breakfast cereal was pushed up to $4 a box (absurd then, but we topped that this go-round!) Self-sufficiency was the buzzword and people started flocking to the country. 
  • Y2K. The most memorable story was told by someone in my weavers guild. She was contacted by a woman who wanted to learn to spin and weave, because she was thinking she'd have to learn how to grow her own cotton and make her own bed sheets. 
  • Eight years ago, I had contacts about buying goats because of fears over the new administration's economy.

So it is curious to me, that this time, people have been reacting differently. There has been no trend to get land and get self-sufficient. The biggest difference that I can identify is that now, society is totally consumed with the internet.

Anyway, after putting my goat breeding plans on hold, my next action was to start advertising my extra goats as Nubian-crosses instead of registered Kinders. Kinder genetics are a 50/50 cross between Nubians and Pygmies, which has resulted in a stout mid-size goat with excellent production and great personalities. Most people aren't familiar with Kinders, but they do go for Nubians. 

Along with that, I asked bargain basement prices and managed to sell off five goats and get my herd to a manageable number. Every buyer was delighted with their purchases, and between you and me, they got some absolutely excellent breeding stock at prices that would make a Kinder breeder cry. But value is ultimately relative and needs must.

With my herd thinned appropriately (with one more I would be willing to sell), I could once again entertain breeding plans. As much as they are like big dogs, our goats have never been pets. We love them dearly, but they make a contribution in return for good care. I chose goats over sheep for their milk and everything I can make from that milk. It's an important source of protein and calcium for our diet. 

For now, I'm going to breed two does for next year's milk. Of their kids, it's wait and see. I've chosen an optimistic outlook because I'm tired of the doom and gloom. I need a healthier new normal. We all do.

November 4, 2024

Masonry Stove: A Bake Oven

We left off last time with this photo  . . .

From Masonry Stove: A Wee Bit More Progress

The final stretch of the brickwork was to create an oven. The arched roof is reminiscent of pizza ovens, and it just seemed that an oven was the perfect thing for that space. The first step was an oven floor. Dan started by using his grinder to make slots to hold three pieces of angle iron.

The front and middle irons inserted into the slot. One more will go behind.

The three pieces of angle iron hold two rows of firebricks. 


For a drip pan to protect the bricks from spillage (just in case!), I purchased an oven bottom liner replacement.


I would have preferred a larger one, but this was the closest in size I could find. I don't know if I'll bake many drippy dishes in the oven (like pies or pizza) but this will certainly be easier to clean than the brick if I have to. 

Then Dan continued with the bricks until the placement of the oven door. 



For the oven rack, I bought a 3-piece cast iron replacement grate for gas grills

The grates fit perfectly and are removable for cleaning.

For the picture below, I removed one of the grates so you can see how he got them level with the bottom of the door opening.


We discovered that the height of a firebrick on its side was perfect. Two more pieces of angle iron (in this case, they are actually iron bed rails) are wedged between the brick walls and hold the grates in place. It's a good height for the grate, with plenty of space underneath for hot air circulation.

Next was installing the oven door. Like our firebox door, we got it from Firespeaking. And like the firebox door frame, Dan screwed a steel sleeve over the top of the frame.


This was because there was just a couple of inches gap between the top of the frame and the brick arch. The steel sleeve supports the slivers of brick and mortar needed to close and seal that gap.

With the oven door frame in place.

What I didn't get a picture of was the strips of insulation tucked in around the frame. That was included with the kit. 

Door complete.


The opening is 15 & 5/8 inches, which is wide enough to accommodate my pizza stone. Whether or not I will ever bake a pizza in it remains to be seen. This is because of how the stove is operated. Unlike cast iron stoves, which often keep a fire all day, a masonry stove uses only two fires a day. The fire heats the bell (hollow brick structure), which radiates heat over a period of time. So I won't have fine-tuned temperature control in the oven. I'm going to have to put an oven thermometer in it and monitor the heat until I can identify patterns and when it's at baking temperatures. 

The last thing to do will be to install the stovepipe for the chimney. Then we can have a breaking-in fire.