Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2024

Weather | 1/29, clear, 20°, 53° | 1/30, cloudy, 35°, 38° | 1/31, clear, 29°, 53° | 2/1, p. cloudy, 40°, 60° | 2/2, fog to cloudy to clear, 35°, 49° | 2/3, p. cloudy, 29°, 51° | 2/4, p. cloudy, 27°, 49° |

• Monday, 1/29: Sparkling Hoar Frost
  
  • Overnight fog painted all tree branches, grass, and bushes with white hoar frost that sparkled this morning (see photos, below).
    
  • We had our first full day of sun for a very long time.
    
  • A flock of cedar waxwings really showed off their nice colors in the tops of frosty trees this morning.
    
  • A pair of red-tailed hawks were sunning themselves in oak branches over the north edge of the west field, so after letting out chickens, Mary and I walked partway down the west field until they flew away. On the way back, Mary spotted spider webs in the bent over grass in the field. Spiders must have been there during our days of fog in pretty cool temperatures.
  • We uncovered the winter greens and to our surprise, the Winterbor Kale was still green, after enduring -20° temperatures with nothing but a sheet of plastic as protection from the elements.
    
  • We watched two flocks of Giant Canada geese merged overhead while we walked back from the chicken yard.
    
  • I boiled labels off nine wine bottles, then cleaned them. Just vinegar, dish soap and water go into Mary's water bath canner, along with the bottles. I bring the water to a rolling boil, then let it sit for about 30 minutes. A filet knife removes labels easily, even stubborn ones.
  • After attaching new labels, I put 15 bottles of apple wine on their sides in coolers. I'm running out of space to store wine, so I might have to buy another used cooler.
  • We finished watching the BBC Pride and Prejudice TV series, then watched a 2005 movie by the same name. We are now very ashamed and fair, the antonyms of pride and prejudice.

Morning frost viewed from west living room window.

Frost on Virginia Creeper vine.

• Tuesday, 1/30: Bottled Perry
  
  • Skies were gray, but a northwest wind meant Mary hung out clothes on the line that dried sheets and a few shirts. The rest received final drying above the woodstove.
    
  • She saw 32 trumpeter swans fly east to west. They were loud enough that I heard them from inside the house and stepped out on the porch to take a look. Mary also saw two flocks of snow geese. She said there were tons of robins in yard all day.
  • I paid for an online subscription to finehomebuilding.com. Since we're not paying monthly for the Quincy newspaper, we figured this would be okay. The website has a lot of great construction information.
    
  • I racked for the fifth time and bottled pear cider (perry). I corked the equivalent of 18 bottles (see photos, below). One was a 1.5-liter bottle. The specific gravity was 1.005 and the pH was 3.2. I added an 80 percent dosage of Kmeta at 0.5 grams. Mary says this pear cider is really cinnamon wine with a pear carrier. It's a nice, light tasting drink, which is understandable, since the alcohol level is 5.63 percent. We drank all of the fines and they tasted good. We look forward to trying this cider, chilled, on a warm summer day.

Bottled and corked pear cider (perry).

The perry cleared up very nicely.

• Wednesday, 1/31: Fourth Racking of Parsnip Wine
  
  • More and more snow geese are migrating west and northward with additional Vs flying overhead.
    
  • In the morning, we heard the tufted titmouse spring song.
  • I racked the parsnip wine for the fourth time. It's specific gravity was 1.002 and the pH was 3.3. I added a full dose of 0.65 grams of Kmeta. Light fines were in the bottoms of containers, so I lost about half a wine bottle of liquid, resulting in enough wine for a 3-gallon carboy, a half-gallon jug and a 12-ounce pop bottle. A taste revealed a delicious, earthy lemonade flavor. This stuff is so good that we even drank all of the fines. Using all homegrown parsnips, instead of substituting in some store-bought parsnips, vastly improves this wine.
    
  • We had our usual five-quart sized popcorn topped with Japanese BBQ seasoning and watched the third installment of the Ken Burns' miniseries, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. I looked up one of the Theodore Roosevelt historians shown in this series and discovered he's from Dickinson, ND, which is just east of eastern MT. His name is Clay Jenkinson.
  • Bill called. He came in third place last weekend in a hot sauce eating contest. His friend, Mike, place first. What a pair of hot heads! He's visiting us in February, from the 17th through the 20th.
    

• Thursday, 2/1: Nogo, the Black Cat
  
  • There's a black cat we see almost daily that is hunting in our yard. Mary calls it Nogo, because it's a "no go" on us adopting another cat. We watched it catch a mouse near the blueberry bushes.
  • A check of Antonovka apple seeds that I put in the fridge late last year showed four swelled seeds that I planted in two Styrofoam cups.
    
  • Mary uncovered half of the garlic from underneath mulch that was flattened by our January snow. If left alone, some garlic will not get through the mulch, so she helps it out. She noticed little earthworms just under the mulch. She also watered the kale.
  • Mary heard and saw the first red-winged blackbird of the year.
  • I attached labels to the jalapeño wine and found homes for the 15 bottles in the upper parts of coolers.
    
  • We watched three deer walk across the south field, just south of the house. I was in the middle of chores. They saw me, but only looked and kept on grazing on grass. We think they are the twin fawns and their mother. These deer pretty much live in and around our yard.
    

• Friday, 2/2: Groundhog Day
  
  • If a groundhog crawled out this morning, it didn't see a shadow, due to the dense fog. But, by mid-afternoon, a bright sun revealed lots of shadows. It feels like spring outside right now. I suspect our groundhog was a late riser and we are yet to see more winter weather.
    
  • Today was a big meal day for us. I made waffles for breakfast and Mary made a venison General Tso dish for our midday meal. Both are large meals, so the evening meal was just cheese and crackers.
    
  • We saw snow geese migrating to the west throughout the day. We heard them flying overhead in the dark when we went on the final dog walk.
  • I labeled the perry, put 18 bottles put away into two coolers, and recorded the amount on a tally sheet in the pantry.
    
  • I worked more on house plans in the floorplanner.com program. I need to measure distances in the east yard and see where how this plan looks with building corner survey marks on the property.
    

• Saturday, 2/3: Garlic Wine
  
  • Mary finished loosening mulch in the garlic rows of the far garden.
  • Mary had a hankering for spaghetti, but spaghetti noddles send my blood glucose levels skyrocketing. But, the fiber in brown rice keeps my glucose levels down. So, Mary substituted brown rice for the noodles. It tasted great and Mary satisfied her spaghetti craving. All is well.
    
  • I started a 5-gallon batch of garlic wine. Last year's garlic contains several bad cloves within the bulbs, so instead of counting out 100 bulbs, I just counted good cloves. After peeling 100 cloves in 1.5 hours, I thought I was progressing nicely. Mary jumped in and helped after our midday meal. With a pro garlic peeler involved, we did another 366 cloves in the same amount of time for a grand total of 466 peeled cloves. I ground them in the food processor and put them in a nylon mesh bag that went into the brew bucket. Added to the bucket were three 96-ounce bottles of Walmart generic white grape juice, 2.25 gallons of water, seven pounds of sugar, and 0.8 grams of Kmeta. The specific gravity was 1.096 and the pH was 3.5. I left the brew bucket sit overnight in the pantry, covered with a flour sack towel. A strong garlic aroma permeates our house. We suspect last year's dryness contributes to stronger garlic.
    
  • Mary saw five deer bounce off to the northwest when she opened the curtains to the west living room window this morning, and two deer in the evening out the same window that were near the Kieffer pear tree.
    
  • A strong east wind gave several Vs of snow geese an added boost as they kept flying west throughout the day.
    

• Sunday, 2/4: Garlic Wine Yeast
  
  • Mary heard a killdeer in morning, which was the first of the year. It's extremely early, based on past history. As Mary was hanging laundry outside, she saw and heard a golden eagle flying overhead from northeast to southwest. They're kind of rare through here, but they come through occasionally.
    
  • I goofed up yesterday and started the garlic wine in the largest brew bucket. I have an older bucket dedicated to garlic, since it leaves a strong odor. I switched the liquid to that bucket and now I'll need to thoroughly clean and air the large bucket. I added the following to the wine: 2.5 teaspoons of pectic enzyme, five teaspoons of yeast nutrient, and 2.5 teaspoons of yeast energizer. The pH was 4.1, so I added 2 teaspoons of acid blend to bring it back to a 3.5 pH reading. I added 12 ounces (3/4 lb.) of sugar to boost the specific gravity to 1.100. I worked up a starter of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast and added 97° to 99° must from the brew bucket to it throughout the day. Ten hours later, I pitched it into the brew bucket. The specific gravity was still 1.100.
  • This garlic wine wafts a very strong scent through the house. It's especially pungent this year. I bet it will make a good cooking wine, which is its only purpose.
    
  • We watched three episodes of the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.