Peak Oil Hope

I make good sauce.

Hey all,

Well not too much in the way of farm stuff to report. I cleaned out the chicken coop this morning. I a placed a few concrete blocks in the coop to support there waterer. It raises up the water above the litter and keeps it level to minimize spillage.
In food news it was a good weekend. I made dried cherry scones for breakfast using Alton Brown's recipe. They weren't my best batch but they were still good. We also made some venison loins in a rhubarb wine sauce. The sauce was entirely something I made up at the stove but the garlic and butter and rhubarb wine flavors really did something with the venison. Jess also made popovers as well and the were great as well.

Well that is about it for now.
Rick

Pasona O2

In my blog perusing I came a crossed something I had seen before but felt I should share. Pasona O2 is a cool Japanese indoor garden/farming project. From what I can gather it is part art project, part labor training program and all funky.
Links;
Treehugger post.
Direct link. (for those that read Japanese)
Pruned post
Flickr search

Image borrowed from Flickr user dimitridf please check out his work.

Windy Weekend

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Winter leaves me without a lot to say. I mostly putter around. I have been setting up a work space in the library. I have been more interested in electronics lately. I have been scraping out electronics in the basement when the spirit moves me. I have also been out to the forge a few times but have yet to make anything. I have also been trying to grow barley grass in the basement. I plan to give it to the chickens as a treat once I get it started.
I have also been researching a few things. I have really been interested in alternate power generation as of late. I think this spring I will try and make some form of small wind generator. I am only planning on charging a few NiCad batteries at first but maybe it will be the start of something good.
I tell you if I had had a wind generator this weekend I would be sitting pretty. We had sustained 20-30MPH winds here from Saturday to Sunday.

Later
Rick

Super Pancake Tuesday.

Well Jess and I went to our first caucus this evening after work. I have to admit that I was a little nervous going in. In truth it was a great experience, I got to meet a number of like minded neighbors and share views and ideas with them. I was surprised to see the number of people that were Democrats from my little township.
I also found out about another candidate for democratic party endorsement in the upcoming senate race. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. I was surprised that I hadn't heard of him before. I listened to a bit of the NPR Minnesota Debate and I liked what I heard from him. I am not sure yet that I am ready to endorse him outright but I did find him to be a viable candidate and plan to find out more about him.

Baked eggs and bread

Yesterday I started another 2 loaves of no-knead bread. I made one loaf with tomato and rosemary and the other was plain. I baked them up this morning. Jess and I had some with eggs and bacon for breakfast-brunch. I then saw a post over on Gardenfork.tv about baked eggs. Well I figured that they might be a good thing to put on top of some toasted rosemary bread. Jess and I made a few ramekins of eggs for dinner as well. We added cheese, turkey and heirloom tomato to the eggs as well. They were great. I think we will certainly make them again.
On another note Ben asked after one post if I'd had any trouble with the Kitchen Aid pasta maker. I can now say that I have. We made spaghetti for dinner last night again. I tried to mix the pasta in the bowl with the machine instead of kneading it by hand. The pasta dough didn't want to come together so I added more water and oil till it did. It made a nice looking dough quickly after that. But the dough ended up too wet and resisted passing through the plate and the dough that did stuck together. I had just about given up when my awesome wife stepped in and proceeded to kneed much more flour into the dough. The resulting dough seemed to dry but it made a much better pasta. We ended up eating the pasta with more kale with garlic.
Delicious.

Rick

Brrrrrr ..!!

Well we survived the night. For those who read this from somewhere other than Minnesota last nights temps were in the -17F region. That wouldn't be so bad in and of itself but the winds were coming out of the North at 20-30MPH. This poor old house couldn't keep making heat fast enough. So the house was in the mid 60's this morning. Also the shower froze up. That made for a rough morning. I did get the pipes thawed out this morning and had a nice warm cup of coffee on the way to work. No damage done except to my state of mind.

Take care and stay warm,
Rick

Week end wrap up

Spent a few hours working with a shovel this afternoon. First I finished shoveling out the driveway. I also opened up a passage out to the forge. We are getting more light in the evenings these days so I am looking forward to spending more time out in the forge. I will try and get some pictures once I get it going again. I guess I will have to look around and see if there are any garden or farmstead related forge projects to try my hand at. I really am a hack in the forge. I enjoy it though. I guess that is the price of being a Jack of all trades.
Jess and I also went to Gertens today just to dream and see plants. I always love going to a greenhouse of some form on a sunny day in the winter. It reminds you how good spring will feel.

Rick

Peak oil movie.

Latest Happenings

Well we traded some eggs to our pal Ben yesterday for a waffle maker. I have decided to give the maker a value of 20$. That is probably a bit high but it will allow me to offset almost 3 bags of chicken feed. I would need to turn the house into a small appliance shop to totally meet my goal of showing a profit on the farming activities. Just the same every little bit helps.
In other news I am getting increasingly interested in energy use in the house and farm. I have been looking into solar for heating and electric. I have also been looking into wind power as well. I love the idea of getting the farm off the grid but right now it isn't really all that possible. In the mean time I have been tightening the ductwork and insulating everything I can get access to in order to make the most of what we are already using.

Also made dried cherry scones for breakfast.

Rick