Calendula - Son may have Tourette's

[calendula]

Holy crap! I didn't know what a banana slug was, so I googled it. There is a pic of one next to a ruler, and that thing is 7" long. No wonder they choke on it!

 

[savingdogs]

They eat ALOT, too....most of them are more like 3 inches long, but they are extra tough and slimy and the poultry don't like them. The first time I saw one of those real real big ones, I screamed! I couldn't believe it was a slug. I'm more used to them now, but it is soooooooooooooooo gross when you step on one by accident. I'd rather clean dog poo off my shoe.

 

[calendula]

SD, could you imagine stepping on one barefoot?

I checked on my milk, honey, & oats soap last night. It had turned bright orange when I added the lye to the milk on Sunday, but I was relieved to see that during the insulation time, it mellowed to a pleasant beige color. I'm going to cut it into bars tonight, and then I have to wait 6 long weeks before I can try it.

I noticed that one of the tomato plants that had gotten smushed was still alive last night, just bent over at a 90 degree angle. Maybe the poor, deformed thing will still pull through.

It's still really hot and humid here, but luckily the thunderstorms missed us last night. I'm kind of torn about storms. On the one hand, I love thunderstorms, l love watching them and hearing the thunder boom and the wind whipping. On the other hand, I don't want any of my plants in the garden to get damaged, so it's completely nerve-wracking to me now when we have severe weather! I wish there was some way to storm proof the garden.

My husband brought me home a bag or organic soy beans for some reason, so I am going to experiment with making soy sauce this week. One method I found involved cooking the soy beans, and then mashing them and adding some wheat flour. This mixture gets shaped into a loaf, which is then cut into 1/4" slices. The slices are placed between moist layers of paper toweling, and then wrapped in plastic to keep it moist. You leave it sit for about a week, until the disks are all covered in mold. Once they mold, you unwrap them and space them on a tray to dry in the sun. You then put the disks in a pot of salted water, cover, and allow it to ferment for around a month, until the disks are dissolved. You then strain and bottle. It sounds easy enough, but we'll see how it goes...

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[freemotion]

I haven't read everything here....just caught the soap title.....goat's milk should be frozen before mixing with the lye to keep the sugars from caramelizing, and add the lye a bit at a time and stir before adding more. I put the pitcher in a sink of cold water, too. Or in a snow bank in the winter. It still turns orange, but not as much. Also, don't insulate the mold like you do for other soaps. I put mine on a cake rack to let air get underneath it, and cover it with a thin dishtowel to keep cat hair out of it. I put a string around the mold (small dishpan) to keep the towel from sagging into the soap.

When I set my filled mold on a wooden table, the color was uneven, as the wood insulated the mold and the sugars in the milk continued to heat up and caramelize.

But I must say I like the beige to tan color and don't need a white soap....I like the more rustic, home made look.

 

[Rhettsgreygal]

How did you come out of the storms last week Friday night/Saturday morning? We were out of power for almost 10 hours. They are talking about more storms tonight. I slept through the freak wind storm we had a couple weeks ago. Roy thought we were going to end up in Oz. We live within walking distance of Seehafer's farm -- you should have seen all the downed tents and snowfence that was already set up in preparation for the Farm Technology Days. Our neighbor had to recover at least a dozen calf houses that blew away.

 

[calendula]

Rhettsgreygal: We've actually been pretty lucky with the storms. The only damage we had were a couple broken tomato plants after our trellis was blown down. Last night, we got pounded with rain, but it wasn't too bad. I heard it was bad further south though, so I imagine you got hit harder. They said on the radio that 1800 people are without power right now in Stevens Point. Hope you didn't get to hard! I wanted to go to Farm Technology Days, but it's in the middle of the week, so I couldn't make it. My husband always used to go to it, and he said it's really neat.

freemotion: I had partially frozen the milk, so that it was slushy. I think that I added the lye too fast, so it got too hot. I will have to remember to keep the bowl in some cold water next time too. But, you're right, that beige color is nice. I cut my soap up last night into bars, and I thought they looked really pretty.

Also, don't insulate the mold like you do for other soaps.

I've always wondered about the insulation part. I have always done it just becuase it's what the instructions say to do, but I have never noticed that the soap stays warm or gets any warmer when I wrap the mold in a blanket, though the instructions say the soap will continue to heat during insulation to complete saponification. If I slip my hand in and feel the mold while it's insulating, it never feels warm, but my soap always turns out fine.

 

[savingdogs]

I'm pretty sure Glenolam told me the same thing as freemotion, no insulating. I did not insulate mine. I think you will really like the soap.

Rhett's Grey Gal, long time no see!

Calendula I was able to "cheat" and try some of the soap after about a week, just pick the driest, smallest bar and it was already cured. It passed the "tongue test" so I used it much sooner than I was supposed to and loved it, we used that bar until six weeks past for the rest of the bars.

 

[Rhettsgreygal]

calendula: We got about 4 1/4'' of rain. Roy works in Eau Claire and his territory starts in Eau Claire, heads east into Spencer and then north to the UP. He didn't get off work till 11:00pm last night. There were (I believe he said) 3000 - 5000 customers out of power in Hayward. They were suppose to send crews into Minnesota, but they instead were sent to Hayward. I am definitely a "city girl". The sump pump ran for at least 1 1/2 hours without stopping. The lights were flickering in the house and all I could think of was - I hope there is enough gas in the truck to power the inverter long enough so the sump pump could keep up with the deluge of water. Roy will be fixing the generator this weekend so I don't have to panic next time. The first time the sump pump actually cycled off, I was on the phone and just about freaked out.

SD: I have been busy with work and trying to weed the garden. It has been either drought or flood around here it seems. We also babysat Eddie, the hound we fostered last year, for 2 separate weeks. He is a daddy's boy and just was stuck like glue to me while he was here.

 

[calendula]

Well, July is winding down to an end. It has been a hot, humid, and rainy month. The garden has grown so much in the past couple weeks! (Compared to pics a bit down on page 12 )

Here's a front view of the garden:

And the back...pardon the weeds. We need to try that lasagna gardening.

The yellow pear tomatoes were the first to get flowers, and to fruit. They are flourishing!

The cucumbers are climbing well up the new trellis my husband made:

We are going to probably be buying the empty lot next to our house. For now, the owner is letting us use it to grow our pumpkins on in exchange for mowing it for him.

My calendula is blooming!

The corn is getting tall, but we had a few tip over in storms. They're still tassling out, however.

The tongue of fire beans grew faster than the black beans; the pods are really plumping out.

The black beans are finally starting to get pods too though.

The loofas are climbing up the trellises, but no blooms yet.

Despite the cabbage getting attacked by loopers, its getting big.

Pete the garden cat is still busy patrolling the area.

The chickens are doing well, but we still haven't fully integrated Polly into the flock yet. She is still being chased around and pecked on.

And the coop is coming along slowly but surely. My husband got the back of it almost finished. He put on the cutest little doors and plans on putting in the windows soon.

And in un-garden related news, my little guy lost his first tooth!

 

[Lady Henevere]

Great pics!