Log for the month of November 2008

Oh such an exciting time. I have renewed faith in America, in generation y, in the world. I disagree completely with the pundits who claim white guys voted for Obama to alleviate guilt. No! It was our genetic roots, shriveled and dormant for so many years finally flourishing in some nutrient rich soil. Obama was elected by all of us Americans that inherited the genes from our forefathers who told the British monarchy to go shove it. I am so completely proud of my country I could go hang out my flag. I guess I will on inauguration day.

When we came back to America in 2003 I thought we had somehow arrived at a different quantum spin state. Where were we? Who were these people? Why were they supporting a moron for a president? Why weren’t any of Ben and Nathaniel’s generation protesting? Why was the American internet so quiet about having an idiot for a president? In 2002 I found one site about a professor in Southern California protesting the upcoming Iraq war. He had pages of responses from people telling him to go shove it. I was really depressed. When I heard Obama speak at the democratic convention in 1984, I told Phil about him that night at dinner. Why couldn’t he run for president?

[I kept my colors close to my chest since I am the type of person that sets a reverse example. Michael Gladwell should write a book about my kind called “The Bouncing Point.” I don’t think there is an English term for my kind. When people see what I am doing, wearing, or saying, they do the exact opposite, in order not to be associated with me. I’m a kind of reverse trend setter. Does this bother me- you bet. But you get used to it after awhile. Phil, on the other hand was the complete opposite- people used to (his student especially) become mini-Phils. Living with me has had some of my pariah-ishness rub off on him.]

 I became somewhat hopeful with the future of our country when the Linkin Park cd Minutes to Midnight came out. The song Hands Held High made me realize that people were beginning to wake up. I played it over and over again Loud, loud LOUDER. It felt good. Please Big Cheese don’t let some asshole kill Obama.

Farm

Our final tallies for the 2008 farm are in:

46 pounds of organic honey. (The best I have ever tasted in my life)

14 pints pickled spiced beets

16 pints dilly beans

45 pints bread and butter pickles

48 pints kosher dill spears

44 quarts tomatoes

8 pints salsa

26 pints pizza sauce

27 pints sauerkraut

7 pints peaches

3 pints applesauce (pitiful)

14 half pints pickled peppers

11, 8 pound chickens

12, 7 pound chickens

in the root cellar:

½ tote carrots

1 tote parsnips

½ tote beets

15 bushels apples: yielding 22, 22 ounce bottles of sparkling hard cider

¾ freezer full of squash, broccoli, mixed veggies and green beans

The surprise was the apples. The two hives of bees made a big difference with our apple yields. We ground up all the apples with the cider press and got 10 gallons of cider. I used 6 gallons for hard cider and drank the rest. To the hard cider I added 1 cup of our honey in two cups of heated water and 1 package of Munton's Standard Ale Yeast (6 grams)  yeast. We put this in a glass carboy and fermented it in the kitchen at 65 degrees for two weeks. I siphoned out the middle extract and let it go for another two weeks. When I couldn’t stand waiting any more I sterilized 22 ounce bottles in the pressure cooker and together we siphoned the cider into a pot. I added ½ cup of honey and ½ of water, then siphoned this mix into the bottles. The added honey was to make it fizzier. We let the caps sit on top of the bottles for a half hour to let the cider release the room air in the bottles and then capped them off. I had the first bottle one week later. The next bottle was even better. The one after that- wowza. We are rationing them so to only drink one bottle a month. It's depressing.

The cider is sparkling, not much sediment, packs a goodly kick and the best part- I don’t get a headache or migraine, so far. I have to be so careful with wine and beers. I can’t drink anything made in this country- which had me worried that I wouldn’t be able to drink our brew. I believe it is a mold that sets me off. All it takes is a teaspoon full of the wrong kind of wine or a bite of the wrong kind of cheese. It is not nitrates, sulfites, color, or amount. It has everything to do with location. I’m actually thinking of getting botox to see if I stop having migraines.  The worst part is getting them in my sleep. If I am awake and I get the whole aura thing, losing my vision- and I eat 600 mg of Ibuprofen (and I mean literally chewing them up) I can avoid the throwing up and the headache. When I get them in my sleep I end up waking up vomiting with a pounding headache. It sucks, and I’m sick of them.

That’s it from this corner of the Ocean