Ending and Beginning

Stove Maintenance

3 October 2010

Today I swept the chimney, removed the insect screen at the top, replaced the catalytic converter, got the rust off the cook surface and oiled it, and filled the pail of water that sits next to it all winter. It’s ready to go.

And just in time, too. We had a frost last night, it only got up to 58 or so today, and we expect another frost tonight. So I’ll probably light the inaugural fire of the season tonight or tomorrow morning. It’s supposed to warm up again in the next few days. [Update: Yes, I lit the first fire tonight.]

We haven’t turned on the furnace yet, but I’m not planning to be a Nazi about it like I was last year. Besides, there’s no way we’ll make it to December again.

Posted in Burning wood, Heating, Weather | Leave a Comment »

First Freeze

2 October 2010

They tell us that we’ll have a freeze tonight, so this afternoon we harvested all 22 butternut squash, and some other large, orange squashes that are probably worthless but we’ll give them a try. I’m guessing they’re volunteer crosses between pumpkin and summer squash and probably worthless, but we don’t have much to lose by finding out how they cook up.

Last weekend I made two quarts of pickled beets that came out great — very pickley! I didn’t process them, so they’re in the refrigerator. If I have time this weekend, I’d like to make another four quarts and can them properly.

Posted in Food, Gardening, Weather | Leave a Comment »

First Frost

27 September 2010

Last night. Yep, I had to go and talk about it, didn’t I….

Posted in Gardening, Weather | Leave a Comment »

Blogs

26 September 2010

Reading survival/prep/homesteading blogs is 90% useless when it comes to prepping. You might come across a good idea now and then, but you’ve got to call it what it is: entertainment. Those of us who have been paying attention for more than a few months know what we have to do. For most of us, it’s just a matter of doing it…and the future belongs to those who just get it done.

Moved a rainbarrel down to the basement today so it will catch the discharge of the condensate pump on the furnace/air conditioner. I hope that’s a good idea. I realized as I was doing it that when it’s full, the water level will be well above the pump. The pump must have a check valve on it, right?

The advantage to this is if there is a sudden loss of electricity, or intermittent electricity, we’ll have 55 gallons of not-too-bad water available for flushing, washing, or filtering and drinking. (With regard to quality, I was prepared to filter and drink rainwater off the roof, right?)

The disadvantage is that no water accumulates if the furnace or A/C does not run.

Posted in Electricity, Water | Leave a Comment »

Popcorn

25 September 2010

I harvested all the popcorn today. Got one 5-gallon bucked filled with husked cobs from 15′ of row.

The quality of the cobs varied greatly, with some only 10-20% filled in, dependent, as far as I can tell, on the quality of the soil in which they grew. Pretty much what you’d expect, but the results were striking:

Also dug 20 gallons of coffee grounds and 4 gallons of kitchen waste into the west beds.

The growing season this year has been very long, with our warm, early Spring and not even a light frost yet. We’ve almost always had some very light frost by mid-September, but not this year.