“We successfully got DVD hail!” He’s so excited! Is this guy working for the weather gods? The Texas Weather Modification Association perhaps? Or maybe Weather Modification, Inc.? A new startup with funding from the Gates Foundation?
I suppose they will soon be selling gardeners’ and homesteaders’ insurance. I’m really looking forward to the days I can list my squash on the future’s market so assholes like this can bet on it’s failure and cheer when he adds another 10 cents to his electronic wallet. I long for the new opportunity to fill out paperwork to get reimbursed 3 cents on the dollar, or rather, on the CBDCs: Was it crooked neck squash or zuccinni? Were the onions beyond the bulbing stage? Were the seeds purchased at a WEF-approved supplier? How much rainfall did the seeds receive in the initial 30-day growing period, so that we can deduct that from your refund?
Weather derivitives are already a big thing, so the insider trading when companies can boast about their crop and property destruction potential is bound to up the ante. But, it’s not war, don’t think of it as war.
It’s really about resilience and making communities stronger. And if the youth have a hoot while destroying their neighbors’ gardens, well, you know, boys will be boys!
What do you care about some lost work and produce when you can contribute to the future of science anyway? What are you, some kind of Luddite?!
Itâs been quite a long time since an update on the wee homestead projects and activities; itâs hard to know where to start! How about, for consistency sake, I bitch about the weather for a bit, and then move along to better tidings.
Of course the geoengineered chem-filled skies continue, as does our Yo-Yo season (formerly known as winter). We are using the air conditioning now, itâs been 80 degrees for days.
Buttercup is especially sensitive to the YoYo, to the point of regular getting seizures at such times, also lethargic and losing her appetite.
Buttercup hiding in her box all day.
There was of course the lows not long ago in the 20s and I was very concerned for the newly planted citrus. We employed quite the set up of lights and covers and they faired very well, Iâm happy to report.
Invasion of Asian beetles on the citrus cover
But there has been a bad invasion of these awful beetles, which weâre vacuuming off the ceiling multiple times a day. Not to be confused with the garden-friend, the lovely little lady bugs, NO, these little beasts are really nasty. They infest, as obvious from the photos, and they bite, and as if thatâs not enough, they stink.
I donât like when folks call them lady bugs, they are not at all ladylike, so I try to correct them anytime I hear complaints, which is more often than you might think. The reaction I get is much more open and accepting than when I inform them about the manufactured weather.
Old lettuce bolting, replacing with new lettuce started under lights indoors, along with broccoli and cauliflower.
It does keep us on our toes, dealing with the Yo-Yo. Lettuce and herbs bolt prematurely quite often, seedlings come up then freeze or wither. We never know from week to week what to expect or how to plan.
I donât normally have such a fancy setup, but these trays were gifted to me and theyâre working quite well germinating some lobelia and snap dragons.
My indoor lights and heating mats make things easier, as does the row cover in the garden, but it is constant juggling. And if I miss a beat, death. Like happened with the Mexican oregano I was so proud of. I forgot about it outside one night when it frosted. Very disappointing considering our long journey of discovery, and how long I babied those few little sprouts, trying to anticipate their every need, carting them inside for warmth, then outside for sun and wind, and just when they were getting their legs, gone. All my fault.
Well, except for the geoengineers, because I wouldnât be doing this constant refrain if our weather was consistent or predictable or seasonal.
Iâve tried twice since then to sprout the herb again with no luck. I will succeed eventually, of course, weâve come too far in our quest to fail. The Mexican oregano has a long tale in these parts. Failure is not an option. More on that in the last HH post, if you like. https://kenshohomestead.org/2024/11/14/homestead-happenings-43/
Iâd like to say it was the same with the milk quest. Unfortunately, Iâm not nearly as confident; I feel failure is probably inevitable and maybe even imminent. For the time being Iâm counting my blessings Iâve found another (perhaps temporary) source. Last time I was complaining about the cost, this one is even more expensive at $15/gallon. At that price Iâm not going to be experimenting with any new cheeses, thatâs for sure. To make cheese at all is not really feasible, except for the most delicious of selectionsâCamembert. Otherwise the precious commodity goes toward morning coffee, ice cream, and buttermilk for recipes and the extended expiration date.
Camembert to be draining before salting
Iâve been doing continued research on the topic of raw milk and whatâs available and in general, whereâs the market vibe. I found one young entrepreneur with a private herdshare selling cheese for $25 a pound. (A Herdshare Agreement or a Grade A license from the state are the only ways to sell raw milk in Texas legally.).
With my new herdshare deal I can buy more milk for cheesemaking, if Iâm willing to pay $15/gallon. Considering the hard cheeses I typically made were 5 gallons ideally (better for aging in less than optimal conditions), thatâs a really expensive cheese.
Certainly what can be made on-site are far better cheeses than can be bought at the store; thatâs why I started making cheese in the first place. But still, itâs really hard to justify all that work, and expense, when we can still buy organic cheese for about $8/pound.
I will splurge one time in late spring, if possible, when the grass is thick and so the milk most rich. And we do still have two goats, hopefully pregnant, so thereâs a small hope of cheesemaking in my future, if all goes well.
Moving on to the garden, the garlic is going strong and Iâve just got the onions in, 3 big rows of each. The garlic we plant is elephant garlic which does so much better here than any other variety Iâve tried, and Iâve tried lots. These are local for over a decade now and their productivity has yet to disappoint.
The onions are from purchased sets and they normally do well, though some years are a bust, like last year. I also started some from seed under lights, to compare if they are more consistent and adaptable, because the sets have gotten pricey in recent years and itâs irritating to pay good money for possible failure. Onions do not like Yo-Yo weather, but then again, who or what really does?
At least some seem to tolerate it better than others. Weâve got a couple of âoyster treesâ that are bringing us regular tasty gifts.
Iâve also tried a couple new things that have been long on my list. Thereâs the soap thatâs just now cured, a bit earlier than Iâd read is typical. Iâm really pleased with it! It lathers very well and the scent is rather sensuous. My intention was something earthy and erotic, and I think I succeeded.
I got the sensual part down, now I need to up the aesthetic! Trust me, looks are deceiving here, I just need better molds! Never underestimate the power of packaging, eh?
After finishing up slaughter season and chopping up downed trees for a month, Hubby has moved on to a far more desirable and needed project, according to me, our kitchen! Yippie!
Weâve needed new countertops badly for many years, ours have been well-worn in 40 years, especially since weâve gotten here and the space went from softly used a few times a year, to a daily year-round assault. Itâs actually pretty impressive the counters arenât near dust by now, considering how quickly more modern materials fall apart.
New island done, now for the hard part.
Old, ugly, not square or plumb . . . Good times coming in Hubbyâs near future!
New countertops got us on a roll and now weâre planning new light fixtures and maybe even a new paint job. Big ideas, perhaps not backed up by time or commitment.
Those big ideas, Iâm full of âem! In my mind the kitchenâs already painted and my next project is to paint the table, which Iâve wanted (and once tried) to do for as long as weâve had it. I can imagine I might have a table with a surface that looked something like this . . .
But Iâd be perfectly willing to settle for this . . .
Or this . . .
So, after I repaint the kitchen in the few spare moments between juggling plants in YoYo season, I acquire the skills of an artist, and paint something I can really be proud of . . .
Whenever Iâm finally able to manage that, yâall will be the first to know!
In the meantime, hereâs where we were at in the last update . . .
Folks keep sipping on their Hopium bottles despite all evidence pointing to a big, fat, juicy Nothing Burger.
The States are outlawing Geoengineering! Even Texas has jumped on board! Nonsense. This will have zero impact, not even the Texas Weather Modification Association cares about these new âlawsâ or proposals, because they know they wonât stop anything, or go anywhere.
Individual states continue to âbanâ Geoengineering. Dane Wiggington continues to pretend this will make some great awakening happen and folks will begin brandishing their proverbial pitchforks after decades of silent tolerance and cowardly sniveling.
This is nothing more than posturing and stalling and making themselves feel better. It may also be their opportunity to file lawsuits against the chaos-creating of these public-private partnerships poisoning the atmosphere, destroying infrastructure and ruining peopleâs lives.
If they happen to profit from continuing to sell their airspace to the highest bidder we can rest assured that Ordinary folk will never see a dime from those lawsuits.
âI live in TN and have been emailing the governor regarding the fact that they are definitely still spraying and today emailed Steve Southerland who sponsored the bill. Here was his response. Thank you for reaching out about SB 2691. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has notified us that they will not be enforcing this law. I recommend that you reach out to Governor Leeâs office to voice your support for the bill. This is his office number: (615) 741-2001.â¨I would say unbelievable, but I can’t say that I’m surprised. I knew it seemed too good to be true.â
Too good to be true? Read that again: âThe Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has notified us that they will not be enforcing this law.â They canât even get the cooperation of their own Stateâs environmental protection agency! Come on people!
NOAA does not recognize any âsprayingâ EVER. Even when they are actually spraying for âlegitimateâ weather modification. That is, for the operations they recognize, which is primarily cloud-seeding for snow augmentation and hail/fog suppression.
From their own Q & A section:
âWhat if I see streaks in the sky and I think someone is modifying the weather?â¨These are contrails, produced by planes. Contrails are the condensed products of combustion and vapor generated by airplanes traveling at higher altitudes where the atmosphere is colder. They have been prominent atmospheric features since the beginning of jet plane travel in the early part of the twentieth century. Official observations of contrails were made just after World War I as planes began to fly at high altitudes. NOAA does not have federal responsibility for regulating airplane exhaust, and we do not manage the National Air Space. The Environmental Protection Agency establishes aircraft emissions standards for any air pollution that could endanger public health and welfare, pursuant to the Clean Air Act. The Federal Aviation Administration administers and enforces emissions standards FAA factsheet (pdf)â
Weather Modification Project Reports – Weather and Climate Collections – NOAA Library at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
One need only to recognize the typical pattern of the Federal/State/Local deliberate, yet unofficial, quagmire which we see at play at any level we choose to observe.
For example, something as simple as cannabis laws. For another example, any crime against humanity ever committed.
Politics as usual, itâs a game of Hot Potato, like when Clinton was governor of Arkansas and claimed the Iran-Contra âScandalâ was a Federal issue and then when he became President declared it to be a State issue. After many, many millions of taxpayer funding was spent on âinvestigationsâ and nothing changed and no one implicated got more than a slap on the wrist. (Or murdered, for those who found themselves on the wrong side of their game.)
In fact, it was International Organized Crime, just as Geoengineering is. That the âenvironmentalâ agencies play along just shows they know whatâs really at stake and arenât willing to lift even a pinkie finger for the public good.
They will continue to play Hot Potato with these international crimes against humanity.
And itâs about far more than just the weather, as if that wasnât enough already.
For those willing to do some due-diligence:
death by aluminum – the toxic aluminum thread that connects vaccines, 5G, dewâs, geoengineering and âwildfiresâ
No sooner do folks start looking up and questioning en masse the filth-filled skies and crazy weather than the governmentâs public-private partnerships double down.
The mass marketing and mass regulation phase has entered the theater. Now there will be university-level competitions on how fast and effectively they can poison the skies, and all of life, in order âto learnâ about the atmosphere.
Just as a reminder, conspiracy theorists have been screaming about this since the turn of the century. Serious activists have been making documentaries and knocking on every conceivable door, from those of every corridor of officialdom for a minimum of 15 years. All effectively denied and deflected until very recently.
What does that mean for you? Thatâs why this is so important, right? Thatâs why I keep harping on about it (pun intended HAARP, get it?)
Now the costs will be absorbed by the public even as the consequences to us increase, globally. Just like with vaccines, the perps have zero liability. The public bears all costs, financial and otherwise.
âThe Department of Energy (DOE) is one of 15 federal member agencies of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) established by Congress in 1990 to coordinate federal research including, but not limited to, Solar Radiation Modification (SRM).â
U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Experimentation â Zero Geoengineering
Two more voices who convey what so many of us keep repeating, itâs happening, itâs not a proposal, itâs not just theory.
And furthermore, itâs going to get worse, not better. The government is not ever here to save you. The experts and professionals ALL rely on the government at some level.
Allow me this simple wish through advice I donât repeat often enough: skill up folks, please, real life skills, not just prepping for a few days without grocery stores. The kids have got to learn some real life skills, and how will they do that if the parents have no skills? The Internet? OK maybe, but how can they apply them, how will they know, if their parents are still doing nothing? Saying nothing? Preparing not at all.
If that is you, and for some reason you still read this blog, Iâm talking to you, personally.
Learn something useful! Pay it forward! For free, if you possibly can.
And thank you very much for reading, and considering. A solemn and sobering solstice blessing to you.
Not HAARP! Not Geoengineering! Totally Natural and Normal! Yay, solar storms!
These are for reals geomagnetic storms people! They are NOT HAARP experiments. You crazy conspiracy theorists better stop saying that or youâre in BIG trouble!
So COOL and AWESOME! We are so lucky to be alive to experience this great phenomenon!
Iâm over 55 and in my entire lifetime I never saw or even heard of seeing the Northern Lights in the South until this decade.
âWhat used to be a once-in-a-lifetime event – or a bucket list trip to the Arctic circle â has become a more common sighting in the last couple of years. On Thursday night, the stunning colours of the Northern Lights were visible once again even to the naked eye across much of the US. Experts say the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, are more visible right now due to the sun being at what astronomers call the âmaximumâ of its 11-year solar cycle. What this means is that roughly every 11 years, at the peak of this cycle, the sunâs magnetic poles flip, and the sun transitions from sluggish to active and stormy. On Earth, thatâd be like if the North and South Poles swapped places every decade.â From the BBC Why are we seeing the Northern Lights so often lately?
âGeomagnetic storm, not a HAARP experiment, created dazzling, worldwide northern lights display.â Politifact
âAnother in a series of unusually strong solar storms hitting Earth produced stunning skies full of pinks, purples, greens and blues farther south than normal, including into parts of Germany, the United Kingdom, New England and New York City.
âIt was a pretty extensive display yet again,â said Shawn Dahl, a space weather forecaster at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationâs Space Weather Prediction Center. He said the center has gotten reports of northern lights sightings as far south as New Mexico. âItâs been a wonderful year.ââ
A wonderful year! Stop questioning the beautious wonder of wonderland!
Itâs totally normal and wonderous! Itâs fantastically natural and we love nature! We promise itâs not artificial, no way, no how! Really, we double dog swear and itâs been fact-checker approved in over 5 countries!
Chemtails aka weather modification aka geoengineering aka AIR POLLUTION!
Especially considering these photos I took just last evening. Now for our scheduled weather we will have weeks of drought, high humidity, and escalating temperatures.
Excellent article, worth the entire read, but of course, this is my favorite part:
âWhat could possibly be a factor in the rising heat levels that could be contributing to this surge in droughts? How about artificial clouds that block out the sun and trap in the heat? According to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, the lingering contrails left in the sky forming artificial clouds (often referred to as chemtrails, which I detailed the health and environmental impacts here), actually trap in the heat from the Earth’s surface. A study cited by CNN also made the case that aviationâs contribution to âclimate changeâ between 2000 and 2018 had a negative warming effect. It concluded that contrails create 57% of the sectorâs warming impact, which means that this was significantly more of an impact than the CO2 emissions from burning fuel. It was stated that these lingering trails create this effect by trapping heat that would otherwise be released into space.
While these trails are seen around the world, in Canada, it appears that a 1985 law, known as the Weather Modification Information Act, makes it legal to actually modify the weather in this manner. According to the law, weather modification is defined as such:
weather modification activityâincludes any action designed or intended to produce, by physical or chemical means, changes in the composition or dynamics of the atmosphere for the purpose of increasing, decreasing or redistributing precipitation,decreasing or suppressing hail or lightning or dissipating fog or cloud.
All that one must do in order to engage in this type of activity is to inform the administrator, i.e. a member of the public service as may be designated by the Governor in Council, as to what they are doing.â
âIt is not too far of a stretch to imagine a scenario where cloud seeding, whether intentionally or not, is creating droughts and higher ground level temperatures that are leading to the lingering effects of these unprecedented fires polluting our air. Factor in that the vast majority of these fires are considered to be man-made, it is, once again, not far-fetched to imagine that these two scenarios are working hand-in-hand to keep the air unclean and unhealthy as well as to sell the public on the impact of âclimate change.â Regardless of the motives involved, these fires, the trails, and the droughts are a man-made problem that could be corrected in order to clean up the air and bring about better health for everyone. There is absolutely no reason to blame any sort of ânaturalâ climate change and invisible âpathogensâ for the resultant negative health effects when there are clear culprits that need to be addressed.â
Thank you Mike Stone at ViroLIEgy! Read this excellent article or visit his thorough archives debunking the pseudoscience known as Virology.
There are two replies I generally hear from others when I attempt to talk about geoengineering and weather modification which I also often see in the comments section of others posting about this topic.
So this post Iâm going to share some new links and quotes and personal observations in the hope that folks really start to get a better sense of the scope of this issue.
So few folks are even aware of the long history of weather modification, though itâs been well-documented and these days is very easy to research.
This is something Iâve written about many times already, because it sets a precedent. I am no longer going to bother with this vast history in future posts, because now there are plenty of others talking about it online.
Iâve noticed that when someone is aware of the long history of weather modification, they usually reply that itâs just about âcloud seedingâ which is no big deal, they say, theyâve been doing it forever, so whatâs the problem?
As Agentâs Substack starkly points out, thereâs nothing safe & effective about cloud seeding. And if youâd like the ugly truth expressed in some pretty harsh terms, I urge you to read his article. (Some of his work is behind a paywall)
âTheyâre just cloud seeding, itâs not chemtrails! Itâs harmless!â, they tell us. In fact, it’s so harmless that the vast majority of states in the US have some form of seeding program currently taking place. Many of them are funded with our tax dollars, but some are sponsored by corporations you would never expect to be involved in GeoEngineering. Idaho Power currently spends $4 million a year on cloud seeding which results in a 12% increase in snow in some areas. Although the internet assures us Cloud Seeding is super-duper safe, today we are going to look at what chemicals are being spammed into the atmosphere, according to the Manufacturers of the chemicals and a crazy CDC document I unearthed.â
Heâs also shared his sky photos in another recent article and has lots more geoengineering materials.
âI had an idea for an experiment: Pick a month and photograph and/or video the sky every day in 2023 then wait a year and do it again in the same month, then compare the GeoEngineering. Would there be anything to learn from this? Letâs find outâŚ
âFirst, they (meaning, The Powers that Be) claim the suns rays are harmful and causing Climate Change (Global Warming), therefore, to keep the temperature of earth down, they need to block it. This is not a conspiracy theory, it is well documented. I have written a number of articles on the topic. They have been discussing blocking the sun since the 1960s and NASA was doing extensive research in the early 1980s which involved releasing chemicals into the sky and running tests to see how much of the suns rays were blocked. They began planning heavily in the early 1990s. read my piece 1992: Should we Spray Sulfuric Acid or Dust to Block the Sun? In the mid-to-late 1990s, only a few years after the 1992 document, people in the USA began reporting white grids and lines appearing in the sky. These grids and lines blocked the sun.â
A friend in UK driving to her vacation destination recently sent me some pics of the sad state of the skies there. Look familiar?
I wish I had better news. Itâs not good. Itâs not benevolent. Itâs not about saving us from global warming or helping our farmers cope with droughts. Itâs not about that AT ALL.
Thatâs just the cover story, because there always has to be a cover story.
Itâs about weaponizing the weather for control purposes of war and power. Now itâs also being used to force populations in myriad ways and fleece everyone with ridiculous carbon schemes. The academic publications which hype on and on about climate change do not talk about geoengineering as an on-going global operation, but as mere proposals, and this is how theyâll lock in their âWorld Governanceâ.
As the public outcry grows, so the solutions will be put into place.
Screenshot
Several US states have gotten on this bandwagon to outlaw geoengineering on various levels, which will have zero impact, because itâs a global issue, by design.
Screenshot
âTo prostitute the elementsâ : Weather Control and Weaponization by the US Dept of Defense by R. Pincus 2017 War & Society p. 64-80
âThe US military has a long and robust history of scientific research programs, often conducted in conjunction with civilian scientists at non-military governmental agencies as well as universities. These programs flourished in the immediate post-Second World War and the early cold war years, as the field of military science expanded to address the sprawling Soviet threat. One area of growth was in atmospheric science, which had already taken off preceding Second World War in conjunction with the growth of air warfare. Advances in meteorology, cloud science and climatology enabled military interests to align with weather forecasters and also agricultural interests, as old ideas about cloud seeding and weather control were revived in the light of new research. The military, largely through the Air Force, advanced a series of projects investigating the potential of weather and climate control, manipulation, and ultimately weaponisation.â
What we have are Global Public-private partnerships cooperating internationally to manipulate the weather and change the climate as well as fleece the populace with projects that do not help the people.
Like these: the Greenhouse Gas Removal by Enhanced Weathering (GGREW) projects
âOne example of a research project on the feasibility of enhanced weathering is the CarbFix project in Iceland.[33][34][35]â
âAn Irish company named Silicate has run trials in Ireland and in 2023 is running trials in the USA near Chicago. Using concrete crushed down to dust it is scattered on farmland on the ratio 500 tonnes to 50 hectares, aiming to capture 100 tonnes of CO2 per annum from that area. Claiming it improves soil quality and crop productivity, the company sells carbon removal credits to fund the costs. The initial pilot funding comes from prize money awarded to the startup by the THRIVE/Shell Climate-Smart Agriculture Challenge.[36][37]â
Iâve been documenting some of whatâs been happening in our skies for nearly a decade. It is not cooling us, it is not stabilizing our rainfall, itâs the exact opposite. And, they know this!
âIn their own words from one of their reports, the Royal Aeronautical Society (based in London): âthe current overall effect of contrails and contrail cirrus is a net warming â about 1.5 times that of aviationâs C02â. This is a smoking gun because it affirms that what they are doing is actually having the opposite effect of what they claim to be doing. Itâs warming things, not cooling it.â
But what do academics concern themselves with? Issues of governance, because, warmer temperatures might increase small arms purchases. And other GLOBAL concerns about the control of the ornery plebs.
In my last post I included a recent photo from our area. These are the among the ânew cloud speciesâ which some will actually tell you have always been there, we just never noticed them before Smartphones. Yes, Iâve actually heard this ridiculous answer on multiple annoying occasions.
âMammatus cloudsâ they call them, because to name them is to normalize them. And the kids grow up âknowingâ and are diligently taught to accept anything that has a name. Thatâs Science!
The official sites, the academic sites ALWAYS normalize, thatâs their job. The rest of us are just all crazy conspiracy theorists. See, totally normal, because itâs right there in the International Cloud Atlas!
Thanks for reading folks, please research and pass along information!
Some brief updates this post and not as many happy snaps as Iâd like. But, itâs been so busy and carting my tablet around everywhere is not usually an option, especially where itâs wet and dirty, which is a lot of places at the moment.
Kidding season is over and itâs been a bit stressful, no surprise there. Iâve been wanting to try something newâwhich is the greatest lost homestead technique I could think ofâmaking our own rennet.
Weâve only had goats a few years now, all of this still feels very new, but, we do want to keep moving forward on the path to self-reliance, so this one is pretty essential on that list. It was as challenging as I expected it to be!
I am squeamish, so thatâs the first of the issues. Hubby does all the slaughtering and butchering and for a while I did help plucking chickens, but then we got a machine, so I donât even do that anymore. Iâm not accustomed to seeing the interiors of the animals, let alone having to identify all the parts.
So, trigger warning for this section for anyone reading more squeamish than me! Move to the next section, if you please.
For the briefest of intro lessons, rennet is made from the 4th stomach of the ruminant animal, the abomasum.
This photo is from a calf, so for us we were dealing with far smaller features. Obviously, this is a precious commodity. The abomasum must come from a nursing animal, as it still has the enzymes required for cheesemaking. It can also come from a stillborn, an unfortunate event turned into a beneficial one with proper immediate attention.
In our case, weâve had 2 stillborn, one this year and one last year. This year we also had a very small doe, a first freshener, who had fairly large twins. We decided to cull one of her kids as part of our efforts. Of course this is never an easy decision to make, and I lose sleep over stuff like this. I was never meant to be a goat farmer, I just want to make cheese!
Anyway, I am glad for the tough choice and going through the trouble to acquire this precious skill. Hubby and I sat down before the guts together, at the kitchen table. One of the great many sentences I could never have imagined Iâd be writing!
Itâs not easy to find information on the how-toâs of this process, and I certainly had no one to call or visit for advice. It was not enough information to substantially build my confidence, thatâs for sure. Sometimes that just takes doing it.
Luckily, I did find one YouTube video, and one blog, both again working with a calf, for which Iâm exceptionally grateful.
Another brief aside about rennet, if I may bore many readers a bit further! As Iâve written before, most cheese made today, at least in the U.S., is not made from real rennet, itâs made from a lab-grown rennet substitute, made by Pfizer.
While itâs not that expensive for home cheese makers to buy animal rennet online, relatively speaking, considering only a tiny amount is required, I donât want to have to entirely rely on far-away sources for such an essential item.
Another thing Iâve been experimenting with to overcome this issue is vegetable rennet, again, from a natural, local source, not a GMO lab-purchased source. We have figs, so thatâs what Iâm using, but nettles are another source.
Itâs not possible to set a large hard cheese with this method, but it works for soft cheeses and very small, what Iâd call semi-hard cheeses (because they donât need a press) like the one I just tried after discovery this channelâs excellent demonstration.
This cheese is so easy! Iâve only just made it, so I canât yet vouch for the taste, but he makes it look delicious. For this cheese you donât need any special equipmentâno molds or cultures, no aging fridge, and no rennet. Instead of the cute baskets he uses I just poked some holes in an old sour cream container. (And can I just add how much I adore his heavy accent and classic Italian hand gestures!)
We did eventually figure it all out, and here is our final product, now drying for 3 months or so, according to processing directions. It will then be sealed and last for many years and make many dozens of cheeses.
A great big thanks to the multi-layered efforts of man and nature for this magical gift!
In weather news, weâve had a lot of rain. While I mentioned last update how much I love the rain, it is causing problems. We lost most of our onion harvest, for starters. This is a big disappointment because we were so close to harvest, just a couple more weeks. Not anymore, they were rotting in the ground, we had to pull them, lost a great many, and the others are mostly very small still.
So between the pitiful potatoes and the sad state of the onions, we are not starting off too well. The peas are already done as well, because of the heat, but thatâs pretty normal here.
Whatâs not normal is my usual complaintâthe manufactured weather. We canât drive to half our property until Hubby upgrades our culvert, a huge undertaking. But we are very lucky this time around! No hail, or tornadoes, or other immediate disasters to deal with, like a great many.
Yes, more manmade clouds above our head. Weâll learn what NASA calls them next post.
But, I have a future Geoengineering Update in the works, so Iâll save further lecturing and complaining for now!
Instead weâll end with a snap of one of our favorite dinners, just how we like it, burned to perfection! Not our pepperoni or cheese this time, but some just foraged chanterelles, homemade sourdough crust, and homegrown pork sausage. đ
And other news this post, including Hubbyâs big mistake, lots of garden snaps, critter updates and the new normal weather chaos.
Big ones, small ones, skinny ones, fat ones . . .
Black ones, white ones, green ones, yellow ones . . .
Letâs see, perhaps a bit of 80s pre-conditioning before our current day âYou vill eat ze bugs!â?
Weâve never seen so many, and such a variety. They do not look the least bit appetizing and clearly the birds agree, or there couldnât possibly be so many.
Iâm not exaggerating when I say you cannot take a step without seeing one. Iâm hoping they turn into gorgeous butterflies and soon weâll have a garden full of them. But I havenât looked them up yet and they could easily become some voracious relative of horn worms for all I know, about to attack the tomatoes.
Theyâve destroyed my spring cabbages and are working on the fava beans and snap peas now.
Fall cabbages in the back compared to spring cabbages up front
At least the goats appreciated all those Swiss cheese-like leaves.
Snap peas donât last long here anyway and while those creepy crawlers get the leaves of them, and those of the radishes, at least they leave us the fruits.
Iâve already made a large crock of sauerkraut and a quart of fermented radishes. Plus weâve been getting loads of mulberries thanks to Hubby who has been destroying the tent worms that have been appearing all spring. Those little buggers love the wild cherries too and can easily destroy all leaves and fruits in a matter of days.
So, big kudos to Hubby for coming to the rescue, and spending a fair amount of tedious time harvesting these little beauties as well.
But, Hubby is also responsible for the misdemeanor crime of killing our potatoes! I shouldâve caught it. I know, he was just trying to help. So, he filled our potato buckets with too much compost too fast and now we have potato disaster.
Lesson learned, you can only add a couple inches at a time, even if the greens are much taller than that.
Iâve got lots of herbs companion planted with the tomatoes that are all looking great.
Thyme, cilantro and dill growing between tomatoes
One of the best garden decisions Iâve made is far more flowers in the garden. Not only to attract pollinators, but to attract us too. Itâs a far more inviting space than just rows of crops and makes me want to go in and play. đ
The Peggy Martin rose just one year after planting a cutting from a friend.
And the Burr rose, many years old, huge and seemingly indestructible, even from constant nibbling by the sheep and goats.
And one of my garden favorites, which my photo doesnât do justice at all: Nigella, a delicious seed and lovely tiny blooms in blue and white.
Their seeds have a grape-like flavor and are delicious in bread and kombucha.
A larger garden view
Another fruit that so far seems successful are the persimmons. We have both Virginia and Asian planted and the flowers on them are so unique, just like their fruits.
Iâve also got the citrus planted at last and Iâm so excited! I cannot fail! (Says no one but me and Iâve gotten quite a few discouraging words from others on this venture.)
Planted along with the new âkiss me under the garden gateâ flower which is doing quite well, and the still unfinished wattle fence.
In the best news we have our first kids just born this morning. Milking season approaches too quickly!
The weather madness continues, unfortunately. Big surprise.
Some still think these are contrails! Good grief!
This weekendâs forecast looks like a drop-down menu: 1/16th inch rain possible, or severe storms, or flooding, or hail, or tornadoes. Try planning for those options, peasants! đŠ
Hope life is a little more predictable in your neck of the woods!
Wow, Iâve posted no update since the end of August (aka Late Swelter Season). Now here we are already well into Weather Whiplash Season, my how time flies!
This post weâve got lots of happy snaps, the usual weather bitching, some cheese boasting, and long laments about our dear Shadowâs woes.
Notice the band-aid on his ear? Useless. But, apparently we needed to learn that the hard way.
Sometimes time flies, but when things get really bad, it crawls. Especially when it goes instantly from nothing much to Holy Shit!
And as bad as it is, in the big picture the weather whiplash is still way worse. So, best get that report out of the way first. No rain, in our rainy season. No real season at all, just a rainless rollercoaster, and not nearly as fun as that sounds.
Not natural clouds, folks! And soon the kids wonât be able to see any difference, though the atmosphere has significantly changed in the last two decades, as the weather has changed, as they lie about their climate scam, and charge âcarbon taxesâ to ordinary folks to pay for their madness. Makes me SO FURIOUS!
I could be taking such photos on a regular basis, but it gets old. And then someone could comment on the âprettyâ sunset. đ¤Ż. Argghhh, Noooo! Canât someone please make it stop?!
No? Ok, moving on.
More bad news. Weâve had the most prolific acorn year since weâve been here, thatâs about 15 years. Sounds like good news, I know. It is good news, in many ways. The pigs are getting fat, the sheep and goats are gorging. Literally. And thatâs the problem. One of the young twins gorged himself to death. It was terribly sad. His little stomach ballooned up as if his body couldnât contain it anymore and he was suffering for hours.
Iâd read baking soda could help, but it did not in this case. Perhaps it was too severe. I also read thereâs a surgical procedure which would alleviate the pressure in his gut, but I donât have the confidence to perform that myself and the vets around here donât treat goats. I held the little guy for a long time, trying to keep him warm and help him feel better, but we lost him. Oh the perils of animal husbandry!
Another problem of the acorn bumper crop is much less severe. We live under a large oak tree and have a metal roof. Itâs been rather windy lately and once those nuts start shaking loose, itâs kinda like the sky is falling. If our veteran neighbor with PTSD comes by I expect heâll be darting for cover quick, because it sounds eerily like machine gunfire when they get popping off the roof.
The acorn perks include some plump pigs and happy goats, two of which Iâm still milking, which is making for some very tasty cheeses.
Under the oaks: happy pigs, sheep and goats.Can you spot the perfectly camouflaged foraging pig?Happy goats make for delicious cheeses.
Iâve gotten so successful Iâm confident enough to get very daring!
Chèvre wrapped in sassafras and fig leaves for aging.More aged chèvreâthe top log is covered in dried goldenrod leaves and flowers, the bottom one is wrapped in honeybee comb.Our first pecan harvestâless than impressive, but still delishLactarius paradoxus mushrooms, homemade goat cheeses and first Japanese persimmon
Our fruits were nearly non-existent this summer, but we did just get our first âcropâ of persimmons, a whopping 5 of them! A couple of years ago I harvested lots of them from a neighborâs tree and they were delicious; that was the first time weâd ever tried them.
Fuji persimmon
We planted both varieties, but the American variety takes much longer to start producing fruit and the fruits are generally smaller. These pictured above are Fuji, quite different, harder, larger, less sweet, not at all astringent, and also very tasty. The closest in taste Iâd say would be a very ripe mango, the American varieties are especially super sweet, like jam.
If youâd like to learn more about this fancy fruit, hereâs an enthusiastic lesson from James Prigione.
Weâve been getting a few mushrooms, but the lack of rain is certainly hindering our foraging experience. A friend brought us a huge chicken of the woods, our first time trying it and it was excellent.
Laetiporus sulphureus
The lactarius paradoxus are hard to spot and deceptively unattractive. In fact, they are exceptionally tasty and have a longer shelf-life, and of course a different season, than our favorite chanterelles.
Even while foraging mushrooms it seems the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. đ¤
In the garden we do have two nice full boxes of varied cool-season produce we protect from the frosts with row cover cloth. In addition to lettuces thereâs some broccoli and cauliflower, spring onions, cilantro and parsley, radishes and Chinese cabbage. Weâve also got our garlic already shooting up and a couple rows of turnips started for the pigs come spring. Our neighbors are now buying eggs from us, so we throw in the surplus veggies when we can.
3 of 6 colonies survived our terrible summer. The hives are a bit hodge-podge at the moment while we do maintenance on them.
The honeybees are occasionally making an appearance, though since the frost there is little for them to forage. One of their last favorites is another one considered a ânuisance plantâ by the âexpertsââitâs called tree groundsel and itâs pictured after the frost in the right photo above, in the background behind the boxes. Quite a lovely late-season plant, if you ask me.
And approaching it before the first frost sounded like the buzzing metropolis that it was! A last hoorah for the bees.
So we come back to the current day and our crazy Shadow drama. It all started with a tiny Band-Aid.
Heâs got the ear-span of a small plane and we have the living room space of its cockpit. When he shakes his head he invariably hits some piece of wall or corner of furniture with his Dumbo ears and itâs actually pretty amazing it didnât happen already: a tiny gash on the tip of one ear that he doubtlessly cannot even feel.
Forever happy and oblivious
We were racking our brains for several days, trying everything we could think of and just digging ourselves deeper. One tiny failed Band-aid led to bigger Band-aids led to bigger wraps led to taping menstrual pads to the poor creature!
Nothing was working. We also tried several over-the-counter products, like liquid Band-aid, blood-clotting powder, and some spray-on crap. Not only was nothing working, they all seemed to be making the problem worse.
We even tried to craft our own âNo flap ear wrapâ made out of my doo-rags, which also didnât work. So, we purchased a pricey one online which should be arriving any day now. Obviously, this is a universally common dog issue. A result of over-domestication no doubt, but thatâs fodder for another post.
Then I start racking my pea brain in frantic desperation. How to stop the blood flow pronto?! Crimp his ears with clothes pins? Tie his ears up on top of his head with a scrunchy? Stitches? Soldering? How about just cut the whole ear off? Yes, we did briefly consider the vet. But weâve been spending the many months since we got him trying to detox him from all the vet potions and it feels we are finally making some headway there. I kept imagining the new meds that would be required for this new issue and their invariable side-effects, which would start us off at square one with his detox.
Clearly I donât think very well in high-stress situations. I was really trying hard and the bad ideas were piling on. The blood, which had gone from a tiny occasional drop, to a full-on drip, to a steady stream, and from then within a few hours a sprayer-hose in every direction with every shake of his head. And that boy loves to shake his head.
Between the blood splatter and the acorn fire it feels we could be living in a battlefield training zone.
Yup, the crazy, bloody mess had arrived and is still visible all over our living room, deck, porch, siding. We covered all the furniture and even the walls with old towels and sheets. Hubby started following him around everywhere, with a giant towel extended between his outstretched arms each time he sensed a head shake was about to turn into a sprayer-hose of the sticky, red, splatter paint across the windows, the screens, the ceilings even. (Where are those magical elves when you need a deep house cleaning?)
We needed a miracle, and fast!
And thank the heavens, I got that miracle in one brief email. Thank you UK herbalists, Kath and Zoe, miracle workers! It shouldâve occurred to me sooner. Me, especially, considering I did start the Herbal Explorations pages earlier this year and have been getting educated on herbal remedies. It honestly did not occur to me that herbs could solve this acute issue. I didnât think anything would be fast or effective enough, especially when every other thing we were trying had failed and even worsened the problem.
Zoe suggested powdered myrrh as her preferred method in order to stop the blood flow, but we didnât have that on hand. I ordered some online, but in the meantime chose among her other options, yarrow, and we have plenty on hand because I like it in Kombucha. I made a strong tea with it, as well as grounding some up into a powder and that whole concoction I held on his ear a few times with a cloth, some of that powder getting into the wound and sticking there, and the blood flow finally stopped. Holy Heavens! As of this writing we are still in good form and have our reserve remedies soon arriving in the mail.
What I clearly need now is an official Herbal First-Aid course. Herbs are not just for gentle healing and routine health, I see, they can be used in emergencies, too.
Why did I not think about it sooner?! It seems like such a no-brained to me now, that Iâve started to consider other potentials that didnât occur to me at the timeâlike the old Russian folk remedy bees podmoreâwhich I just happen to have been saving for a rainy day for 3 years now.
Quite an expensive lesson, but a welcome one nonetheless. đ
Thank you from Hubbyâs âWhite Elephantâ! đ
A huge thanks and deep bow to Kath and Zoe, from all of us on the wee homestead! đ đ¤
