Heartbroken artist with an empty house and a bull terrier gets creative. (JavaScript needed to view slideshow.)
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Some cool, fractal-like photography. (H/T SC)
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Local cranberry growers who lost their contract with Ocean Spray landed 20 pounds of their harvest on furrydoc the other day. What do you do with 20 pounds of cranberries? Furrydoc shared the bounty and instructions for drying.
I took a couple of pounds and they’re in the drier now, some unsweetened and some drizzled with honey.
I’m not so big on cranberries, but I do like the dried ones in salads and trail mixes. Good to have a few locally grown superfoods among the preps, too.
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Knitting today. Not only for the soul but this time, the body, too. Ready to start cabling.
Just as soon as I find those wandering third needles.
I was surprised and gratified the other day to realize quite a few guys hereabouts had knitted or crocheted. I am at this moment wearing fingerless gloves (aka arm warmers or better yet gauntlets) I made with wool gifted to me by one of those knitting guys.
(Pattern for that particular glove here. Many others here.)
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Finally, some things not so mundane
Saturday, December 13. Washington gun owners rally: We Will Not Comply with I-594. Over 6,000 already signed up.
(And here it is for those who don’t do F*c*b**k.)
Can’t or don’t want to attend but support the ideals? Bumper stickers and yard signs here.
Can’t really go without mentioning how to knit a cunning hat. That’s really my goal, you know. That, and a decent scarf.
Thanks Clare,Ive been wanting Mrs to make just those things (arm warmers),didnt know they actually existed,she is looking at the links now.
I was thinking of cutting some arms off thrift store sweaters to make them.
Thank you!
I’ve never really liked cranberries, but one year I candied some cranberry sauce on a whim, and it came out fantastic!
Now that I have a working dehydrator again, I might have to make that again.
Maybe you could try some cranberry chutney…..
http://www.sbcanning.com/2011/10/more-for-holidays-cranberry-chutney.html
Love the arm warmers.
It’s great to see non-compliance catching on around the nation. I’ve been pushing the issue with everybody I know, everywhere. If we don’t comply with anything – especially not registration flim-flams – they don’t have good enough information to proceed with any ‘confiscations’. Nobody in their right mind would go into a neighborhood to grab a few guns not knowing if they would take fire from the target house, or every house, or none.
Now, we just need to all be aware of the jury’s right of nullifications too. It works regardless of a judge’s orders to the contrary, and like a gun gives one person enough ‘authority’ to resist tyranny. Check out http://www.fija.org if you need the details. If we work the jury rights AND non-compliance, we can beat this anti-gun thing by not giving them anything to get strident about, but never letting them get their way regardless of what laws they might buy (Bloomberg) or pass.
Imagine the immense costs of jailing 100,000 guys over an unregistered plastic magazine, or the carnage of trying to confiscate guns from that many people who refuse to give them up without a fight. NO state can stand that, nor to take the risk – and in most states the number of ‘non-compliant’ folks is far higher – in multiples that number – 200,000, maybe 500,000, etc. Put that many men and women in prison, and you not only pay millions in prison costs, but family assistance skyrockets and tax incomes to the state drop like a blue ice ‘meteor’ from a jetliner.
And following the example of Mike Vanderboeg @ Sipsey Street Irregulars, we can even use these new laws in our states as an excuse to acquire everything they prohibited or demanded be registered – all of it off the books of course. I highly recommend it – for the same reasons I recommend deep encryption of your emails and files (just because the Leviathan wants access to it all). We may not win any battles individually, but we can cost them more money than cooperation will, and if we all do that the monster will eat itself by it’s tail.
The chutney recipe sounds great! Wish I’d tried that first thing. After 36 hours in the dryer, a lot of the berries are still round and fat. Wonder if it’s safe to pull them out and “chutneyfy” them?
Cranberry drying: Try blanching them first. Works with stuff like green beans.
RE Cranberry drying.
http://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/348/348-597/348-597.html
Excellent, detailed information on blanching for either freezing or drying fruits and vegetables. Cranberries are not mentioned specifically, but the directions for drying grapes would probably be adequate.
No need to blanch cranberries before dehydrating — either cut them in half or, to save time and mess, chop them up coarsely in a mini-blender (a couple of seconds is sufficient to cut or bruise them for drying faster). And cran-apple leather is good. A couple of months ago I roasted cranberries and sweet potatoes together, and now have been wondering how cran-sweet potato leather would taste with some spices mixed in.
Cran-applesauce is delicious. I happen to like cranberries so recently made the sauce with a bunch of Granny Smith apples and a cup of cranberries. It was on the tart side, but I don’t have a sweet tooth; more sugar could be added, and/or less cranberries could be used.
The drying instructions Claire linked in the post include a type of blanching process.
Correction: I said “mini-blender”, I meant “mini food processor”. A blender (of any size) might puree the cranberries.
Cool sand art:http://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/10/layered-sand-art-by-andrew-clemens.html?m=1
Good Posts! I will not comply!
A whole website dedicated to prepping lessons learned from Katrina, by a dude who learned the hard way: http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/