Pruning Muscadines, 2021

 Last winter, I pruned the muscadines late and they leaked sap horribly for days afterwards.  However, it didn't hurt the vines, and they produced a decent crop--at least a couple of them.  This year, I have been a little more timely.  I'm not done with them yet, but I have begun.  I have just a couple of weeks to get my winter maintenance tasks done before things start to come out of dormancy.

Last summer the Ison grew a lot.  It started off fairly well-contained, but stretched all the way to the end of the trellis line on one side.  It also produced a lot of shoots near the bottom. Some side shoots off the top grew down all the way to the ground, then stretched out another two or three feet.  All got pruned off this month, leaving about 3 buds on the laterals off the main horizontal vines (actually it's more like 2-4, some recommend 1-2 and others say 3-4; preserving forks where they occur).

In the background of this image, you can see another vine that hasn't been touched yet.  Here's a closeup of the post-pruning appearance:

One thing I noticed is that the little tendrils it throws out to anchor itself sometimes latched onto another part of the same plant.  Once they find something to lash onto, they get very tight.  I cut some of them because they left deep grooves in the vine.  

Eventually, the lateral vines will be big enough to resist that, maybe...but not now.  Hopefully this leads to another good harvest this year.

Dealing with Large-Diameter Wood

 I'm definitely not very accomplished when it comes to firewood splitting.  However, I have managed to develop some methods to deal with difficult wood.  One thing that's challenging is large-diameter logs.  Because splitting goes with the grain, if the piece being split is too large, the resulting wedge-shaped pieces will be too big to fit in the stove.

I had a large oak tree cut down a couple of years ago.  While I did split some smaller pieces, the main trunk was huge--three feet in diameter at the base.  I was a little nonplussed about how to proceed.  I wasn't sure I could split it myself.  Meanwhile, it sat in the yard decaying.

I finally decided to give it a try, and was able to make the first split with the maul pretty easily.

From there it was likewise not too difficult to get it into larger chunks, which then could be split into smaller pieces.

However, the wedges were, as noted previously, too large.  I was able to break them into two pieces across the grain using the wedge, but it was pretty tough work.

 

 

I eventually hauled much of it up to the electric splitter, and found it was able to split these relatively small pieces easily (they were only 10 inches long).  Bigger pieces might be a problem; as the pictures show, I have a lot of sections that are longer, up to 18 inches.

One thing I was pleasantly surprised by was the overall condition of the wood--it's still in relatively good shape, but I know the clock is ticking.  There are definite signs of insect infestation. They're returning to dust pretty quickly at this point.  This is probably the last good opportunity to harvest relatively unblemished wood. 

Sweetgum and Eggs

 I've related my difficulties with splitting sweetgum a number of times previously.  While relatively small pieces (up to six inches or so) splits fine, larger pieces are a nightmare.  The wood doesn't have a straight grain.

Yesterday I was splitting what I thought was some oak cut last year about this time.  It was hard to split when fresh, so I stacked it for a while.  Wood that I'm splitting now is for next fall.  I grabbed a piece that was about 10-12 inches in diameter and put it on the splitter.  The splitter was able to split it once, whereupon I saw that it was sweetgum.  I tried to quarter one of the halves and the splitter choked.  I then grabbed my maul and wedge.  I manged to get it into quarters but it took a lot of work.  You can see the blue streak on the wedge as it dug erratically through the piece.

It looks like a straight-grained tree that was twisted by some malevolent force as it grew.  I'm still amazed that there's wood rated worse for splitting than sweetgum (sycamore and elm, according to the University of Kentucky site).

In other news, the chickens are steadily, if slowly, laying eggs. I may have up to three laying now, and I'm getting one per day most days.  They seem to be using the nesting box on the ground inside the tractor consistently now.  The lighter-colored eggs below are from my birds, while the darker ones are from Costco.

Reluctant Egg Layers

 In early May, I got my first batch of chicks, Barred Rocks.

 

They grew very rapidly.

They have been essentially full-grown for a few months now.  As noted elsewhere, I had an issue with a fox that claimed two of them: I didn't fortify their tractor enough to prevent the first attack, but I then made multiple adjustments and have had no further problems.

They seem to be enjoying life, but they hadn't started laying as of late December, despite being nearly eight months old.  I started feeding them layer pellets in mid-September, which in retrospect was way too early, at four and a half months.  Nonetheless, they were getting enough calcium. I was concerned that they might be eating eggs.

Searching online, I saw forum posts from people who indicated that they had new pullets that didn't start laying until days began lengthening in late winter/early spring. I also saw bits and pieces on the web suggesting that six to eight months is normal for Barred Rocks and other heavy heritage breeds.

Finally, I started to get a few eggs.

 

If size, shape, and color are consistent in each chicken, I think I have two who have started to lay at this point--one egg every two or three days.  So I haven't gotten very many total yet (the first one showed up January 2).  They also are not using the nesting boxes, as feared, so I put another nesting box on the ground inside the tractor.  One appears to be using that, but I have also found eggs on the ground.  So far, there's no real sign of one being broken after being laid.

It took a while, but things are starting to happen.

Another Bread Fail?

 ...Or at least call it a less-than-optimal rise.  I baked another 100% whole wheat loaf, this time with Red Fife wheat, which is (so far) my favorite.  Here's the result:

It's not exactly a failed loaf; it's just more dense than normal. The comparison loaf is 100% white flour, which is always very fluffy. The rare 100% whole wheat splitting top crust was nowhere to be seen.  Still, I have had worse experiences.

 I think in this case the flour may have been slightly too hydrated, and the stones of my grinder may have snuck apart on me and may need adjustment again.  That was a main factor behind the epic Emmer disaster. The other factor was over-hydration, and the two may go together.  Under-ground wheat = less water needed for making the sponge.  If one does not adjust for that, it's a soggy, grainy mess that doesn't rise.  I'll try again, but will go back to 50% for a while in the meantime.

Apricot Sludge

 The title may not be very appetizing.  However, it's a reasonable way to characterize what I found when I recently opened a jar of apricots that were canned a few years ago. Would 'Viscous Apricot Syrup' be any better?

I've written before about canning apricots.  It's a pretty straightforward process.  And I have written before about the storage life of canned food.  It's more than a year.

These apricots were canned in the summer of 2016, so were about four years old when opened.  As you can see, they're a little darker than when fresh, but the flavor was fine.  What may or may not be easy to see is that the syrup has turned into more of a gel:

I assume this is the action of the pectin, present at varying levels in many or most fruits.  There are no problems with quality, either of the syrup or of the fruit itself.  I don't know how long canned fruit is good for, but it seems to stretch at least four years.  As I've noted before, as well, I've opened four-year-old jars of peach preserves, too, and found them to be fine.  One exception is some sugar-free peach preserves I made with Whey Low one time; I didn't write about the effort at the time, but I followed my normal process, except substituting Whey Low for sugar.  The Whey Low, after about three years, had granulated, making the preserves somewhat disturbingly crunchy (although the flavor was okay).

I haven't seen this same gelling process with pears, which have more pectin, but I don't have any that have been canned for as long as the apricots.  The same thing may happen with them, as well, if they are on the shelf for a couple more years.

Patching Clothes, Three Years Later

 Almost three years ago I wrote about a pair of jeans that had a tear in the knee that I fixed.  Here's how the patch looks now:

As you can see, it's still holding up pretty well, despite some additional fuzziness as the surrounding areas fray a bit because they weren't completely stitched down.  The jeans accumulated another small tear this last summer, which was easily secured without a patch:

Other than that, they're still going strong.  They get worn and washed almost weekly, so they have about 150 additional washings at this point.  If a garment is too badly worn or torn, it might not be worth saving.  However, an evaluation is called for--being able to keep things in service longer is well worth the relatively small amount of effort it takes (sometimes).