Home Brew Update…

Posted on by February 21, 2012

All goes well… the red ale and the hard cider are doing nicely. Good color, nice carbonation. Nothing has exploded (always a plus) and the sugar at the bottom is nearly all dissolved. I gave all 30 some bottles a nice little rotation to help swish around the sugar and was pleased to see it bubble nicely! There is something really cool about home brewing… It’s not the same as baking a cake or making butter or cheese… it’s like something that folks don’t often do, and yet, it’s really pretty easy. Just sort of fun, in a weird way. I enjoy it. And it’s funny, because I really don’t drink much at all. The last beer I had was almost 6 weeks ago! It was back when we first got the brews started!

The last batch is almost ready to be bottled. But, I don’t have any more bottles! Oops. I need to get one more case of tall necks and get them ready for the amber bock that is fermenting nicely in it’s little keg. Unfortunately, there are no brewing stores out here in the sticks, so it will have to wait until I get to town. There’s a great brew store in Toledo and I’m anxious to go and check it out again. I went last year, back when I first started and a lot of the supplies just overwhelmed me. Now, however, with 4 batches of good home brew under my belt, I am not as timid and unsure. I’d like to try a non-Mr. Beer kit!!! Yeah, a REAL honest to goodness, all on my own batch. Been looking through my brewing book to find a nice simple but good recipe to try and brew up! I’d really like to try something fruity. Or citrusy. Like a Mexican beer, with lime maybe… Just a thought. I’ve got a hard cider, a pale ale, a red ale and an amber bock under my hat now, I think something a little exotic would be great on a hot hot summer afternoon, laying in a hammock and just relaxing…

Maybe next week. We’ll see!

I’m even less of a wine drinker, but I’m really excited to see how this big carboy of wine is going to taste like! I hope it is slightly sweet, a nice deep sweet red grape wine. I’d really like to try a peach wine next, if I can find the right type of concentrated juice for the job. I suspect that there will be a good deal of gifting with this first five gallons! I just don’t think I could get through 5 gallons of wine by myself in this century!!! It’s okay though, I’ve already had a few good friends with their hands up, patiently waiting to give the first Windhaven wine a taste test! I’ve had a few sips of Uncle Rod’s wines and they are very nice! Peach or strawberry… yum. A nice desert wine, I could see that drizzled over some fresh fruit and lovely shortcake in a few months!

Well, we’ve got a few more weeks for everything to finish up. I hope it’s all ready for our sheep shearing spring gathering here at the farm. We’ve got plans in our minds to have a fun day, watching the shearing, working with the fleeces, enjoying a lovely lunch of local foods, homemade goodies and a little sip and tasting of the Windhaven brews! Perhaps a little music, a bonfire, and who knows what else? A little prepared fiber to work with, learn to card and spin! Can’t wait!!!

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Bunny Love…

Posted on by February 21, 2012

Well, this is a first for us. The first time we have ever set out to breed animals. Bunnies, actually.

Now wait… does chickens count? I don’t think so, they do it all the time and there’s not much you can do about it if you want to keep a rooster around.

Okay, it’s the first time we have ever set out to breed mammals. Yep, furry little critters. Rabbits should be pretty easy, eh? After all, they breed like rabbits… or so one would hope.

Cornelius, our little black and white French angora boy, was all eager to court and woo the fair Lady Gwendolyn. She, of course, could care less for his teenager advances and but she was tolerant and at least didn’t attack him or harm the little Romeo. She visited his cage for 6 straight days. I’m not really sure that he knew what he was doing, but he was eager and gave it a good try. We’ll know about the first week or two of March. If she is expecting, she should start to make a nest about that first week. If we get to St. Patrick’s day without little ones? Well, then we get to start over.

Grizelda, our other lovely mother to be, is waiting patiently for her turn with our little stud. She really likes him, and they are a little closer in age and like the same movies and music. Haha. Yeah. The plan is to wait and see what this first rendezvous creates and then consider a second attempt. If we get a litter of kits and all goes well, then we will wait and see how they sell, and all that. If they don’t make it, or there is no litter, then we will try a little earlier with Grizzy and see how that might go.

We won’t mind if we get “stuck” with a few angoras, since we have plans for their wool, not just for breeding. We’ve had several inquiries, and haven’t really even hung out the shingle, so to speak of their availability. We see lot of folks on Craigslist looking for fiber pets, specifically French angoras. All part of our plan for the farm.

Well, Ozzy, our nuetered German angora, was just happy to have his girl back to snuggle with in the little bunny hut. I know that as the time draws closer, he’ll have to be a bachelor for awhile, since we’re not sure if he would be sweet to the babies, or even if Gwen will tolerate him being around. So he’s got a fortnight to snuggle and then he’ll have to hang out with just Grizzy.

Fye, our rescue pet bunny, will probably be kicked out of the bunny condo and will probably move out to the little chicken coop. Bunnies do pretty nicely with chickens, and he can have a nice bit of area to hang out in. We might have a lovely family that wants him, just sort of waiting to hear if that might happen. If not, he’s fine here at the homestead. Like I said, he can hang out with the chickens and enjoy a nice big huge hutch, so to speak and a lot of freedom. We just have to make sure there is no areas that he might be able to dig or push out in the yard. If there is and we can’t fix it, which is unlikely, then he might go into the big barn with the little roosters in that mini coop! We have lots of places for him to camp out while we work on our nursery plans! He’s a super nice bunny and he’s always got a spot here at the inn.

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