So what have we been up to lately? Plenty of things:
We've had a fun filled and eventful winter break out at the farm. Plenty of new friends have been made, new things have been created, and residents have come (and gone).
We were lucky to have two great people out for most of their break from school at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches. Geoff, a former resident and frequent guest, and Shaina, a new friend and excellent cook. They've both gone back to school now, but will remain (hopefully) as active members of the community.
In addition to these more or less full time guests, we had several people in and out for much of December. We got a lot of things accomplished with their help. Thanks to Laura especially for helping me paint and organize the cabin a bit.
Founding Glass Center member Will has left us to continue his education. He is sorely missed out here, but I wish him the best with his studies. I suspect he'll be back out before too terribly long for a visit and an evaluation of our progress.
In other news, we have a new member, Hugh. Hugh is a recent graduate from The University of Texas and is currently preparing himself for Law School this fall. Hugh will be undertaking the task of more or less building our horticultural activities from the ground up. We're lucky to have him as he already has quite a bit of experience gardening and is passionate about learning as much as he can about it.
I've been trying to keep myself busy and motivated in the right directions. We've come along ways on the new greenhouse, which has been a great learning experience for all of us. I've never been in charge of such a large scale construction project. It's been interesting- and next time we do something like this it will be that much easier!
We've been able to make some progress with our local food usage, which is great since we aren't producing on the farm just yet. We picked up a ton of persimmons from a guy in Henderson which we've preserved and canned. No more Welch's on my PB&J's; just persimmon jam! Which brings me to another item; I picked up a good load of pecans from my grandparent's trees in Tyler. I've been trying to shell pecans anytime I've had a spare moment and will be attempting to make some pecan butter (we'll see how that turns out). Throw that onto some homemade bread (even though right now we aren't using local flour) and we've got an all natural, local meal.
A recent discovery is how delicious homemade pickles are. Thanks Shaina. We also have Shaina to thank for getting us into Kombucha, which is a fermented green tea beverage that has all kinds of health benefits such as increased immune system function. Plus, it's delicious!
Me explaining a little of the Brewing Process to Geoff.
Hugh and I have pretty much jumped head first into all-grain brewing, using crushed grains instead of malt extract. It takes a little bit more time and some more equipment, but I expect the results to be just fantastic. We'll have to wait just a bit longer before we'll know for sure. We currently have nearly 15 gallons of beer in various stages of fermenting. Some people might say we have a little bit of an obsession...
Currently fermenting:
IPA
Sam Adam's Lager Copy
Writeover Ale- this is an experiment using the second runnings from our IPA, various unused hops laying around, and some expired bread yeast. We'll see about all this...
I guess the final big thing is that I have returned to school. After a year and a half sabbatical I have decided to continue my studies, this time at SFA as an Environmental Science major. So I'll be commuting to Nacogdoches a few days a week all the while maintaining my duties around here as best I can. I think it will be an ideal situation for me. I hope my studies there will help me understand the farm a little better, and vice versa.
