SAIL THIS BOAT

The Glass Center is looking for someone with an interest in wind-powered transportation, even if they can only come over on weekends to enjoy the lake.

We have a boat with a tree practically growing through it, but other than that (and its ragged sail) it should be in decent working condition... my uneducated prognosis would call for a few hundred dollars and an afternoon of enjoyable labor.

Come over and take a look. (This includes you, Mom)

Moving Right Along...

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.

New Kid on the Farm

Born Dec 21, 2007

duckweed!

So it turns out that duckweed (the green stuff covering the surface of our smaller pond) is not only edible, but it is also rich in digestible protein (up to 43%)!

So last week we harvested some and ate it (quite an experience). It doesn't taste like anything in particular - think "green" - but it's so nice to be eating something that we grew without even trying.

There aren't many duckweed recipes online, so we just boiled it and acted like it was spinach. We put it into some enchiladas just to try (it didn't really add much of a taste, but it really enriched our eating experience).

This counts as our second sustainable source of protein on the farm (the first is hog, which is quite delicious), and we'll be searching for more. We'll try to post more recipes in the future, after some more experimenting.

Thanksgiving Party

Well, the event was a partial success. I was kind of bummed about the weather not cooperating, but hey, we needed rain. So thanks to everyone who came out and shared some love, drank some beer, and enjoyed living. We are probably going to try and do it again over the Christmas Holidays, so I'll keep you updated.

Beer, Biodiesel, Party...

It's been a great week out at the farm. Beer has been bottled, more beer has been created and is currently fermenting, and biodiesel is pretty much done. Will and I constructed a drum stand to dispense fuel from, and I have to say, I'm really proud of it.



I'm doing a lot of research on horticulture, so that we might begin growing a portion (if not all....) of our own food for next year. Exciting!
Kate is part of an art show this week and we all made it out on opening night to support her. It was really a good time with lots of quality art and quality people.

The highlight of the week (for me) was Geoff's orchestra concert last night. Dan, Will, and I got to the show too late to get tickets (sold out) but we were able to sneak back stage to enjoy the show. The group did an excellent job interpreting Chopin and the all time classic Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Bravo I say, Bravo.

Thanksgiving at The Center is exactly one week from today. Everyone come out and enjoy the festivities.

branching into video

I made a little silent video this week, while Jeff and I were cleaning the drums for our biodiesel operation.

It reminded me that I still wanted to make the video of our first liter of biodiesel, so I borrowed Jeff's computer to make it.

The chemistry is quite simplified... if you have any questions, feel free to comment, and maybe we can make a tutorial out of this.