I'm sorry I've been so silent - we have been nothing if not busy! (As I'm sure all of you have been too!). Hopefully, a picture is worth a thousand words, because that is all I'm able to get up today. Here is a peek into our life as of late....
Master Hand Grenade became acquainted with winter driving (black ice) and learned the pitfalls of only carrying liability insurance!
And, the next day, his initiation as a butcher occurred.....
Making lotion bars...
 |
| Weighing the beeswax |
 |
| Melting the ingredients |
 |
| Cooling in the molds |
 |
| The finished bars |
 |
| Packaged and ready to go |
 |
| Master Calvin scrubbing the barrel, with a Zebra lamp on his head (so he could be sure to get all of the nooks and crannies) |
 |
| 30 pounds of coarsely chopped cranberries |
 |
| Into the "fermentation" vessel (also known as a 55 gallon barrel) |
 |
| Raisins added (15 pounds) |
 |
| Stirring the "must" with a pizza paddle! |
30 pounds chopped cranberries (fresh or frozen)
15 pounds raisins
45 pounds granulated sugar
4 1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme
1 1/4 C lemon juice
Wine yeast
15 gallons boiled/cooled water
Wash and roughly chop cranberries to allow juices to leave the fruit. Transfer crushed/chopped cranberries to a clean winemaking fermentation container and add all of the other ingredients except for the wine yeast.
After allowing the cranberry mixture to stand for around 12 hours, add the activated wine yeast. Stir each morning and evening for 5 days. Strain and squeeze the solids, transferring the cranberry wine mixture into a demijohn, complete with airlock.
Rack after a month. Rack once more after 3 months, and then two more times until the wine is clear and approximately 12 months old. Bottle the wine and leave to stand for over 12 months.
_______________________________________
So, there you go - a brief synopsis of life in "Little Shouse on the Prairie".
