There's a fungus amongus!

Last Saturday we ventured out to the Alliant Center for the Garden Show.  Except for the whole screaming heebie-jeebie thing from facing a great mass of humanity all piled into one place, it was an afternoon well spent.  Bean didn't get to look at flowers as long as she would have liked to (see "humanity all piled in one place"), but we promised that we would go look at some nurseries so she can get her flower fix.  We were mostly just looking and getting inspiration, but found a couple of cool things to bring home.  One of these is a Shiitake table-top farm.  We got it unwrapped and set up on Sunday:

and we already have mushrooms sprouting:

The kids are sharing the responsibility of misting the block every day.  They still have plenty of growing to do before harvest, but there are plans in the works for a pizza with some of our harvested mushrooms, homemade mozzarella, and canned from garden/CSA/farmers' market tomato sauce, and perhaps some pastured Italian sausage from the Trautman's farm.

Hmmm...

The dog must have wanted a bunkbed. Who knew?

Toddler law school

Since turning two last September, Beeb has completed his course work at baby law school and sat for the baby boards (and passed with flying colors), so I thought I would let him explain property law.

Beeb sez:

1. If I like it, it’s mine.

2. If it’s in my hands, it’s mine.

3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.

4. If I had it a week ago, it’s mine.

5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.

7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.

8. If I think it’s mine, it’s mine.

9. If it’s near me, it’s mine.

10. If it’s broken, it’s yours.

Today's post brought to you by the word: Mye-in!

Yogurt 101

I have been making my own yogurt weekly and eating it most days for breakfast.  It is much yummier than the stuff that I have gotten at the grocery store and it (fortunately) isn't very difficult to make!  I got the culture (more on that in a sec), a recipe, and some helpful hints at Dairy Connection, Inc., which is a short hop away up in Madison.  After some experimentation, I think I have it down and thought I would share.

The equipment and ingredients are pretty easy.  First off, equipment:

An appropriately sized seal-able container.  I find that canning jars work swimmingly as I usually make a quart or half-gallon at a time

A kitchen thermometer.  I love my nifty digital thermometer, but I have a cheapy analog that works just as well.  The important temperatures are 185°F, 115°F, and 110°F.

A sauce pan.

A picnic cooler.  It just needs to be big enough to hold the container upright.

Next, the ingredients:

• milk (a quart to make a quart of yogurt, a half-gallon to make a half gallon, etc.)
• the culture.  I have done this two different ways.  One is using 1/8-1/4 tsp of a freeze-dried culture (I use ABY-2C).  The other is using about a 1/2 cup of a yogurt that you like.  I have had consistently good results with the freeze-dried culture and generally good results with the second option using yogurt from the previous week's batch.  I have found that the results have tended to dwindle with time, but I suspect that as I get more consistent from batch to batch the piggy-back results will be better.  I have had a couple of batches that have wandered away from the ideal temperatures and I think that may have degraded the culture for reuse.

The process (taken from here):

Heat milk to 180°F.  I use medium heat and I stir pretty frequently to prevent scorching on the bottom of the pan.  Since I have a tendency to be easily distracted I keep some knitting or a book nearby so I can keep myself from wandering off.  I have been known to run to the computer to check my email and then head right back to the kit---ooo, shiny.  *time passes*  Hmmm, I wonder why this scorched milk is sitting on the stove?  Oh crud.  Yeah.  Not pretty.

Put the milk into the jar and cool to 115°F.  I use a sink of cold tap water.  When cooled add culture and stir gently to mix.  Put lid on jar.

Fill the cooler about 2/3 full with warm tap water (110°F).

Put jar in water in cooler.

Put lid on cooler and leave for about 8 hours.

Put finished yogurt in refrigerator and, when cool, enjoy!  I usually eat with some granola stirred in or some combination of nuts and/or fruit, a little honey or maple for sweetness, some cinnamon or nutmeg.  The possibilities are pretty much endless.

Oh boy(s)!

The big boy is down a tooth.  The very wiggly front tooth came out last night, so we have sent notification to the tooth fairy that she should schedule a visit for tonight.  This is number three and he's not a bit pleased with himself!

The wee one helped pick up the toys last night and then put himself in the bucket.  He kept trying to lift it and announced "Hebby" when he couldn't lift himself.  Naw, he ain't a bit pleased with himself either.

Yeah, I think all three are probably keepers.

Scat!

Don't fret.  It isn't real.  It's a craft project from the kids' class at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center.  The topic was Stories in the Snow and they learned about figuring out what animals are up to based on tracks and other stuff left behind in the snow.  I think they enjoyed it...mostly the liberal use of the word "poop" in describing their craft projects.

Come to the dark side...

we have warps, and wefts, and sheds, and shuttles.

Miss Bean and I have been reading the American Girl stories about Josefina, who lives in 1824 New Mexico. After her father lost many of his sheep in a flood, Josefina and her sisters and aunt started a weaving business to make blankets to trade for new sheep. So we hinted to Grandma that a loom might be fun for Christmas! So far it is strictly a team approach as Miss Bean doesn't have quite enough small motor control to weave the shed stick through the warp, but it is fun for both of us to sit on the sofa and pass it back and forth.

Women's Work

So, of what is women's work comprised? Well for one thing: making things with power tools. This is the fourth shelf of this size I've put together. It's made of three 1"x6"x4' aspen boards. One goes under the Skil Saw to become the two vertical boards and they are dowel joined using a doweling thing-a-ma-bob (Hey, I got the carpenter talk down pat for when things go wrong, I don't have to mess with the other vocabulary). All in all, pretty slick!

Here is one of the previous shelves in service:

And the big kahuna shelf:

This bad boy started out as five 3/4"x12"x6' edge-glued pine boards. It still needs some kind of back for cross-bracing. The little ones are pretty stable as is, but this one is taller and heavier and tends to prefer parallelogram to rectangle. With a load of books, things could get ugly pretty quickly.

The new shelves are a result of a desperate attempt to get organized. It's going slow, but yesterday, I unpacked 1.5 boxes of kids books that have been in one box or another since 1987 and a half a box of books that have been packed since we left Iowa City in 2005. At this rate, I should be in great shape right about 2025 or so.

Those crazy kids!

Miss Bean got another dolly from a friend for an early Christmas present last night. She and Bug were making plans for playing house on the way home and while getting ready for bed. At one point, she came into the bedroom to update their progress and announced that Bug was willing to be the father "which was good, because then he could do the dishes and that would leave her time to do 'women's work'."

The Novelist

Bug has not only taken up writing, but he is ready to publish his first novel. The only problem is that he wrote it in magic marker on the wood of his loft. Gonna be a serious pain in the tuckus to get it in an envelope to submit for publication! It is an enthralling and thrilling story about the Bionicles. Pictures and a (lightly edited) transcription can be found here.

I am just tickled beyond words by the whole thing, but I did gently suggest that he might consider using a notebook in the future. A word to NaNoWriMo 2010: Bug is looking at you!