Perfecting yogurt

The key to making a thick, creamy yogurt with maximum flavor?

Minimum of 14 hours in the Instant Pot.

I make it without added flavoring or sugar, then eat it with fruit if I want dessert.

Pretty glittery bug screens

My apartment has bug screens, but it turns out there are little flies around here that crawl right through the mesh.

Yikes.

So I went to JoAnn's and purchased sheer, glittery organza that was on sale. I used thumbtacks to attach it to the window frame. No bugs so far, and it looks festive.

I didn't trim the excess fabric to maximize the chances of reusing it in a future location.

First solar dehydrator test

I wanted a solar dehydrator so that I could put fresh fruit into storage without using electricity or gas. Some months back I was able to make a trade with a dog training client - he bought the supplies and put it together for me in exchange for training lessons. I waited until a harvest of fresh organic fruit was on sale at the grocery store to test it out. Finally, peaches arrived!

And the dehydrator worked TOO well. Due to a busy schedule, I left them inside for about 36 hours, on a day that reached a high of nearly 100 degrees.

Surprisingly, the blackness is mostly cosmetic - they still taste like peaches, just a little less so than the non-burned slices.

Besides figuring out the optimal temperature and length of time for various types of fruit, there's one more thing I need to do. If you look closely at the first picture, you'll see that the lid does not sit flush with the frames that hold the screens. It used to, but the wood has warped a bit during its time in storage. I purchased silicone sealant to close off a couple of spots where the wire came away from its frame, and foam weather stripping to seal the gaps between the frames and lid. That will keep bugs away from my precious fruit!

Garden set up at new farm

It took nearly two months for me to finish setting up my garden after the move, but it's mostly done now. I decided to put down cardboard and straw over as much of the unused ground in the garden as I can, with raised beds and pots to hold my plants. This gives me more control over the soil and watering conditions compared to planting directly in the ground, and will make it easier to move the garden again in the future. (Still looking for my own property.)

I ended up buying a circular saw to cut the boards for the raised beds. I'd been wanting a saw for years but had previously been able to borrow from the awesome Oakland Tool Lending Library. Now it made more sense to buy one. I cut the the boards into 4' lengths with mitered corners:

My sister helped me paint them pink, as I wanted a pop of color and had a lot of this paint left over from the chicken coop.

Then I assembled, with hardware cloth on the bottoms of the beds to keep gophers out. (There is a LOT of gopher activity.)

The ground was uneven so I got my pick axe and broke up hills and clods to smooth things out.

Hauling over cardboard:

Finished beds:

Worm bins and gooseberry are getting as much shade as possible:

Still have to hook up the succulents to the drip irrigation - I had to order a valve for the 1/2 inch tubing so that they don't get watered as frequently as everything else. And obviously there is still a lot more ground to cover with cardboard + straw. After that, it's just regular weeding, tending, and enjoying! Until the next move...

More sad chicken news

The Welsummer died from the heat today. I found her at 9 pm and rushed to Lowe's to buy a mister or something similar. I found a mini sprinkler that sprays a fan of water about 6" out. I also bought a headlamp and set up the sprinkler in their run as soon as I got home. I will have the farm sitter run the sprinkler all day until the temperatures are below 95 degrees.

Meanwhile, the Blue Laced Wyandotte is still broody... but decided to switch boxes and sit on a different clutch of eggs. Damn. I pulled the four abandoned ones and candled them. One was developing into an embryo and had blood veins in the yolk. Perhaps once I'm back home, I'll make her a separate pen with just one nesting box and lock her up until the chicks hatch. It would be good to get the healthy, heat-tolerant genetics of the free-range rooster into some chicks.

Chicken updates

Here are photos of the girls pushing to get at fresh water after a refill. I took these at the beginning of June. Sadly the past few days have been over 100 degrees and the Rhode Island Red (top right in the first picture) died from heat exhaustion two days ago. They have lots shade and water but it was still too much for her. I'm thinking of setting up a mister for them, but it will have to wait until next week because I'm about to leave town again.

On the bright side, the Blue Laced Wyandotte (top left) has gone broody again. Since the free-range rooster now lives with the hens all the time (by his choice), there's a good chance that their eggs are fertile. She's sitting on four eggs right now and next week I'll check to see if there are chicks developing.

Recent crochet and knitting projects

I was on vacation for two weeks and used much of my downtime to whip up quick projects. First, my third ever knit item, the popular "Hat Shaped Hat" on Ravelry:

(I have like 40 patterns for super-bulky knit hats in my Favorites. Want to make so many. I love hats.)

Then in crochet, Ribbed Slipper Pocket Socks:

My second Spiral-Cabled Hat, modified:

And Weave-Through Scarflette:

I also finally took a proper picture of the extra-long Hufflepuff scarf I'd made a few months back:

And an updated photo of the Buttoned Up Newsboy Hat, to which I added stars on the sides:

HATS HATS HATS