Photos Lately

1. Remember that time I got excited about the pink beer we made? Well the pink beer will remain a dream, because this is what became of it.





Maybe the photos are self explanatory, but I'll write some words to go along with them. Maybe writing words can be part of my grieving process.

The pink beer was over-carbonated. We've never had a batch of beer over-carbonate, so this was a new experience for us. Normally when home brewers face this problem it means exploding bottles---glass and beer and danger everywhere. I guess we were lucky though? I managed to not put at least one cap on properly, so one evening we just heard it start to make a fizzing sound. Greg sprang into action, knowing the cap had to come off to avoid the risk of an exploding bottle. If I was as quick on my feet as he was, I would have made him wear the safety glasses. The first bottle got its cap removed indoors, and as you can see from the above photo, this resulted in pink beer dripping down our wall. The rest of the bottles were opened outdoors, using the open-inside-a-plastic-bag technique we learned from our experience eating surströmming.

2. Our garden is not a complete waste!



We got these three carrots recently. I was really excited to grow these because of their unique radish-like shape. They may be small, and not very substantial when split between two people, but we were really happy considering the last time we tried to grow carrots they got eaten/trampled by a cow (I have never owned a cow).

3. We took a long-ish bike ride to explore a new section of town.





4. I made some really delicious pizza.





I used this recipe and this recipe, both of which I'd recommend.

5. Right now there are blue skies, but about an hour ago there was a total downpour, resulting in all sorts of rainbow delight.

7QT : Swedish, kale, coffee : some of these got kind of wordy

1. I'm trying to not sit on my computer as often as I usually do. On Monday evening I decided I just would not even turn on my computer, and I accomplished so much. I read an entire book (in Swedish, so that counts as studying and leisure), did some cleaning, some cooking, some baking, and probably other things too! The really crazy part was how often I felt like I wanted to just go sit at the computer, but realizing it wasn't an option, opted to do some other task which I typically would have ignored all evening (dirty dishes, I'm looking at you!).

2. On Sunday we harvested our kale! We had just enough to make a small salad to accompany our meal. It is really nice to be able to grow a little bit of our food, but it makes both of us really miss having a plot of land where we can garden and grow larger quantities of delicious foods.

3. I have finally found a way of learning Swedish which I really enjoy - reading books in Swedish! I am currently only reading books written in "easy Swedish," but I am finding it really helpful and really enjoyable. I have written a lot about how I am not naturally good at language-learning, and that it is really a chore for me to do any of the things that are helpful for learning more Swedish. But this is one thing that does not feel like a chore. Finally! Of course, there is no way I could have just started at this step. It is only possible because I've built up a small vocabulary to start with. I still have to always have my pocket dictionary at hand to look up words I don't know, but I am needing it less and less with each new book. Plus it makes me feel awesome when I read a book that is not already listed on goodreads.com and I have to add it.

4. Did you know there is a simple English wikipedia? Most of the articles use only words that are among the 1,000 most common words. I find language things so much more interesting now that I'm in the process of learning a new language. It makes me wonder how many Swedish words I know.

I know that I am in the B1 level of CEFR, so I thought that maybe there was a list online showing approximately how many words are known at each level. Apparently this isn't a thing they do, although random online reading makes me think that it is possible I do know 1,000 Swedish words.

BUT. More importantly, my internet searching led me to discover the Kelly Project, which I might be a really big fan of! They have a list available of the 9,000 most commonly used words taken from nine different languages. I got the Swedish list, which looks good, but it didn't include a translation to English… They also have an app for language learning. Super cool, but I have no device that handles apps. Oh well.

5. This week I started preparing myself two cups of coffee to drink at home before I leave for the day…  as in, two distinct mugs of coffee… 
Maybe it seems strange, but to me it feels so smart! I always drink two cups of coffee, but after I finish the first one, the coffee has cooled down a bit and it takes forever for my sugar cube to dissolve. Plus! (science lesson coming up) When you add milk or cream to coffee, if you add it immediately, your final result (coffee + milk) will be hotter than if you wait some amount of time and then add it. This is just thermodynamics.
Even including the time it takes to wash a second mug, I feel like I am saving so much time and effort with this new method!

6. There is an … ad? … well it functions as an ad, but is actually an interesting video from PhD Comics about coffee … that plays if I watch youtube videos that starts with "How much coffee is too much coffee?" Or something along those lines. It just makes me think of this old post of mine.

7. I won a round of Bingo in Swedish class! Unfortunately, I felt a bit sheepish, because I had previously tried to say I got a Bingo (blackout round, too!) but I had wrongly marked a number off that was never called. I blame someone else for having poor pronunciation… it could never be due to my poor comprehension of spoken Swedish. No sir. Also, for the record, it ended up that the number I wrongly marked did not even exist in the group of little balls of numbers. Vindication.

___________

The End & The Link-Up!

WTRB

What's that in the middle of my yard? You may be wondering? Oh, well friends, that is the newest addition to Harjitshire: our rain barrel! Or, as I fondly call it, our White Trash Rain Barrel (WTRB). It was originally proudly perched in the middle of our yard. It is still too cold to plant (at least for my comfort level), and we haven't even tilled up the earth yet, so the WTRB was looking a little out of place, considering there isn't yet a garden next to it. There will be a garden there soon, but upon careful consideration, Greg and I decided the WTRB ought to be moved to a more ideal location. More on that later.

The rain barrel was constructed using an un-used trash can we had at the barn. In the bottom we (basically just Greg) sawed a tiny hole, and we attached some hardware, which amounts to a spigot with a turny knob to control the flow of water. It is a pretty good system, and it allowed us to fully explore the Lyme Home and Hardware store. Since the spout is on the bottom, we have it propped up on cinder blocks. Plus cinder blocks add to its white trash status.

Most rain barrels are ideally located under a downspout, so you can gather water from an area as large as the roof of your house. The barn does not have downspouts. This should not surprise you, as we do not even have an outdoor spigot. Part of the motivation for a rain barrel is to be more crunchy, by using rain water for watering the garden, as opposed to pumping well water. But part of the motivation for a rain barrel is mere laziness, so we can minimize the number of times we have to fill up the watering can in the bathtub and haul it outside.

Anyhow, since we don't have a downspout, we just covered the top of this trash can with mesh to make sure our rain barrel does not become a mosquito breeding ground.



We also decided to move the rain barrel in order to catch more rain. When it was sitting in the middle of the yard, it would have been conveniently close to the garden, but it was also catching water from an area of about four square feet. We moved it under the overhang of the barn's tin roof. Now we are collecting water from something more like twenty square feet. It isn't quite the same as collecting water from the Entire roof, but it is still a large improvement. We have great confidence that this was a good move, and a move that will work, because we moved it while it was raining.

Ta daa!

Garden Log

This post is mostly for my own purposes of remembering how our vegetables did as well as when and how much we harvested throughout the growing season. I hope to keep it updated and also possibly add photos if appropriate.

July 7: 6 green beans
July 14: 5 green beans
July 24: 4 green beans, 1 cucumber

July 27: 6 green beans
August 4: 2 cucumbers, 10 green beans, 11 green beans (barn), 1 pea
August 5: 8 green beans
August 8: 5 green beans
August 11: 8 green beans, 5 peas
August 12: 2 cucumbers, 14 green beans (plants at Greg's have been demolished by deer, should have had Much more)

Sore Muscles

I woke up yesterday morning with very sore back and leg muscles. I am guessing this was due to my gardening experience on saturday. Apparently I decided it would be a good idea to lift these huge bags of wet dirt that weighed about 8 tons each. I know they say "lift with your legs!" but apparently I lift with my legs and my back a little too. Oops!

This morning I woke up and my muscles were possibly MORE sore than the day before. I don't know how this is possible. Unless I am the world's most extreme cleaner/baker. (That was a shameless plug for my domestic skillz.)