Fortnight & Eating Animals

We had our first live show on Saturday night!
It went well. We got some good feedback today and yesterday, too, which made us feel good! We'll be back in a fortnight.
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I'm loving (and horrified by) this book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. Its not very much different from other books by other authors (Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, Eric Scholsser) that describe the environmental and social consequences of our factory farm system, but its better. He's just such a great writer, and the premise is a little different. Also, unlike most other books I've read on the topic, JSF focuses on fisheries and dairies, too. He uses the term "selective omnivore" a lot in the book, and although I don't like labels, I suppose that applies to me, and Jake, and the whole situation we've got going here. I'm almost done. Let me know if you want to borrow it.

Something New

I made lip balm today, from the wax and honey of our own bees. Such fun! So satisfying! I so enjoy the experimenting, the tweaking of recipes, the using of home-grown ingredients, the trying things out.

I read about lots of different recipes and variations, and in the end decided on using the simplest of components, with some peppermint oil thrown in to hopefully mimic our old standby, Burt's. Backyard beeswax and honey, Spanish olive oil, Californian peppermint oil. The final recipe ended up being roughly 1 part wax, 1 part honey, 1 1/2 part olive oil, and a tsp of peppermint essential oil, melted in a mock double-boiler.

I accidentally made a lot.

There was so much leftover I filled a cardboard raisin carton. Jake thinks we can use it to reseal our kitchen's concrete countertop!

Next up on the something new: kombucha mother.

Snowshod

I gave Jake snowshoes for his birthday. We didn't get to use them until today, due to the no snow and all.

My gift was an attempt at symmetry- Jake gave me snowshoes for the my birthday the summer after we met - but he made them.

This place is a mile from our house. Amazing! I love how the snow defines the contours of the landscape, with the trees atop.

It was a good day.

Snow, at last!

strange weather we're having

Back to bed, bees. False spring.