Win Some, Lose Some

Sometimes homemade doesn't always work out perfectly.  Take, for example, a recent foray into crafting essential oil.  As summer waned into fall I still had an overflowing herb bed.  What to do with all of that basil?  After drying more than I could possibly use, I thought about making essential oil for use as fragrance in a future soapmaking endeavor.  So, I have lots of fresh basil and I have sunflower oil and I have YouTube - what more do I need?

Step 1:

Gather basil leaves and wash under cool water.  Put a handful of your basil into a clean glass jar. Crush them to release the flavor of the essential oils.  

Step 2:

Pour sunflower oil (400 ml) into the jar until the leaves or flowers are completely covered. Put a well-fitting top on the jar and let it stand in a warm (but not sunny) place.

Step 3:

After a week, strain off the herbs and then repeat the process of infusion with a fresh handful of your herbs (but using the same oil).  Do this as many times as necessary until you have a jar of strongly flavored aromatic oil.

Everything was going quite well until Step 3.  Instead of waiting one week, I waited three weeks - figuring that the oil would just be stronger and better.  The time came; I was ready to take nice big whiff of the lovely and calming oil I planned to use in my soap.  The fact that the lid blew off the jar lid with force when I loosened it should have been my first clue that something was amiss.  The minor lid explosion also resulted in a liberal spraying of oil all over me, the counters, the floors etc.  About one second after the spray, it hits me. The stench of death.  Death in a jar and it's all over me.  

Needless to say, I ignored some critical parts of the directions in oil making.  When making essential oil, all vegetation must be completely submerged or it will go rancid.  I had left a few bits of basil at the top not totally immersed.  And rancid is the nice word for what was now coating me and a three foot radius of me.  Learn from my mistake and follow the directions!

So, essential oil fail.  There is a life lesson here, I'm sure.  Perseverance, diligence, something.  And of course, READ and FOLLOW the directions!  Next time I'm in town I will buy real basil oil.  While I'm there I might just pick up a few bars of soap.

September by Helen Hunt Jackson

An all time favorite ushering in fall.

The golden-rod is yellow; 
The corn is turning brown; 
The trees in apple orchards 
With fruit are bending down. 
The gentian’s bluest fringes 
Are curling in the sun; 
In dusty pods the milkweed 
Its hidden silk has spun. 
The sedges flaunt their harvest, 
In every meadow nook; 
And asters by the brook-side 
Make asters in the brook. 
From dewy lanes at morning 
the grapes’ sweet odors rise; 
At noon the roads all flutter 
With yellow butterflies. 
By all these lovely tokens 
September days are here, 
With summer’s best of weather, 
And autumn’s best of cheer. 
But none of all this beauty 
Which floods the earth and air 
Is unto me the secret 
Which makes September fair. 
‘T is a thing which I remember; 
To name it thrills me yet: 
One day of one September 
I never can forget.

Dig Dug

As temperatures begin to drop, watering the cows becomes a more demanding daily task if one has to begin the day by breaking ice with an ax at 6 am.  Or at least it does for Paul.  It's nice and toasty in the house, but I digress.

The point is that we had a Ritchie automatic cattle waterer that prevents freezing installed last week.  It was so nice to have a farm project completed by someone other than us that I couldn't help but take lots of photos.  It was amazing to watch the professionals at work with some amazing tools for the job.

Digging the trench

New water box in pasture

Brave soul riding the concrete pad into place

Waterer going into place

Spreading gravel

Happy cows!

And happy people knowing there is fresh, clean water for the cows with no hoses involved!