Fall tasks

Just today, I put 3+ pounds of dried centennial hops in the freezer, made and canned marinara sauce from garden tomatoes, dried a big bunch of oyster mushrooms in the food dehydrator, and pitched the yeast on 3 gallons of blackberry wine.

We have picked a LOT of garden produce (it's supposed to frost tonight), and fruit like apples and chokecherries for wine.

I have cascade hops to harvest tomorrow, and there are a LOT of them.

This time of year seems to be a lot of work lately! What have you been doing?

Wow you do it all, looks like your almost totally sustainable. I'm trying to get their!

benco said:

Wow you do it all, looks like your almost totally sustainable. I'm trying to get their!

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Oh, we're a long way from totally sustainable! I have to figure out a way to grow a coffee plantation on the frozen tundra first, as I NEED my coffee.

But we do grow most of our own veggies and fruits, pick wild fruit (or our own fruit) for wine, grow 8 varieties of hops, and of course hunt and fish. We buy some grass-fed beef from a friend, and get eggs from a coworker, and trade handmade soap and things for other items (like chickens). We buy a lamb every fall from a neighbor.

Since I don't eat sugar or refined grains, we sure don't spend much money at the grocery store! (Except for the aforementioned coffee).

I swear my biggest expenses seem to be related to brewing!

Yooper said:

What have you been doing?

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Replaced my garbage disposal, had a homebrew or two and watched the Bears beat up NFC Central Divison Rival

Slept in, got up very late (11:00a) went to the pub for brunch with my nephew, explored the new homebrewshop in town, Made some supper & had a nap after. Sometimes it's good to have a lazy day.
Regards, GF.

I'd like to have more harvesting to do, but I've got enough car fixing and stuff around the house to do. Kids in school, etc.

I did pick half my Cascades on Thursday and have a friend coming over to help pick the rest. He's taking all he wants of them!

I kegged a brown Ale I brewed 2 weeks ago and found my other keg was empty, so... Time for another batch! I'm thinking Stout this time.

Oh, and I have to get back to designing my control panel layout so I can get back to mounting and wiring the parts for that.

Oh, and the clotheswasher needs about set of agitator cams.

I've got blueberries and raspberries waiting in the freezer to be made into jam. Brewing is on the agenda again for this weekend (what exactly is TBD). I also have to dig the potatoes, onions, and shallots. All the hops have been harvested.
I took a weekend off from Fall harvesting/kitchen work to spend this past weekend in Vermont with my daughter at a car show. Good times.

We're in harvest mode too. Made enough pesto and herb butter last night to get through most of winter. Just waiting now on the jalapenos and carrots and then we'll be pickling and making hot pepper jelly.

I've been trying to do this "seasonal brewing" thing. Have a Dubbel, a Wee Heavy, a Bourbon Barrel Cherry Quad, and an Imperial Pumpkin ageing for winter, so I think that carries me through the cold season. Want to do a DIPA with fresh hops from my last harvest. Then, time to start doing my lagers for the spring.

I love the beers and the brewing, but it always seems like a rush to prepare for the "next" season.

Still, far prefer it to buying stuff at the store. Veggies from the garden are 100 times better, for sure.

We had a frost last night, but it was spotty in our yard.

That mean the final hops harvest today! We picked cascade hops until it got dark, and the rest of them are waiting for tomorrow, on the porch. There are LOT. I have no idea yet how many. We had over two pounds of chinook (dried) and more than that of centennial, so I think this will easily be double the chinook.

We had the obligatory "smell my finger" jokes while picking the cones off of the bine, and drinking beer, until it got too dark (and cold!) to continue.

As it cools off, we'll finish painting the outside of the house. This time for real. I'll chop back some cacti and roses and put on the screens I made this spring. Fix a window. Redo some weather proofing. Move some shrubberies into a new bed. Probably won't do fall food this year, but we'll tear down the summer and till it up. Clean out the garage. Finish some indoor projects. Do some vehicle maintenance. By then it'll be Christmas. January and February can be cold. Then it's spring again.

I want to do the seasonal brew thing. I've got a magnet from Midwest that tells me what to brew. It's their kits and it has the style if I wanted to brew other recipes. But everytime, I get sidetracked on weird stuff, something I see in a book or something I see here.

Yooper said:

Just today, I put 3+ pounds of dried centennial hops in the freezer, made and canned marinara sauce from garden tomatoes, dried a big bunch of oyster mushrooms in the food dehydrator, and pitched the yeast on 3 gallons of blackberry wine.

We have picked a LOT of garden produce (it's supposed to frost tonight), and fruit like apples and chokecherries for wine.

I have cascade hops to harvest tomorrow, and there are a LOT of them.

This time of year seems to be a lot of work lately! What have you been doing?

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Frost? It's still scorching here. Ugh.

passedpawn said:

Frost? It's still scorching here. Ugh.

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Yep, it was really cold the last two nights! It was about 30 last night. The furnace turned on for a bit.

We don't grow our own fruit but around our village there are fruit trees absolutely everywhere. The last couple of weekends we have been foraging for goodies and ended up with close to 100lbs of various varieties of apples, plums, pears, cherries and berries.

Most of that has been now turned into pies, chutneys, jams, wines with the rest simply canned or frozen. Loads of work but feels better to know that you have a personal connection to your food and its not the same mass produced crap that everyone else is eating.

Today, we cut a truckload of firewood. It was a nice day, with sun and light winds, and it was enjoyable. Tomorrow might not be as much fun!

Found a pine tree had fallen into the neighbors yard. Tonight I'll have to bust out the chain saw and enlist the kid in helping me haul the branches and wood back onto our property. Maybe trim up a few lower branches on some of the other trees.

It's not really a fall chore, but it reminds me of when I was a kid and we'd cut wood during summer and fall and split it in the fall to burn for heat. And the smell of a wood fire from people in the area when the nights get cold. Had a couple so far this year and it's barely been cold enough to frost!

Give the lawn a last mow or two. Clean out the gardens. Cram a few brew sessions in.

After that, Oompah season starts in earnest and that will occupy most of my weekends for the next 6 weeks! Besides a little extra $, there is always lots of free food, and more importantly beer!

Down to single digit temps and a few areas had snow today.....

I need to drain and store the pool. Weed, amend (manure), and mulch the garden so it will actually be of some use next Spring.

Nice share.

Holy crap, I brewed ~20bbl of beer, and only ~10bbl will be ready to serve next week! I'm irritated at hops/malt/other supply right now!

my hops did poorly this year, as did the garden, and I have no firewood and I am exhausted, nearly 10 months of 70 hour work weeks. I barely have had time to sleep. work is 80 miles away and the 10 to 12 hour work days turn into 14 to 16 hour days. I have lost 32 pounds due to the stress and work load i have only brewed 2 brews all summer... only good thing is I have been too tired to drink so my pipeline is still good.

Harvested the hops recently just over 1lb still fresh from four plants. Mixed them all up and going to brew a fresh hop pale ale today if I can get up the energy.... its a Tribal Holiday so the tribal government is closed which means that 56000 sq ft building that has been the pain in my arse for nearly 10 months is closed and locked up. Being the owner rep/project manager and the IT Director all at once has not been fun.... but I got 70 employees moved in 3 days, the building was finished a month early and the security system is set and functioning the network and communications are up. Things are finally slowing down and I am actually going to get to brew today.!!!

Holy crap, dude! I hope the tribe remembers what you've done at Christmas time!

Well, the city recently repaved our street and the one to the west. They also replaced some sidewalk squares, and replaced the gas main on the cross street. That means all of the windows are covered in a layer of construction dust, so they all need to be cleaned.

Other than that, it's the usual take down the dead tomato vines, store the towers, empty out the flower barrels, put the patio furniture away (*sob*...) and service the snowblower.

One thing I decided I'm NOT doing is putting the grill away. SWMBO got a really nice, heavy duty cover for it, so that thing is staying out and I'll grill all winter long.

Homercidal said:

Holy crap, dude! I hope the tribe remembers what you've done at Christmas time!

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Would be nice, but I know I get two weeks off paid... without using vacation time as we shutdown last two weeks of the year. So I will be off work from Dec 21 through Jan 5th.... pretty nice Christmas gift.

Also the benefits are exceptional at the Tribal Government, and they pay the entire premium, so that is worth a lot to me. Actually that has saved my wife's eye sight as there was no way we could have paid for the treatment she gets. So I may complain a little, but it is worth it.... every hour of it and all the stress... my wife still has her eye sight and is doing a lot better, heart condition is under control and her blood pressure is as well, and she is back to quilting... a great thing to see... so a happy wife means a happy George!

Finally getting the last of our berries picked. Termination dust is moving down the Chugach Mountains. Snow blower is ready and snow shovels are staged. Broke out the winter wear and layed in some more lump charcoal for winter grilling.

just hit my mash temp of 153.... man does that smell soooooooooooo good.