First of the year elderberry jelly has been made!

Elderberry Jelly

I got about 22 cups of elderberry juice from the berries shown in the last post.  I did not include the 2nd extraction juice because I didn't think it tasted enough like elderberry.  I did sweeten and can that "liquor" though.  I think it should still have some anti-viral properties and it tastes OK when sweetened.  I got 5 and a half-pints of the 2nd extract liquor canned.  I made a total of 38 half-pints of jelly from the 22 cups of juice.

This is showing only 17 jars.  There are 21 already cased and put away!  It does taste a bit different than last years.  I swear its more bitter.  Still very good though!

Dried Pumpkins - powdered!

I let the pumpkins sit in the dehydrator overnight again.  They were dry last evening, but I was too busy making jelly to get to them, so I turned the dehydrator back on and let them dry more.  This morning I removed them from the trays and put them in the vitamix to powder.  I got about a pint of powdered pumpkin!  I need to keep moving with them, but its too late to get to the powdering point so I will just wait until later to get more done.  Just a note for the future for storage:  7 dehydrator trays will powder down to about 1 pint.

Straight from the dehydrator

Powdered and packed in a pint jar.

Septic tank 

I checked the tank this morning (I was concerned since I have been doing food processing and that means lot of water down the drain).  It is at the top in the normal "overflow to the 2ndary tank" level.  So I added about 10 (?) lbs of copper sulfate to the tank (dissolved in water).   I hope that helps clear those roots out!  I will have to keep an eye on it.  I want that copper sulfate to be in there as long as I can.  Makes me nervous when its close to the top like this;  I will have to check it more often.  I recall that when we had problems, the fluid level was well above the lid inside the cover.

Spiral Tree protectors all on now

Well, not all on.  The persimmons don't have any.  I am still debating whether they will get them or not.  I did the remaining cherry trees today.  Some of the spiral tubes needed to be cut since those trees are so small (dwarf).  I checked and two f the trees looked absolutely dead.  I will have to order a couple more sour cherries from the conservation district next year.

Apple trees and white aphids

I got some Neem oil spray for the white aphid problems on the apple trees.  I used it all.  I only did the trees that had signs and trees that looked weak.  I will keep an eye out for those buggers.  Maybe a dose of dormant oil earlier in the winter this time to help wipe out their eggs?

Last front-lawn stump is GONE

I finally got to cutting of the last of the front lawn stumps!  I only dulled one chain (well two, counting the one I put on to finish the job)!    I am glad to get it out of there, but I still am considering stump grinding. 

I did some cross-hatching in the remaining wood to encourage decomposition.  I might add some stump remover.

Found a neat Fungus in the front lawn 

Just found this thing - thought it was a pile of leaves at first.  Neat looking.

Caulking the basement continues

I got more caulking and a new caulking gun on the way up.  I went downstairs to start caulking  and noticed a bad smell.  After looking around a bit I found a dead mouse!  I swept up a bit and moved the old dresser to clean up under it (where the dead mouse was).  I caulked all around the sill except where I couldn't reach (behind the drain line from the bathroom and behind the canning shelves).  It should be mouse proof there now!

While I was cleaning up I saw a mouse running around the edge of the wall!  He ran behind the canning shelves.  I figure he couldn't get out since the sill is caulked now.  In response I placed some poison downstairs and put a couple traps under the bathroom sink.  I have noticed that there seems to be significant gaps around the basement windows - I may caulk there too.