On October 25 1906 Captain H. Lawrence of the Peter Iredale was awaiting a pilot boat at the mouth of the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington. The ship was under a British flag and was to pick up a cargo of wheat. On that day, there was heavy fog, wind, and a strong current

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Our driveway was flanked by a juniper something type of bush. It was ugly, full of spiders, and overgrown. We didn’t like it much but weren’t really sure what to do with it. This thing was so ugly, I had to dig back to photos of when we first moved in to find one. Did

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A couple of weeks ago I posted an entry for Sweet Red Wine – Part 1. That post covered the set-up to primary fermentation using store-bought grape juice, sugar, and bread yeast (gasp – again with the bread yeast). The fermentation of the wine was done around the 18th of July. It had come down

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I don’t have the patience or the time to spend on traditional bread making, but I love homemade bread. I had a couple of ah-ha moments experimenting with bread this spring. Both of these have made bread-making super simple and quick. No-knead bread – This bread has only about 15 minutes of active working time

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Our four hives are doing well. The three new colonies have taken off with good productive queens and have been bringing in pollen and honey to support each colony. I’m thinking this year the honey harvest is going to be small. Starting over with three new hives along with the unusual wet and cold spring

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I’ve been doing home brewing for about a year. I’ve focused on mead (honey-based wine). I like the flavor profile of mead and with our apiary, it’s a logical extension of interest. However, I have dabbled in a few other non-mead brewing projects. My attempts and hard apple cider have been frustrating. They come out

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Chickens are a great way to get started in taking control of your food and gaining some self-sufficiency. Depending on where you live, even most urban locations will allow a few chickens. It is best to check with your municipality and/or HOA first. Some locations may forbid chicken, limit the number, or specify if you

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Fermenting vegetables is a great way to extend shelf life. In the case of peppers, making hot sauce is easy with the benefit of knowing what it’s made of and tasting better than anything store-bought. You don’t need much to do this other than a Jar the ingredients and time. I do add a couple

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