Phil found a tiny bird hopping between our trailers on Saturday morning. We wondered at first if it was a guinea keet, hiding until hatching, but as we observed it more, it had amazingly long feather for its extremely tiny size, and the bright-red inner mouth that I remember means "drop food here, Mom!" It refused to eat the chick food, so I'm pretty certain it was a wild bird. Isaiah carried it in his shirt pocket for a while, then we put it in a bush and hope it found its mother again, though I realize the outcome isn't terribly hopeful.
In this case, it's better not to know.
The bees continue to eat heavily. I put down a pot of sugar syrup at one point, and left it. Because I neglected to put sticks in, when I returned there were hundreds of dead bees in my pot. I was so upset!
But, in a startling turn of mind for me, I preached to myself, rather than sink into sorrow. "You've never kept bees before. If they all die, they all die. It's not the end of the world. Now you know that they do need some ways to get into the sugar syrup, and you'll do better in the future. Buck up, little camper!" It felt like good growth for me.
My sourdough starter turned moldy. Bummer. I guess I'll go back to the standard yeast bread, though I'd much prefer to do sourdough. I'll have to figure out a better method one of these days, I guess.
Sunday morning, Abraham woke up and vomited. Then Isaiah vomited. This time, though, I figured that they had (voluntarily) skipped dinner, and probably sweated much of the night in our trailer, that was 88 degrees (with high humidity) when they went in to go to bed. Dehydration!
I tried an anti-dehydration drink: 4 cups water, 1/2 teaspoon each salt and baking soda, 3 Tablespoons sugar. I added vanilla to make it taste a little better (a bit like a cream soda). The boys drank it very reluctantly, but by the time we needed to go to church they were happily jumping around.
Phil was relieved. We hadn't left the farm since the previous Sunday and he figured we all needed a little time off the farm.
I'd be happy to send you some of my sourdough starter, Amy. I think if I freeze a few cubes, set it in some fresh flour, and send it, you'd be able to use it. I've had it going for a while and it has become pretty reliable.
ReplyDeleteI split it often and keep a backup in the fridge any time I use it, because of disasters like the one you had. Once, I found out the culprit was using anti-bacterial dish soap killing the good yeasts.
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