Loose Ends Update
The first coat of mud paint has dried, and looks pretty nice. It is a medium to light gray, and the light green pigment, of course, does not show up at all. Lesson learned. I really like the graininess of the paint with sand in it - it looks like an earthen wall. And that is exactly what I wanted. Next step is to make another batch and paint a second coat. Based on what I learned from the first layer, I plan these changes: Skip the sand - just use clay, wheat paste and pigment Use much more and a much darker pigment Once the second coat is dry, then I'll know whether I want to burnish the wall to smooth it out, leave it as is, or go over it with a coat of watered-down wheat paste. New Ducks Today was an unusually warm day for this time of year, so Salem and Alba spent part of their afternoon in the back yard in a small temporary pen seeing their future flock mates for the first time. Video was taken, and will be edited and uploaded in the fullness of time. There will also be commentary on this first step of introducktions. Yes, I spelled that correctly. Gardens The joys of my full and blessed life sometimes get in the way of each other. So I have not started seeds yet. I am not terrifically dismayed - the weather here has been creepy non-standard, so when and whether to plant is a bit of a guess for me. Still, I have the onion seeds and will figure out how to get them into some starter soil and under lights. Salem and Alba are in the room that becomes the greenhouse, so there will be some tile-game-like rearranging . Soon. Ferments The baby SCOBYs are visible, now, looking good, all three of them. The ginger bug seemed to work, and the ginger ale has been started. I think it will be bottled in the next couple of days. We keep the house a reasonable low 60sF to a more frugal 55F at night, so ferments can be a little slow this time of year. We had to move one of the tender peperomia plants closer to the wood stove to keep it from expiring. Fodder I caught a virus a week ago and apparently it has a symptom called forget-to-water-things. The dried sprouts will be put to good use somehow, and we will start again. That's the beauty of composting. |
