Well, Lookee Here--It's Friday!

And what do we talk about on Fridays? YES! Alcoholic things! Wheee!

BUT FIRST.

As to yesterday's guessing game* . . . Yes, I am indeed beginning the Mulberry Juicing Insanity. (For an explanation of bat cheese, see this post and read the comments.) So far, I've collected seven quarts of berries, which have yielded two quarts of juice. When I have six or seven quarts of juice, I'll can it. At the rate they're coming, that should only be a few days. By which point the counters, the sink, and my fingers will all be stained dark purple, and the MiL will probably wish I had gone to Nevada with A. I don't think she likes it when the sink gets all nasty and purple. But she does like mulberry juice, and so she will fret in silence.

But fussing around with mulberries isn't enough for me. No, I decided I needed to do something else in the food-prep category. Luckily, before A. left, he pointed out some elderberry trees in flower that grow in the hollow near the mulberry. He told me the fruit is good for making jelly. I never even knew they were there, but I HAVE heard of elderberry wine before (where did I hear about it? no idea--information flows in and out of my brain unchecked and mostly unused, unless it has to do with food), and so I catalogued that for future reference. Then yesterday, I decided to look up recipes for elderberry wine.

Elderberry wine looks like a pain in the ass to make. Yeast nutrient? Say what? I'm not going to special-order stuff for a wine that looks to be sickeningly sweet and syrupy. However, I did note in my search something called elderflower champagne. I like champagne! There are flowers on the elderberry trees right now! Let's investigate further! So I did.

Elderflower champagne is not, of course, real champagne, as that particular fizzy beverage is only made in France, in Champagne. Imagine that. Nor is elderflower champagne particularly alcoholic. (Or so they say. Not having tried it, I have to take it on faith that one glass of it won't get you totally bombed. These things are a bit subjective, you know.) But it IS easy to make and is supposedly light and refreshing. That is, not heavy and syrupy. Plus, I had all the ingredients at hand. All it requires are elderflowers--which apparently have some kind of natural yeast on them that produces the fizziness--sugar, water, lemon, and white wine vinegar.

(There was one note to make sure to smell the flowers before you use them, because they can sometimes smell like cat piss and "whatever odor your flowers have will be imparted to your beverage." Cat piss champagne! I sense a niche product for crazy cat lovers!)

So I grabbed some flowers that did not smell like feline urine, mixed all the ingredients together in a big ole mason jar, and left it to sit and ferment for awhile. It takes a couple of weeks before it can be tasted, so you'll have to endure the suspense until then.

Sure, it LOOKS pretty. But will it taste like cat piss? Stay tuned!

It sure is getting exciting around here, huh?

And speaking of exciting!

In other, non-alcoholic news, we had a baby hurricane blow through here yesterday afternoon that did some damage. There were limbs down in the yard, limbs across the driveway, literally half the Bradford Pear tree in the lambs' pasture blew over, a whole walnut tree in the hollow cracked at the base and fell, and the walnut tree right next to the chicken coop actually ripped up at the roots and fell on the sheep shed in the pasture.

Don't worry. The sheep are okay.

However! By some absolute MIRACLE, nothing fell on the numerous power lines and we didn't lose power once. This shed that A. built is actually supporting the weight of the entire tree, so I think he can be proud of his building skill. Only part of the cinderblock wall in the chicken coop was wrecked, so the coop is still standing. The branches hanging over the opening to the shed form a nice leafy bower for the sheep, who will no doubt enjoy eating the leaves on the branches they can reach. None of the animals were hurt, although the chickens were, understandably, quite upset, and squawked their disapproval in no uncertain terms.

Unfortunately, the sole chainsaw operator won't be home for another week and a half, leaving me to drag away as many of the branches as I can and leave the big boys for his return.

Wait, did I say this was non-alcoholic news? Scratch that. I think I need a drink.

* In which only a few of you participated--I'm disappointed in the rest of you. I hope you can live with that.