Fiacré's spade: Big Wind

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Big Wind

At last, I have processed the videos I took of the dust bathing two weeks ago when the weather was lovely. I love watching the hens bathe in the dust. They look so happy! It’s also a bit mysterious. As much as they roll around in the soil, they never look dirty.

We had a big storm at 4:00 Tuesday afternoon. Wind, rain, and hail ripped through with the incoming cold front. It didn’t last long, but it was scary. The weather alert on my phone said there was a tornado warning until 4:45. I made Hilda come downstairs until it was over, although I suspected that the danger had already passed.

And then the power went out. It gets dark about 4:30 these days, so we had to find our flashlights. All night long, there was no power. When the sun came up, all the big oaks were still standing (whew!), the high tunnel was not damaged (whew again!), but we did lose this pear tree. Everything that broke in the wind was already dead, frozen back during a polar vortex at some point in the past. The rest of the tree was not worth saving. Terry cut it down later in the week.

Sad, broken pear tree

I left for a doctor appointment, lunch with Kate, and shopping with Jane. Hilda called at 3:00 to report that the power had finally come back on. I was glad to have my electric blanket working again.

I made two quarts of apple juice and another batch of apple butter yesterday. And that is the end of the apples this year.

I can’t seem to stop baking. I have started a little research project on chocolate cake, inspired by Laura Colwin’s More Home Cooking. She presents three chocolate cakes made from stuff that one might just have in the pantry. I tried the buttermilk cake first. I read the recipe over and over, but it did not, in fact, call for any eggs. How peculiar. Never the less, it seemed to rise normally on the strength of baking soda alone.