Failed attempt

Well, my first attempt at Root beer failed. Something must have gone wrong with my ginger bug, because when I went to stir the mix yesterday, there was mold growing along the sides. So I poured it out. I will say though, that the fermentation was working. The puddle foamed up very nicely on the ground. :( I've ordered some water kefir grains as well, so I'll be beginning again pretty soon. I already started another ginger bug. I want to keep this moving until I get something worth my time.

Here are a few pictures from the initial attempt.

Here are the bottle my wife bought me for this project.

Here is my first ginger bug. It was doing great in this picture, but something went wrong along the way. I'll have to keep my eye on it this time.

Here we are stirring in the various roots and herbs that make up the concentrate for the ro

ot beer.

Here are better pictures of the pit we made the concentrate in and them whole mixture being stirred together.

Update on Root Beer

All of my roots and barks came in yesterday from Monterey Bay Spice Co. This morning we opened everything up and began the process of steeping our Root Beer base. The kitchen smells awesome as we let the concoction steep. After four hours, it will be ready to strain out and into a 1 gallon jug with the ginger bug culture to ferment for about several days before we bottle it.

Making Root Beer

I have decided to make Root Beer. I did Ginger Ale a few weeks back and was pretty happy with the results. I am using a combination recipe from the Nourished Kitchen and the Learning Herbs websites. Basically, I am using the method from Learning Herbs and a modified recipe from Nourished Kitchen. My wife bought me the bottles to keep it in for Christmas, though we just picked them up today because they were on order. I am really excited about it. I love the taste of Root Beer and can't wait to try my own. It should be a more healthy version of the drink (sans high fructose corn sugar), using real ingredients and no artificial colors. I'll let keep up a running post on the progress and the results. It should take about a month from start to finish.

Ron Paul on Homeschooling

Ron Paul gave the commencement address to a group of 14 homeschooled students recently. A nice write-up about it and what Ron Paul said about homeschooling can be found at "The Facts." Essentially, Paul reiterated the reason thinking homeschoolers homeschool, because they are passionate about their children and know that they are the ones in charge, not the state.

“It’s very important we encourage home-schooling and make sure it’s always legal, and our governments never decide they know best,” Paul said. “Too often, our government would like to be the parent. Home-schoolers know exactly who’s responsible for education, and that’s the parent.”

A big thanks to Representative Paul for taking the hard stand, as he usually does, on what matters.

Teaching children to speak boldly

I was in a teacher interview today and was reminded about the importance of teaching our children to speak boldly. That means, for practical example, not looking down when you speak, speaking in a strong, clear voice, and meaning what you say. This is of great importance in our schools and homeschools because we, of all people, have something to say. When we speak, we are to speak the truth. The truth should not be spoken apologetically, but loudly. We should not worry whether our speech will bring ridicule upon us, but should expect this. Since we are speaking the truth, we should be clear and bold in our proclamation.
I reapplied this immediately in family worship tonight, requiring my children to answer their catechism questions with clear, bold answers. I also required them to use their voices to praise God in song this way.
I had basically forgotten this principle until speaking with this teacher candidate who was very precise on this point in her own speaking. I have had a vague notion that I didn't like my children or students speaking like wimps, but couldn't put my finger on a principle to correct it. Now I have remembered the principle.

Christmas Break

It's that time of year again. It is that time when I am supposed to get to take a break from school and sit around a warm fireplace sipping spiced cider (or scotch, depending on my mood), smoking my pipe, and reading to refresh and relax. So how come that never happens? We've spent the last few days running around looking for Christmas presents we would normally already have bought. The van being broken down for three weeks did NOT help our present buying timeline. Consequently, I have spent very little time at home period. And not only that, we appear to be having some kind of heat wave in the Southeast. I am very appreciative of the rain, but it should not be 65 degrees in December unless you live on the equator.
Oh, the present buying is not working out so well either. By this point all the Lego sets under $50 have been bought (which isn't that many anyway), all the bikes under $80 are gone, and nothing is available online either. I don't think I'm going to like living in a depression, if it comes to that.
Hopefully things will look up though. We have most everything bought that we are going to buy. I plan to spend a good bit of tomorrow doing exactly what I want to. I really want to finish Ivanhoe.

Halloween

I feel like I ought to post something on Halloween, seeing as how it is October 31 and all. I know many blogs are posting on Reformation Day, and that is certainly valuable. You can see an excellent blog entry from Dr. George Grant here on the subject. However, a few years ago I ran across an article written by James Jordan on Halloween. I enjoyed it, but have never really taken the time to check out the argument. Nevertheless, I submit it for perusal by any who care to confirm or refute it.You can find a copy of it here.
More recently I have found a similar interpretation of Halloween by Doug Wilson. I also enjoyed it and think it has a lot of very pastoral and informative suggestions, which is why it was written in the first place. His take on "Satan's holiday" can be found here.
We dressed the kids up for a couple of outings this year, nothing scary (per Wilson's remarks) and let them get candy and such. We even carved a Jack O' Lantern for our church Fall festival. We have relaxed our approach to the evils and dangers of Halloween a little this year. It reminds me of something I once heard Dr. Grant say, and have heard repeated by many since. Every new Calvinist should be locked up for five years and then allowed to speak. In the time since I first came to the Reformed faith, I have loosened the net on what Scripture requires and what Christian liberty allows. I hope and pray that I have done so in the light of the Gospel and with the sanctifying grace of the Spirit.

Snow Day!

There is nothing like a snow day. I don't remember getting one last year. I think we did, but it wasn't this pretty. It started last night and snowed until nearly midnight. Got some great pictures of the kids at play and the pretty scenery. I will confess I haven't done much today. Built a great fire. Tried to decide on my favorite snow poem for this post. Dickinson has some as does Robert Frost. Everyone knows "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", but none of them really captured what I was looking for. That made me sad. It made me realize that I know so little poetry. I read it in college. I enjoy teaching the poetry that I teach in my Humanities classes, but I know so little beyond that.
Maybe that's what I'll do with some of my day. Read some poetry. That would be fitting.
I hope you enjoy the snow as much as our family did.
Here are a few pictures.