One of 2006's best (and oddest) bands, The Knife

Not to be outdone, here are my top ten albums of 2006. You can see the list with commentary and a bunch of other categories right here. This was the first year that I wrote a full commentary for the list, and it was INDEED a great year in music. Don’t forget that this is the list as I composed it in December 2006.

1. AFI – decemberunderground
2. The Knife – Silent Shout
3. Taking Back Sunday – Louder Now
4. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
5. Matisyahu – Youth
6. Big City Rock – Big City Rock
7. Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
8. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
9. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
10. Girl Talk – Night Ripper

Make sure to check out tk’s top ten albums of 2006 as well.

What happened since when we ate with our hands
Linen napkin on lap, fork, knife and spoon
Today we don’t eat meat covered in sand
Or over a fire built under the moon

No proper etiquette viewed as a sin
You’re playing along as if they don’t know
Remember that scene in Pretty Woman
Julia Roberts catapults escargot

Just cause you eat with your knife in your left
Doesn’t mean that you are better than me
Perhaps early training has made you deft
Still my own person is all I can be

Coffee stain from dribbling on my shirt
Crunchy something sticking to my old skirt

Walking is one of the best exercises you can do to get active. It is also good way to lose weight, shed inches and get a good workout. Walking will also help your health as well as your heart. Everyone can benefit from walking from time to time.

Just like all other exercises you need to start out slow. So when you are walking, if you are as out of shape as you think you are don’t start out speed walking you might get a little sick. So start out slow then speed up over time.

The most important thing to help you when walking is the right type of shoes. You are walking to become healthier not injured. So before you start walking make sure you have the right pair of shoes and if you don’t go to your local sports and athletics store and buy yourself a pair of walking/running shoes.

When you are buying walking shoes be sure that they are very comfortable on your feet. You don’t want to be walking and get cramps and blisters on your heels and feet. The length as well as how wide the shoe is going to matter too. You don’t want to have blisters after the first time walking in your new shoes; you won’t want to go walking anymore. So just take your time and buy the right type of walking shoe for you.

As you are looking for a new pair of walking shoes be sure that they are sold for walking and not something else. So if you are planning a walking/hiking trip you want a good shoe that’s suits both. The type of walking shoe you should have is one to be firm on your feet but should be able to bend easily as well. If you happen to be walking and it starts raining you need to get a shoe that will protect your feet from dampness causing blisters.

If you can not seem to find a good walking shoe you like you should then try the running shoe section. These types of shoes are good to walk or run in. You could buy a pair of hiking boots but they would only be useful for walking in the woods and not on pavement.

You should always dress to what or how the weather is acting. If it is hot and you want to get a good workout and really sweat then you might be interested in a sweat suit. Maybe you like shorts and a t shirt better. Maybe you just like shorts and no shirt if you’re a guy. It all depends on what the weather is like.

The only thing it takes to hurt your feet is a simple ankle turn to the left or right and you’re out of running for about a month. Waterproof shoes are good for anything. Walking or running it doesn’t matter which it is they are good for both and will protect you from the water or rain as well.

My Links : shoes for cheaps

I wanted to talk to you about how you can repair your television stand. I know a lot of you are thinking that it is going to need an expensive finishing put on it. I suppose this could be true in some cases, but for a lot of people won’t have to do much to make it look like more. There are a number of reasons why your stand could get up over the years. Scratches are something that you just have to put up with because they just seem to happen. Broken parts and glass can sometimes happen too, but I have tips for helping you out.

Let’s say that you have glass or wood doors on the front of the stand. Let’s say they broke in some manner. The glass got shattered or the wood came off the hinge. You might think that it would expensive to fix these things, but it isn’t. You can just reorder the parts from your manufacturer. They keep things like glass and doors handy, just because they’re the most likely to break. It’s better to go in this direction because you’re going to get the exact size and don’t have to worry about cutting things.

Another tip for getting out scratches is simple nail polish. A scratch rarely ever gets directly into the wood. Typically it scratches the finish on the stand. When you use clear nail polish, you’re going to get the scratched area filled in completely. Since it is clear, you’ll get the appearance of the finish and it will look new.

Learn more about Television Stand Repairs

Related : LCD TV Reviews

In warm weather, wearing sandals will be a great bet to keep your feet cool and comfortable. But it would be much embarrassing if your sandals stink in a crowd. Odor is actually caused by the sweat that gets accumulated in the shoe soles and thus generates odor causing bacteria. Well, here you can find 5 simple tips to avoid stinking smell in your sandals and have a trouble-free walk.

Whether you have been all day long in shoes or just an evening party, your feet tend to sweat. This sweat gets wicked by the soles of the footwear and further causes to the growth of odor causing bacteria thus producing stinking smell. Shoe odor not only spoils your impression in the crowd but also leads to foot-health issues like athlete’s foot. So, proper care should be taken with regard to shoe odor. But how one can prevent or remove smell from the sandals? Well, keeping your sandals smell free is not so tough task to do. Below listed are some easy ways to make your shoes smell free.

The foremost tip is always keeps your feet neat and dirt free. Wash your feet with some good antibacterial soap and most importantly scrub and then clean in between the toes properly. Wipe and dry your feet immediately washing. Never wear sandals with wet foot as this may cause in quick odor formation.
If your feet prone to sweat excessively, then it is ideal to prefer some antiperspirants to prevent moisture formation. One can even find antibacterial gels and antifungal powders available in the market to apply on your feet to restrict the bacterial growth in your feet and in the sandals as well.
Spray your shoes with disinfectants and deodorizers specially designed for shoe odor. They help in avoiding odor in your shoes and indeed prevent your foot health as well.
After every wear expose them to air or if possible dry them under sunlight but not in direct sunlight. This will kill the bacteria and keep your shoes smell free. You can even try sprinkling baking soda or bicarbonate in your sandals and leave them an overnight after every wear. Bicarbonate is an ideal agent to kill the bacteria and leave your shoes stench free.
Wear footwear designed with breathable materials like canvas or mesh that are highly breathable in nature and thus avoid any moisture formation that cause stench.

Related : birkenstock sandals

Stuffing has got to be my favorite Thanksgiving food.  I remember Thanksgivings past where my dad & I would fight over the stuffing bowl like it was filled with gold, diamonds, and (for me) guitars.  The stuff is perfect.  Alone, with turkey, with gravy… the decadent amount of carbs is ridiculously awesome.

Last year was my first ever attempt at making stuffing… and my grandma told me that it tasted just like hers.  Is there a compliment better than that?  I had used as a guide an old recipe that my grandfather & grandmother had both used when making holiday meals.  My mom lent me the old cook book with my grandfather’s notes last year, I collected some others, and I made scans for myself.

I say “guide” because it’s not always an exact science when doubling/tripling recipes… and there really aren’t any cooking directions… it’s just a guide to make the stuff.  Also, I tend to do a lot of “oh, that looks about right” and a little bit of “hey, let’s add a little of this” in the kitchen, as most people comfortable there usually do.

A lot of times I see stuffing recipes online, on TV, or in the little books by the cash register at the grocery store… and they include sausage, apples, raisins, (yuck!) nuts, or even peppers, carrots, or mushrooms (all of the latter of which I’ like to try some time).  The philosophy behind this recipe seems to be a K.I.S.S. one.  I like that.  It’s a very simple accompaniment, and the taste that my mind goes to every time I think “stuffing”.

This year, it was definitely a two person effort.  I don’t know how I would have done it without Bethany and all four of our hands.  We made a lot of stuffing.  Sadly, I didn’t think to chronicle the thing with photos like I sometimes do with new recipes… but I did want to make a guide with my own notes, so when I do this next year, I remember what I did differently this year.  I know I altered things slightly last year, but the details were a little fuzzy.  I figured that if I’m going to do it for myself, I might as well share, right?  Plus, we got compliments from two moms, two grandmas, and an aunt… all excellent in the kitchen themselves!

I did take a photo today, because really, what’s a food blog post without a photo?  Perhaps I’ll see if my mom got any with her camera and amend the post later.

This year's effort was delicious, if I do say so myself.

This is my first time really writing out a recipe… so pardon me if it’s a little convoluted or long winded.  I don’t want to miss anything, and I hope to get it all in the right order as well as make it an entertaining read.

Here’s what you’ll need to do it the same way I did…

Food:

• 5 loaves of bread (equaled 56 cups once cubed)
• 1 bundle of celery (3 cups, chopped – the rest can cook w/ the turkey or be a snack)
• 2 Spanish or Sweet onions
• The giblets & neck out of your turkey.
• 1 can (14½ oz.) vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoons of salt
• ½ tablesppon Season All Seasoned Salt
• 1 heaping teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• 1 heaping teaspoon sage
• 1 heaping teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 10 eggs
• 4 sticks (2 cups) butter
• some water
• 1 cup fresh parsley
• 1 bottle of Yuengling

Stuff:

• 2 cookie sheets
• cutting boards
• small pot
• electric skillet
• Magic Bullet^®
• electric roaster
• large crock pot
• knives
• a few large bowls
• whisk
• spatula
• several large spoons
• paper towels

OK, on to the directions…

1. Monday night, get your loaves of bread, open the bags, and put the loaves on cookie sheets before dinner.  Leave ‘em out on a table or counter while you do your thing.
2. Right before your favorite prime time TV shows come on, set up a station on the coffee table in front of the couch with the cookie trays of bread, some cutting boards with knives, and the pans out of your electric roaster.  Cube the bread and fill the roasting pan.  When I say fill it, I mean fill it.  It will be ridiculously full.
3. Cover it with paper towels, and set it on the kitchen table that you only use when company comes over anyway.  Over the next few days, stir it a few times a day, whenever you think of it.  This will get it nicely & slightly stale.  If you’re going to be doing anything that smells, like using cleaning chemicals, put it in the oven… but don’t turn it on.  It’s nice & warm & dry & not stinky in there.  The bread will absorb that stuff and the stuffing will taste like Mr. Clean made it.
4. Wednesday night, get out your turkey… and pull the disgusting papery bag of giblets out of the neck cavity, and the neck out of its butt.  (Why exactly do they put the neck in the butt, anyway?  Who’s idea was that?) Boil the giblets in your can of vegetable broth, or just use plain water… or even turkey or chicken broth.  I thought the vegetable broth would add a nice flavor.  I boiled them for a nice long time, and let it cook down quite a bunch.
5. Finely chop up your celery & onions… or use the Magic Bullet, like I did.  I’m not real big on chunks of slimy or crunchy stuff in bread-like consistency foods.  I probably had half of each chopped finely, the other half rendered to near-paste by the genius little piece of equipment that list the Magic Bullet.  I’m sure any food processor would work.. but this one is easy to pot pout of storage, use, and clean when you’re done.
6. Then I popped out the electric skillet to sauteé the onion & celery mixture… probably in some Country Crock & a bit of extra virgin olive oil… adding some of the spices mentioned above, and maybe even some paprika… although, they don’t come the totals listed above.  These are the aforementioned “oh, that looks about right” and  “hey, let’s add a little of this”.  You’ve sauteed stuff, you know how it works.  I love this step because it turns the onions from gross into awesome… especially the Spanish onions.  The sweet onions are oddly enough not as sweet to me when cooked.
7. Next time, I’m totally getting a pair of swimming goggles or those glasses that I’ve seen at Bed, Bath & Beyond for when I chop & pulverize the onions.  I was crying like a little girl who just watched a car run over a kitten.
8. I popped the onions and celery into separate containers for the ‘fridge to save for Thursday morning.
9. Next, I pulled out the giblets and chopped them into tiny pieces, & put them with the reduced broth from cooking into a 3rd refrigerator bound container to be used on Thursday morning.
10. Go to bed.  You have to get up early.
11. Thursday get up about an hour before your turkey needs to go in the roaster oven, and start to mix all this crap together.
12. Add the dry spice ingredients to the now stale-ish cubed bread.  Good luck not getting any on the floor.
13. Chop the fresh parsley.
14. Nuke your butter in a microwave safe bowl, add it to a large mixing bowl, crack open the 10 eggs, and whisk away.
15. Add the fresh parsley to the buttery gooey egg mixture.
16. Add 2-3 cups of the broth from the giblets, and the finely chopped giblets to the now even gooier butterier egg mixture.
17. This is where I got the bright idea to dump in some Yuengling.  It wasn’t a whole bottle… but I had it out & only needed about ½ cup for my butter/garlic/beer turkey injection/baste,  so I dumped some into the gooey buttery gibletey mixture, and drank the rest… all before 8:00 am.
18. Dump the celery & onion concoction on to the bread, mix around, and then dump on the gooey buttery gibletey Yuenglingey mixture.  This is where it was imperative that there were two of us.  Bethany opted to use her hands to mix while I poured.  The mixing gets easier when it’s wet, as it goes down a little.  You should probably wash your hands before you do this.  Not that I think you’re stupid or anything… but there are signs out there all over the place… so someone somewhere must need reminded.  Use soap, and hot water.
19. Now, this needs to come out of the roaster so the turkey can go into it… and you should be doing this around the same time as turkey prep… so stuff what you can into the turkey carcass’ various cavities, and put the rest in the crock pot.  I had Bethany scoop it into a bowl small amounts at a time as I stuffed it into the bird, so I wasn’t touching raw poultry and the stuffing that wasn’t going into the bird.  She made it clear that she wasn’t touching the raw dead bird, or sticking her hands into it.
20. I sewed up the turkey and popped it into the roaster to cook, and then put the stuffing in the crock pot on low to cook for the same amount of time.
21. Everyone told me last year that stuffing + crock pot = bad idea.  This is where I say that you could not be more wrong.  It was perfectly moist and heated well throughout.  I did break the cardinal cock pot rule by removing the lid every hour or so and stirring a little so it didn’t stick to the sides or burn.  This worked well, except that I didn’t get the bottom well enough.  You could add more liquid throughout if t looked necessary… or not stir if you like the crusty part as much as the other part.  If you use the crock pot enough, you get to know what works for yours.  Pop it on to warm or off a while before you eat.
22. When the turkey’s ready, the stuffing’s ready.  Stuff yourself silly, send people home with leftovers, and eat for breakfast, lunch, & dinner the next day.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the process, and I’m sorry for jumping tenses.  I think I did anyway.  All over the place.  Maybe Dave and Kristin can give me some pointers on that.

I’d love to know what you think of this recipe, and how you do your stuffing.  I’m always up for trying things new ways… and I’m always up for eating stuffing.  In fact, even better — make some, and invite me over for dinner!

]]> http://sbritt423.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/smoky-mountain-knife-works-cyber-monday-special/ Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:34:07 +0000 sbritt423 http://sbritt423.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/smoky-mountain-knife-works-cyber-monday-special/

Smoky Mountain Knife Works is giving an additional 20% off everything at www.smkw.com on MONDAY NOVEMBER 30TH ONLY! Plus free shipping on orders over $50! THat’s a great deal!

Finally available the retail packaging for our Ecozema products. There will be available 9 references as following:

- 80031DET Fork made by Mater-Bi – pack 10pcs

- 80032DET Knife made by Mater-Bi – pack 10pcs

- 80033DET Spoon made by Mater-Bi – pack 10pcs

- 80058DET Coffee Spoon made by Mater-Bi – pack 10pcs

- 80021/CNDET Dessert Plate cm 17 - pack 20pcs

- 80019/CNDET Main dish Plate cm 23 – pack 20pcs

- 80028DET Bowl 460ml – pack 20pcs

- 80016DET Bowl 680ml – pack 20pcs

- 80009DET Cups 225cc – pack 20pcs

All the products will be available in a nice display box complete with printed crowner.

We hope you will be soon able to find our items in shops near you.

Bugger, I think we’ve got it wrong in the recycling world by concentrating on the bigger picture of zero landfill, carbon footprints, etc.  That bigger picture is taking the place of the small snapshots we all used to see.

Some years ago most young people’s first steps on to the ladder of recycling was with the Blue Peter TV programme, which gave us the eager anticipation of waiting for a slowly emptying washing up liquid bottle, and the soon to be discarded cardboard centre of the infamous bog roll.

Once spent these items would be quickly turned into a desk tidy, storage receptacle or whatever, but even in those days the recycling world was littered with encumbrances and hardships.

I recall hoping that my mother didn’t take on board that bloody woman who advertised Fairy washing up liquid, you know, the one which lasted twice as long as the stuff your mother was using; or the adverts for softer, stronger and longer bog roll.  Both increased the waiting time for the raw materials for your next project.

So remember, dear recycler, the next time you are bemoaning the lack of material through the gate or the depressing state of prices, demonstrate some of that British stiff upper lip and self control as per John Noakes, Peter Purvis and Valerie Singleton from days of old.

Oh, and also, for next week you will need some sticky back plastic, glitter, water based glue and an adult to use that sharp knife; that’ll be to cut your throat no doubt.

Sketched in my Moleskine sketchbook using a 2B pencil.

Why must each new DVD come

a) stuck on an awkwardly pronged plastic page (from which one must “pop” the DVD without snapping it in half)

b) stuck within three impossible-to-lift-off-in-one-piece stickers sealing three of the four sides shut

c) hermetically sealed in plastic?

You can’t just open the package and start watching Back to the Future. No. You need freaking tools to re-experience Doc’s madcap high jinks and Marty’s hoverboard skills.

Do you have fingernails? Lucky you.

I don’t, and trying to lift up that nearly-invisible plastic corner is – if not impossible – a 5 minute struggle that makes me want to punch someone on the throat. Sometimes scissors help, but most of the time they don’t, as the blade of the scissor is too thick to insert between the flap and the layer of plastic you’re trying to cut.

So I walk to the kitchen and get my knife and slide the blade along the fold of plastic, using a 2.5 million year-old tool to open a 21st century invention. I peel the stickers off, tiny shred by tiny shred, trying – and failing – to clump them together for easy disposal

I have the same grievance with CDs of course, but if you’re not using iTunes or pirating music by now, chances are you aren’t tech savvy enough to be reading a blog.

Photo courtesy of Sklathill

Joanna Newsom, the queen of 2006.

2006 was an outstanding year for music. If you disagree then you’re not my friend anymore.

I have elected to share my list from that year rather than 2005 for two reasons: 1) A strange and inadvertent hibernation I experienced in 2005 within the caves of Malaysia. 2) My recent obsession with one-upping everyone around me coupled with a strengthening of my basic arithmetic skills (2005 + 1 = 2006).

If I could do this again, of course, it’d look a lot different. Alas, my decade list will serve as an opportunity to rearrange albums based on sustained listening of old favorites and discoveries of new (also based on the unearthing of a hidden track on “Stadium Arcadium” that makes it the greatest album of 2006, if not the 21st century… just kidding).

1. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
2. Joanna Newsom – Ys
3. The Knife – Silent Shout
4. Liars – Drum’s Not Dead
5. Band of Horses – Everything all the Time
6. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
7. Islands – Return to the Sea
8. Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
9. Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
10. The Strokes – First Impression of Earth

1) On a full tang knife, be sure to drill holes in the handle portion of the steel to get the balance correct. Otherwise, the handle will weigh too much compared to the blade.

2) If you mix epoxy and the two puddles of hardener/resin don’t look equally sized, your epoxy won’t harden.

3) Don’t skip grits of sandpaper as you do the finish of the blade.

4) I used 1095 steel and tempered it at 425 degrees. This seemed to work well.

5) I started a 3rd knife, but stopped before finishing, because I learned the hard way that you shouldn’t have the blade to tang width reduction occur in the same location as the full thickness to blade bevel thickness reduction. If you do, your knife is weak. Better to have an unsharpened ricasso area before the reduction in width for the hidden tang.

6) Hickory stained with walnut stain looks good on a knife with brass

7) Don’t forget to polish the edges of a full tang knife that are part of the handle. It looks funny to have a well polished blade, but just a sanded tang when the tang is exposed.

8 ) I found a trick to get brass bolsters to fit the steel when your steel is slightly rounded under where the brass goes. Put your epoxy on the brass, Use vise grips to clamp the brass to the blade on one side, then use a vise to clamp the other part of the brass. This will allow you to bend the brass so that it will conform to your slightly rounded tang. (The tang gets rounded under the front bolster because of you buffing of the blade before assembling the handle and bolster.

9) Make sure to get the mating surfaces of the brass bolster to mate well with the handle before applying epoxy.

My knife that this post is about is located here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29615&id=1585130466&saved#/photo.php?pid=515435&id=1585130466

When I became a police officer, I had no idea there was an art to buying a knife.  I am not an idiot.  I realize that there are many different kind of knives for many specific uses.  There are cooking knives, hunting knives, fishing knives, camping knives, butterfly knives, double edged, serrated knives, and many other kinds of knives.  What I did not know was that there was a knife just for me

I have worked in an investigative unit for many years.  I am currently assigned to a detective unit.  Being assigned to this unit, one of my functions it to respond to death scenes.  Many of those death scenes are suicides.  And many of those suicides are hangings.  During my tenure in the detective unit, I have lost count of the number of death scenes, which I have investigated.

Taking you back many years, I was dispatched to my very first suicide by hanging.  I had already been a veteran police officer, but was still new to the Detective Unit.  I had received ample training to investigate death scenes.  I was trained on what to look for at my scene.  I also was trained to observe any suspicious circumstances, not readily apparent to the untrained eye.  We pay attention to detail and look for evidence that is potentially important for our investigations.  And this was my scene.  I was in charge.  I had been to many suicides, but this was my first hanging.  I felt prepared.

So I arrive on scene to see a man hanging from a tree limb about eight feet off the ground.  Now that the detective (me) had arrived, everyone was looking at me to proceed.  I started my death investigation.  I gather my evidence.  I take my photographs.  And now it is time to remove the body of the deceased.  Imagine my surprise, when I realize no one had a knife to cut the poor guy down, including me.  I felt like a fool.  My embarrassment was short lived.  I pulled it together.  I improvised.  I adapted.  I got the job done right.  And I never made that mistake again.

First, you need to understand one point.  As a police officer, you are issued much of your gear, but a knife is not  standard issued police equipment.  Many police officers carry multipurpose tools or small pocket knives for its convenience.  Although they do come in handy during your shift, no one ever told me that I would NEED to carry a knife.  I had a seat belt cutter and many other tricks of the trade, but no knife.

So after my shift is over, I go home and do what any other woman would do when they need something…  I go shopping.  I was in search of a knife.  No, a quest for the perfect knife.  I could not buy any old knife.  I needed a particular knife for a specific function. I was not going to waste my money on a simple pocket knife.  I did not want to mess around with a dull blade.  I needed to make a quick, sharp cut to preserve the rope.  I needed a knife that would enable me to cut down a dead body while being respectful to the deceased.

After some searching, I found my knife.  Let me add that a major obstacle when buying a knife to cut down dead bodies is the sales staff.  I think the clerk thought I was a psychopathic serial killer.  So getting back to my knife.  The perfect size.  The perfect shape.  A perfect fit in my hand.  Sheathed in a black leather case with a single snap.  There it was.  The perfect knife for me.

Since dispatched to that initial hanging, I have been called to many others hangings from support beams, trusses, trees, bridges, closet doors, garage door frame, and many other locations.  My knife has never failed me.

Some people seem really interested in making the mask like i am!

Well if anybody’s curious im already halfway done with the mask base [which was made from a mixture of 50ml glue, cup of flour and cup of water and lots of newspaper], although i need some plasticine to form the mask

However if the papermache is layered enough, i might be able to just sand paper the mask as it is and paint it.

For the other items, im going to try carving a knife from a piece of light but sturdy wood. [or if all else fails, ill buy this online]

And the constume is going to be a pain in the arse, but if anyone is interested, ill try and upload blueprints on how to sew it together.

Because im stereotypically Asian

I’ve got INVENTORY for the first time, as an amateur knifemaker. The thing about inventory is that you really should get it moving from time to time, so I thought I might have a sale.

To keep this from being a really long entry with large photos, I’ve uploaded the photos to my Picasa.

The specs and stats are here. Prices do not include shipping.

W-1 Tool Steel Utility: hand forged blade with hamon (hybrid polish). OAL: 7.5″, blade 3″. The handle is Wenge with kangaroo leather turks head and tsukamaki. The blade could be removed by tapping out the small silver pin. $80

O-1 Tool Steel Shiv: hand forged blade, unsigned, rough polished, showing temper colors. 9.5″ OAL, 4″ blade.Paracord handle wrap. $60

Recycled Lawnmower Blade: says it all, really. Stock removal, triple tempered, with a small hamon area. 8.5″ OAL, 3.75″ blade. The blade collar and cap on the back of the white tail antler handle are sterling silver. $80

Double Edge Boot Knife: hand forged 1084HC, full hamon with slightly less hard point (similar to traditional Yari), triple tempered. Whitetail antler handle with African Mahogany spacer. Antler crown is carved with a triple spiral (not sh0wn). 9.75″ OAL, 5″ blade. $180

Autumn Green Man: hand forged from a Harbor Freight file (very similar to 1070HC), with hamon, triple tempered. The handle is whitetail antler with African Mahogany fore and aft. The eyes are 4mm Sunstone, and there is a smaller blue Paua Shell inset on the upper handle curve. This knife is a sole authorship piece: I did it all. 8.75″ OAL, 4.75″ blade. $280

Chevy Spring Sgian Dubh: you guessed it! Forged from 1984 Chevy coil spring. Based on how it handled, it is likely a 10XX series steel, rather than a 51XX. The handle wood is something oily and exotic that I got at a knife show. 6.25″ OAL, with an almost 3″ blade. $120

Thanks for looking!

Emails should be directed to: threeravensringo@gmail.com

I found out yesterday that I have a bonus weekend off this weekend – hooray! Last weekend was officially my weekend off, but because it was the apprentice astronomy weekend I couldn’t really go anywhere or do anything. I’d assumed that it was just tough luck if it works out like that sometimes, and was beginning to feel the effects of not having a proper day to myself in 3 weeks. But Henning decided we should change the rules, and now I am overflowing with days off: this weekend and next weekend!

Blood and guts have featured quite heavily this week. We had around 40 laying hens that weren’t really laying any eggs any more, and on Wednesday most of them were slaughtered. William set up a little slaughterhouse by the pig pens and by Thursday we were eating chicken stew. I’m a vegetarian (I didn’t partake of the stew) and don’t cope too well with blood, but I did want to see the slaughtering. William picked up a chicken and wrapped it tightly in a tea towel, held it down on the work bench and bashed it with a piece of wood to stun it. Then he stuck a knife in its beak and blood started pouring out. He waited about a minute while the bird was still twitching, and when the blood stopped flowing, he dunked it in to hot water to loosen the fat around the feathers. After that the plucking machine, which looked like lots of rubber spikes going round, quickly pulled out most of the feathers, and Alastair pulled out the last few feather by hand. I’m not sure at exactly what point the chicken actually dies, but I guess it doesn’t really feel anything, and that this very small scale system is far more humane than some sort of factory. I felt a bit sick and quite sad afterwards though, and only managed to watch once.

The second batch of blood and guts was when Henning found a roadkill deer. We brought it back in the pickup and skinned it in the barn extension. I think there wasn’t much usable meat left on it for some reason; maybe it had got run over too much. But the skin is now packed away in a freezer, and will hopefully help to protect our crops from deer invasions next season. One of the special biodynamic practices is that where an animal is a pest (perhaps rats or mice, or deer) you can burn the skin of that animal, then ‘potentise’ the ash, and spread this ash around the area you want to protect. You should then not have any problems (or at least have reduced problems) with those pests. I have seen roe deer quite often in Sunny Acres and I know they sometimes eat the carrots and cabbages if the nets aren’t on properly. According to the planting calendar, the 1st December is a good day to burn the skin, so we will have to remember to retrieve it from the freezer in good time. Watch this space for further reports…

The weather has been quite wet and wild for much of the week, so we’ve been doing quite a bit of work in the greenhouse and polytunnels. We pulled out all the pepper plants from the old polytunnel and a team have been preparing it for the next crops (early carrots and onions and garlic). That means taking out all the strings and paths and irrigation pipes, digging it all over, adding more compost and then putting back the pipes and paths. We’ve been continuing with a similar process in the first section of the big greenhouse, raking and relaying the paths (which are just strips of mypex pegged down) and fixing the irrigation pipes. We’ve now got two beds of chard and one of spinach in there, and the rest are destined to be early beetroot.

We’ve also been planting out lettuces and purslane with the children from Class 3, which was quite fun. They enjoyed nibbling the plants as we put them in, and decorating the labels for the rows. Since the astronomy weekend we are all now much more aware of the planting calendar (and understand the logic behind it better) so we were very pleased with ourselves when we realised we could plant out these leafy salad greens on a leaf day, in the afternoon and during a descening moon, which is exactly what you are meant to do (but isn’t always practical).

Outside we’ve nearly finished taking down the bean fence, which is a very fiddly job. All the old bean stalks have to be removed from the netting, then the netting has to be removed from the poles, and then the poles have to be pulled out of the ground. We’ve also been doing lots of harvesting, as always: carrots, parsnips, brussel sprouts, savoy cabbage, white cabbage, celeriac, celery, kale, leeks, salad things, beetroot, fennel and more. One short but very enjoyable job was cutting down all the old sweetcorn stalks. They have finished making sweetcorn and we wanted to cut them down so that they are lying on the ground and starting to rot. Mostly we were stamping them down with our feet, which was fine and worked okay, but the best part was that we also had one machete, which was extremely effective and felt like we might be hacking through the jungle or being peasant farmers somewhere tropical.

I have obviously been borrowing Henning’s knife for too long (he lent it to me a week or so ago); on Tuesday he bought an opinel knife each for me and Caspar. It is very nice to have a proper sharp knife all of my own and it gets used all the time for trimming leeks and irrigation pipes and celeriac and fennel and so on.

On my bonus free Saturday I cycled to Ringwood with Caspar and bought a new watch strap and had a pasty for lunch and got wet coming home in the rain. Then in the afternoon I baked a huge pile of gingerbread (not just men, but also tractors, pigs, butterflies, trees, flowers – we used just about every cutter in the tin) with Johanna. They might just be appearing on the supper table this evening…

That’s about all for this week.