Connecticut
Post posts about what is happening in the State of Connecticut.
Wordless Wednesday
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 12/07/2011 - 17:47
2011 Black Current Hard Cider
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 12/03/2011 - 17:45I’ve just bottle 36 bottles of ‘1D’, my fourth batch of hard cider for the 2011 hard cider season. Assuming I didn’t mix up my batches, this is using the heirloom cider that I picked up at Beardsley’s Cider Mill at the beginning of November.
The first Sunday of November, Beardsley’s makes a special batch of cider, using heirloom apples, quince, and whatever else is in season, for a brewing club. They all come down with their carboys to fill up and to share cider and stories from previous year’s batches. This year, I had some interesting flavored ciders. One was made with elderberries and another with black current juice. The black current cider was really good, but it was a bit sweet. I think the guy making it just hasn’t mastered the proportions. The elderberry cider was also quite good. There were also discussions of making whisky and oak flavored ciders by adding in different types of wood chips.
An old friend from work had expressed interest in making flavored ciders, and it was too bad that he didn’t make it to cider day. Another friend brought in an article from a British magazine about different flavored ciders. So, I decided that I would try making some black current cider, myself.
Kim brought home a gallon and a half of black current juice from Maple Lane Farms in Preston, CT. I’m glad to be using local juices as part of my locavore approach to cider brewing. I then headed over to Maltose Express in Monroe. I needed to pick up more bottles for storing my cider and I wanted to pick up some yeast for new batch.
So far, this year, I’ve been using a Belgian Abbey Ale yeast, that has worked nicely for me. However, I was concerned that this yeast may be close to dying out and I wanted to try more of a wine yeast for this batch. I asked for recommendations, and they recommended a cider yeast. They always do, but I’m just not interested in Cider yeasts. So, they came back with Lalvin 71B-1122. It is supposed to be a rapid starter and work well in a wide temperature range, which is important in our chilly house. It sounds like a really nice yeast for what I’m doing.
I stopped at Beardsley’s and picked up five gallons of fresh cider and headed home.
Years ago, when my eldest kids were very young, we would drive to Jones Tree Farm, which is fairly close to the cider mill. To keep them entertained in the car, one year, we started counting the number of Christmas Trees we saw on different cars. We have kept this up as a tradition, and so I counted Christmas trees on my drive. Since I would be going by Jones Tree Farm on the first Saturday of December, I figured that I would get a pretty high number, and I wasn’t disappointed. I counted 164 Christmas Trees on the tops of cars during my trip.
Back home, I bottled the ‘1D’ batch of cider. As I always do, I pour off a glass of it to taste, and this batch has come out extraordinarily well. Kim said that it may have been the best batch yet. I’m drinking some of that glass as I write this blog post.
I put the new bottles in the dishwasher to sterilize them. I had done this with thirty six other bottles earlier, so I had enough bottles for most of the ‘1D’ batch. However, it wasn’t quite enough and there was probably half a gallon of hard cider remaining that I didn’t have bottles for. I could wait until the dishwasher finished, mix up some sterilizing solution, throw out the cider, or use it as a base for the new batch.
I really wanted the 71B yeast to be the dominant yeast, so I hesitated with the final option, but I certainly didn’t want to throw out any of the batch. Kim agreed that it would probably be fine to use it as a base for the new batch, so off we go. The new batch has 1 gallon of black current juice, 5 gallons of fresh cider, and about half a gallon of the 1D hard cider batch. We’ll see how it comes out.
#ff #hcsmct
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 19:59@chiefmaven @brandonframe @src_changeagent @elizabethradl @heangtan @healthjusticect @cthealth @chnctfoundation @chchealthcorps @cshhc @CHCConnecticut
This week, I attended two different events related to health care social media in Connecticut (#hcsmct). The first was a tweet up breakfast for various people working on health issues in Connecticut using social media. It was a great breakfast and we are planning on meeting monthly, as well as having weekly Tweet Chats. The first Monday of every month, we'll meet for breakfast and the other Mondays we'll have a Tweet Chat in the afternoon. The first chat will be next Monday at 3 PM with the #hcsmct hash tag.
The second event was a forum sponsored by Health Justice CT on Social media for social change. Joining me on the panel was @chiefmaven @brandonframe. They are both interesting people, well worth the follow.
A few of the people at the breakfast were @src_changeagent @elizabethradl @heangtan. These are their individual ids on twitter. I had already met @elizabethradl and @heangtan. Again, highly recommended. It was the first time i met @src_changeagent and I look forward to working with her on various health issues going forward.
These people and about a half dozen others were at the breakfast representing the following groups: @healthjusticect @cthealth @chnctfoundation @chchealthcorps @cshhc @CHCConnecticut . All of them are groups that I feel it is very important to retweet their messages, and I hope more people will follow them and retweet them.
That's it for this week.
October Storm Update
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 10/31/2011 - 16:47It's not that bad in Woodbridge, really.
I am sitting at the town library. I'm not normally here at this time of the day, so I can't say if it is more or less crowded than on a typical afternoon. I'm not hearing a lot of discussions about being without power, heat or water, however, the clientele does seem a little more unkempt than usual.
A walk around the library reveals many unattended cellphones plugged into outlets to recharge. Yeah, its the sort of community where people feel comfortable leaving their cellphones unattended. The library PCs all have signs on them saying the Internet is down, and are unoccupied. Yet the library WiFi seems to be working out.
Beyond the walls of the library, the town seems to be doing okay. The reports were that about half the town lost power. By yesterday evening, it was reportedly down to 35% and the expectation had been that everyone would have power back by this evening. As of mid afternoon, we were still without power, and there was no sign of anyone working near our house.
Sunday, after the snow, it was really quite beautiful outside; white snow on green, yellow, and red leaves, the sky bright blue with a little pinkish tint around the edges in the early morning. We went to church and then spent a lot of time in the yard. Some of it was simple logistics. We've been packing snow in ziplock bags and putting them in the fridge to keep our food cold. I spent a bit of time, removing the smaller branches from a large branch that came down in our driveway. The large branch is still there, and will need a chain saw and a bit of work to remove it, but we cleared things enough so that I could get my car out.
We cooked brisket on the grill last night, wanting to make sure it didn't spoil and go to waste. One of our neighbors came over with a salad and a bottle of wine and we had a nice candle lit dinner. Another neighbor stayed at home, but we brought her some of the warm brisket afterwards.
Then, as darkness settled in, we headed off to the town emergency shelter. This was mostly just to get out, but it was also nice to find some more people to chat with, this time in a warm, well lit room. Fiona even got a little time to watch a little television.
I loaded up a couple of jugs of water to take back to the house.
There was no school this morning. Kim works in Hartford, and I work in Middletown. Both cities were hit much worse than Woodbridge and there is no power where I work. It was a disappointment because the bathroom near my office has a nice shower and I would have enjoyed a shower at the office.
So, instead, Kim, Fiona, and I went to breakfast in town and then headed to the public library. I've been working here pretty much all day. Kim worked here with what she needed to do online. Fiona ran into a friend and the two of them headed off together. Kim later went over the the friend's house when she needed to make some phone calls.
I've slowly been hearing news from other parts of the state. There is a line from about Ridgefield to Woodstock, which most of the communities north of the line, have over 80% without power. Things haven't changed an awful lot on this map over the past 24 hours. I'm hearing stories of fights breaking out at supermarkets and gas stations. People are sounding depressed.
But like I said when I started this blog post, things aren't really that bad here in Woodbridge. It may be worse in other parts of Connecticut, but even in other parts of the state it isn't really all that bad. The people who are seeking places to stay warm tonight, or perhaps even get a shower maybe can get a glimpse of what life is like for those for whom a warm bed and a shower isn't something taken for granted.
Occupy New England
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 20:26The weather service issued the first frost warning of the season on Saturday night, and the air was crisp and clear on Sunday morning. The leaves have been turning color and it was clear that autumn had arrived. Kim, Fiona, her visiting friend, and I headed over to church. Like many New England Churches, it has a white exterior, and worn wooden pews with lots of available seats. It was the nineteenth Sunday of Pentecost.
It is times like these that my thoughts go back to the idea of the remnant, those who have remained faithful in difficult times and who survive catastrophe. I often think of the remnant when I visit a small struggling church, with the aging church ladies doing what they’ve always done, providing comfort to those in distress.
I don’t want to get into a debate about whether or not our nation is a ‘Christian Nation’. Growing up in New England, I am well aware of my ancestry, people who fled Europe to be able to practice their versions of Christianity the way they best see fit. Yet I also recognize the strong thread of universalism that runs through the history of New England.
Whether or not your understanding of ‘something greater’ entails ideas about the God of Abraham, as described in the Torah, the Talmud, or the words of Jesus Christ, Mohammed, or Joseph Smith, or your ideas of something greater comes from eastern traditions, or even agnostic or atheist thinking, I still view the roots of our country as being focused on something greater, especially something greater than the love of money, something greater that is rooted in morality, justice and compassion.
Yet our country has a tendency to forget its roots. Too many leaders sacrifice a love of their neighbors for a love of money. At times, we return to our ideals with ‘Great Awakenings’, returning to the underlying moral beliefs, not about who can marry whom, but about how we should care for one another.
All of these thoughts ran through my mind as I occupied my space in a pew in a small New England church. Perhaps, the occupy movement is part of a call to return to the underlying morality, a compassion for our neighbors, that I believe our country was built on.
I recently saw a sign talking about Jesus and the 99%. Yes, Jesus said it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Yet he doesn’t say it is impossible. No, I believe that Jesus is interested in the 100%. It is interesting to note passage in Matthew about the eye of the needle comes immediately after a young man decides not to follow Jesus because Jesus said,
"If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
In that story, the young man went away sad because he had great wealth.
After Church, Mairead and one of her friends came to visit, and I took them, together with Fiona and her friend out to Jones Farm to pick pumpkins for Halloween. Again, I’m not particularly interested in exploring the relationship between Samhain and All Saint’s Day as they influenced Halloween. Instead, my thoughts go to the first frost and the end of the harvest, and to remembering those who have died.
The warm afternoon sun beat down on the green and brown fields dotted with orange, as we rode on a hayride and selected pumpkins to carve. There were small kids dressed up as unicorns and crabs and all was festive. On the one hand, it was a long way from Church or from people occupying Wall Street, but on the other hand, it was very closely related. It was a celebration of the earth’s bounty, a celebration of something grown close to home, and not produced and widely distributed by some multinational corporation. It was a chance to gather with neighbors and enjoy more than just the love of money.
With our pumpkins selected, we headed over to the local cider mill. I’ve been stopping by every couple of weeks to pick up a few more gallons of cider to brew. This week’s batch was made from Empire, Jonagold, and a few Courtlands thrown in. It harkened back to a simpler day when farmers brewed their own hard cider and didn’t rely on beverages shipped half way around the world by some large multinational corporation.
Back at home, we carved pumpkins and rested. I didn’t go Occupy Wall Street, New Haven, or Hartford. Instead, I bore witness with the remnant towards to underlying morality, the love of neighbor, and the simple joys that can go with it. I helped Occupy the New England that I grew up in and love.
