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Our route to civilization washed away by the Lamoille River. Excessive rain fall (with even more to come) causing devastation all over Vermont, we were extremely lucky compared to others. Thankful for lots neighbors offering help and hardworking road crews getting things back in order.

#Vermont #flooding #7/11/23 #power of water #there’s suppose to be a road here

appleandelder

son-of-the-antlered-ones asked:

Hi! I’m getting into Incense Making this year (because who doesn’t need MORE PROJECTS!) and I was wondering. Do you have a basic recipe for cone incense? Like, the types of ingredients needed to mix to make the cone? Also, have you found any local guar gum substitutes, like honey or beeswax etc? Thank you for all your posts!!

Hey! That’s so exciting !! As a starting point for cones I usually start with 3 parts base (wood/root/charcoal powder) to 1 part aromatics (herbs,spices,resins), from there the blend really becomes unique to each recipe depending on what ingredients your using so it takes a lot of experiments and I usually always make small batches especially to test a new recipe. Some things burn more easily than others so it becomes a balancing game depending on what you’re using.

For binder you’ll definitely want to start with less and add as you need its hard to give a ratio because it really varies on what you use, I think for gum tragacanth it’s like 70:1 aromatics to binder so it’s best to start with a pinch and go from there. Even though I really do like working with local ingredients I still have found the gums to be the best for sticks and cones, but I can recommend (Marsh)Mallow Root powder as a binder, you definitely need quite a bit more but it works really well.

A good lesson I’ve learned is sometimes letting the incense dough rest really makes a huge difference. So if your struggling to form, put it in airtight container and let it hang out for a few hours and go back to it later. Letting the binders and wood powders really hydrate and amalgamate helps for sure.

Also it’s not a cone recipe but I’ve really fallen in love with this blend formula that’s: 1 part resin, 1 part berry, 1/2 part roots/bark, 3 parts leaf/flower, 1/2 part beeswax. You can make little pastilles and put them on a hot charcoal or in a warming dish.

Anyhow best of luck!! Have lots of fun :)

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appleandelder

When we went to France our grandmother made us a fruit cake that was amazing, she gave me the recipe and I made a variation for thanksgiving

Toss in Cake

« In this order toss into a mixing bowl:

8oz S.R. flour

4oz sugar

12oz mixed fruit

2 eggs (not beaten)

4oz melted margarine

1/4 teaspoon mixed spice

3/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 teaspoon almond essence

1 dessert spoon black treakle (optional)

Mix all ingredients well, put into 6 inch cake pan, bake at 275f for 1.5-2 hours. »

My miked fruit included: orange peel and ginger that I candied myself, dried cranberries, figs, dates, raisins, and just a bit of fresh apple.

For the mixed spiced I just used some pie spice I already had put together and I subbed molasses for the treakle.

Mine came out quite lighter than hers, maybe more molasses next time.. I’ll have to ask her. And I reserved some of the fruit mix to sprinkle on top pre bake so it was pretty.

It came out a little bready but it was still so good!