Winter Project

We haven't been sleeping on the job this winter.  Just because there is not much to do up on the farm doesn't mean there isn't much to do.  Over the next few days we'll bring you up to speed with the happenings around these parts.

One thing we will need for the cordwood home are glass bottles.  These bottles will go into the wall, just like a log, and make a decorative addition.  In the fall I struck up a conversation with the owner of a local restaurant named Jeb's.  

I told him about the house we were building and the need for colored glass bottles.  He was happy to let me cart away all the empty bottles I needed.  In fact my ritual this whole winter was, every Monday, to stop by the bar on my way home from work.  I'm not a drinker - but the back room always had a few boxes of bottles waiting for us.  Before we knew it we had a basement full.

Here is a bit of picture summary of what we did with them.  Followed by a video.


First they came home in boxes.


Then, into the sink to soak off the labels.

Then, after a good scrubbing with the bottle brush and some soap it was dry time.

 We found that the top of the gas stove was the best place to dry bottles.  Here is a typical scene in the living room this winter.

Finally it was time to organize by color and get them re-boxed and ready to ship off to our secret storage facility deep in the heart of Lewis County (we'll share more on this later).  We counted 221 bottles as of February 9, 2013.  I think we'll call it quits for a while.

 Greens, light greens, yellow greens, browns, blues, and a few reds...just to name a few colors.

 Loaded into the van for transport to the secret stash.