There is a common thread running through this month’s list. You will see what I’ve been focusing on learning lately.
- Our front yard has a creature in it. It’s a vole. I’ve never seen one of those before.

2. A friend showed us these inflatable solar lights from REI. Sounds like a great way to not use propane at the cabin, but the lights themselves run from about $30-$50, depending on the size. Inflatable!?!


3. Glucose Revolution by Jessie Inchauspé is a book that has inspired me to change the way I eat. It is well-researched, well-written, and makes a ton of sense. Here it is on ThriftBooks (I got my copy at the library).
4. CACHE is starting a new quest to gather money to have longer hours. Their attempts to secure grants have been unsuccessful, so they will be asking 300 people to give $100/year for two years in order to be open more hours. This makes much more sense to me: the local people who care will be more involved if they feel responsible for helping to keep it running. You should see the museum now—it is fabulous, nothing like the normal small town history museums! CACHE = Center for Arts, Culture, & History, Exeter, and their website is here: CACHE
5. I learned how to transfer a pattern from a picture on the computer to a life-size outline on a wall.
6. Xylitol is a zero calorie sweetener made from the bark of birch trees. (Birch trees?? Who figured this out?) It is supposed to work on a 1:1 exchange with sugar in baking (too expensive for me!), and the reviews are mixed. Glucose Revolution says it might still spike your glucose (how?? why??); other sources say it is a great substitute without side effects. I think it tastes better than stevia (but I still prefer real sugar, so there!)
7. Monk fruit (what in the world?) is the favored non-sugar sweetener these days. I haven’t tried it yet.
8. Currants are difficult to pick, and when you run them through a juicer, they make orange goo rather than juice. If you want to make jelly, pick way way way more than you think you need, boil them awhile, then mash them in a colander for a long time to let the juice appear. Or, you can dig a hole in your garden and bury the entire mess.



9. Did you know that buffalo are classified as bovines? I didn’t know either, until they were listed as possible subjects to enter into the current exhibit at CACHE, called “A Bovine State of Mind”.

10. I heard somewhere that only 18% of Americans now attend church regularly. I’m not sure how “regularly” is actually defined here; I go native/rogue/heathen in the summer, and then attend regularly when the cabin is closed for the year. I love my church.