-Gabrial House- With holidays right around the corner and a crisper feel in the air I thought it would be the perfect time to share one of my favorite holiday beverages on the blog this week. I love sitting around a bonfire with family and friends sipping on a warm glass of properly steeped mulled wine. There are thousands of variations of this recipe, so feel free to add your own personal touches where you see fit. Mulled wine is a heated (never boiled) wine, infused with fruit, spices, … [Read more...] about Festive Mulled Wine
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DIY Bath Salts: A Quick and Simple Gift
As someone who loves to give gifts that I have made myself, I know that far too much time can be spent in the lead up to the holiday season considering what to make. Pretty much everyone I know has received some sort of planted item from me, from orchid-laden dish gardens, to terrariums made from old lightbulbs. This year, however, I wanted to expand to a new area of interest: homemade body products. Recently, I made bath salts, and they turned out to be fun, easy, and relatively quick to … [Read more...] about DIY Bath Salts: A Quick and Simple Gift
Easy DIY Low Tunnel Season Extension
You don’t need to have a fancy greenhouse to protect your fall crops and enjoy fresh greens and root vegetables grown outdoors all winter long. Making your own low tunnels is an easy project that can be started and finished in an afternoon. Depending on what type of fabric you use, you can increase the temperature around your crops by up to 8º, thus making it possible to keep your garden productive through the coldest months. It can also help you get an earlier start in the spring. One of the … [Read more...] about Easy DIY Low Tunnel Season Extension
How to make your own DIY bottle garden
At Fifth Season, we hear about and see all sorts of cool DIY projects, A couple years ago I came across bottle gardening, and recently I tried my hand at it. These gardens can be as simple as one bottle inverted on itself, or as elaborate as a window-sized unit with stacks of suspended bottles, linked by a drip system and all fed by submersible pumps. At this point, you might ask - why a bottle garden? Well, many people, such as those in apartments or other small living spaces, don’t have access … [Read more...] about How to make your own DIY bottle garden
Homebrew Hacks: Rubber Carboy Hood, Carboy Dryer
This is the first in a series of posts on homebrew hacks, tips and tricks for improving your brew equipment. Rubber Carboy Hood This Big Red Rubber Carboy Hood is a great alternative to a stopper or bung for your carboys. They snuggly fit over the mouth of your glass carboy and prevent anything from collecting near the opening. However, I bet you didn't know that they have another, even craftier … [Read more...] about Homebrew Hacks: Rubber Carboy Hood, Carboy Dryer
Terrarium Components and Construction
Terrariums have been an on-again, off-again fad since the mid-1800's and have always sparked the human imagination. No matter their current popularity, these little curios are an interesting addition to any home decor, a great way to connect to nature during the cold months, and a very rewarding hobby. We have a lot of people come into Fifth Season Gardening in Carrboro looking for tips on how to build a terrarium, so here we will cover some basics everyone should know about the components used … [Read more...] about Terrarium Components and Construction
Oxygenation when your brew needs it most!
A properly aerated wort is crucial to ensuring a clean, rigorous, and complete fermentation. Yeast cells generally need about 10 ppm dissolved oxygen in the wort in order to function properly. A lack of oxygen can negatively impact your brew in a number of ways. First, some background. Yeast cells need oxygen in order to reproduce. The oxygen is a critical component in the production of cell membranes, organelles, and various compounds the yeast need to produce in order to survive. In … [Read more...] about Oxygenation when your brew needs it most!
Cyser: Making Mead with Apples
Apple juice and apple cider are incredibly popular drinks, especially during the fall harvest season. But despite the fact that the fruit is practically synonymous with fall, apples are largely underrepresented in our alcoholic beverages. Hard apple cider, once the drink of choice for colonial Americans, is experiencing a revival in popularity, but still lags behind mainstream go-tos like beer and wine. In fact, both beer and wine can be made or accentuated with apples, but you'll be … [Read more...] about Cyser: Making Mead with Apples
