Fire Cider

If this witch's brew doesn't kill me, maybe it will live up to the hype. 

Fire Cider. I saw videos about it on YouTube and decided since I had most of the ingredients on hand, I'd give it a try. 

The brew, excuse me, concoction tonic, is supposed to have anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, and immune system boosting properties. It ought to have something...

Disclaimer: I'm not a health expert, This is all anecdotal, so make this at your own risk. 

To make this brew you need onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, citrus (I used one orange and one lemon), jalapeno pepper, black peppercorns, horseradish, rosemary, and apple cider vinegar with the mother. I also added a handful of fresh cranberries since I had some on hand to make cranberry sauce for the holidays. I've seen where some people have added elderberries, but we don't seem to have any bushes around any longer. 

Layer the ingredients in a large glass container that has a lid. Pour in the ACV to cover and put the lid on the jar. Keep it in a cool spot away from direct sunlight and be sure to shake the jar every day. Once it's "finished," strain off the liquid and put it in an amber colored bottle. I'm going to store mine in the fridge. 

My brew will be ready around the first week of December. I've sniffed it and it actually smells like I'll be able to drink the suggested one tablespoon, or one ounce, a day. I have a shot glass and that's what I plan to use. 

Will it's supposedly magical properties change my life? I guess I'll find out.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, Fire Cider, witch's brew, health, rural living, country lifestyle, gardening, herbal remedy, science experiment, shot glasses

And then this happened...

Just when you're cruising along...

So I was on the way home from an evening out with one of my friends, minding my own business, when a doe bolted out of the woods and ran into the Charger. 

Yes, she hit me. I did not hit her. 

I am not pleased. 

I almost managed to swerve away from her, but I hit those damn rumble strips along the side of the road and that scared me more than the deer did. It all happened in a flash.

The only damage to my Charger is the crack in the nosepiece which I will have repaired after the first of the year. Until then, there's Duct tape to stabilize it. Why wait so long? It's a scheduling thing. 

I took the Charger to my mechanic and he put it up on the lift and went over it. No mechanical damage. The car runs fine - no vibration, no strange noises. I was very lucky. 

The amusing thing happened the next morning when Deuce discovered that little tuft of deer fur stuck to the car. That's as close to sniffing a deer as my boy will ever get. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, white-tailed deer, Dodge Charger, Duck tape, rural living, country lifestyle, gratitude, Labrador Retriever, auto accident, 

 

Firewood, firewood, and more firewood!

This time of year is all about firewood. Heck, this entire year has been about firewood! It seems like all I've really accomplished this year is trimming trees, setting the logs aside for firewood, and burning the resulting brush. 

It started in May with a maple tree uprooting along the south stone fence. I got that cleaned up just in time for me and the cousin to rent a lift and top a few maples that were close to the house. Yeah, that happened in July and it was hot, hot, hot work. But we got it done. 

After all that, it was time to call in the professionals to take down a huge oak that was ninety-percent dead. I made a video on that. Actually, I made a lot of videos this past summer. You can check them out on YouTube on the Holly Tree Manor channel. 

I haven't had a lot of time left over to blog about anything, even the writing. I'd like to say I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but not yet. There is still a large pile of maple logs to cut into round, and even more oak logs. The cousin and I will have firewood for the next several years with just what is already on the ground. The thing is, it's doubtful Mother Nature will let the winter pass without gifting us more. 

I get tired just thinking about it.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, firewood, log splitter, John Deere 1023, rural living, country lifestyle, KC Kendricks, romance fiction, Between the Keys, Deuce's Day

Suffice it to say, we've been busy

It seems like "forever" since I had time to sit down and pen a blog entry. I've been busy with a project practically every day. Just this rainy, dreary morning, I finished burning the brush from when the tree trimmers were here to cut down the top of a dead oak tree. And I confess I've been busy with my new hobby - making videos of what's going on here on the manor. You can go to Youtube.com and search up Holly Tree Manor with KC Kendricks. 

I suppose I'm a bit old-fashioned in that I keep a desk calendar. It's a Day Designer, and I use it as a diary to keep track of what I did when. Looking back, it's no wonder I'm TIRED!!!!

• Today, October 13, 2025 - burned the last of the brush, ran a backup, paid my mother's bills
• October 12 - Sunday, domestic chores
• October 11 - worked in the wood yard; videoed it
• October 10 - laundry, worked in the wood yard
• October 9 - grocery run; canned carrots, baked muffins, brought in tender plants
• October 8 - burned 40% of remaining brush, set up new budget sheet, HVAC guy installed new fan motor
• October 7 - worked in the wood yard, the Internet was out, went to Trivia night
• October 6 - cousin fixed toilet, updated laptop, ordered HVAC parts, gave Deuce a bath
• October 5 - mowed grass, HVAC system fan crapped out, called HVAC tech, cousin brought topsoil
• October 4 - weed whacked, spread stone on parking area and lane
• October 3 - spread stone with the John Deere 1023, dismantled bench at shed and burned
• October 2 - weed whacked, load of stone delivered, got diesel fuel
• October 1 - made grocery run; removed shade cloth at sunroom, steam clean LR area rugs

I have no idea why I'd be tired. And that's not all of it, just the major items. But maybe it does explain why I've not been blogging, or writing, these past few weeks. 

I'm grateful I'm able and active enough to handle all the day to day here at Holly Tree Manor. With winter closing in fast, there is still much to do. It's now wood splitting season, and the cousin has mentioned it a few times. We're both set with firewood for this year, but we need to split for next year so the firewood can season for a year. That's the way it works. 

So forgive me for not blogging much. I really have been busy!

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, canning, gardening, John Deere 1023, rural living, country lifestyle, firewood, splitting firewood, shade cloth, black Labs

Little bit of this, little bit of that

Some days, most days, life is full of little moments. You do a bit of this and then a bit of that, and before you know it, the morning has slid into the afternoon. My life is really like that. 

A few days ago the morning was full of little things. I made a cup of coffee and sat down to go through the canning books to select a few soup recipes to make for this winter. I had a batch of yogurt in the Instant Pot that needed to be finished, and a pack of bacon to fry. In the garden, I wanted to make a last harvest of the basil and get it on the dehydrator. And I needed to vacuum the rug because Deuce - well, Deuce was being Deuce. 

I took video clips of the morning, which is more time consuming than you'd think. I spent the afternoon putting the clips together and getting the video posted.

When I was finished, evening had arrived and another day was gone. And isn't that just life? A little bit of this and a little bit of that which forms to make a whole day. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, canning, Instant Pot, bacon, basil herbs, gardening, rural living, YouTube, video, daily life, black Labrador Retriever

How busy is too busy?

 

To say that's it's been a busy stretch would be an understatement. It's that time of year when you look around and see a few things that need done before the really cold weather creeps up on you. So I got busy, did the work, and I videoed a lot of it. 

There was cleaning up the wood yard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOMDflULKhs&t=8s 

I harvested the basil and made pesto. It's not really a cooking vid, just the way I do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k922IppD3FE&t=17s

One day, I took some time to do the little bit of fall decorating I do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC2V-dpXLVU

But the really BIG THING that happened was the tree trimmers finally arrived to take down the mostly dead oak tree. I've been sorting and organizing the logs so that when the wood dries out enough to split, it will be an easier job. That video isn't out yet, but it's coming soon. 

On top of all that at the home front, I've been out to dinner with friends, dined with family, and enjoyed the weekly Trivia Nite at a local "tavern" with a cousin. The game takes place in the ballroom so you know it's not a real tavern. I canned a batch of green peppers, chicken breast, and white bean and sausage soup.

This week, I put on my author hat and started to add my backlist to Audible. You can read about that over at Between the Keys. If you already have some of my titles, you can add the audiobook for $1.99. It's going to cost me a small fortune to get the audiobooks into my personal library, but it'll be worth it. 

It seems like I have something to do every day, and by the end of the day, I'm bushed. Heck, I went to bed with the chickens last night and slept for nine hours! 

In reality, I think it's good to be busy. Having nothing to do would make life pretty boring. Those days are just around the corner. Winter will arrive and my days will shrink to the computer, the TV, and the woodstove. 

Until then, I'll count my busy blessings.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, YouTube, autumn, gardening, woodstove, firewood, tree trimming, cooking, basil, Black Labrador Retriever, family, trivia, winter, audio books

Quick Garden Tour, Cleanup, and a New Greenstalk

The 2025 gardening season is winding down. Was it a huge success? Not really. The extreme heat took a toll on a lot of things, but the Bell peppers thrived. The Roma tomatoes did okay, too, even flowering after ninety-degree days. I even avoided the blossom end rot this year. 

I've harvested basil to make and freeze Pesto, canned tomatoes, and made two batches of stevia. I've dehydrated lemon balm and echinacea, and even dried some patchouli. And I've added another Greenstalk for strawberries. 

Along the way this summer, I've been making videos! I love having a video record of what's been going on here at Holly Tree Manor. 

So check out my YouTube channel, Holly Tree Manor with KC Kendricks to SEE what's been going on. And if you would, please like and subscribe to help the channel grow. I want to be an old, old woman with a bunch of videos to prove to old, old men that yes, I did indeed know how to operate a John Deere tractor. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

Holly Tree Manor, KC Kendricks, YouTube, gardening, John Deere 1023, Greenstalk, container gardening, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, woven weed cloth

I had to do it - stewed tomatoes

Based on the performance of the tomatoes in my garden over the last several years, I did not expect to have a big harvest this year. And that was fine with me. My late husband was a big fan of seasonal bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches if the tomatoes were fresh from the garden. Enough was produced to keep him happily munching on BLTs and not much beyond that. This year is different.

First off, I only planted five plants. At this point, I'm saying thank God! Those five Roma plants are really outdoing themselves. Based on the last several seasons, I figured I'd get enough for the table but not enough to process. 

Wrong. This morning I processed eight three-quarter-pints of stewed tomatoes, and I expect I'll have enough to do another batch before the season ends. 

I do love those three-quarter-pint jars. I wish they were more readily available. I think each jar will be just enough for me to get two servings. That's perfect. I may even try a few half-pint jars since I have a lot of those empty at the moment. 

I'm wondering if the addition of potash to the raised bed I planted the tomatoes in has made the difference. There has not been even one instance of blossom end rot this year, and that is my tomato nemesis. 

The heat this summer has been brutal, and it has effected the garden. But I will persist and be happy for all that I did get. It's also time to plant for late fall harvest, something I've rarely done. Maybe I'll have success with that in 2025. We plant in hope. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, home food preservation, tomatoes, blossom end rot, rural living, a writer's life, fall planting

Update over at BTK

 

There's a bit of an update over at Between the Keys. It's one of those posts that has a bit about writing, gardening, and life. Yeah, I may have rambled all over the place. 

Check it out at https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/2025/08/i-didnt-expect-this.html

Seeing is believing!

Have you ever started something and then wondered why you did? I'm sort of at that point with the recent spate of videos I've posted at https://youtube.com/kckendricks. I'm having fun (sort of) learning to edit a cohesive video so that's a good thing. I've joked I'm going to be ninety years old in the nursing home and pulling up these vids to prove to the old codgers I really did operate a John Deere tractor and I really did use a chainsaw. Ha ha. 

But seriously, a conversation with some friends got me to thinking. Myself and another member of our "dinner group" live alone, and we are not afraid to cut down a tree and chop firewood for ourselves. Several other group members have no clue about how to garden, how to can food, how to take their car in for service. They just don't know where to start. I want these videos to show women in my age group that they can do it. 

So what have I been recording?

Using the Brush Crusher on the John Deere tractor to remove fallen tree limbs, brush, to aid cutting firewood, and using the backhoe attachment to dig out stumps and a clothesline post among other things. I'm going to run out of ambition to keep making videos long before I run out of projects. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUYFmD6rG3c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZLTCa_x19g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVIhb51F6hE

Of course, I manage to get video-bombed by Deuce at least once per video. 

I try hard to not allow myself to get annoyed by women who think they can't do for themselves. So many times it's conditioning from their parents. You can take care of yourself. I'm walking proof of that. I had good examples of strong, self-sufficient women to guide me. I had a husband who believed it was part of his duty as a husband to teach me all that he could. His life was my biggest blessing. 

Sooooo, if you'd like to see me in action, visit the YouTube channel. If nothing else, you'll get a laugh or three as I blunder my way through projects here at Holly Tree Manor.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, John Deere 1023, strong women, self-sufficient, tractors, chainsaws, gardening, cooking, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, greenhouse, YouTube channel