Hi lovetogrowflowers. I don't think you are bothering anyone. Lucy is right, try not to stress yourself out. Take deep breaths. LOL. I think your plan for the two potted ones are perfect. I read in one of your earlier post asking about if the crawl space was ok and someone I believe said yes. For me, I WOULD strip the leaves first. The brug will be trying to take care of the leaves instead of useing its energy to go dormant. Plus you wouldn't want bugs to sneak in on a leaf and spend the winter eating your brug. :( As for the one in ground...well people cut back or don't cut back for different reasons. One of the biggest I think is for safety and the health of the plant. During the winter the brug branches will freeze so they cut them back so there is less of a chance this will happen. Who wants a mushy rotting brug in spring? How tall is the brug you still have in the ground? How close to the ground is the Y? The experts can chime in if this is a bad idea, but how about if you...1.Stip the leaves. 2.Cut off only the top green tips. (Save them) 3.Mulch as high as you can get it, at least to the Y if it's close to the ground. 4.Cover the brug with a REALY big rubber trash can or tub. 5.Maybe even cover that with an old blanket. Or would that be over kill? The cuttings you could take in and root them. Hopefully none of that was bad advice. Me and Lonny are newbies too. This will be our 2nt winter. We killed one of the two brugs we had last winter. But that was because we brought them in and tried to keep them growing. This year we brought all in again. This winter we have many more, plus young ones. We made a Brug room and have been learning lots. So we are going to give it a try. If they had been bigger, we would have left them out in ground to go dormant. Now that I have writen a novel.(sorry, long winded) Try not to worry, you brought them back to health and they are doing well enough to be around to overwinter, so I think you are doing well. Kim

I think you're all correct. It must be a crapapple tree. I am sure it's not thundercloud but thunderchild. Hubby must be mistaken! I spent the entire evening looking at crabapple trees and the one we have could be a Flowering Thunderchild Purple Prince. Now that all makes sense. Hubby kept telling me that we needed the "thundercloud" so our real apple tree would be fruitful. Our real apple tree didn't do too well this year. Ironically the crabapple tree exceeded our expectation. Maybe I should use the crabapples to make jam and apple juice instead. LOL Thanks all! Al

Congratulations, it sounds like you have the real deal, but they must be very small kefir grains, which will continue to grow the more frequently you make kefir with them. As they grow they will become a gelatinous (rubbery) "glob" that looks a little like a cauliflower. The grains grow for a never-ending source of kefir grains, which is the beauty of kefir grains over making yogurt. Kefir is also healthier for you than yogurt. You don't say how many grains you have - would they fill a teaspoon, tablespoon, or 1/4 cup...? The ratio of grains to the amount of milk you are fermenting will also determine how long you need to ferment your grains in the milk to make kefir. I use approx. 1/3-1/2 c. of grains to 2-3 cups of milk in a quart jar. When they get as large as a quarter, I'll pull them apart into 2-3 pieces. Sometimes they will separate themselves at the weakest point the larger they get. Just make sure you wash AND rinse your hands thoroughly before you handle your grains. Any remaining soap residue on your clean hands can transfer to and affect your grains. The more frequently you make kefir, the quicker your grains grow. So if you only have a small amount of grains (say enough to fill a teaspoon or tablespoon, you will want to use a small amount of milk - up to 1 cup until you get some growth, then use more milk. I usually make 2, sometimes 3, consecutive batches (make a batch, take the grains out and immediately start the next batch), then rest my grains in 1-cup of milk in a pint jar in the refrigerator until I need to make kefir again (within 7-10 days). I make this much once or twice a week, depending on my needs. The one cup of milk I rested the grains in will have enough good bacteria in it from the grains that it will also make kefir sitting at room temperature, even after the grains are removed. The grains float to the top of the kefir and I use a plastic slotted spoon to gently scoop them out. That will help to keep the curd (the solid part) whole. This is important if I want to drain the whey out of the curd and use the curd as a substitute in a recipe for sour cream or cream cheese. If you shake the kefir, the curds will break down and you will have a liquid, which I use as a substitute in recipes calling for buttermilk. Once the curd is liquified, it will remain a liquid. Kefir curds are smaller than yogurt curds (which makes kefir easier to digest than yogurt), and the curds are more delicate than yogurt curds and easily destroyed (mixing, shaking, etc.) Only ferment it to the point you like the results (thickness or taste). The longer you ferment it, the more tart the kefir will be. The warmer the ambient temperature, the quicker the kefir will ferment and the more tart it will be. I might ferment it for 8-12 hours in the summer when the ambient temperature is much warmer, but 18-24 hours (or longer) in the winter. I personally like the kefir best made in the winter in my cold kitchen (which is a little cooler than your temperatures), because it is less tart and smoother. I use kefir every morning in a smoothie (1 part kefir to 2 parts fruit juice - orange/pineapple is a favorite, but we use a variety of 100% fruit juices), plus some flaxmeal, hi-maize resistant starch, and a powdered supplement we take, and I mix it in a Hamilton Beach Drink (Malt) Mixer. When I get extra grains, I also ferment coconut milk (especially good by itself, topped with homemade granola for breakfast or snack, or mixed with orange/pineapple juice for our morning smoothie). I buy coconut milk powder (Wilderness Family Naturals - on line at http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com) and reconstitute it in water like making powdered milk, but you can use coconut milk in a can as well. I'll make one to two cups of coconut milk at a time using 2-4 marble-size kefir grains. I rest the grains in cows milk between batches, but continue to use these grains for coconut milk. I'll also take some of my extra grains and ferment grape juice. The grains won't continue to grow, so after a few batches of grape juice they will fizzle-out. I'm going to assume you read Dom's Kefir Insite web site. It's the best one for information about kefir. You will get your own rhythm for fermenting kefir. The more you make it, the quicker your grains will grow. But you will also need to find ways to use it. I was an avid yogurt maker for 30-years until I got my kefir grains (about 10-years ago). Now I make kefir all the time and only make yogurt a few times a year. The link below will give you some ideas what to do with the whey if you drain your curd. Along with lacto fermentation of vegetables and soaking grains using whey, I use it in the summer to make whey lemonade, which is a wonderful thirst quencher when working outdoors. Better than sports drinks! -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Prairie Homestead - 16-ways to use whey

I'm so sorry for what you're going through. For what it's worth, I was in a long marriage to an emotionally abusive man, and I also (now, not then) have a child with special needs. I can't imagine how you could possibly have dealt with all that you've been dealing with for as long as you have been. It has to have been intolerable. Don't worry about how you're "supposed to be feeling" -- Just go with what you do feel, and allow yourself to feel it. Give yourself permission to let go for a few days. If you're sure it's the right decision, then tell the kids that you're sad that you and their father could not be happy together (not sad you're splitting), and that it's important to allow yourself to feel sad for a few days -- But that you know it is the right decision and that you'll be happier next week. It might actually help to put a date on it -- I'm going to allow myself to be sad until Friday (so they don't worry too much). Then CRY. Just hug your kids and cry, and let them cry too. Then pull yourself together after you've washed out some tears and start moving forward. You may be surprised actually behow relieved you feel. More than anything else, I felt relieved, and like I finally had a chance at reaching something good. You may be scared right now, but IME, it's much easier to have NO help than to have almost no help and lots of criticism. Clearly, you've got incredible resources, and you're going to be OK -- probably better than that.