A Little Surprise

Half dead thyme.

This is what I came home to. I was totally expecting to find 5 pots of dead plants. Shortly after we left, Nix sent me a picture of the weather forecast, showing temperature in the 40s for 7 days straight. In fact, the temperature remained high for the entire 12 days we were away for. I didn't want to trouble J any further since they're already looking after the dogs for us. All I did was to move all the pots into the garage & gave them a good drench the day we left. Surprisingly, only the thyme was looking worn. Everything else was healthy & the chilli plant had even sprouted a few more leaves.

Pinkish red frangipani flowers.

The frangipani that I was seriously contemplating to get rid of even bloomed for the 1st time since we moved in. Perhaps it read my intention & gave me a reason not to. The flowers were of the less common reddish in colour. I was told this is the more expensive variety compared to the white ones. Alright, I shall keep it.

The kombucha I left to ferment before we left was ready. I had plenty of SCOBY now. But as I was too tired to bottle it on Sunday, I waited till I got home from work on Monday. 12 days is a nice period for fermentation. 15 days resulted in an overly sourish kombucha. It's alright, the next batch will be fine. Also, I figured out the hard way that brewing 9L at 1 go is way too much. I ran out of bottles & had to use food containers. This time round, my plan is to make 5L every week so there is a stagger in maturity.

Over fermented kombucha.

Plenty of SCOBY.