vanilla extract update and other "currant" events

It has been 4 months since I started the vanilla extract.  It has been hiding away in a kitchen drawer and I shake the jars every now and then.  I decided it was time to strain the extract off of the beans and seeds.  From the 2 quart jars I got 3 pints of strained extract.  (I used muslin inside of a funnel to strain it.) 

I found this brand of kombucha that comes in amber glass bottles.  I bought 3 bottles awhile ago and saved them specifically for bottling the vanilla when it was ready.  (I will be giving some of the vanilla as gifts, and I still have about half the package of beans left, so I will be making more extract for Christmas gifts as soon as I buy more alcohol.  I made this first batch with Everclear, and I think I will try white rum for the second batch and see which is better.)

I read online about making vanilla sugar with the used beans and seeds, so that is what I did.  I mixed a 2 lb bag of "washed raw" sugar with the beans and seeds left after I strained off the extract.

My new washer was delivered and I've used it a couple times by now.  It really spins the clothes dry!  So that is going to be really nice as I hang dry all my clothes and this is going to make that process go faster.  I doubt I will ever use all the fancy cycle options on this machine, so I wished I could have something simpler, but I am won over by it's cleaning and spinning capabilities.

Not too much happening on the gardening side, since I have not been able to devote too much energy or time to it this year again.  But I did harvest the red currants from the bush I planted a couple years ago.  I am not sure what people do with red currants other than make jelly, and as you can see I only had a small harvest.  So I decided to make them into a batch of scones.  I used a little of the vanilla sugar to sweeten the biscuit dough, and they turned out really good.

I also harvested the shallots.  I'd never planted them before, or ever cooked with them, but the Joy of Cooking book said to harvest them when the stalks started to lay down but before they turned all yellow and so I did.  It said I should harvest 4-5 times as much as I planted and I did, so it was a success.  The Territorial catalog said to plant them in fall and then harvest in the summer, so when my coworker gave the starts to me in early spring and said to plant them then I was a little worried they wouldn't grow right.  But now that I see the cooking book says to plant in early spring and harvest in late June so according to that I did it just about right.  They are laying in the laundry room to cure for a few days (I can't leave them on the ground like the book said due to my resident feral cat colony) and then I will either braid them or I will attempt to braid them and give up in frustration and then put them in a mesh bag and hang it in the pantry.
Those are a few of the things that went on here for me this week.  There is also a dumped-off cat who has been hanging around with my feral cats for a number of months now (and had his trip to the vet to be neutered several months back).  I assume he is dumped off and not feral because he does not act as terrified of people as the ferals do, but still he hisses and growls very meanly and runs away from me all the time.  I had to live trap him to get to the vet just like I did the others.  Lately he caught a respiratory infection and I guess that made him decide to trust in me.  So all the sudden he has started befriending me and begging for my attention every time I go out.  I have been giving him colloidal silver on his food and rubbing medicine in his eyes every day and hoping for the best and that it won't spread to the other cats outside.  After several days on medicine, he seems to be making a turn for the better, so I am relieved, for now anyway.  Now he has decided he is my good friend and he keeps trying to get let into the house (which my inside kitty absolutely would not allow!).  The feral cats sit behind the bushes and stare at him in amazement as he gets petted.  They probably think he is crazy.  Doesn't he know that people exist to give you food every morning and night but that you must never ever get near enough for a person to touch you?