Hello friends, Heidi here from Rain Country. In this Monday “this~n~that,” I covered a handful of practical homestead topics that come up a lot in my comments—starting with vinegar vs. my fermentation starter. They begin almost the same (produce + sugar + water), but the end result is totally different because the timing and oxygen exposure are different. Vinegar needs oxygen and about 30 days (roughly two weeks to turn sugar into alcohol, then two more to turn alcohol into vinegar). My starter is capped and only goes about 3 days—just long enough to get good and bubbly—so I can use it for all kinds of things like quick ferments and bread. I also shared an update on my castor oil blend (castor oil + black seed oil) and why I haven’t changed my stance on plastic vs. glass packaging. Glass is great if you can get it, but a lot of oils that end up in glass were shipped in plastic drums anyway—so buying a larger plastic jug and repackaging into glass can save money. I clarified the “hexane-free” question too: if it’s cold-pressed, it’s hexane-free. And I touched on baking soda marketing myths (and the flood of AI “fear” videos), plus why I prune my grapevines differently—because mine double as a privacy wall on our small neighborhood lot.