OMG A year has gone by!!!!!

 
 
The mind ought sometimes to be diverted that it may return to better thinking. ~ Phaedrus

I find it funny that I should return to this blog almost a year to the day. Diversion didn't produce any better thinking but I guess it is true that I do love this time of year. Summer keeps me tied to the garden or the stove canning but when September rolls around I know the end is in sight. I have only to do apples

and sauerkraut and then I get a much needed rest.

Unlike last year the temperatures are above normal. The mornings however are wonderful. A cool fog shrouds the mountains.

 

Unexpected visitors were resting in a tree above the chicken coop. 

 

He did not like his picture taken so flew to a fence post,

 

when that didn't stop me he finally flew to a tree on the mountain. While the pigs were too busy doing their pig thing to notice,

the coop residents would not have liked the visit.

Not much has changed since a year ago. I am still working on the genealogy. I missed a family reunion because the car's (7 more payments but no more warranty) engine died. I also missed the Endless Sheep and Wool again but will be at Rhinebeck.

I did get a great deal on a 30 x 100 foot greenhouse frame. While too much space for my growing purposes, we intend to put part by the garden and the rest will be used for housing animals and storage for tractor and implements.

#1 daughter and Sir T are house hunting. They found a great house but the owners will not work with them, to the point that even the homeowners realtor thinks her clients are unreasonable. So the hunt goes on. The grandkids are getting so big. O starts kindergarten next September which seems impossible. B will be lost without him.

#1 son had a horrible snowmobile accident this past winter while riding with A.....seven broken ribs, three were broken multiple times, broken sternum, broken collar bone, two punctured lungs one collapsed, and a concussion. He subsequently sold his snowmobile but when Spring came they bought the fastest side by side quad to ride. He turned 30 this Spring so healing wont be as fast something he should keep in mind.

#2 son had long wanted to join the marines. Unfortunately he is PDQ because of his hearing. He was always getting ear infections as a kid and had ruptured his ear drum multiple times because of them. He tried for a waiver since he is only off by one frequency but the Marines are not offering waivers at this time. So he started working at the same place #1 son and husband work and will celebrate his one year anniversary there in a couple of weeks.

#2 daughter is working as a CNA at an area nursing home. She loves it but being the mom I worry about her driving as she works 3-11 pm and during the winter they don't always work on the roads at night. In a little over a month she turns 21. How time flies.

As with all gardening years, something's grow and something's don't. It was a great year for peas and summer squash but tomatoes were indecisive. They are loaded with buds now that it is time to pull them! A new thing this year is cotton!!!!!

 

I was given three plants and they had gorgeous flowers and then the boles started. I can't wait to harvest and plant more next year.

Even the farm is pretty much the same. We got three pigs to raise again this year.

We got a couple of turkeys.

A friend got chickens and ducks but his landlord nixed the ducks so he gave them to us.

I am in the sporadic funk with knitting but I have been spinning a lot. I washed a fleece today so as the weather gets cooler I will have plenty to card/dye/spin.

And that about wraps up the year! Pretty boring to put on paper but in real time it has had some pretty good moments.

Old me, New Year

“Year by year the complexities of this spinning world grow more bewildering and so each year we need all the more to seek peace and comfort in the joyful simplicities.”  Women’s Home Companion  December, 1915

Oh a new year, new beginnings, new hopes and aspirations…why does it come at that time of year when I just want to burrow in with a warm afghan, a book, a mindless pattern, old movie or tv series.  Yesterday it was the Waltons and McLintock while sitting by the woodstove knitting…the simple life.

After the spring and summer of gardening and then harvesting/canning I move into holiday mode of making presents/baking/cleaning for company etc.  I need this little bit of down time to just vege.  Consider it my two week vacation, inside where it is warm.

After a short time of doing nothing but keeping the house and laundry cleaned and inhabitants fed I will emerge ready to face this  new year.

I will look through the canned/frozen goods and choose what seeds I want to plant this year and where I will put them. 

I will look at what the year has planned (so far just #2 son’s graduation) and decide if we should raise our own pigs again this year.  I could use a few more layers and will have to decide if I want meat birds too before I place my order.

I would like an orchard up by the barn and have even thought of a couple of trees for Christmas's year down the road.  I would like to move extra raspberry and blackberry canes up there along with elderberry but have to think of fencing to keep the deer out.

I will look through the patterns that peaked my interest and decide if they are something that still interests me.  I know I need new dish cloths and socks so they will go on the to do list.

I have lots of roving but I also have 6 fleece that I might send out to be spun for me as I will have 6 more come April.

Decision, decisions, decisions….only time and finances will tell.  Right now I have at least one more week of mental/physical hiatus.  Till then some randomness....

 Grandson stocking

Grandson stocking

Work with me...it looks like a heart right?

Summer resident only!

Grandson O in bubble heaven

 

 

 

 I hope everyone one had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 

Boy a nap sounds wonderful right now.....

Low profile

Predators make it much more difficult to find consensus. It's a lot easier to agree about birds and plants than about animals that endanger people and livestock. ~ Gale Norton

Rooster ... "Shhhhhhhhhhh  I have been keeping a low profile.  Saving my neck is what I've been doing.  I will let my scratch dealer tell you our story."

Farmer....Earlier in the summer we bought some baby turkeys, geese, ducks and chickens.  They got big but not big enough to go in the coop and pasture with the adults.  We made a temporary shelter for them using a dog crate with a sheet of plywood thrown over the top and their own fenced yard inside the fenced pasture.  They were locked in the dog crate every night which was in a 6 foot locked fenced area.   But something came and killed 3 turkeys and 4 chickens, by grabbing threw the openings and decapitating them.  Then it completely gutted one.   

So we put the crate into the coop, letting the remaining small ones into their own area during the day and putting them safely away in the pen inside the coop at night.  And we put up the trail cam to see what our problem was.  We didn't have long to wait.

It was a raccoon.  Now the coop has a full size front door and a small door on the side that slides up.  Part of our barn was an old school house and the coal shed is what my parents converted into a chicken coop.  A week later the raccoon slid the wooden side door up, got inside the coop and killed a baby duckling that my larger duck hatched and killed four of my larger chickens which were roosting in the rafters.  Again only one was gutted the rest were left with their heads bit off.  I probably would not be as upset if they were all eaten.  

Needless to say Mrs. Raccoon has now gone on to that happy hunting ground in the sky.  Add to this a fox which has been picking off the adult ducks and I was almost out of the chicken/egg business.  My animals are free range within a couple of acres of fenced pasture.  At first it was the sheep/goat fencing the fox could slip through.  When smaller fencing was added around the bottom they dug under and if a trap was set there they dug somewhere else.  The fox will soon go visit the raccoon, it is just a matter of time. I grew up on a dairy farm and while young my parents raised several fawns.  I have a great appreciation for wildlife but when no deterrent works than it is me/mine or them.  Luckily for Rooster I like him.

Rooster... "And now that I can stick my head up again with out fear of getting it bit off I will let them continue to crow about their other doings...."

Farmer... In other farm news, we used hog panels and sectioned off a 1/4 acre of additional pasture for the pigs.  We have everything needed to build a new chicken coop…now we just need the time.  You know that old saying "be careful what you wish for"?  Well the man may have extra time as his job is thinking of laying off workers and cutting hours of others.  A decision was suppose to be made today but nothing was said so we wait and worry.

It has just been disgustingly hot and we are in desperate need of rain.  Last night it rained  1/4 inch...not much but I am not complaining.  Some rain is better than none.  I have resorted to watering my garden to the risk of my well.  But the heat and lack of rain is taking a toll.  After a late start my tomatoes are just getting tomatoes.  My beans have yet to flower but I have been harvesting broccoli.  The blackberries are ripening so I have been picking and freezing until I feel like making jam.

The knitting bug has bit me again.  I finished the Afternoon Tea shawl.  I also finished four hats and a fifth is on the needles.  And I finished off a bobbin of the cotswold.  Hey if the winter is as cold as the summer is hot we will need all this!

They are growing up

“Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well.” ― George R.R. Martin

#2 son is 16.  Having just received his learner’s permit he is more than willing to go anywhere with me now!  Grocery shopping is no longer mundane, it is an adventure. 

Before school let out for the summer he signed up for the Army  (I haven’t signed yet but this is what he wants).  If all goes as planned, next summer he will do his basic training and then his advanced training right after graduation.  So this is his last summer of “childhood.”  He says he wants to really enjoy this summer. 

He was talking to a friend’s husband about gardening/beekeeping.  Tobacco was mentioned so he researched different kinds, their uses and curing process needed.  He finally settled on an heirloom variety, bought it, sowed them, transplanted them into larger pots and has now transplanted them into the garden.  Not wild about his choice of what to grow since we can’t eat it.   I am glad that it has sparked and interest in gardening and that he is out there with me a lot more so I can’t complain.  He has been helping more at the barn and the house (dormers are finally being added) along with working his summer job.   I am hoping to bribe him and his friends into painting the milk house this summer! 

#2 daughter is starting her senior year of high school in September.  She babysits several days/nights per week.  Her one customer is taking her along on their summer vacation to North Carolina.  She is going to Florida on her class trip in November.  When not working she has been helping control the weeds.  Of course she is the first to suggest taking a break and going for a swim too!  

But lest you say all work and no play…we have been fishing/swimming.  Jake Owens is playing at the fair in the next county so the kids have tickets for that.  And Jason Aldean with Luke Bryan are playing at the old Woodstock site.  Plans are being discussed for another charter fishing trip…salmon would be nice, just in case they want some input!  One of the man’s co workers went clamming and brought us home some which turned into New England clam chowder. I could get into some clam digging and I want to go to the Corning Museum but scheduling everyone to have the same day off is getting crazy.  For the first time in the twelve years the man and I have been together we have been eating dinner alone!  I am going to have to learn to cook smaller portions or eat the same thing for a couple of days!

So we are only 1 ½ weeks out of the school year.  The garden after a late start has taken off, unfortunately the weeds have too.  Blackberries look abundant if I can keep the birds from them.  #2 son’s boss has property with blueberries which he said we can pick so we are waiting on them.

The weather continues its erratic behavior.  It was in the 90’s last week, 70 yesterday and will be 90 before Friday.  It was 49 this morning.  Some knitting (in front of the fan) is being done when it is too hot to do anything else.  It is the Afternoon Tea shawl.  I have also been carding and spinning some Cotswold.  I have a ton of roving so why am I working on something that needs more work?  I have no clue.

The animals are getting bigger.  I let the duck hatch out some eggs so we have four little ducklings running around.  I truly love this time of year regardless of the weather.  I love the new animals, eating out of the garden, eating outside, fireflies, curtains blowing in the breeze…not so much love going out to the mosquito’s, ticks and snakes. 

So time is wasting so I better go do the barn chores.  Hope everyone is enjoying their summer...before it's gone.

Happy Groundhogs Day

If the sun shines on Groundhog Day;

Half the fuel and half the hay.

Living in Pennsylvania, Groundhog Day is a huge deal.  And as you know by now Punxsutawney Phil has predicted six more weeks of winter.  And if this winter continues to be like this…..

BRING ON SIX MORE WEEKS!  The kids are even excited for more winter because they have not used a single snow day.  As it stands now, barring no use of snow days, they will get an extended Easter vacation and every Friday off in May.  A whole month of four day school week!  Hell I would have loved that as a kid too.

So what has been happening….

my little puppy (all 163# of him ) had a tumor on his leg so he was left at the vets Thursday night.  Having never been alone he was very stressed out.  Friday morning found him in surgery which went great.  I took him back in for them to check on it on Monday and he has to return on 2/9 for stitch removal and we will find out the pathology results.  

While he was in surgery I was taking #2 son to the Doctor.  He had a sinus infection and an ear infection.  

Sunday we went to see #1 daughter, Sir T and Baby O.  I did not have a sniffle before I left but while there my nose was like a broken faucet.  We left early and my sickness continues.  The sinus part has now lowered it sites on my throat and chest. Yippee!!!  But I can finally breathe through my nose again so I am not complaining!

#2 son turned 16 on Tuesday.  He is my baby and it is so hard to believe he is 200 pounds and over 6 foot.  We are holding off the cake and ice cream until this weekend when #1 & Sir T are here to attend. #2 daughter will be doing the cake decorating as she has been learning how in foods class.

While being sick I haven’t had the urge to knit or spin.  I have been reading though.and organizing seeds. Groundhog day is usually the day I have the seed orders in by.  This year I went through my saved seeds and older packages and I didn’t place an order.  My local feed store offers seeds from most of the catalogues I get including the heirlooms.  So I am saving on shipping and using the stash. 

Snow is in the forecast

"A speculator is a man who observes the future, and acts before it occurs." Bernard Baruch 

And since they are calling for 3-6 inches of snow the stores  were busy with everyone going for milk and bread.  I don’t like to shop on a normal day so you know I wasn’t there.   It has been such an unbelievably warm and snow free winter that I am looking forward to it.  It wont last long anyhow since it is suppose to be in the 40's on Monday.

I have been knitting.  I finally finished the vest I started for Baby O.   I hope it fits him.

Then I decided I needed a long pair of fingerless mitts.  I wear Walmart gloves to the barn because I have more dexterity with them.  However, they are short and my wrists get cold.  I like a coat without the knit cuffs so after I raise my arms I don’t have to tug the sleeves down.  This pair of fingerless mitts is just k2p2 so were done in no time with some old handspun dye experiment yarn. 

Then I received an email stating my name was mentioned on Pinterest.  I go to check it out and there is a leprechaun ski hat for Baby O with instructions from his mother to make it for him.  There was no pattern so I just winged it and came up with this… 

The “belt” should have been wider but it was done in a day.

Now to just finish this cowl…

It should have been done in a solid color to show the detail but I was watching a show with the man and that yarn was sitting close by.  While the snow is falling and the kids are involved with their friends that are spending the weekend I will be knitting and spinning....and maybe a snowball fight if it is good packing snow.

And just to note...I sold my Ashford Traddy.  She came east  many years ago with her previous owner but will be heading to Arizona soon.  I wish her and her new owner many hours of enjoyment.

Mr. Bluebird

Mr Bluebird's on my shoulder 
It's the truth, it's actual 
Everything is satisfactual 

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah 
Zip-a-dee-eh 
Wonderful feeling 
Wonderful day 

Yes sir 
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah 
Zip-a-dee-eh 
My oh my what a wonderful day 
Oh plenty of sunshine in my way 
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah 
Zip-a-dee-eh  ~ Disney

On the walk back from the barn what did I spy…yup! A bluebird.   And how can you look at a bluebird and not be happy?

It is a horrible picture but my camera batteries did not like the cold so I was only able to get one shot of him/her before they died.  But they served me well prior to that as I got some shots of the animals which have not made an appearance on here in some time…

Bozo says “ I hope you remembered the apples”  Sure did!

Tomorrow will find me glued to the tv as the PA Farm Shows Sheep to Shawl is televised.  Yearly enjoyment to which I had hoped to go but the truck decided the monies should be spent on it.  As much as I hate the truck it really hasn’t cost much in up keep so I can’t complain because it needs new tires to pass inspection.  There is always next year.

Yearly Fiber Festival

Advice for the day: If you have a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: Take two and Keep Away From Children ~unknown

For whatever reason I have major headaches at this time of year. I remember having a headache last year and the year before that when attending the Endless Mountain Sheep & Wool Festival…one tradition I would be happy to break from.

At this years festival, many of the vendors were unable to attend because the area was hit by Irene and then remnants of Lee. Some places are still underwater and inaccessible. Headache or no headache I decided it was my duty to stimulate the economy. We got there late as the man had to work half the day. #2 daughter came with me and we browsed while he managed to find food and buy out their days supply!

Silvara Valley Farm had lamb jerky and now he says I should be able to make him some with the lamb in the freezer. As canning season is still not over I think he should have savored it until the time I am able to make him some. I think he also bought me the goat milk and honey soap from them.

#2 saw some merino, cashmere and nylon sock yarn in Ultramarine over at the Unplanned Peacock Studio booth. As I haven’t made her socks in a while she hinted that they would make a beautiful pair of socks. So the sock yarn and two patterns followed us home. The patterns are Ishbel by Ysolda and Karen byAmy Swenson.

A sock kit containing Icelandic wool from HeartsEase Farm joined the purchases. I was interested in how long they would wear. As they are already done I will let you know soon!

Then I saw earrings and bought two pair. One is balls of yarn with needles sticking out of them and the other will be a gift so we can’t say anything

more.

I purchased some maple mustard, maple candy, and maple lip care from Loch's Maple Fiber Mill and on the way out bought my knitting bowl from Stillmeadow Finnsheep Farm , a fellow finnsheep owner. This is the one item I knew I was going to buy so I held off visiting this booth until the end. There she sat, a large bowl in a lovely shade of green as I have a thing for green. Then I almost didn’t get it as I was $6 short and they didn’t have an ATM nearby. I didn’t think to bring a checkbook which she would have taken. Thankfully Cyndy from Riverrim was vending there with Grace from Hatton Antique Spinning Wheels and I bummed the extra monies off of her. (Thanks again)

Now I am working my way through another headache and the kids will be home in an hour. Must go lay down and hope it is gone before they arrive.

Summer Solstice

"Whatever is dreamed on this night, will come to pass."
William Shakespeare - A Mid-Summernight's Dream

I will be dreaming of a great summer harvest but I don't think I will get it.  The cucs, zucchini and yellow squash seem to be in slooooooooooow mode. Add the beans to that also and the peppers and the broccoli.  The weather has been erratic, days of rain and cool weather followed by high temps.  The potatoes are doing okay, the tomatoes are over their shock of transplanting and the corn will be knee high by the fourth of July. Hopefully this guy obeys the rules of the garden fence...

 The apples and black walnuts are loaded and if the birds let me have any the berry harvest should be awesome.

Today also marks the first day of summer vacation for the kids.  As usual we had the whirlwind of end of school year activities.  Add to that driving lessons for #2, walking with #2, graduation ceremony and party for friends daughter, fathers day, bathing the skunked cat and I am tired.  On one trip to pick up #2 son I came home with three turkey poults.  My kids love when we mix business with pleasure.

The man is picking me up straw mulch tonight and my friend is getting me piles of newspaper.  Tomorrow we mulch. Those poor unsuspecting teens of mine!!!!  And my roaster chicks are to arrive with the morning mail, so I know those kids will not miss school at all!!!


Fiber-wise I haven't done much.  I finished spinning a bobbin last night and plied it back on it's self.  I have had a love affair with granny squares for some reason.  I sit and crochet the first row over and over using up all the little scraps.  Next will be adding to that row with larger scraps....at some point I might have an afghan but for now it is using up yarn while I decide what I want to work on.  I have the spring fleeces that I need to wash and today is as good a day as any so that is on the agenda.  And since our walk is already done, the yogurt is making, two loads of laundry is done....I guess that means nothing is standing in the way of me getting off my duff and getting started.

Hope whatever you dream of tonight comes true.

A Wonderful Day

"A little of what you fancy does you good."  Marie LLoyd


Today was to be cooler (66 degrees at 12:30!!!) and I fancied myself getting the garden finished.  I went out early, let the ducks out,

applied a coating of sun block, breathed in deep to appreciate the scent of locust blossom and got to work.  I got some tilling done, beds raked and 44 tomatoes planted and then I started  feeling the familiar twinges of sunburn so I am calling it quits until later.  So much for sun block!


I picked some lettuce before coming in to make a salad for lunch.  I planted several kinds as we  enjoy the different colors and textures.

I am surprised it has not bolted and turned bitter.  I have a cool/shady spot to plant some more in.  


Tuesday I got the cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash planted.  Then the man came home from work and I had to take him to the hospital.  Eight hours later he was diagnosed with neck and jaw contusions and a severe cervical strain.  Yesterday I spent the day babying him and consolidating two freezers into one.  Today he went to work, don't know if that was the best idea but he is stubborn.


Had a great weekend with #1, Sir T and G-baby O.  He is giving his mom a hard time sleeping...it would be really mean of me to giggle hysterically about grandkids being great revenge so I will contain myself with great effort.   Saturday,  Sir T went with #1 son to compete in a kickball contest.  We stayed home and tilled a new section to add to the garden.  We planted 30+ pounds of potatoes and the corn....cooed all over Baby O.  Sunday, #1 had friends over so we picked up our dinners from the VFW and ate here.  With an evening fire, smores and the passing on of some magazines it was a good day.  The guys tried to make it better by going fishing but nothing sizable was caught.  Monday we let the exhausted parents sleep in a little while we hogged baby O.  After a late breakfast, showers and packing they left to stop in and see the progress of #1 son and A's new house.  Hopefully Sir T will find a job comparable to what he makes now and they will be up here in the near future.


And the future is looking better than it was a week ago.  I always get antsy about getting the garden in so I am feeling better now that so much has been accomplished.  I picked up my wool so have lots to keep my spinning wheel going.  I finished the sweater for my nephew and working on little things to use up some scraps.  The fruit and berries are looking promising

The weather today was perfect.  Life is definitely looking good.  

Little Things

What we call little things are merely the causes of great things; they are the beginning, the embryo, and it is the point of departure which, generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence. One single black speck may be the beginning of a gangrene, of a storm, of a revolution. - Henri Frederic Amiel


Maybe because I hated this winter I have been noticing every little thing happening around here. Little changes in temperature have melted most of the snow in the woods. The snow on the yard and garden is getting thinner. My driveway is only icy when we go out in the morning. The birds are making more noise in the woods. I am seeing more deer near the edge of the woods.

I heard on the news this morning that these little changes had the crocuses coming up in one ladies yard. I had to go see if there was anything peeking out in my own neck of the woods and sure enough there was. A quick walk revealed daffodils, snow drops

and the bleeding heart

are making their annual debut. Although there was no visual confirmation due to a cloudy day, I have heard geese flying over head. Now I am on the lookout for the first robin in the yard.

With a little bit of change in the temperature and a little more sun, I was hanging laundry out to dry without my fingers in danger of frostbite! No drier sheet can duplicate the smell of laundry fresh off the line.

The little bit of additional light has made the chickens start laying more. Not to be out done by their feathered counterparts the ducks have decided to start laying now also.

A little bit of patience made me go back to spinning alpaca. I had picked up 4 ozs of gray and 4 ozs. of charcoal in the Little Barn while at Rhinebeck. When I first started to spin it I was not getting enough twist and it was so slippery. After several attempts I put it away and went back to spinning wool. Not to be bested by mere fiber I took it out again the other day.

For some inexplicable reason I had absolutely no problems with it. I finished spinning it and plied it. Today I started spinning the charcoal.

Now with a little bit of practice I will be spinning on the newest oldest spinning wheel. Cyndy emailed me to say her CPW was up for sale and I bought her. This is my first double drive wheel so lots to learn and I better be a quick learner because soon little bits of seeds will need to be started to become plants for this year’s garden. I still have to get my flats all washed, mix up some soil, clean the greenhouse…..