Author: denisemor

She was one of the unnamed “orange girls”. A red sexlink from the 2021 cohort.

And she’d been looking kind of “hunchy” for a couple days, but I already had another girl in my “sick bay”, so I was just keeping an eye on her.

But yesterday morning I went out to do morning critter duties and as I approached the gate, a big bald eagle came into view, having breakfast amidst a carpet of orange feathers. I gave a yell, and he took off, carrying what little remained of the poor chicken.

Once I’d fed everyone else, I went over to clean up the crime scene, and came across an interesting, if gross, artifact which speaks to what had been ailing this chicken.

I have since discovered that this what is called a “lash egg“. First time I’d seen this sort of thing.

Clearly the eagle knew he didn’t want any part of that, and left it for me to clean up. But it means that she’d been suffering from a bacterial infection of the oviduct for some time.

So she was clearly compromised and probably an easy target for a hungry eagle. Poor girl.

It does wonder how she picked up the infection, and think that I should probably do a deep cleaning of the nesting boxes.

The other girl I have in sick bay is eating well and seems to be improving, so fingers crossed that she’ll be back up to speed and able to re-joing the genpop soon.

On a brighter note, tomato babies are looking strong and perky

as are the various dye plants

Many of the little peppers I’d started in late February were lost to the recent cold spell, so I’ve sown a few more of each type to see if I can get another batch started. I’ve still got the overwintered guys (jalepeno, blot, sheepnose pimento) that I’m counting on for a strong performance this year, but was really hoping to do a side-by side comparison of productivity between first year and second year plants.

Alrighty that’s all I’ve got. I’ll sign off this week with a few words from Yellow Chig

Yesterday I potted up the rest of the little seedlings that I’d started in the big plug tray- the second wave (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and dye plants- marigold, scabiosa, madder and dyer’s chamomile). Starting the seeds that way worked out ok, since the sections were small it meant I could start quite a lot of seed in one tray, and it was nice to have a built in dome to keep them moist.

But what I hadn’t thought of was that all the various things I planted in the one tray would germinate on different schedules. The marigolds and madder got way out ahead and I had to pot them up before any tomatoes, peppers or eggplant were ready to go. And since it’s all one tray, then you’ve got empty space on the seedling heat mat that you can’t really fill with anything else on the fly.

Oh well. Live and learn. In any case, now everyone is out of the plug tray and into 3 inch pots so they can get busy growing.

Tomatoes are looking pretty perky. Peppers are not as far along, but hopefully will start to catch up soon.

And of the things I just planted last weekend, some little cukes have already popped!

Also very excited about having sunflowers this year- “Mammoth Grey Stripe”

Also got some of that Fiona wool spun up- decided to go with a bulky weight chain ply. It’s a lovely oatmeal color, nice and lofty and squishy, but with a little bit of hairy toothiness. Lots of character, just like the girl herself. 🙂

And it is pictured with the Brioche of the week, a green multi paired with creamy white Esther. Here’s a closer look at the Brioche, and from the side to show off it’s architecture-

And speaking of cool structure, I found this amazing artifact from last summers poppies this morning while doing some garden cleanup.

I think it looks like a royal scepter. Such beauty in the tiny details.

Been a nice few days here, with spring-y temps and lots of opportunities for working in the garden.

Seedlings continue to make progress, and I just started another wave today -squashes, melons, cukes, sunflowers.

You might remember that back in October, I took cuttings from a few tomatoes to root and overwinter. I’ve managed to keep those guys going, and they’d become a bit unwieldy of late- so I decided to take a chance and put them in the ground (in the hoophouse)

I’ve got Sunrise Bumblebee, Pink German and Blush trellised, and Purple Cherokee in a cage. Here’s hoping we don’t get a hard freeze going forward!

Also put snap peas in the ground, and strung up a trellis for them made of apple whips.

Little red fence around them is to keep Yellow Chig from mowing them down. 🙂

And scallions and broccoli are getting settled in the first two stages of the Greenstalk planter

Won’t be long now ’til I’m shearing the sheeps! Most fleeces look pretty promising, tho I’m not sure what is going on with Fiona. Her wool is kind of short and seems to be somewhat felted, like a spongy mat across her back. Guess I’ll see once I get into it.

I hadn’t yet done anything with her fall fleece (which was quite nice), and so made a start on that the other day- once batch washed, dried and carded-

That’s her taupe-y fluff in the front. Not quite sure how I’m going to spin it yet. Will have to do a bit of sampling.

And on the knitting front I’ve been continuing to Brioche- enjoying the interplay of the colors and the cushiness of the fabric. Brioche has a nice easy rhythm to it, and is very satisfying at this gauge.

Alrighty folks, That’s all I’ve got. Have a good week 🙂

Just the way things go this time of year.

The seeds and seedlings are on heat mats, so they are riding out the chill just fine. It’s only me that is anxious.

Broccoli, peas and various onions coming along nicely

And most everything in the second wave is popped as well. Dye plants, tomatoes, eggplants all underway- Peppers taking a bit longer, but I kind of expected that.

Despite the rain and chill, I got some more compost hauled, and the raspberry canes thinned (tho not tied up yet), so felt that I’d met my garden productivity quota for the weekend 🙂

And I’m feeling good about having something back on the needles- a little brioche featuring the fun little multicolor chain ply skeins I spun up a few weeks back

I think that Esther’s creamy white really sets off the multicolor blends nicely.

I took a guess at the gauge and cast on 66 stitches, figuring that would get me in the ballpark of a hat or cowl, as brioche is pretty stretchy.

And it’s a good fit! Light and lofty, comfy and and cozy. (for future reference- knit 6 inches of two color brioche in the round, then crown shaping in three parts, brioche (double) decrease every other knit round.)

Have a good week everyone-