Author: denisemor

Many thanks to The Man for his contribution to the blog last week.

We were both really happy to get the possum situation resolved to the benefit of all 🙂

Thankfully no more of that kind of excitement this week.

Just Garden Planning Excitement!

Our seeds have arrived- and this morning I spent some time getting the planting plan together. Last year the seed-starting schedule was dictated by how quickly we could get the hoophouse enclosed. We got the first wave sown March 23.

This year we’re going to go earlier, and see if we can get tomatoes and other heat-loving stuff ripening a bit sooner.

This year’s selections include:

Tomatoes: German Pink, Sunrise Bumblebee, Martino’s Roma

Peppers: Craig’s Grande Jalepeño, Sheepnose Pimento, Blot

Melon: Petite Gris de Renne

I’ve also got two little tomato plants who volunteered last fall (I think one Brad’s Atomic Grape, and one Honeycomb) growing under lights in the house right now. Really hope I can keep them happy and growing for a few more months.

And on the wool front, I finished spinning up the Florida Cracker Sheep wool (three ply, same style as the Gulf Coast Native)

It was a really fun, easy spin. The two wools seemed very similar to me. I’m thinking/hoping to use them together in a project soon. Would be interested to see what they they look like right off the sheep. Maybe next time I’m in Florida….. 🙂

And on the needles this week- mitts, of the fingerless variety. Wool is Jacob- sample skein from that fleece I processed as a demo for my Country Living Expo class. Think I might just keep making vanilla mitts for a while. They are so quick, and I’m kind of in the groove. Thinking that maybe once I’ve got a batch of them I might play around with embellishing them- a little embroidery?

And in case you are not subscribed to Clara Parkes’ Wool Channel- I thought that this recent episode was particularly engaging: https://www.thewoolchannel.com/viw-s1-e6/

Have a good week!

Despite what Stringer says (“The Wire” reference video removed due to language worse than I remembered), I am enormously thankful for a 40-degree day.

While it was a stressful and tiring week, I’m pleased to report that we came through the snow and cold without any death or destruction. Structures intact, all critters accounted for. Whew!

This weeks expected rain should melt away the snow quickly, but cleaning all the mucky bedding out of the shed is going to be a big job.

And while hunkered down by the pellet stove, I actually got a fair fit of spinning done- you might remember that I brought home a bunch of new-to-me fibers from Florida last month-

So far I’ve spun up two of the three- the white below is Gulf Coast Native

And we just got out garden seed order in to Baker Creek. So exciting to think about the cool stuff we’re going to grow this year. We’re dialing back the tomatoes a bit (still three varieties, just fewer of each), and making space for peppers (sweet and hot), eggplant and celery.

There’s still a lot of winter to be gotten through, but I do find that garden planning helps to keep me moving forward.

Have a good week folks!

And it is quite cold.

We have about 12-14 inches of snow on the ground and a high temp today of 14 degrees.

The Man and I have expended quite a bit of energy over the last couple of days trying to keep the critters out of the worst of it. But blowing snow is a real bugger.

We’ve fortified the shed with tarps, hung heat lamps for the chigs, and rigged water defrosters.

If anyone is out there looking for a makeshift chicken heater, I think that we might have hit upon something that might help in a punch- seedling heat mats

Didn’t take a picture while I was out there (reluctant to remove my gloves) but you can kind of see on the chicken cam.

You basically wrap one seedling mat around the 5 gallon reservoir, and place another beneath the tray. I’ve got a rubber flooring tile below the bottom mat so that it’s not sitting directly on the concrete pavers. So far it seems to be working well keeping the water in a liquid state.

The sheeps seem to be doing ok, but are a little agitated. Don’t know if that is maybe because we’ve been out there so much puttering and messing with stuff, or maybe they are kind of freaked out by the sounds the tarps make in the wind. But I wish they would cool out and hang in the shed where it is marginally comfier.

That’s it for now. I’m pretty beat. And tomorrow isn’t supposed to be any better weather-wise.

Take care and stay safe folks-

Photos, for the record 😉

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood- cool and sunny. About as nice as it gets for December in the PNW.

But we’re ready for it now that we’ve got a cool new hay shelf installed in the shed- courtesy of The Man.

Here is it with the front panel down for hay bale loading

And front panel up for secure storage

A significant improvement from storing hay over on the chicken side of the shed!

And in the repairs category- I spent some time today to giving one of my favorite old woolens some love. This old Bemidji Wool Mills shirt/jacket is my go-to top layer for a outdoor work in all but the most inclement weather, and so does take quite a beating. Frayed cuffs, missing buttons, etc.

First it got a sudsy handwash. Then I secured it’s fraying bits and replaced missing buttons with some cool antler ones I had in the stash.

A neat look I think! All spiffed up and ready for another year of chores 🙂

And.,,, registration just went live for the 2022 WSU Country Living Expo. It will be virtual again this year (spread out over three days – Jan 28, 29, 30), and I am going to be teaching a Basics of Wool Processing class on Sunday the 30th. First time teaching via Zoom- wish me luck!