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Rainfall and Windfall

denisemor 0 August 31, 2015

It was quite a weekend, weather-wise! Blog was delayed due to power and internet outage, but now we’re back in business, and glad to have come through it with minimal damage.

Here is a dark cloud photo to set the scene

I was pretty excited at the prospect of getting measurable rain, but I didn’t think about the high winds that were expected to accompany it.

Saturday morning we lost power at about 11 am, about the same time that our beautiful fig tree, which was having an awesome summer and growing like crazy, took a big hit. Poor guy.

Last time we had a big wind storm this tall poplar dropped a huge branch in the pasture that kept the boys busy munching for weeks. Here Frank is standing by just in case it lets go of another one 🙂

He never got the big payoff, but we did get lots of tasty little branch-lets that the boys have been enjoying.

A lot of apples hit the ground, too-

So the sheep and chickens really made out on this one.

And I think we gotten about 2 inches of rain so far. Yea!

Edgar is excited too, but he’s playing it cool.

Have a great week! I’ll be at the Bow Little Market again this Thursday, so drop by if you’re in the neighborhood!

Free-rangin’ Field Trip

denisemor 2 August 23, 2015

So, I had this thought the other day that maybe the sheep could save us some mowing.

We have a couple patches of grass in the lawn that are still growing, and with as dry as the pasture is, I figured the sheep might enjoy some fresh greenery.

So I invited them out into the yard-

And all they wanted to do was eat the fruit trees. I should have figured.

(please pardon Felix’s shaggy butt and undercarriage. He has not been very cooperative when I’ve attempted to tidy him up recently)

I was finally able to lure them back into the pasture with more branches. Was kind of fun having them out for a while, and they were pretty well behaved. Too bad they wouldn’t eat the grass for me though. Guess we still have to mow.

In other news- the market was a lot of fun this past Thursday. I sold some carded fiber and hats (way cool!), but not much yarn, which I found surprising.

I’m going to go back to the Bow Little Market for their last day of the regular market season, Sept 3 (since I’ve got the prep done already) Think I’m going to try and knit a couple more hats between now and then, to highlight how the yarn on display looks when used in stranded colorwork-

Mmmmmm.

Return of the Blog!

denisemor 6 August 13, 2015August 13, 2015

Whew! It’s been a long time, eh?

Things keep rollin’ along here at the homestead, and I think I’m finally ready to start writing about them again.

I just returned from my yearly knitting retreat down on Whidbey Island with some friends, and it seemed like a good time to get this thing back on track. 🙂

So let me tell you about a cool little adventure we had while we were down there.
Shortly before the trip, I happened upon the website of a new fiber mill in Clinton, WA at the far south end of the island- Abundant Earth Fiber Mill

I was excited to find out about a new custom fiber processor in the area, and contacted the owner to ask if I (we) could come down to visit the mill. And she said yes!

So we drove down Tuesday morning and met Lydia, who welcomed us to her amazing operation and gave us a tour.

We followed the path of the fiber being processed from the skirting table

to the drying racks

and on to the picker

Carder

And then,,,,, wait for it,,,,,,wait for it,,,,, the Pin Drafter!

Look at those beautiful coils of wool. Mmmmmmm.

Everything is pin drafted many times to ensure uniformity of the roving before it goes to the spinning machine. Yes, she’s got a spinning setup too! Here’s a little video I took-

And here are some of the yarns that she produces

Pretty, pretty neat.
Some beautiful dark chocolate alpaca followed me home. (because souvenir fiber does not count as stash!) It’s practically spinning itself.

I’ve also been getting ready to participate in the Little Bow Market Fiber Day next week. I’m going to take yarn, as well as some carded fiber and some small knitted items I’ve completed over the last few months. First time vending- wish me luck! I’m sure it will be a fun time, whether I make many sales or not.