Blog

May is go-time! Seedlings are hardened off, the soil is warming up, and everything is fabulously green. At the start of the garden season, everything feels possible. So much potential in all these little baby plants.

I always have extra veggie starts (because it’s always better to have too many rather than too few, right?) and so this time of year I’m looking to trade with other gardeners in the area for things I haven’t grown myself. One such opportunity is the Alger Sunday Market garden swap, which happened earlier today.

I took my extra tomatoes, and came home with strawberries, mustard greens, walnut tree saplings, and bamboo (cut lengths, not plants)!

I decided to plant the strawberries and greens in the greenstalk vertical planter, and utilized some of the remaining romeldale fleece from last year’s Wonderful Woolies sale in that task-

I used a layer in the bottom of each tier, and also to fill the center area. Voila! Fertilizer and filler in one.

Also planted out cukes, melons (in hoophouse), delicata squash, shallots, zuchinni and cabbage (outside).

On the woolly side of things, I’m getting fleeces washed, and taking another stab at collecting lanolin from the washwater. Here’s a batch of Fiona drying outside-

And here is the lanolin that I’ve skimmed from the washwater of Fiona and Daphne fleeces so far

It’s currently a paste-like consistency. I’m thinking that once I’m done washing the wool and collecting the lanolin, I’ll alternately heat and cool it, and see if i can get the remaining water to separate out. But maybe let it sit open and evaporate some first.

So that’s what I’m up to. Will sign off Dottie and Fiona sharing a broccoli plant from the hoophouse

Have a good week, folks-

The quince has the prettiest buds of all our fruit trees (and those downy leaves!)

Also showing off right now- the earliest rhodies

And Big Apple

All this springy weather has me thinking I’d like to get a dye day planned sometime soon. Maybe in May. I’m thinking gaywool shades, and maybe, just maybe, an indigo vat?

Stand by for color therapy 🙂

Also, just going to leave this here, in case y’all missed it- Ryan Holliday’s lecture on Wisdom cancelled by the US Naval Academy (my alma mater) this week. Their loss is everyone’s gain, as he decided to record it anyway and share online.

Changed the clocks weeks ago, but feel like I’ve finally turned the corner on spring things over the last few days.

Finished up shearing! All three girls are now sporting their pixie cuts, and I have fleeces to wash. 🙂 Here are Daphne and Fiona using the tractor mower deck as playground equipment.

With The Man’s help, I was also able to extend Dottie’s private accommodations in the pasture to include some fresh grass. I’m hoping to be able to reestablish grass in those heavily worn areas on either side of the previous fenceline now that they’ll get less traffic.

In the hoophouse, I’ve been busy managing seedlings-

Things are pretty well on track with these guys, but I think that my first attempt at getting carrots started outside might have failed. So will probably be taking another crack at that soon. Not sure if it’s birds eating the seed, or disruption of the seedbed by voles, but something is up. Maybe a floating row cover would help my chances….

I also got quite a bit of spinning done this week- hopefully these skeins will be in the ballpark weight-wise for use in the Bea cardigan project. Will get the yds/oz specs once they are washed and dried.

The garter stitch fabric is so lovely and squishy, and I am enjoying just knitting without having to think much about shaping and charts and such. I’m about to the underarm on the back piece, and so will soon be picking up stitches for the front bits. Then we’ll start to see the how the garment comes together.

Will sign off with a couple little things that made me happy this week. Tiny breba figs on the Desert King fig tree

And tiny violets in the lawn

Brave, hardy little violets.

Today Dottie was very sweet and friendly as I got her back end tidied up 🙂 Here she is looking all cute and springy

But I was unsuccessful in talking Daphne and Fiona into giving up their heavy coats. They didn’t want to be anywhere near the shed today.

I sat out in the pasture a while, trying to talk them into it, but finally gave up and headed back to the garden. As I turned toward the shed I saw that they had worn a little curvy path through the pasture that I thought was kind of cool.

Anyway, while I’m waiting for the Daphne wool harvest, I’ve been processing some of her fleece from my stash for my new project- the Bea cardigan. I had spun a couple of bobbins while away at the Spindrifters retreat, and so I’ve got about 300 yards of two-ply ready to go, and this week I generated another batch.

I’m kind of in love with how soft and squishy it is, but it turns out I can’t use it for this project, as I misjudged the weight, and it’s about 1/3rd heavier than the first batch. So it’s back to the carder for me!

Daphne has a really interesting fleece. Different colors, different textures, always with the sun-bleached tips. I have tried separating the colors and processing them separately, but I think that the most pleasing effect results from blending it all together. A lovely melange.

With many yards left to spin, I have gone ahead and cast on.

It feels like it is going to be a very satisfying knit.

Will sign off with a picture of the seedlings coming on strong int he hoophouse-

Take care, folks-