Author: Cabincrafted1

Tracks

One of the beauties of having snow is the reveal of wildlife that are either nocturnal or camouflaged enough to hide in the woods. With snow on the floor of the woods surrounding our land, we can see the deer and turkey as they move across the white background. Usually we don’t see the deer until they move out into the field, but with the grass covered, they can be seen grazing from the low branches of the smaller trees and shrubs that provide the under story growth.

After the heavy snow last week, the first tracks that I spotted other than the kids and dogs were a path leading from the woods, across the hay field, up diagonally across the upper field and disappearing into the thicket. An investigation to see if it was a deer or a coyote revealed that instead it was Jumper Jr., the young cow that belongs to our neighbor. She visits frequently to graze our field, leaving her herd and last fall, even her spring calf on the other side of the fence. She must have been disappointed to see that the grass was covered on our side of the fence as it was on her own side and she wandered back to eat the hay that had been provided at home. It amazed me that such a large animal could leave such a narrow path through the snow, but her hoof prints were clearly visible in the path.

The day after her track was found, I discovered canine prints coming from the north east woods, straight down, across the electric fence and right up to the chicken coop. Those tracks were not there the night before and our dogs are fearful of the electric fence, so it was probably a coyote or a fox looking for an easy meal. Fortunately the chooks were securely locked in their coop for the night. The tracks were somewhat degraded by the wind blown snow, so they were difficult to identify.

This morning in the light layer that fell yesterday, I found rabbit tracks and the tracks in the lower photo that I can not identify. Both sets came from the north east woods and visited the spoiled hay bales, the compost bin, and the old compost bin where the squash and pumpkins grew last summer.

The critters are out seeking food with the ground covered by the iced over snow. Perhaps I will spread some chicken scratch and birdseed on the snow surface for them.

February 25, 2015
It’s Got a Hold on Us

Late winter that is. We have Had weeks of well below normal temperatures. Last week we got a total of 19 inches of snow over two separate snow falls. School for Grandson hasn’t occurred in over a week. President’s Day in the US is typically a holiday for schools, but his school had scheduled a makeup day from a previously missed weather day and the makeup day was cancelled along with the rest of the week and Monday and today of this week. We weren’t quite sure why today was cancelled as the roads seemed to be mostly cleared, the forecast for a very cold night last night and normal cold day today. The Superintendent must have an inside track to the weatherman as we woke to more snow. The areas that had cleared on our one aberrant warm day are again lightly covered. I don’t think we will see much but even another inch or two is not welcomed. Most days are hovering just at or below freezing and nights about 10 to 15 degrees colder, but a few day ago, we thought spring had come, the thermometer said it got up to 50f (10c) a real heatwave. The snow started to melt, the driveway became a muddy mess as our farmer friend had been too over zealous in his scraping, piling huge mounds of snow 4 or more feet high in front of and beside the house. Then it got cold again and the melt became an ice slick. We haven’t had mail delivery in over a week though we have been able to get in and out all but a couple of days.

The freeze thaw freeze cycle has made chicken chores a challenge. One of the scrapes to a mound is just outside the garage door on the side of the house. The footprints from walking over have become crusty with ice under them and the walk over a slick tricky path. Trying to create a new path involves taking a step on unbroken snow and not knowing if it will hold or break through a couple of inches or knee deep. Water sloshes, feed scatters then the chooks don’t want to come out at all.

So what’s a girl to do, why order yarn to knit and spin fiber of course. I had been dallying on a spinning project of some roving that I ended up not liking very much. It was white through shades of pink to maroon then white to shades of gray to charcoal. I ended with one full bobbin, knowing if I plied it on itself, I wouldn’t have much yarn from it. In my fiber basket was a ball of maroon merino roving, so I spun a second solid single of it and used the two together to make yarn.

It isn’t really my color choice, but I ended up with almost 300 yards of DK/Light Worsted yarn. It may be sold, perhaps I will find a project for it.

Earlier this winter, I knit a yoked sweater of Brown Sheep yarn to go with my Hitchhiker scarf.

I ended up realizing that after years of knitting Raglan sleeve sweaters, that I much prefer the Yoke style. I love the pattern that I made and love the sweater, but hate the yarn. It is soft and pills terribly. Another sweater of the same style seemed in order and I had made a sweater a couple of years ago from Bovidae sport weight yarn that I had purchased at the SAFF festival and though that yarn isn’t soft, it is warm, holds up beautifully and doesn’t pill. An order was placed for more of that yarn in a color similar to the Brown Sheep and a new yoke sweater has been cast on.

Last night as I was about to do the second increase row, I realized there was an error about an inch back, so about a third of my progress was ripped out, stitches picked up and today I will progress on. My last knitting project prior to the current sweater is a gradient moebius cowl of sport weight yarn. I have decided that sport weight is my preferred knitting yarn.

Modeled by my beautiful daughter. Hmmm, do you see a color preference here?

In two days, I will abandon Mountaingdad, Daughter and the two grands for a few days at a spinning retreat in West Virginia. A couple of days of socialization and no responsibilities. A mini vacation and time to unwind and recharge.

February 24, 2015
Cave Hill Olympics Vol. 4

Last winter Olympics we had a couple of back to back snows and grandkids coming. We bought a couple of plastic toboggans in anticipation. Once our friendly farmer neighbor with the behemoth tractor with a heated cab plowed us out, we drove to town, resupplied and parked the 4 wheel drive SUV at the top of the driveway. With the toboggans in the back, we loaded the groceries onto the toboggans and before Mountaingdad could turn around, I hopped into one with the groceries and started sliding down the driveway of packed snow and ice. He quickly caught on and hopped in the other one to race me. Each time we had to go out for supplies, we dragged one of them to the top of the drive (2/10 mile) and hauled the supplies back down to the house. When the kids arrived, the fun really began and we took many photos of kids and adults, us included, sledding down the various hills on the property. The biggest kid was our son in law, the one still in Florida trying to sell their house, but he is flying in today for the weekend and some snow fun.

The day after our foot of snow this week, we dragged the sleds out and bundled everyone up for some snow play.

Once we struggled uphill to the top of the drive, sledding down hills as we went and hauling the 3 year old on one sled, we discovered that the road had been plowed by a pickup truck with a front blade and it as it is downhill from the paved road to the bottom of Cave Hill (the hill beyond our house), it made a great toboggan run. All of us, from the youngest, with an adult to the most senior of us, took turns sliding down the slick packed hill, laughing and getting snow covered.

So much fun to be “young.”

Last night after 8 p.m., the neighbor farmer and his behemoth with enough lights to light up our house, plowed us out. We had gotten an additional couple of inches of snow yesterday, it was 13f (-10.5c) with strong wind blowing snow in whiteouts.

We woke to -1f (-18.3c) with a high today of only 4f (-15.5c) and a low tonight of -14f (-25.5c) and light snow falling. We have fires in the wood stove and fireplace and will hunker down except for a trip out to pick up son-in-law by one or two of us when his plane arrives.

Tomorrow is supposed to be somewhat warmer and I expect a great deal of snowplay will occur, lots of dryer time as we dry out layers for more play. Saturday, we are expecting another 5″ of snow and ice before a thaw begins on Sunday. We will enjoy it while it lasts and hope that spring is on its way.

February 19, 2015
All closed up

Our entire region is shut down. No school, many businesses, and community services are closed today. The region doesn’t handle more than a couple of inches of snow, especially when they can’t pretreat the roads. Our 4 wheel drive SUV would probably be able to get up our gravel driveway and our gravel road but the paved road is likely an ice and snow covered downhill slick.
The sun is trying to come out, broken clouds still flurrying, the wind is howling and blowing the snow we got everywhere. The official count for our community was 9″ but going over to do chicken chores, the snow in the yard is over my barn boots and they are 11″ high.

Because the chickens have been cooped up for three days, I attempted to get them outside. Spoiled hay was spread in the run and food put outside in a pan so it wouldn’t disappear 11″ down.

Yesterday they fouled their water pan I used so I could knock the ice out of it each time I went to give them more, so today I hung a waterer inside and spread a new foot of straw in the coop. Between scratching for feed and kicking it out when the coop door is open, the foot thick layer from last week was only a couple inches deep of finely broken straw.
In spite of my efforts, they would go out the return immediately to the coop. They are still laying, we are getting 6 top 8 a day.
The grands want to go play in the snow, but with it in the teens and the wind blowing, it is a bit too cold for much time outside.
We have had our good snow, now I’m ready for spring. I can’t even imagine being in Boston this winter.

February 17, 2015
Winter’s Roar

Our winter has been unusual to say the least. Until a couple of weeks ago, I think the temperatures had been above normal with occasional snow flurries, a few barely covered the ground snow falls that didn’t last. Then things changed. We haven’t seen daytime temperatures rising above 20° (-6.7°c) and night time temperatures near zero (-17.8°c) in more than a week. On Saturday, we were expecting flurries and got several inches with sharp temperature drops. We had driven in to town to a nice restaurant to celebrate our 37th Valentine Day and Anniversary and the drive back home was a white knuckle ride.

Yesterday we took Son#1 and Grandson#1 to the bus to return home from bringing my car home and a weekend visit and it was brutally cold and windy, wind chills in the double digit negatives.
There were severe weather warnings posted for today and the school makeup day that had been scheduled for today was canceled.

We woke to the expected snow. So far about 5″ with the heaviest part of the system due this evening and overnight. We may be looking at a foot or more with extremely cold temperatures and expected to drop to -10°f (-23.3°c) Thursday night. We aren’t used to that type of temperature. Our firewood supply is running low and our heat pump is struggling.
My chooks won’t come out of the coop when there is snow on the ground and with the temperatures as they are, I didn’t even open the pop door today. I have gone out 3 times to change out the frozen water, twice to throw down a scoop of feed into the straw and collect the eggs before they freeze.
Our neighbor has two very pregnant cows and we saw her go down to check on them before the snow cover got too deep. Our steep gravel road will be difficult to traverse in a couple more inches of snow. I hope the cows don’t calve before we have a moderation in weather back to around freezing this weekend.
The grands are playing in the rec room, I am knitting, reading, and cooking stew and homemade bread. A good way to spend a frigid snowy day.

February 16, 2015
Olio – 2/12/15

Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

Bread day. Grandson is being stretched each day to a healthier more natural diet. Fast food is being reduced and the selection less Wendy’s and more Wicked Taco in choice. He has been pretty good about beverages, drinking milk, water, or lemonade if out but he has his quirks. His favorite foods used to be spaghetti with sauce and cheese or “cheese sandwich all cooked up” (we know them as grilled cheese), but then for some reason, he decided he didn’t like cheese. He loves pizza and lasagna, even our cheese and spinach stuffed ravoli, but insists he doesn’t like cheese. The first time I made corn bread he refused to even try it. Now he asks for it. The first herb and onion bread I made for them, he went to his room and skipped dinner rather than even be at the table with it. His preferred bread is “balloon bread,” though he will eat commercial Honey Wheat. In an effort to eliminate more colors and preservatives from his diet, I set out to make loaves of similar texture without the additives. He also insists that his bread have the commercial shape. This morning’s results may pass his test. The Honey Wheat bread I made is light in texture and was allowed to rise well over the rim of the pan before baking. We are going to make his lunch for tomorrow without saying anything and see how it goes.

When they moved here and we purchased twin over double bunk beds for the room, he being the oldest got the top bunk. To read or write in his journal at night, he had to climb back down to put the book or journal on the night table then climb back up to sleep. A few days ago, his Mom hauled out her fabrics and snaps and we made him a pouch that holds his book, journal and a couple of pencils that snaps with straps over the side rail of his bed. He was really excited when he came home from school and saw it. To complete the idea, his Mom gave him a clip on book light that clips to the rail as well.

In spite of Daughter’s Tom Boyishness growing up, granddaughter is a little girly girl and she does not like loud noise, though she can screech like a banshee herself when upset. She also has had an unnatural fear reaction to the typical bugs found in a mountain house in the middle of a hay field, the occasional Lady Bug, Stink Bug, house fly or little spiders. I don’t like spiders either, but I don’t run shrieking from the room if I see one. Little by little, we have been trying to help her overcome both. When I find a Lady Bug alive, I will pick it up in her presence and she has let me put it on her shirt. She will hold a dead one, but still not a live one. She now points out stinkbugs, dead or alive instead of screaming and waits for her brother or an adult to remove it. Flys and spiders are still a work in progress. I managed to get to her “scoop up” a Lady Bug carcass and some dog hair with the mini vacuum that she had been terrified of. You still have to warn her that you are turning it on, but she no longer runs crying from the room and she will use it herself now.

My girls having some quiet time after dropping brother off at his very early school bus. She wiggled and squirmed on and over her Mom then fell asleep with her head on Mom’s hip and covered in the blanket Mom had draped over her own legs. They slept like that for about an hour.

Our spring like days fled overnight. Our high of 32f (0c) occurred at 6 a.m. and we are falling to 8f (-13.33c) tonight. It is snowing but not really expected to accumulate much and we are under another high wind warning and wind chill warning. I’m betting that schools have at least a 2 hour delay tomorrow. The weekend nights are expected to be around 0f (-17.8c). Monday was to be a school holiday, but is now scheduled to be a weather make up day and we are being threatened with several inches of snow on Monday and Tuesday, so it might yet be a school holiday and the make up day will have to be made up along with another day.

Son #1 and Grandson #1 are bringing my car home on Friday night and staying for the weekend before riding a bus back home. It will be good to see them. The weather will be in the teens so I don’t think we will get the compost bin disassembled and relocated this weekend. Maybe he will help us build a “dress up” closet for Granddaughter’s dress up clothes.

My current knitting project is a 320 stitch Moebius cowl. The pattern is Gradient cowl and as I don’t have truly gradient yarn, but rather a cake that had 5 equal amounts of increasing darker yarns, I working from lighter to darker using one color, then alternating in the next darker color for a few rows, then using the darker color and so on. I am on the third color now and will end up with a cowl about 38-40″ long by 5-6″ wide. I think that there will be enough yarn left to make a hat, though probably not the one I want to make as I would like to knit Wurm on Ravelry using the gradient colors from light at the face edge and the darkest at the top. The yarn is Green Dragon Yarns Sport weight in Teal. As David has closed his shop and is no longer dying yarn, I want to use up every inch of it that I can and treasure it.

February 12, 2015
International Days and Borrowed Ideas

For the past few days, Daughter and I have been visiting other countries through our culinary skills. We were bored with the same menu repeatedly and decided to venture out, making wholesome, home-cooked meals with fresh ingredients. On Thursday, we visited Germany, preparing Sausage and Potatoes with Rosemary.

On Friday, we took a trip to Mexico, making handmade tortillas and using them to make Mexican style soft tacos, with shredded pork or taco ground beef served with fresh cilantro and chopped onion, sided with a salad and guacamole.

Saturday we traveled to Asia, preparing a pork stir fry with lots of fresh vegetables including some of the ginger I grew this past summer and served it over rice.

Today we stayed in Asia and made Red curry with Chicken, vegetables and rice. Tomorrow we will make Ricotto and Mozarella and fresh pasta dough to make homemade Ravioli with spinach and cheese filling, served with some of the pasta sauce I canned last summer and a salad of fennel bulb and carrot. After tomorrow, we will have to decide where next to visit.

As for borrowed ideas, we have had an eight year old who in spite of a home library of books, a bookshelf of games, a garage of outdoor toys and two beautiful days, Legos and many other indoor toys, has repeatedly announced, “I’m bored.” Daughter saw a great idea on Pinterest, a “The Bored Jar,” a jar with tokens each with a chore or suggestion such as “Read for 30 minutes” and we decided that we would implement it.

Instead of a glass jar that could easily be broken, we bought a small galvanized bucket with a chalkboard label on the side. With a paint pen, the label was completed and we bought a bag of 25 wooden disks on which I have been adding the suggestions/chores. Once we have disks all completed, we will fill him in and each time he states “I’m bored,” he will have to draw a disk from the bucket and spend however much time the disk requires or the task takes. This should teach him some responsibility for entertaining himself and perhaps get a few chores accomplished without constant reminders.

February 8, 2015
Rough week on the farm

This week has been marked with disruption and illness. There was no school midweek for a teacher workday then a 2 hour delay that turned into a closed day because of a light snowfall and strong wind on Friday. We have been experiencing cold nights and damp cold days and Romeo, our Buff Orpington rooster, a calm gentle fellow had a serious case of comb and waddles frostbite. He may not be such a handsome fellow by the end of winter.

This was taken before his frostbite. He is a good guardian to his hens and gentle to them in his ardor. As the days are lengthening, we are beginning to get more eggs, up to half a dozen one day. These are welcomed, with 5 of us in the household now, we use many more than I did before.
Yellow Cat, a rescued barn cat, obtained as a sickly kitten lived out his life this week. We had been told he would likely only live a couple of years as he had feline Aids and it finally took its toll on his fragile immune system. I found him on his bed on the porch yesterday with no life left.

RIP Yellow Cat.
For a couple of weeks, we have noticed our German Shepherd licking herself more than routine cleaning would require. A vet trip to have her checked out and to get her nails clipped as it takes two people to hold her down while one clips, revealed that she had malformed lady parts that have become inflamed, likely infected so she is receiving antibiotics once a day and pain meds twice. This sounds like an easy process, but she doesn’t take pills, even flavored chewables and you risk your digits to try to force them. She can remove a pill from cheese, peanut butter, meatballs, any trick in the book. Daughter who used to be a vet nurse was going to be the pill giver, but the Vet gave us a can of prescriptive canned food and suggested putting the pill in a small meatball of it and magic, she gobbles the pills right down. A solution to a three year old problem, yay.
I was to leave on a bus today to Northern Virginia to babysit Grandson #1 tomorrow and return home with my car on Tuesday. Last evening, Son#1 sent a text and suggested that I try to change my reservation for the bus as they had a stomach virus spreading through their region and he had come down with it. Not wanting to catch it myself nor bring it back to our household, my car will have to stay for another bit. I hope they don’t all catch and suffer the virus.
Another week on our farm, I can’t believe it is February and in two short weeks, Mountaingdad and I will celebrate 37 years of marriage and in three weeks, our baby will turn 28. It can’t be so.

February 1, 2015
Things I don’t buy anymore

Tortilla’s for tacos and enchiladas

Ricotta cheese

Mozzarella cheese

Pasta noodles

Bar soap, shampoo, laundry detergent

Eggs

Chicken

Tomato products, salsas, jams, chutney

Mustard

Yogurt and cream cheese

Hand and body lotion

The longer we homestead, the more products have been eliminated from our shopping list, more products are made at home. As the garden and orchard grow and my desire to be more aware of what goes on and into my body, the more items are removed. Hopefully, the day will come when we are growing a couple of pigs on our land and at least some of the lard will replace the oils that I buy for cooking and soap making. If Son #1 or 2 raise bees, we will be able to have honey and beeswax too (I am allergic to bee stings, so I can’t tackle that task.)

I love being able to make these items, our bread and chicken feed, grow most of our vegetables and have the health and time to do it.

January 27, 2015
Winter Disappointments

By this time in winter, we have seen several snowfalls. Sometimes a dusting, others a real snow, but this winter has been mostly rain or freezing rain We went to bed last night listening to the dire warning being issued in the Northeast USA and a forecast for snow to fall beginning around midnight and accumulating up to 5″ here in Southwest Virginia. We awoke to no snow on the ground, no snow falling and broken clouds. Granddaughter hoping for snow later in the morning but wanting to wear her short sleeve, frilly “Frozen” dress, created a most interesting outfit.

Her leggings are black and white with zigzags, hearts and other patterns, the boots as you can see are black and pink with multicolored polka dots. She was ready to go out.

Daughter has commented that she needed slippers and warmer taller socks to wear, so we decided to venture out early to return something we purchased yesterday on our girls afternoon out while Mountaingdad and Grandson went to a movie. We also were seeking socks and slippers for her. Did you know that slippers are an item like gloves that are purchased by stores for Christmas and are not available year round? We finally found her a pair at the third store we tried.

While we were out, the chickens were free ranging, but when we returned home a bit after noon, she and I lured them back to the pen so the dogs could wander. Our dogs don’t mess with them usually, but their Golden Retriever by nature wants to chase them and barks at them even if he sees them coming and going from the coop. When we went to lock them up and check for eggs, the coop smelled damp and too strongly of ammonia. My two large round bales of hay that were set aside for coop use this winter and garden use in the spring have gotten wet and moldy and can’t be used in the coop anymore. The local feed and seed had square bales of straw so I drove in to purchase two. We are due for more very cold weather and I have already seen some frostbite damage on Romeo the rooster’s comb, so I had to do more cleaning than just adding layers to the coop and stirring up the layers. Trying to leave at least some of the composting layer in the bottom, most of the hay was shoveled out and tossed into the run and into the compost bin, including the nesting box hay. About a third of a bale of straw, clean and dry put a nice deep layer in the coop so hopefully the gang will stay warm and dry in the upcoming cold.

Though I don’t like to put food or water in the coop, I have been tossing a handful of scratch into the coop in the late afternoon to encourage the chooks to keep the bedding stirred up and broken down and the corn they eat helps them stay warm.

I guess the spoiled hay will be used to keep the run drier and less muddy and in the spring to mulch the garden. I hate having to buy straw when we harvest 80 to 100 round bales of hay each spring. Next year, I will find a better way to store it.

This afternoon, it has begun to rain off and on with a snow flurries expected as the temperature plummets to the teens tonight. More is expected later this week and weekend, just as I have to ride a bus to Northern Virginia to babysit Grandson #1 and pick up my car from Son #1 who has been using it for a bit.

I really hope we have at least one good snowfall for the kids.

January 26, 2015