We again have had a series of near early summer type weather, but hang on, it is Virginia in the springtime. Yesterday 78 and warm at night. Today 81 and 39 at night. Thursday 43 and 28 at night. Then we have several days of typical spring weather followed by a couple days of deep freeze with nights in the teens. If you don’t like the weather, stick around for 24 hours, it will flip flop.
The Forsythia is beginning to bloom, if it freezes, we will lose the pretty yellow blooms but no harm done. The plum is in full white bloom and a freeze will mean no plums this early summer. I may take a sheet out to cover it Thursday and next week when it is again cold and hope to salvage some fruit.
The pullets have finally figured out the outdoors and going back in by themselves at night. I only had one night of catching all ten and one night of catching one. Yesterday, the cover of the tunnel was refastened. The end needs some work, but it should only take me an hour or so to finish the work and another few minutes to secure some areas that don’t quite reach the soil line, then they will be given access to more space.
On our daily walk, we saw two woodchucks, aka ground hogs, aka whistle pigs that have burrows on the edge of the trail. Both were out sunning, of course darting back into the burrow as we approached.
It is the season where a few flowers from the yard can be brought in to adorn the table. Now there are daffodils and forsythia. The bearded iris and daylilies are showing and the autumn joy is showing green. It needs to warm up a bit more before the wildflower, zinnea, marigold, and bachelor button seed can be sown.
Most of my blog/journal postings fit that description anyway, but that title hasn’t been used in a while.
Two of the pullets were getting braver and leaving the coop. Unfortunately, the other 8 aren’t following and peer pressure hits and the two go back inside. A couple days ago, now that we have a series of spring days, they were forced out, with some scratch and some water in the pen so they get accustomed to being outdoors. This resulted in having to catch all 10 and walk them back up the ramp to the popdoor at dusk. Yesterday, only one appeared and never left the ramp. Today was coop cleaning day as they had made quite a mess of it in the few weeks they have been in it and my efforts with the snow shovel chased them all out into the pen. The coop is clean, they have a container full of food and another of water, however, as dusk approaches, not a single one has gone back into the coop. When it gets a bit darker, if they still haven’t figured it out on their own, another catch and up the ramp session will occur.
And with the warmer dryer days ahead, planning on getting the tunnel around the garden secured so they can expand their territory if they ever start coming out on their own.
If it was up to me, the television would rarely be turned on. Hubby knows that and generally only turns it on late in the evening or after I have gone to bed. However, there is a series in it’s second season that does interest me. The series is “Doc.” As we don’t watch series shows for the most part, a characteristic of this show bothers me and I don’t know if it is typical of series in general or if this is an anomaly. The show is an hour. The content is probably only 15-20 minutes of that hour and the remaining 40-45 minutes is commercials, often repeated. This is not an exageration. For every 4-5 minutes of content, there are 8-10 minutes of ads. It has become so irritating that I may stop watching it entirely. It is bad enough with movies, even in theaters now, you get the commercials seen on TV at the beginning. At least they don’t interrupt the flow of the movie in a theater with inserted ads. When you pay an arm and a leg to have TV in your home through satellite or cable (we live in the mountains and antennas are basically useless), it is annoying to have that much of the show time not actually the show.
The itch to start seeds for the garden is strong. The average last frost date here is around Mother’s Day, so 6 weeks prior wouldn’t be until near April 1, a long 3 weeks away. The seed is ready, the LED lighted starting boxes clean, but the date is too early. In the past, I have succumbed to the temptation then struggled to keep the seedlings from getting too leggy or outgrowing the starting pots. This often results in then purchasing starter plants at the nursery closer to planting time. Maybe the urge can be tamped down by preparing beds and repairing fences. And peas can probably be started in the ground now.
Earlier this week, I got my new hearing aids. Because my right ear canal is not straight, or even close to straight, the audiologist suggested trying a custom mold so the aid stays in place. In numerous tries, she could only insert it correctly twice and I have yet to be able to accomplish it. Another appointment has been scheduled for Monday to discuss this with her and other options. If I am going to constantly have to be adjusting it, the dome like I had before and on my left aid may be the only option. At least that doesn’t make my ear canal sore while trying to insert it.
We have 5 more days of spring like weather before we return to seasonable March weather. At least there is no snow in the two week forecast, that is a win in my book.
This time of year, it can be 60 one day and snowing the next. We have had three days of beautiful mostly clear weather with daytime temperatures around 60 f. Wonderful for outdoor walks along the river on the Bisset Park trail, across the road at Wildwood Park, or along the Huckleberry, the rails to trails paved path in in town, the county, and over to the next town. But tomorrow it will be in the low 30’s with rain, snow, and freezing rain. Fortunately this is only a one day event with no expected accumulation. Then a warm up occurs with a day in the 50’s then a series of days in the 70’s. It is March in Virginia. We can have late springtime weather and a killing frost. The trees are beginning to show the signs, buds forming causing the distant color to change from dull brown to coppers, red, and hints of green. My plum tree looks close to blooming which worries me as a frost could mean no plums this year.
Several days ago, after the last rain, the pop door on the coop was freed to operate on the battery timer. So far, the pullets are reluctant to leave the “safety” of the coop. One evening, a Buff Orpington was sitting on the ramp and the door was half closed, it hadn’t operated properly. When I approached, she ducked under the door and went back inside. The next night, she was out on the ramp and when I approached, she dropped down into the run on the hay. Unfortunately, she had to be caught and returned to the coop before the door closed. Last night, the door didn’t close until I went over and closed it. Maybe new batteries are in order, or the track has debris in it. They do seem to know what the shaking yellow cup means now. When I open the coop door while shaking it, all attention is turned in my direction and as soon as the treats are dumped in the dish, several run straight to it, only a foot away from where I stand. Once I step back, the others rush over to get their share.
This is the beginning of Museum season. It officially opens today with Founder’s Day activities from 1 to 3:30 then a dinner at 5. We won’t make the drive over for the activities, but have reserved two seats at the Bavarian style meal. This means that spring school groups will begin to schedule and days of dressing in my Colonial clothing and teaching elementary and middle school students about fiber growing, processing, spinning, and weaving to make the clothing, coverlets, sacks, and other needs their households would have required.
Summer camp at the Museum this year will focus on those left at home during the Revolutionary War and I will have a part of one of the days to probably teach spindle spinning while discussing the same topics done with the classes. If Carol can’t come to do the women on the frontier, the topics may be expanded to cover other jobs of the women.
Yesterday our favorite garden center reopened for the season and the seeds that were needed to round out what we had or had ordered were purchased.
The hydroponic garden has 6 seedlings, three I can identify, but as I didn’t label the when planted, I need to wait for the other three to get larger to see what is in which cell.
There is hope that the bitter part of winter is over and spring is pushing it way into the Virginia mountains.
Blogs are developed for several reasons. Mine is basically a journal. I have tried paper journalling, however, writing is much slower than I think or type, so the blog evolved. If my thought are deeper than I wish to share, there is a private typed journal that occassionally I use.
This week has been full of life. After our Anniversary dinner last weekend, we have had a busy but usual week. With the chick teenagers now in the coop, daily trips over to check on them and carrying a plastic cup with a handful of dried mealworms as a treat. The cup is shaken from the garage to the coop and as the door is opened and the treat poured into a small dish. The idea, to train them that the noise, the yellow cup, and me mean a treat so that when they begin to free range, they will come when called with the treat cup. It is about time to let them into the run, so most of a bale of hay has been spread in the run, areas of the fence that either had a broken wire or not tight to the ground were reinforced, and the battery operated pop door reset for times, but still wedged shut. We have two days of winter wet starting tonight with rain, turning to snow tomorrow into Monday night, so the door will remain closed for a couple more days. I don’t want to have to be out there in snow and cold to encourage any of them that don’t find their way back inside the coop as night falls. They are looking like small chickens now, less awkward.
The two black ones are Mystic Onyx breed, one I had never seen before. They are a cross of Silkies and meat birds, medium sized, gentle nature, black legs, beaks, combs, and feathers. One of these has feathered feet and a head tuft more like a Silkie.
We had several beautiful days this week where we could take our daily walk outdoors on the rails to trails trail. The mid section still hasn’t reopened from bridge repair, but is supposed to reopen in the next couple of weeks. Getting outdoors encourages a longer walk than when we walk indoors in the mall. We have managed a couple of 3 mile walks this week. When the weather warms a bit more and the spring flowers are showing more, we will extend the walk to the Hahn Garden on campus.
With the nice day today, we made it back to our routine with breakfast followed by the local Saturday Farmer’s Market for the first time in several weeks. Being able to get some fresh greens, radishes, bread, and a small roast is wonderful.
The new spindle has been the spindle of choice this week. It is Koa wood, hubby selected as a reminder of our trip last November to Kaua’i.
I love the smaller spindles, this one is a bit larger than 3 of mine, but still small enough for travel and tucking in my daily bag, but large enough to hold more spun fiber.
The hydroponic garden has 6 young herb plants sprouted. Soon they will be large enough to begin to enjoy some fresh herbs in cooking and salads. Our favorite garden center reopens next weekend and seeds needed for this year ‘s garden can be purchased. There are some left over seeds from last year, but not enough peas or beans, and after the raccoons got all of the sweet corn, I will go back to planting popcorn instead. The brightly colored popcorn can be used for fall decorating and popping and the raccoons don’t seem to like it as well. Last year I tried to cover the unplanted areas with pumpkins and failed. I don’t want to deal with the weed load this year, so a plan needs to be developed. Maybe gourds that can be used also for fall decorating and shared with daughter. If that fails, the line trimmer will have to be used more frequently as the garden fencing hasn’t been moved.
Spring can’t come soon enough, we are tired of the cold and the ridiculously high energy bills.
The average first frost date here is October 10. It has been as late as early November and the hardest first frost I remember was right around October 10. This morning, was an early one to prepare breakfast for Son 1 who spent the night prior to setting off on a weekend adventure with friends and it was 37f (2.78 c) upon groing down to cook. When I stepped outside to wish them safe travels, there was frost in the grass. It was still early morning, but early light out.
Later, after the sun was higher, the remains of the garden were checked to see if there was any damage to the remaining produce. Though the spinach and turnip greens were lightly frosted, they seemed ok and some spinach was cut for a later meal. The peppers didn’t seem any the worse off, but a few dozen green Seranos were picked, there just isn’t enough time for them to ripen to red. A few Jalapenos and 3 bell peppers were also brought inside.
Last night, hubby said he would like some chili soon and since Friday’s are grocery market days, a pound of ground beef that didn’t need to be thawed first was purchased. Several, 4 or 5 of the Seranos were minced along with half an onion and a few cloves of garlic to add to half of the pound of beef, the other half set aside for another meal. I suppose I should have tasted it before adding anything else spicy as I knew a can of Rotel tomatoes with green chilies, and a can of beans in chili sauce were going in the pot, but foolishly, I added about a tablespoon of Mexican Chili powder too. Needless to say, it could nearly self ignite from the heat. He loved it. My tolerance for spicy has significantly diminished as I have aged and required an OTC Pepcid to tame the burn after dinner. There is about a bowlful left and it will just intensify as it sits either in the refrigerator or freezer. Glad I don’t need to eat it again.
When I began college nearly 60 years ago, I was unsure the direction in which to go careerwise. One of my early classes was a General Biology class with a great professor and having followed a wonderful high school biology teacher, I ended up majoring in Biology Education and adding General Science certification to my teaching license. I started my master’s degree also in science, but later changed to School Counseling. Though much of my career in education was in counseling, the interest in science never moved far from my focus.
As a result, I am ever on the lookout when on our daily walks for animals, and changes in the flora surrounding the trails. One of the interesting quirks of nature are mast years. Those are years when all the nut and oak trees produce more fruit that prior years. The reason for this is debated with several theories, but next year, there will be way more young animals in the fields and woods. This is a mast year. Walking the paths over the abundance of acorns and small nuts feels like walking on pebbles. And several of the areas are shaded by black walnut trees which drop baseball size nuts in green husks that can cause a turned ankle if not looking where your feet fall, or a knot on the head if you are under one when it falls.
The past couple of days walks have been interesting. We saw the first copperhead snake I have seen here since we moved here almost two decades ago. It was leisurely crossing the paved trail on which we were walking. I got close enough to identify it, but not close enough to disturb it, not wanting to make a venomous snake cross with me.
Yesterday while weeding a garden bed, I disturbed this large garden spider with hundreds of her young on her back. I moved away from where she was and weeded elsewhere.
Today’s walk was one that was ripe with nuts. There were Buckeyes (aka Horse Chestnuts) which are toxic to humans and animals, Bitternut Hickory which are edible though very bitter when raw, if roasted they can be substitued for pecans or walnuts, and many Black Walnuts. I failed to pick up a walnut to add to my photograph. The Black Walnut that was on our property before we purchased it had fallen, though we have plenty of Bitternut Hickory trees and Oaks.
The hickory nuts in this photo are in two stages of being shelled, the husk still on one and two still in the shell. All five nuts went back into the wild, not brought home with us.
This is a great time of year for our daily walks. The daytime temperatures are very comfortable, the trees are turning autumn colors and dropping their leaves, fruits, and nuts, and we see more wildlife in the woods and crossing the roads and trails. Soon the geese will land in the pond on their way south, though we haven’t seen or heard any yet. We still have Hummingbirds coming to the feeders, so they are staying full. One beautiful little one got trapped in our garage yesterday and by the time we saw it, it was worn out from trying to escape, allowing me to pick it up and take it back outdoors where it gratefully flew away. The hens have already started into non laying mode, getting only about a dozen a week now from 6 hens instead of enough to share.
Soon the autumn will chill, the garden will close up for the winter, and it will be time to plant next year’s garlic.
Stay safe, enjoy the changing seasons if you live where you get changes.
Last Wednesday evening, I trekked over to the museum to teach an old skill. No costume required for this event. We set up 4 stations for 4 ladies + 1 second grader accompanying her Mom and they learned to make basic lard and lye soap. We used a mix of old school and modern skills and equipment so we weren’t there all night stirring the mix. Of course they were given some history of soap and soap making and why we now use a lye calculator and a superfatted recipe to be sure we end up with a body friendly product. I put together kits of a small heat safe plastic bucket, two rigid plastic stadium cups, a spatula, and a silicone loaf pan for each participant that they keep at the end of the session, along with the a three page history, instructions, and two recipes; one for the lard and lye and one for a vegan soap with Shea butter, Coconut Oil, and Olive Oil, and of course, their mold of soap. We “cheat” by stirring with an immersion blender to speed the process up to keep our session within a 90 minute window. As I dug out some of my equipment and essential oils to scent their individual batches of soap, it seemed a good time to go ahead and make soap for 3 friends and our household.
The batches at home were made Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. On Tuesday, a double batch of one scent was made and I won’t do that again as it took forever to get to the consistency to pour it in the molds and is still not as firm as I would like to slice it into bars. The Wednesday batches will be unmolded and cut tomorrow to cure for a month before going to the folks for whom it was made.
Today as I sat waiting for hubby to have a consultation visit and then I waited for my annual mammogram, I spun. In public, I spin on either a top whorl drop spindle or a Turkish spindle. When doing it, there are surreptitious glances, to out and out staring and occasionally someone will ask what I am doing. Followed by the question of what I then do with the yarn I spin.
The other old skill that really hasn’t been done so far this year is canning and preserving. There have been pickles fermented and stored, but the tomatoes haven’t produced in sufficient quantity to bother canning them. I have frozen a couple of gallon bags, made one big pot of sauce to use one night for pasta and the rest frozen in wide mouth pint jars. There is a basket of Asian pears from the orchard sitting on the dining table with a couple of oranges to make pear/orange marmalade, but I haven’t gotten around to dragging down the canning pot to do it. As there are still many jars of applesauce from last year unopened, I doubt that any will be canned this year. The only other produce that has come in quantity are greenbeans and I freeze some of them, but don’t like canned one at all and barely tolerate them from frozen. I like to buy local, but come midwinter when green vegetables are at a premium if at all available, I do buy from the grocer.
All of these skills have been learned since retirement. You can teach an old dog new tricks. And I truly believe in the each one teach one. I am grateful to the friends who taught me to make soap, spin, and improve my knitting skills. The canning and fermentation, I have learned from books and the internet.
Not to anything dire, just not wanting to keep posting the same routine.
It has been a hot, wet summer and the garden has suffered. Raccoons got every ear of corn and started on the tomatoes as they ripened. Green beans have been very prolific as were the cucumbers. The cucumber vines have now died off and were pulled from their trellis yesterday afternoon and the first planting of green beans also pulled as I had been away for 5 days and most of the ones on the plants were too large and soft to be desirable as we don’t like the “southern” way of cooking them with fat back until they are practically mush. The second planting has just begun to provide.
We set about on Monday to get the lawn mowed after lunch. I sent DH out to get gas for a fill up, thinking there was enough to start while he was gone, but I backed the riding mower out of the garage and it sputtered to a stop. Instead of sitting idly by, the bed of flowers by the east side of the garage was a weedy mess and the grass was hanging over into it, so much bending, stooping, and sitting on a step stool that sent me into an unplanned hard landing on the grass, and all the grass and lambs quarters were pulled, a new edge dug. He began to mow while I was doing that so the line trimmer was used to go around the house and over to the vegetable garden that had lambs quarters, wild amaranth, and horse nettles as tall as me that the line trimmer couldn’t handle. This is the result of hand weeding all of it and the orchard grass growing in the paths.
That pile is about 2.5 feet tall, what you see behind it is the same mess that is in the closed off chicken run that I can’t access until the fence is removed. I don’t know if it will compost as I had no means of chopping it up, so it is a stack of 5 to 6 feet long stalks mixed with mats of Creeping Charlie, Bermuda grass, Smart weed, and other unwanted greenery that had taken over the end of the garden not in use this summer. I’m thinking about trying to move the inner fence to cross just above the part of the garden in use and letting the chicken have at the rest. It will leave them unprotected from the hawks but that is a chance I am willing to take.
Yesterday a very early venture over to the garden to harvest beans and tomatoes and finish weeding a small section I never got to Monday, found all of the Tithonia and Sunflowers full of sleeping wild bees.
Yesterday afternoon, after a trip to the nursery, flats of spinach and Romaine lettuce seedling, a row of Little Gems lettuce seed, and three rows of turnips were planted in one of the empty raised beds. The one the first green beans were in will be reserved to plant garlic when it cools more.
The reason for my 5 day absence was to travel to Black Mountain, North Carolina for my favorite Art and Fiber Retreat. We meet at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly. It was rejuvenating and a bit heartbreaking. The group is a wonderful mix of ladies that spin, knit, crochet, weave, and do other paper arts. The heartbreak was to see the damage caused by Helene and know that though they have worked hard to recover, only 40% occupancy is available still as they lost a couple of buildings and had damage to many others. The motel style lodge where we stay and where meals are prepared and served by the staff was the first to be repaired and reopened. Helene took out every power pole leading up to the buildings except for 3. It took them 4 weeks to get any power back. The creek that became a river down the west side, that damaged the old gym so badly it had to be torn down is now a gully 16 feet deep and washed through the woods taking out trees and rhododendron to now look like a dry river bed.
This is an area above the retreat that is up the mountain. All of their hiking trails in that area are impassable still and a lower priority than restoring the rest of the buildings.
Part of the repair is placing 14 foot arches where roads were to divert the flow, instead of smaller culverts that had always handled the creeks in the past. Also where two landslides sent mud into buildings, have new reinforced walls at the top and the slides seeded as they are now open meadows.
In addition to visiting with friends I see seldom, I finished a skein of yarn I had been spindle spinning, took a needle felting class and made two little pumpkins, and started wheel spinning 8 ounces of Coopworth and Alpaca roving purchased from a friend that raises the animals and dyes the wool before the mill processes it into roving. Also some knitting on a pair of fingerless mitts was done with the wool I purchased in Alaska in May, spun on spindles and plyed on spindles.
Now back home, my food consumption is focusing on smaller portions and healthier choices as we always have a snack table with too much sugar and fat on it, and though I did take a walk up as far as I could go up hill above the retreat one day, I consumed too much not so healthy snacks in addition to the three meals a day they provide. Now home, I have resumed my daily walks with DH of 2-2.5 miles. It has been so humid though, it feels like you are breathing fog.
We have a cooler week of so ahead, it should help make the walks more enjoyable. We see early Autumn in the air as the early turning leaves are coloring and some are already falling. Until I have something new, stay safe.
The museum where I volunteer as a spinner and occasional teacher holds a history themed week long day camp each summer. This year’s theme is cultures, representing the melting pot of cultures that dwelt in this region and the crafts they brought. Next week, I will spend one afternoon on fiber and will provide each camper with a small drop spindle to take home and a lesson on how to spin on one.
The spindles are wooden toy wheels on a dowel with a cup hook at the top. Each in a small storage bag that will also have an ounce or so of wool for practice, and each will be given a printed instruction as a reminder when they get home with them.
The weather is going to be hot as it has been for several weeks, but cloudy, so maybe not too uncomfortable in the Colonial outfit. I am following the bagpiper and he will certainly have on more layers than I will.
As my favorite thing to do at the museum is working with children, drawing back on my retired educator skills, this is a perfect afternoon.
The annual scavenger hunt has been fun this week, with easy to find object and encouraging much more spinning time for me. The wool I have been spinning was slightly sidelined as I wanted to spin the gift sample that my friend sent with the spindle she proxy shopped for me. One half was spun Monday, the other half yesterday and the two plyed last evening to create a small 46 yard skein. The pale yellow, I learned from here is caused by a bacteria in the wool in wet or humid conditions and though washing with soap stops the growth and makes the wool safe, the yellow color does not wash out. It will be added to a bag of other small skeins and they will be knit into hats when my current knitting project is complete.
If the weather ever cools off, a couple days of weeding flower beds, dividing Iris and Day Lilies needs to be done. And a couple skeletons of Nandina that the cold killed off two winters ago, need to be dug out. Other than cucumbers and a handful of green beans, the garden is growing but not producing much right now. There will be tomatoes, a few ears of corn, peppers, and hopefully a second round of green beans later in the summer.
Right now, we are sitting out a round of thunderstorms. We got our daily walk in prior to them setting in. It was hot and humid, but done anyway.
For the past several years, our youngest son and his family have kept their RV parked on our farm. It leaves occasionally for them to use as a mobile hotel and was often used for them to stay in when visiting us. The last couple of times they were here, they stayed in the house due to some repair issues on the RV. I would start up the generator every few weeks, keep mouse traps baited and cleared, but otherwise just mowed around it. They now have a mini homestead and have moved it home. It is odd driving down the driveway and not seeing it, or doing a double take out the front window when noticing it isn’t there. In addition to the RV leaving, a pile of roof and vent repair items that have been in our garage left with it.
Weekend before last was the only fiber festival that the Jenkins, makers of my favorite spindles attend. A distant friend that attends each year has offered and proxy shopped for me several times as the festival is in Oregon and I am in Virginia, so attending in person hasn’t happened. This new plum spindle will soon join the spinning fun.
The Jenkins spindle group to which I belong on social media holds a fun scavenger hunt each year during Tour de France, called Tour de Fleece. Many groups hold versions of Tour de Fleece, many with challenges on who or what team can spin the most, but our version is more laid back and more fun. Each day, we are given an object to find and photograph with our spindle in progress on a spin. Each day the spindle needs to have more spun or plyed fiber on it than the day before. I have several small Jenkins Turkish spindles that will be used during this period. There are prizes donated by members of the group if you find enough of the items and post your photo within the 24 hour window. This year, I am doing it just for the fun of it and have asked not to be included in the prize drawing if I find enough items and follow through with the daily posting.
During DH’s broken clavicle healing, my trigger finger surgery healing, and our cruise, I didn’t post much in the group. It is fun to be back involved with them.
Most of my evenings have been spent knitting on a shawl with a skein of handspun. Last night, I began the Old Shale Lace border using a different skein of handspun alternating with the other skein as there isn’t enough of it to finish without adding the skein of similar colors. One 4 row repeat of the border has been done and the next begun. We will have to see how many repeats I do before I either tire of it or it begins to distort the triangular shape of the shawl. It is difficult to tell with it scrunched up on the needle.
After days and days of heavy rain that damaged our driveway, filled the ditch above our culvert (again), and damaged the state road that had recently been graded, it is dry. The garden will need to be watered if we don’t get a thunderstorm soon. Yesterday was a mild day in the upper 70’s, today it is nearly 90. That is usually a recipe for a thunderstorm, at least I’m hoping so.
My current read is a new release called “Reckoning Hour” by Peter O’Mahoney and as I read it, I feel like I have read it before, though it was just released in April. A bit of research and I think it is very reminiscent (almost too much so) of a Grisham book.
Cabin Crafted 