Cabin Crafted

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  • I AM NOT A QUITTER

    A few days ago, I said I had given up on the fencing. Today is another beautiful day and I am less sore, and have more energy, so I attacked it again. There were two long pieces of garden fencing partially loose on the ends attached to several T-posts and it served no useful purpose. I started taking it down last summer to make mowing easier but it was really overgrown in the grass and I couldn’t get it free. It is now down, the T-posts all pulled, a dozen of them. Old rotting wooden fence posts that were laid along the bottom to keep the chickens in when there was a run that it enclosed were pulled up and stacked along the edge of the large A frame coop.

    The row of tall weeds is where it was, the garden fence to the right, the orchard to the left, and I am standing with my back to the chicken run where they kick out the compost. That large coop was built so I could raise some meat chickens. Maybe this fall if the virus subsides, I will get a dozen or so Freedom Rangers and some electric net fencing and put that coop back to use. It becomes the holding coop when old hens are replaced with new pullets.

    Feeling smug that the task was accomplished and going back to last year’s idea of a garden fence closer to the garden inside the original sturdier fence, making a run around the perimeter of the garden for the chickens was revisited. I had done that last year, but had used 3 foot fencing in places and the chickens would get a running start and go over it and get out or in to the garden. The fence I took down is 4 feet and the exterior fence is 4 feet and if I put a cover over the end near the coop, they can’t get a running start and fly onto the egg door. The first section of that fence was put in place, but then I got down near Mrs. Wren and she got agitated, so I left her alone to sit. I went back to it after lunch and got by her so she won’t be bothered again. I got the fence put back, and the chickens can have the run of that alley and scratch the henbit, chickweed, and other goodies looking for bugs. It helps keep the weeds down, gives them some running room and more area to scratch.

    It didn’t take them long to find the feast, it won’t take them long to beat down the weeds in that perimeter. There is very little left to do inside the garden fence now. A few small areas of henbit, a deteriorated tarp at the farthest end to be removed.

    When the leaves fall in autumn, we look forward to the new greening in the spring. Usually we see no green hints except on scrub until early to mid May. We aren’t even to the middle of April and the trees are beginning to leaf out. This is such an atypical spring. My seedlings are thriving and get a bit of sheltered time on the back deck during the day. Some heartier house plants have been returned to the porches. I watch the weather and if a frost sneaks up on us, some will be brought back in.

    The hens are being generous. The nine of them produce about 5 eggs a day, but yesterday they were in overdrive.

    The oblong layer is still producing odd oblong eggs and her shells are very thin and brittle.

  • Another day on the farm

    Another warm day, more showers, but enough dry to get a walk down our dead end rural road through the cow pastures. Three little red calves hanging out together.

    A view from the top of the hill to our house in the hollow. Red roof to the left of center.

    Other ways to spend the day included starting some fermented horseradish mustard, that will be ready in a few days. When I make pizza dough, only half gets used for the pizza for two, the second half is put in a silicone bag and frozen until next pizza night. Last night, instead of pizza, it was turned into garlic knots to accompany the spaghetti dinner.

    The basket beside my chair has 3 spindles, each with a different fiber, and a knitting project. Some BFL/Silk hand spun to very light fingering weight is being used to make a scarf for my daughter, and a new pattern for my shop.

    The skinny triangle scarf finished a couple of days ago came off the blocking boards and is modeled on one of my mannequins.

    The weekend is much cooler and more rain early in the week. It might be treadmill days.

    The peas that were planted a week and a half ago have begun to sprout. Looking forward to peas and asparagus soon. Still no evidence of the spinach.

  • Last Virus Post

    There are still no reported cases in our part of the state, but at least 20 people in this region are in isolation in the hospitals awaiting test results. After sequestering for a week, we made one last grocery run and hope that we have accumulated enough food and ingredients to last 8 weeks at home without having to go out again.

    We both got emotional as we headed back to our rural farm with the idea that we will be socially isolated for an unknown period of time. The hardest part of this for me is not seeing my children or my grandchildren for an unknown period. I want to come out on the other side of this healthy so I can get all the hugs and snuggles then.

    We have a treadmill and hand weights, a long hilly rural dead end road, and 30 acres to wander and get our exercise.

    It will soon be full on garden season, so I can spend mornings and evenings planting, weeding, eventually harvesting and canning. The area is beginning to show signs of spring.

    There are crafts to do, books to read, seed to plant, fields to wander.

    Maybe I will try some natural dying with lichen collected from the many rock piles or the hulls of the hickory nuts gathered before the hay field gets too tall to walk. Yesterday that was my exercise of choice and I came home with two tiny deer ticks. I need to be sure to spray my pants legs and tuck them in my socks before I wander off the road. I certainly don’t need Lyme disease. I was treated for it once before after we bought this farm but before the house was built.

  • A bit sad

    We were supposed to take a weekend trip this weekend, across the state to meet our newest grandson. Out of precaution for them and us, our hotel reservation was cancelled and they were called to tell them we love them, want pictures of all of their children, and we would reschedule when it is safe to do so.

    This is the second event we have had to cancel reservations on and postpone, the first an event with our other 3 grandchildren.

    As we stay at home avoiding other people, cancelling opportunities to see our children and grandchildren, people with nationally known names are posting “that this is a ploy to disrupt capitalism,” “if you are healthy, go to your local pub,” “it’s just the flu,” and other statements and tweets to try to diminish the severity of the situation.

    My extended family has many folks with underlying health conditions, compromised immune systems. My sibs, cousins, hubby, hubby’s sister, and I are over 60, several over 70. We are the folks that the CDC is most worried about.

    We can hope for a vaccine, but if like the flu vaccine, they aren’t fully effective for several weeks after it is given. We can hope for coming to spring will cause it to die out. But what we can do, is stay apart, whether you are healthy or not so that you don’t spread it unknowingly. Stay apart if you have any illness symptoms whether they are COVID-19 or not. Check on each other by phone, text, or other media.

    We are on a track that mirrors Italy and that is frightening. Be safe, practice safe habits. I want hugs from everyone when it is over. In the meantime, I love you children, grandchildren, sibs, cousins, BE SAFE.

    I hope this nation learns from this the importance of vaccines for communicable illness where there is a vaccine; the importance of self distancing when you are ill with a cold, flu, chicken pox, measles, or whatever; the realization that it isn’t about you.

  • Social Distance/Self Isolation

    As we made our last purchases of an extra bag of dog food, and extra sack of chicken layer pellets, and headed home to distance ourselves to avoid catching or spreading COVID-19, we heard that all public K-12 schools in Virginia were closing for 2 weeks. I suspect it will end up longer. It is going to be tough on working families. Our daughter who is local to us has an 8 year old and a 13 year old. Normally we chip in to help out when they need coverage, but daughter realizes the potential impact on us as we are both beyond 70 years old. Last night we wrote the kids an email and told them that we would miss the hugs and kisses until it is deemed safe for seniors to be around potential vectors. On our way back to the farm, I said to hubby, that I hoped we didn’t start sniping at each other. We are rarely apart, but we do go out. The house is large, the property is 30 acres, we live on a rural gravel road, it is getting to be garden season, so we can seperate from each other if we need to, we can still get fresh air. Nearby, only a few miles is a part of the National Forest with walking trails that are not heavily travelled, so occasional walks may be made there. We have self isolated for now. We purchased extra groceries and will refrain from eating lunches and a weekly dinner out. This is a change in our habits, lunches will be sandwiches or left overs.

    Our local grocer has the program where you can order and pay online and pick up in the parking lot. When we run low I guess that is the route we will take and avoid purchasing fresh produce from the grocer. Though I hate the idea of not going to our local Farmers’ Market, it is often very crowded. Some of the vendors are offering local delivery. I don’t usually grow salad greens and other salad vegetables other than cucumbers and tomatoes, which are still months off, I purchased lettuce and radish seed this year. I plan to sow a half barrel of salad greens and radishes close to the house and divide it into quarters, planting a quarter a week to spread out the harvest. Years ago, I kept a jar of sprouts germinating in the house but drifted away from doing so when I could readily get microgreens at the Farmers’ Market. Yesterday I started a jar of small spicy greens and this morning, a jar of crunchy beans.

    They can be added to sandwiches, salads, or stir fry to add some fresh vegetables.

    The seeds started for the garden are sprouting. The growlight down close to the lid to keep them from getting too leggy. The peppers haven’t sprouted yet, but tomatoes and Chinese cabbages are up as are the Calendula flowers. The coneflowers not yet.

    The cabbages are a bit leggy, I am hoping that they will make it, if not, I will direct sow a few when it warms a bit more.

    Once in a while, you see suggestions to resprout the bottom of the celery head. I had two celery hearts that were getting beyond prime, so I sliced the celery and froze it to use in soups and put the two stalk ends in water as suggested to see if I can at least sprout some celery leaves to use.

    It has only been a couple of days, but the centers are swelling, so they must be uptaking water. We will see if this experiment works.

    Of course, I can knit and spin to pass the time. I have several books and subscribed to the library app, so I can check out ebooks to read. I made laundry detergent and dishwasher tabs as both were low. I have soap to make for a B&B I supply, but am awaiting Shea Butter in the mail and if this goes on for very long, they may not need a big shipment.

    It is going to be a lifestyle change, probably harder for hubby than for me, I could easily become a hermit here, but know that socializing is important too. For now we will avoid and hope that this virus dissipates and doesn’t devastate our country causing small businesses to struggle or fail. I hope that people are responsibly. Watching the news last evening, seeing Florida cancelling spring break gatherings and asking people to be responsible, one young woman interviewed said she would ignore that. She may become ill and being young will likely recover, but will she infect others in the community who are not healthy or young who might not. We must all take this seriously and be responsible. Let’s hope for a vaccine or for the warmer weather to hopefully cause it to subside.

  • Plan Ahead

    It is spring break for the local University and as Virginia is now reporting cases of coronavirus, several colleges and Universities in the country have sent students home or are discussing doing so. We wonder if an announcement will be made for the local students to not return from spring break for a while. Though there are no reported cases in southwest Virginia yet, it will surely find it’s way here.

    Hubby and I are both over 70, so more at risk if exposed. We decided as soon as cases were reported in the USA, and since the summer stockpile of home canned goods runs low by this time of year, we started gathering a few extra items each time we shopped starting several weeks ago. Rarely do we buy frozen vegetables, but if we can’t go to the grocer or Farmer’s Market, we purchased bags of an assortment so we have vegetables until the garden starts producing. When we went in today to get a few items, there were many empty spots on the shelves, especially items like dry beans, rice, pasta. There was no rubbing alcohol, only a couple of bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide, and sanitizing cleaners were scarce or missing. There were signs posted by the grocer at the empty shelves. I guess panic buying has begun here. We are stocked enough to survive if self quarantined. Meals might get boringly repetitive, but we have the food to be safe. Until we see cases here, we will continue with our normal routine and resupply as we use up food but be prepared to spend a month or more staying on our farm, take our walks on our rural road or around our acreage.

    As I grow aloe, the base of hand sanitizer with isopropyl alcohol from our cabinet, I made a couple small bottles. I have begun using the sanitizing wipes provided at the entrance of the grocer to wipe down the cart handle and also my hands. We don’t have a lot of visitors, few deliveries, I make my own cleaners and soaps, and my all purpose and floor cleaners have alcohol in them, and plan on adopting the habit of wiping doorknobs. We are following the suggestion to not shake hands and avoid large crowds.

    We hope that this virus wanes as the spring and summer arrive, but want to be prepared without panicking. As parents, we worry about our children and their families. One lives near northern Virginia and works at a University there. One owns a medical transport company. One is in Human Resources as a new hire trainer for a huge hospital system.

    We hope for the health of all in our country and hope that those that are exposed will be responsible so as not to put others at risk. Keep a calm head and be responsible.

  • That kind of day.

    Sundays are quiet days. This Sunday is gray and gloomy, cold, just at freezing but not wet. A good day for sitting by a fire with a cup of tea, a good book, or my knitting. A good day for stew simmering on the stove and bread rising for baking.

    To build a fire in the living room, a fire needs to be built in the wood stove in the basement or we get a downdraft on that side of the chimney and smoke in the basement.

    That fire heats up the basement, where we keep the thermostat set below the ambient temperature of the ground as the basement is set three sides underground and the fourth side south facing. Having a fire there heats the basement above the temperature that we set the living area thermostats and the rising heat up the stairwell keeps the thermostat for the main part of the house from turning the heat on, and it heats the floors enough to help keep the main level of the house warmer.

    The living room fireplace is a Rumford design that has an actual open vent from outside to bring in air and the tall curved back and smoke shelf to prevent downdrafts, projects heat back into the house. This is about as efficient as an open fireplace can be. When we aren’t sitting in front of it monitoring the burn, we have both screen doors and glass doors that can be closed for safety. Fortunately, we have never had to rely on these two sources of heat for more than a handful of days from power outage due to an ice storm. With the woodstove, a gas grill, and a camp stove, cooking wasn’t a problem then. Water was, as we are on a well, but we have a 4500 gallon cistern system that catches rain and snow melt from the roof and downhill from it is a gravity fed yard hydrant so water for toilets and animals can be obtained there. Purchased water for cooking and drinking for us if we haven’t filled bottles. Generally, the basement freezer has a dozen or so gallon bottles frozen in it to help keep food when the power is out. Since we don’t hunt and don’t buy perishables in bulk, there is usually not too much to lose.

    We love our retirement farm and are truly fortunate in having acres of grass that can be hayed and young men who want the hay for their livestock that take care of mowing and baling it and in exchange for the hay, keep areas brush hogged and this year keeping us in firewood by cutting an oak that fell at the edge of the hay field two springs ago, split that wood and brought it up to our woodpile. They were going to stack it too, but three grand kids that were here awaiting a holiday meal stacked most of it for us. We don’t abuse their offers of help, but know that if there was really a task beyond our capabilities, we could call one of them and they would make time to take care of it. Country life is certainly different than the suburban life of my working years.

  • The Crud

    Being a pair of over 70’s, one with a compromised immune system of unknown reason, we always get flu shots and have both gotten the old and the new pneumonia shots. As a young Air Force officer, hubby was stationed in Missouri and contracted what might have been histoplasmosis, but because they couldn’t culture it, he ended up having a thoracotomy from the back instead of the chest and a partial lung lobe removed. As a result, if he ever gets an upper respiratory infection, he will begin to get better then it settles in his lungs and usually becomes bronchitis.

    Three weeks ago, he began to have cold symptoms, then a full blown cold, then started feeling better by earlier in the week. By Thursday, we were in the doctor’s office and he ended up on antibiotics. I had tiptoed around, washing my hands frequently, keeping surfaces wiped down with cleaner, washing dishes in the dishwasher on hot and doing everything but wearing a hazmat suit and respirator mask, but by Wednesday, I knew I hadn’t avoided it. In my case, upper respiratory infections generally go to my sinuses, but usually not as bad as his and shorter lived.

    Saturdays in our house begin with breakfast out and then the farmers market, but we had a winter weather advisory and I really didn’t need anything available this time of year at the market, so we decided to change our routine. When I got up, it was in the low 30’s and there was a trace of tiny ice pellets on the back deck. It wasn’t doing anything when I went out to do morning chicken chores and let them out. Since the weather wasn’t looking too bad, we drove in and got fast food and came home, built fires in the basement woodstove and the living room fireplace and hunkered down indoors to see what the weather would bring. The temperature has climbed slowly during the day to the upper 30s and it has rained and rained and we have kept the fires burning, it was so gloomy out. The weather forecast shows today’s high will be around midnight tonight hitting about 41, then turning downward all day tomorrow to a low tomorrow night of 16. At least the precipitation is supposed to end before the temperature falls and we have several days of real winter temperatures.

    Because of having caught his crud and the weather being crud, today has been a sit and knit, drinks lots of hot tea and a quick stir fry dinner with leftover rice. I turned mine into a big bowl of miso soup. I figure I might drown the crud.

  • Brrrrr – Nov. 13, 2019

    It is November, still Autumn according to the calendar, but the thermometer and the weather prognisticators say otherwise. When 70% of the country is expecting freezing or below weather in November, something is wrong. Two days ago, I was in a long sleeve tee working in the garden, yesterday we awoke to snow falling and lightly coating the world with it hovering at freezing and expected to fall all day and through the night. I awoke at dawn, the heatpump not keeping up with the cold and no fires stokes and not wanting to get out from under the two quilts on the bed. Wishing I had worn wool socks to bed last night.

    With two pups nudging me to get up, let them out, and feed them, I finally conceded, layering on wool layers from the skin out (wish I had some wool trousers) and going down to let them out, cook their egg, and get my coffee going. This is what the front porch thermometer read.

    The early dawn hours it reached 14f. We have experienced colder weather skiing out west, in Vermont, even in West Virginia. It has dropped below that on the farm, but not in November. At 8:30 when I finally added boots, hat, gloves, and barn parka to go out to the chickens it was 17f, sunny, the wind from yesterday finally calmed, but bitingly cold.

    In this world of social media, we have friends we know, we hang out with, can hug or shake hands with even if it is only once or twice a year. Then we have friends we have met through social media that have similar or like interests with whom we share photos and online conversations. One of the later is a retired physician that lives in Iowa (bet it is colder there today than here), who is a fabulous fiber artist. She makes beautiful one of a kind jackets and coats hand spun yarn, felts among other things. Her Etsy shop is FiberCurio. Late last winter, I mentioned having regrettably not purchased a felt hat at SAFF quite a number of years ago and Ellen came to the rescue and made me a gray felted hat to which I added one of my woven tapes. I like the hat and wear it when it is cold. Though I spin yarn and knit many hats, my head doesn’t seem to be the right shape to make a knitted hat fit well and look good. Last week, Ellen posted pictures of some felted women’s hats she was taking to a craft event and one of them shouted at me. Now, I can’t attend an event in Iowa, but I reached out to her about that hat and by the next day it was in the mail to me. Yesterday in the midst of falling temperatures, snow flurries, and brutal wind, a package arrived, my new hat.

    I love the cloche, it pulls down over my ears and is warm felted Merino. It should help keep my head warm when it is truly winter here, and now during our early Arctic Blast that looks to be lingering for another day or two with very cold nights and early mornings even after that. Social media can be wonderful at times.

  • And You Thought Garden Posts Were Done for the Year – Nov. 10, 2019

    The last few nights have been very cold for this time of year. A couple hovering around 20 f but today the day time temperature is above 60 f, the sky clear and very little wind. With one more day similar to this due tomorrow, it seemed like a good time to prep the garden for winter and to get the perennial onions and garlic planted.

    The bed that was designated for it is a 4′ x 4′ raised bed that had sunflowers and cucumbers in it this past summer. It was cleared of stalks and a few weeds. Each time I put straw or woodchips in the chicken run, they scratch them into wonderful compost mixed with their droppings and some of it gets kicked out the low end of the pen. I was able to gather a full wheelbarrow full of this rich compost to add to the bed.

    The alliums were planted, a thick layer of hay spread over the top and mesh fencing laid over the top to hold the hay in place in the wind and to keep the chickens from digging that bed up when I let them scratch in the garden during the winter.

    While I was in the garden, I pulled the Creeping Charlie from the Blueberry bed, removed the deteriorated tarp from over the mint bed, grabbed armloads of mint, dead pepper plants, and weeds to throw to the chickens. Cardboard was placed over the mint bed. I am going to add another layer to it when I can get some, place heavy rocks to hold it down and put hay over it too. Maybe I can regain control of that bed.

    Each morning, I go to the coop to let the hens out. They get free range time for several hours until the dogs need to go out again. Once I release them from the coop, I look in to see the cleanliness of the coop, to check to see if their water is frozen, and make sure their 5 gallon feeder still has feed. They have been only providing 1 or 2 eggs each day now for a couple of weeks, or so I thought. When I looked in the coop this morning, I saw an egg in the back corner opposite the nesting boxes so I climbed up in the coop to get it. Tucked in a neat nest there were 11 eggs. Sneaky birds. And I actually bought eggs yesterday at the Farmers Market.

    Having an extra dozen around with Thanksgiving coming is a good thing. Eldest son and family will be here for a couple of days so breakfast will be needed for 4, hubby doesn’t usually get up for it. Pumpkins pies will need to be made, so more eggs will be used than the usual amount. I cook an egg for the dogs each morning and sometimes one for me for breakfast or dinner. Now that I know they are being sneaky, I checked the coop while out in the garden and sure enough, there were two more in that corner, plus one in the nesting boxes. I guess I am going to have to check daily.

    If tomorrow proves to be another good day as forcast, after I go for my hearing aid fitting tomorrow morning, I will weed a couple more beds, cut back the asparagus tops and get hay on that bed as well. It is fenced off so the hens can’t get in it. Then the hens will be given time in the garden to scratch for bugs and seeds to help keep the weeds down in the spring. I still want to get help to redo the fencing and posts, but the garden is getting bedded down for winter.