Cabin Crafted

Category: Walks and hikes

  • Autumn is here…

    at least this week, though it is going to warm up next week, not to summer temperatures but much warmer than this week. The winter squash were all harvested and some pumpkins and gourds purchased at the nursery along with a mum, just beginning to bloom. The fall decorations in storage were brought out.

    A bit of fall decorating was done with the winter squash, some beeswax candles, and mum.

    The past few mornings have been in the low 40’s f (4.5) c and we awaken to heavy fog and glistening dew.

    The asparagus look frosted. A quick trip into Lowe’s for a tarp showed me small bundles of dried corn stalks from Canada, about 4 stalks for almost $10 each. I should go out and cut our stalks and bundle them to add to the decorations in front of the house or at the corner of the garden. I must have $100 worth out there.

    Because of the chilly nights, the houseplants that spend the summer on the front porch are being brought inside after spraying the bugs and spiders off of them with a jet of water. The move back inside also resulted in some pruning and transplanting.

    The two largest house plants and the two hanging spider plants still need to be sprayed and brought inside.

    I went out to use the line trimmer this afternoon and it is missing the bump ring, so it wouldn’t function. I am going to have to purchase a new one. I want to repair the wood wheelbarrow that my Dad made for me about 2 decades ago and fill it with fall color.

    A nice afternoon walk away from town today showed lots of fungi and greenery that benefitted from the rain this week.

    I was happy to see several patches of running cedar (Diphasiastrum digitatum) or fan clubmoss growing in the woods. Though it lacks legal protection it is becoming more rare due to destruction of it’s habitat and over gathering.

    This morning, I began the second test knit of the mitts. I went down a needle size and extended the cuff on this pair. The gray handspun yarn is showing off the design much better.

    My knitting gauge must be much looser than the pattern designer.

    It is nice to be beyond the hottest weather, but I’m not looking forward to the cold months ahead. Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons with the milder temperatures. The nursery today had fig plants and mine that I transplanted into a half barrel wasn’t looking very good. I had hoped to bring it in to the garage for the winter, but it was already so pot bound, that I dug it in to the walled garden below the southwest exposure of the stone retaining wall. I will shield it with heavy gauge plastic and mulch when freezing temperatures are expected. It formed about a dozen and a half figs this year, but none of them came to maturity. Maybe it will be happier in the ground in the sheltered location where it will get regular watering during the summer.

    The hydroponic gardens are sprouting.

  • Craftiness

    This month’s spindle challenge was an easy one, just spin a minimum of 15 minutes each day. This is going to lead up to two consecutive months of produce items using your Jenkins spindle spun yarn. Since a lot of my yarn this year has been producing squares for my Breed Blanket Project, there are lots of bits and bobs of leftovers from the squares and a scrapy scarf or cowl will use up a lot of them.

    After spinning three breeds this month and knitting several squares, I started on a braid of wool dyed in Ruby colors that are not for the blanket and just for fun. The first 12 g were spun on a large spindle plying on the fly until I decided that the spindle was just too large to use in the car, so I switched to one of my smaller spindles that fits nicely in a Talenti gelato container and drops into my carry all bag.

    The colorful case is a rigid sided, zippered pencil case that is perfect for toting a spindle or two when I want or need to go away. It was a recent acquisition to my collection. The ruby yarn that will be produced will become fingerless mitts and a hat or cowl for holiday markets and my Squareup shop.

    In early to mid August, I did a test knit of a cabled hat pattern, Debbie’s Tobaggan on Ravelry for a friend. As I usually use my own handspun yarns and I didn’t have any yarn in the correct gauge, I purchased a skein from another friend (Sunrise Valley Farm) that vends at the local farmer’s market. Her wools are lovely and hand dyed.

    The pattern designing friend was at the fiber retreat I attended in late August and she was working on another pattern, fingerless mitts or mittens. About a week ago, she asked for test knitters for this pattern. I had purchased a skein of alpaca/wool blend yarn from yet another friend and had enough of it left from a project to test knit the new pattern, Blue Ridge Mitts, which will soon be released on Ravelry. See the mountains and the sun?

    The mitts are currently drying from being washed and blocked, and I am about to start another pair using some of my homespun Shetland in a soft gray.

    Recently my decade old Nexus tablet quit. That tablet has lived in an Oberon Design leather cover for most of it’s life. I am a real fan of the Oberon products, owning a card case, notebook cover, checkbook cover, and the tablet cover that have been purchased by me or given to me by hubby as gifts. I was trying to think of a new life for the tablet cover and as many of the patterns that I knit have charts in the pattern design, I took a metal chart holder that was a bit too large and with tin snips, cut it to size, so now I have a pattern holder.

    I consider that a win/win!

    My health crisis appears to be behind us. My diet is back to normal and we are walking every day (except the day of the monsoon) and doing at least 2.25 miles and trying to challenge myself on speed and inclines. Most days, hubby and I goad each other as to who is pushing who, but it is all in fun and should one of us feel taxed by the effort, it just takes a word to slow the pace down a little. We are both fitter for the effort, which is good for our senior bodies.

  • Movin’ In and Movin’ On

    Yesterday it rained and no more hay was picked up as they don’t want to drive the length of our farm on soggy grass. The rain and front cooled down the temperatures and dried out the humidity. The hay crew will return as soon as they feel it is safe to get to it without getting stuck or damaging the grass. There is still some equipment to move as well.

    The fields are already greening back up after the rain. The fig that I dug and put in the half barrel is doing great. We are in one of the states where birds are dying, and though it isn’t in our area yet and the authorities still don’t know if it is an illness or a toxin, we have been asked to remove feeders and birdbaths. I know it is for the best, but it saddens me to not see the flocks of little birds gathered at the feeders while we eat.

    We took Grandson 1 out on another walk today and on the flip side, returning to the car, this gorgeous box turtle was hightailing it across the asphalt path toward the tall grass and creek on the side. It’s yellow colors were so vivid and it was in a hurry. I don’t remember how you age them, but it was about the size of a grapefruit.

    Once home, Grandson 1 and I tackled some repairs on my chicken coop. I fear that in another year, the egg lid door and the east side siding are going to have to be replaced. They are spongy and rotting. I may replace them with hardy backer board and paint the coop instead of staining it. The frame is sound, just the siding material. On the way back to the house, I noticed that the Mason bee house that was just placed about a dozen days ago has residents. At least 6 of the tubes are plugged. You can see 4 of them on the left side. They don’t seem to be using the center section, just the bamboo tubes, but that is cool. I need to read up on what to do for winter and next spring. I placed it under the eaves on the east side of the garage in the midst of a flower bed that has various blooms until frost.

    I love watching the native bees at work. The house was a gift from Son 1’s family to me.

  • They came, they went

    And now Grandson 1 and I are sifting fist sized rocks from the dirt pile created by clearing out the top of the tank, refilling the parts that don’t have to be accessed again using that same soil, moving the rocks behind the larger stones of the rock wall. When we are done, the oval left over the observation port and the clean out top will be filled with bagged soil that has no rock or gravel in it and marked with an edging of some sort. Annual flowers or a couple of half barrels of flowers that can be moved will be placed there to mark the spot and so digging next time will be an easier task. Because of the slope of our property, the high side is 2-2.5 feet and the low side about 15- 18″.

    The leaky galvanized tub is protecting the lid so we don’t dump rock and subsoil on it. The plywood is providing a baffle to build a firm soil wall behind it. Grandson 1 worked hard without complaint as we worked for about an hour. There is more to do, but it was time to prepare dinner, blanch and prepare peas for the freezer, and get the table set.

    The peas planted in the corner of the onion bed did not do well. Actually, most of the veggies I planted in bagged soil used to fill some of the new beds aren’t doing very well. I pulled those pea plants today and tucked in the edge of the onions, and behind the peas, I found a ground nest with two eggs and two baby birds. I quietly left the area so Mom bird could return. I will steer clear of them for a couple of weeks and hope that a raccoon, skunk, or neighbor cat doesn’t get into the garden and find them.

    The other bed of peas produced a basket full, along with the last spears of asparagus that will be harvested this year, and the hens provided some protein. The pullet that layed her first egg yesterday, layed a perfect little blue egg today.

    With the scaffolding down on the east side of the garage, you can finally see some of the Day lilies in bloom.

    Two different cultivars of red, one with much larger blooms, both with yellow throats.

    The yellow Stellas have taken a beating from the placement of the scaffolding and for some reason the chickens prefer to dig there. They will recover next year if I protect them for the rest of this season. The very tall yellow one is among the last to bloom and the ones under the scaffolding on the south side of the garage haven’t opened yet.

    This never got posted last night, so today Grandson 1 and I will try to finish the work around the septic tank. Yesterday and today are cool enough that the work isn’t too onerous. The rest of the scaffolding comes down today and is going out to help some friends with a job they have.

    After our dinner last night, the three of us drove to town and took a cool late evening walk on the Huckleberry and the Stadium Woods trail back to the car. We arrived back at the car at exactly the minute the weather app said the sun set.

    We love having our grandkids visit and this guy is a great helper, willing to do just about anything I need him to do as long as I still give him time to plant his face in his phone.

  • A Day in the Life

    There was no aggression in the pullet pen with the two mature hens. It didn’t appear that any was going on in the Palace either, though they were left locked in today. I caught the right two Oliver Eggers last night and got two green eggs in the coop today and two brown eggs in the Palace. Still low production from 8 hens.

    Today’s walk between early morning rain and late afternoon rain took us along the river and the wildflowers were gorgeous, but my cell phone photos washed out all of the blues and purples of the Virginia Dayflowers and Cornflowers.

    I think the tall yellow one is called tickseed.

    Evening visitors include the over abundance of rabbits this year and does, still not seen with their fawns yet.

    When she walked through the hayfield on her way over to browse the edge, all you could see were the tips of her ears.

    More rain expected tomorrow, then a clear off and heat back up next week.

  • Olio

    Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

    I finally gave up on trying to contain the mature hens. Ms. Houdini and Ms. Apprentice could get out no matter what I did to prevent it and the small area in front of the Palace was getting dug up to a hazardous state for my old bones. I took the plastic fence “gate” and put it on two step in posts across the front porch opening. The shorter pieces of plastic fence that had been protecting flower gardens but had to be removed to put the scaffolding up are being used to block the holes under that same porch to prevent the hens from going underneath. Those two hens will probably hide their eggs, but the production from the hens fell sharply when I stopped them from free ranging.

    Yesterday, the wild birds had no feeders up. Today we went to Lowes to replace the Niger seed feeder and the suet feeder and instead I found a large tube feeder that was divided similar to the one that was destroyed by the bear, so again the three favored feeds are hanging from the double shepherd’s crook pole and they will be brought in every night. The Finches, Titmice, and Woodpeckers have already found them and started visiting again. The Chickadees which I favor, quit coming to the feeder in spring and summer and will rejoin the other small birds in the late fall and winter.

    A couple of days ago, I finished my May spindle challenge spinning and plied the yarn on my wheel, gave it a wash and hung to dry. It is a pretty 4 ounce skein of turquoise Falklands dyed wool, about 485 yards. I haven’t measured it’s WPI since it’s bath, but it was about 18 prior.

    I haven’t decided whether to knit it or sell it as yarn. Falklands is a nice spin and very soft.

    Last week, I purchased a destashed Jenkins spindle that was in Sweden and figured it would take at least 3 weeks to arrive here. According to tracking, it has already been processed in Chicago, so I may see it by the middle or end of this week. It is a size that I don’t currently have and a weight that is within my preference.

    This is a photo that the seller sent. It is Birdseye Maple, a very pretty spindle. It is only 9 grams, so it will be my lightest, though not my smallest spindle.

    One of hubby and my walks is a section of an old paved over railgrade through part of Blacksburg and into Christiansburg. Since I moved here, it has been expanded from the original 7 miles to more than double that. There are two sections that we often walk, in both cases going out and returning on the same trail. The one at the origin point takes you to right across from the University stadium and last night we left the trail, took the sidewalk up a known road and picked the trail back up at the bridge that crosses that road. In doing it, we saw another trail that appeared to go along the edge of Stadium Woods, so once back to the car, we drove back toward the facilities buildings near the stadium to see if we could find it’s origin. In doing so, we discovered three streets with a cross street paralleling the one we had been on that we didn’t even know were back there and the trail and decided that the trail that we had seen from the stadium must be the origin. Today, we again walked out the section of the railgrade to the stadium and took the paved trail we had seen the night before. It wasn’t the same one. The one today took us on the other side of Stadium Woods parallel to the one we had found last night in our exploration, but it eventually brought us out near the same termination point and we walked back through the neighborhood to our car. I had hubby drive back to were we had seen it last night near the facilities building and let me out while he drove around back to the stadium parking and I walked it toward the stadium to see where it originated. I beat him to the parking lot as it seems that where he let me out was less than 1/10th of a mile from the origin and I walked out to the lot to wait for him. It looks like it will be a nice walk to do on another day. It will give us some variety, making an out and back walk into a shady loop.

  • Blackberry Winter and Growing Things

    The littles aren’t little anymore and they don’t walk anywhere. They flap and flutter out of the coop and once all are out, bump breasts and fly across the pen. They are an entertaining morning event.

    Yesterday we walked bundled up like for winter in a chilly, breezy day. By last evening, it has gotten milder and stayed mild over night and today is pleasant. Our walk was around the pond today, which was teeming with new life. There were thousands of tiny tadpoles, turtles the size of quarters, and small fish but I couldn’t get close enough to get any good photos of them. One of the geese has hatched 4 goslings and she and proud Papa had them out and about, pretty fearless of the walkers on the path.

    Salamanders sunning on the retaining wall.

    And flowers providing some color where there was none only a couple weeks ago.

    The peas in the garden are climbing the trellis, potatoes are sprouting tufts of green leaves, garlic and onions standing tall. The tomatoes and peppers aren’t showing any new growth yet, but as soon as it warms again, they will. The fig moved to the half barrel is showing new leaves and new growth as are the transplanted raspberries. Soon it will be time to plant the cucumbers, corn, beans, tomatillos, and ground cherries. Every year, I plant some lettuce, spinach, and chard or kale and every year they don’t do well and I purchase it cut and clean from the Farmer’s Market. I am still hopeful that the transplants will provide some food for us. The hay is thick and as tall as the deer bellies as they walk through it. Mowing of hay will begin around the area soon, if the rain doesn’t throw the schedules off like last year. It is definitely taking a turn toward warmer weather.

  • Walk On

    When spring came and we dedicated ourselves to a daily walk, we expected to have a day or two each week when the weather was uncooperative. We have walked 28 out of the past 30 days. Only one of those days did we cut the walk a bit short, only doing 2 miles, when we could see a thunderstorm bearing down on us. We thought today was going to be a washout. There was no rain in the forecast, but gloomy gray. Yesterday, I purchased replacement tomato and pepper plants for granddaughter’s garden as something ate every pepper plant to the ground and most of the tomato starts I gave them didn’t take. Today, we planned to take them to daughter’s house after lunch and after picking her up from the car servicing center and helping daughter and granddaughter plant them in their garden. I took two of the flexible poles and bird net to cover the peppers, T posts and the pounder to create the Florida trellis for the tomatoes. On our way to pick daughter up, it started raining, continued to rain while we waited for her to get her car checked in, and part of the way back to her house. Then it stopped. The garden is replanted, the tomatoes a bit larger than the ones I started, the peppers now protected (we hope) by a dome of bird netting. And the only picture I managed to take while the three of us gardened was the variety of lichens on the neighbor’s fence that provides one side of daughter’s garden too.

    The picture was accompanied by a lesson for the 9 year old on symbiosis, which her mom said was a refresher from last year.

    Our walk followed the garden session, still cloudy, but no more rain. Each week our miles for the week are recorded and shared with a virtual walking group in our community and each week we get a cummulative report with photos. A fun way to keep up with neighbors.

  • The birds are still singing

    We had snow flurries off and on all day yesterday, no accumulation while the temperature fell to 31 f last night. We took our daily walk bundled against the chill and frigid gusty wind brought in by the front.

    The littles didn’t get to go outside yesterday. When it warms a bit more outside, I will let them out and add more straw to their coop. I tried to add some yesterday, but it just spooked them too much. It is going to stay chilled today, but no rain or snow, and another freezing night before the shift back to spring time.

    I haven’t seen any more hummingbirds. I am looking forward to the return of more as they flit in an out under the porch overhang, sipping the nectar from the feeders and chasing each other off.

    When we stopped at the grocer a couple days ago, they had geraniums in hanging pots, BOGO. Though I want to put them in pots on the deck and not hanging, I purchased two, but put them in the utility room until the freezing nights pass and the warmer weather returns. For years I have tried to get poppies growing from seed, always unsuccessfully, and there were pots of poppies at the grocer as well. One of them had to come home with me too and it was planted in the walled garden and covered with a flower pot last night to protect it from the frost. I have added 5 plantings of perennials to that garden so far this year. The Iris are beginning to show flags, I hope the cold didn’t destroy the first flowers. As the season goes on, more perennials will be added to that bed, I want it to be full of flowers. There is a patch where Calendula was planted and it usually self sows. If none comes up there, I saved seed from last year. The Zinneas, Marigolds, and Calendula along the south stone of the garage are up in that bed, but keeping the chickens out of it until the plants are large enough has become a challenge.

    The plants that overwinter in the house are ready to be back out in the sunshine and rain baths, but the nights have to be more consistently warm for that to happen. I don’t want to have to keep shifting them in and out.

    A new umbrella for the back deck table is on my wish list so I can sit out there once the sun is too hot to enjoy being there and as an outdoor eating spot in late spring, summer, and early fall.

    We will walk again today, bundled against the chill and look forward to the next few days as warmth returns.

  • Take a Walk, Take a Hike

    Hubby and I try to take a walk or couple mile hike each day. Daughter has been taking her kiddos on a hike once a week when weather permits and though today is chilly and thickly overcast, we had discussed going on a hike to Bear Cliffs. We met up after lunch at Mountain Lake Resort, the four of us masked and I brought 4 blaze orange vests, one for daughter, one for me, and one each for the two kiddos. Her kids are 9 and almost 14 and they were great hikers with some biology lessons on lichens, some trail safety reminders, blaze reading exercises, and a good time.

    Last Thanksgiving I did the same hike with Son 1, his wife, and grandson 1. Then masks weren’t a necessary accessory.

    This year, masks were required, which meant that glasses couldn’t easily be worn with hat and mask. This resulted in me being the only casualty when I slipped on on a rock and face planted on the trail. I ended up with a bit of a lump on my forehead, but otherwise unhurt, we continued on.

    Lots of care taken due to fog and slippery rocks, but a great hike. They were kind the the senior and gave me necessary breathing breaks as we were gaining elevation, but they seemed willing to take a water and breathing break too. This may have to become an annual tradition.