October 21, 2010

GOOD GRIEF, CHARLIE BROWN!!!

I can't hardly believe it has been 2 1/2 months since my last post! Being a stay at home mom certainly doesn't translate into being a lady of leisure. Now, more than ever, I have plenty of stuff to keep me busy. Downsizing our income has meant that some things require more time and labor, like hanging clothes on the line instead of throwing them in the dryer and cooking most everything from scratch. But, I sure am enjoying it! I get to come home in the morning after taking the kids to school and running my bus route and go out in the pastures with the livestock for a little while before I get the day's chores started. I also get to do laundry at 10 in the morning instead of 10 at night! And all those errands that would add up and take up the entire Saturday? Well, Saturdays get to be spent right here on the farm.

We have had a few additions here on the farm since my last post. We now have a Cotswold ram and some more Shetlands, Border Leicesters, and crosses between the two. Nancy Barnett of Barakel Farms in Alton, Missouri is managing to keep us well supplied. Her sheep are so lovely we just can't say "no", and I think she has figured this out! I will post pictures as soon as I can. We are deciding right now which ewes and rams we are going to breed next month - I can hardly wait for babies!

I have also been learning about natural dyes. I started with black walnuts (you should have seen our hands!) and used both the hulls and the leaves of the trees. The hulls made a rich chocolate brown dye and the leaves made a creamy light brown.

I also experimented with the spice, tumeric and got this deep yellow roving.

Mom picked some Hibiscus blossoms and I have some lichens in stewing right now creating more dyes. They take a while to develop the dye, so when I get done I will post some pictures.

I am also finishing up the processing of all the raw fleece that I ordered last year and from my own flock. It is very time consuming, but well worth the effort. I end up with the softest fiber that almost spins itself. There is Cotswold cross and Coopworth in the Etsy shop right now, with more here in my stash waiting to be worked up. We are also getting ready for the Arkansas Fiber Extravaganza at Mount Magazine State Park the first weekend in December.

August 12, 2010

Meet Winston!

Say "Hello" to our newest member of the farm. His name is Winston, and he is a Wensleydale wether. We purchased him from a friend who raises this breed, and my, does he have lovely fleece! He was just sheared (yes, she twisted my arm and I bought his lamb fleece, too!) and he is curly already:

We are very excited to have him come live with us. He has quickly become great friends with Smokey and the Bandit. Speaking of Smokey, he did a "no-no" and got into the chicken coop and ate all the chicken feed the other day. He ended up with quite the tummy ache and gave us a real scare. He is fine now, expecting his kisses as always.

Yeah, I know, you aren't supposed to be so friendly with rams, but how can I resist when he is soooo sweet? I can't wait until he and Naomi have little lambs this spring. She would come live in the house with me if Stan would let her! I will probably have to keep them if they are half as precious as their mom and dad!

Well, the kids are gearing up for school which starts next week. Permit me to gloat a little: Singing "I don't have to go-o!" I am so excited I can hardly stand it! God has blessed us so much by providing for me to stay home again. I have been busy already re-stocking the etsy shop since Fiber Christmas. I have been washing, combing and carding fleece, making rovings and batts, and running the kids to all the practices that are starting. It is nice to be able to do all those things that I used to do when I stayed home before. One of them is baking bread. In my opinion, nothing makes a house smell like home like fresh baked bread. (Except maybe chex mix at Christmas time!)

I love this recipe - it is from The Amish Cookbook by Elizabeth Colbentz.

1 1/4 cup warm water

1tblsp shortening

3 3/4 cup flour - more or less (white, or white and wheat mixed)

1 tsp salt

1 tblsp sugar

1 package yeast

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of the water. Mix the shortening, sugar salt and the rest of the water. Start adding flour. Knead the dough until smooth. Cover and leave in a draft free location until it doubles in size. Punch it down and form it into a loaf and put it in your loaf pan, cover and let it rise until double. Bake at 325 for about 45 minutes until it sounds hollow when it is tapped. Brush the top with butter to make a softer crust.

That's it! It costs about 27 cents a loaf in ingredients to make (I buy yeast in bulk). And it has WONDERFUL texture! I make it in the bread machine. I put the water and shortening in the bottom, then flour, sugar, salt and yeast and turn it on. I have added cinnamon, used half wheat flour, added garlic and Italian seasoning - it is such a versitile basic recipe!

Shop News

Be watching for the big sweepstakes in the shop starting next week! I have been thinking hard on this one and am really excited about it! There are lots of new things in the shop, and mom has been working hard on the beaded plying thread.

It is used when you ply your yarn after spinning to make beaded yarn.

She is working on lots of colors and it will come in 100 yard lengths! Come see us!

Fiber Christmas In July @ Kelleyville, Oklahoma

We sure did enjoy Fiber Christmas in July last weekend! Kate Lowder did an outstanding job putting the show together - we will be going back next year! We met lots of folks in this same business and got to talk "shop" and learned a lot! Here is our booth:




Came home with lots of new stuff! Most importantly - I got a loom! It is a Kromski "Fiddle" and is 16" wide. I was pretty intimidated, but I am getting the hang of it now and will post pictures of my first project soon. Also bought some raw cashmere that I am going to dive into soon.

Speaking of projects, here is a little free advice for anyone dyeing fiber. I use acid dyes that are only SUPPOSED to react to protein when I dye fiber. That means that wool, silk, etc, will take the dye, but plant fibers such as bamboo and cotton will not. Says so right on the bottle. Well, I have now learned that unless the bottle specifically says it will not dye your favorite, irreplaceable, turquoise t-shirt from the Grand Canyon National Park, don't wear that particular shirt when you are dyeing fiber red. Or at least wear an apron. You can probably guess what happened, but just in case, here's the story, minus the howling that went along with it. As I rinsed the gorgeous deep red fiber I had just dyed, I looked down and saw a lovely splatter pattern that would have made any CSI agent's day, all across the front of my shirt. Fiber got dropped immediately, off came the shirt, and after an hour of scrubbing with every imaginable soap in the house and a two hour soak in borax laced water, I am proud to say that the shirt is back to normal. Whew.

Here are a couple of new batts that are now in the shop. We bought a Wensleydale whether while at Fiber Christmas, so be watching for locks from him soon. (No, he didn't travel home in the bathtub of the 5th wheel. We are going after him with the truck and trailer tonight!)

Blackberry Yogurt:


Leotards and Tutus:



As soon as I get the shop stocked back up, be watching for a big sweepstakes in the etsy shop!