And there we go!

The 31 days of May comes to an end.  Hope you enjoyed.  Now back to normal blogging.  There's still lots going on round the farm, so stay tuned.  Oh, and Beaky says, "Hello!"  It sounds more like a "cluck cluck squak," but I'm sure that's what she means.

Humidity

We spent the weekend up north in the ANF (Allegheny National Forest)at my parents. It was good to spend time with family, something running your own farm (however big or small), doesn't allow you to do as frequently as you'd like unless you live close by. Unfortunately, at the moment, we do not. The weather, for the most part cooperated (as if we really had any say in it to begin with). The only rain we had was a fast moving thunderstorm that swept through last night around 10pm. Though it was quite warm this afternoon, there was still a pleasant enough breeze to allow us to enjoy eachother's company in the pavilion.

It wasn't until we drove through the little town of Zelienople, on our ay back home, did we happen to look up and see that the thermometer was reading 99 degrees Farenheit. Yes, 99 degrees. We were so comfortable in the AC of my little Beetle that we simply weren't pondering how stifling the temperature would be once we stepped from its icy confines. Fortunately for us, however, the temperature dropped to 91 by the time we reached the top of our hill. The temperature around bedtime is hovering in he mid 80s but the humidity has picked up. We try not to AC the whole house if we can prevent it, but we did put the small window unit in the bedroom window. I can tolerate the heat and humidity during the waking hours, but I find it awfully hard to sleep when I feel lime I'm suffocating.  So we put our small window unit in the bedroom window just for the night.  Quite frankly, in this kind of weather I'd be just as happy with a hammock on the back porch.  The problem is, I don't have a back porch.  Nor do I have any trees nearby to sling up my hammock.  I sure do miss it!  A partially wooded lot is a requirement for my own place.  I sure do miss shade.  I sure do miss my parachute hammock.  I think I'm going to pack it up and carry it around with me, looking for places to hang it, even in (especially in) odd places.  If you've never tried a parachute hammock, visit Ticket to the Moon's website and check them out.  They are super portable and ridiculously comfortable to boot!  If I had my way, I'd probably sleep in it every night.  Another house requirement: the capability to hang my hammock.  Yes, inside!

Foraging

Here's Grey Baby.  I love her color.  All the buns love some 'free-range' time.

Dog Nosed Kisses

I love my dog, I really do.  There's nothing better than having your own warm fuzzy four-legged friend to cuddle up to on a cold day, to snuggle close to you when you are sad, rejoice with canine excitement when you are happy, to wake you up in the morning (or in Kenai's case, the middle of the night to ask if he can come up on the bed), to ride in the car with you, chase the chickens, and alert you when someone pulls in the driveway.  I'm not sure how people get along without them.  Someone once commented to me that, "it would be a inconvenience to always have to take them out or find someone to watch them if you wanted to go somewhere."  Maybe since I've never been without a dog that I can remember, I don't even think of those things.  My husband and I went on a mini-vacation two springs ago and left Kenai with my parents.  He of course was well taken care of, but when we would go to bed at night in our big king-sized bed, we felt like something was missing.  Kenai is such a permanent fixture in our family that going somewhere without him is hard.  And yes, he sleeps right between us at night, all 75 pounds of him.  Not the whole night; usually right when we go to bed, then he'll get down until about 4am, then hop back up.  He's like clockwork.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Farm at Dusk

Sure looks peaceful, doesn't it?

Follow the country road.

Dandelions Abound

MountainMud Handmade on Etsy

I've finally re-opened my Etsy shop, MountainMud Handmade.  And what a more perfect day than my birthday.  I stayed up until 2am to get items posted and ready to be displayed and I couldn't be more pleased.  I have been a basket-making fool this past month and a half.  I love stitching these together!  I am addicted to color, the more the better.  For the majority of these baskets I use quilt quality batiks.  I have many of these around the house stuffed mainly with handspun skeins of yarn.  They are just so happy to look at, and very versatile in their uses.  I can just imagine many of these lined up side by side on a shelf holding all of the things we love to see and touch.  I'm a very tactile person, so these fit me to a T.  So hop on over and take a look; let me know what you think.  Just click on the Etsy link to your right, and it should take you right there.  I do have a few other items for sale as well:

(beautiful vintage fabric patchwork skirt) 

(aromatherapy bags) 

(100% handspun amazing angora yarn)

Fair Weather

True, we've had a lot of rain, but the past week we have also had a bit of fair weather.  Enough for most of the farmers to get their fields plowed and planted.  It make be later than what was hoped for, but many field are on their way to sprouting vegetation.  It sure is nice to glimpse that blue sky.

All Spun Up!

It didn't take long to get my festival fiber all spun up.  I was on it that evening when I got home, and finished the next day.  As a matter of fact, most of the fiber that I bought at the festival is spun up.  I love to spin bright colored fiber.  It is so peaceful for me to treadle on my spinning wheel and watch the colors blend together like they do.  I have a ton of spun up yarn.  Most is from and dyed roving that I bought on Etsy, but I've recently started dying my own fiber.  While there will always be something fiber-related to learn, this seems to complete my ability to process my own fiber from start to finish.  Now if I can ever seem to part with any of it or knit it into an actual garment.  Right now all my skeins are in one of my huge handmade baskets.  My husband asks me all the time when I'm going to do some with the yarn and my response is always the same, "But I just like to look at it."  Seriously.  I love to fish through the basket admiring the kaleidoscope of colors and textures.

By the way, this basket really is huge.  It's 12 inches high and 15 inches in diameter.  And as you can see, it's filled to the top.  My goal is to eventually knit it into my own technicolor dream-sweater.  But I haven't mastered the art of sweater-making just yet.  Coming soon...

8th Annual Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Festival

(60% Merino, 30% Bamboo, 10% Nylon)

Today we travelled down to Greene County for the 8th annual Sheep and Fiber Festival.  Last year was our first time attending and we met so many great people that we went back again this year.  It is really a great little festival with a medley of different vendors and fiber animals.   We got to chat with some of the people we met last year, eat some lamb, and fetch some fiber to spin.   I even bought a Dorset fleece right of they newly sheared sheep.  We chatted with the couple from the llama farm we visited last spring, who invited us back out for another visit, and I bought some of their llama roving to spin.  I've yet to spin llama.

 (new lamb)

 (Babydoll Southdown Sheep)

(introducing the pygmys to the new pygoras)

We also acquired two pygora lambs (not me, my friend Cheryl).  Pygora means a cross between an angora goat and a pygmy goat.  Their fiber is wonderful!  It is softer than just the angora goat, yet the pygmy gives the goat it's hardiness.  Cheryl already has two adorable pygmy goats (seen above - on left); these two were a perfect addition to her little farm.  It was quite a ride home with these two in the back of the car.  They actually did pretty well.

Lastly (no pictures yet) we found a table loom for sixty bucks!  We couldn't decide which was the better deal of the day: the goats or the loom.  Both were amazing finds.  Stay tuned for some loom productions!

Meat Bird Processing

The time to process our meat birds is quickly approaching.  This will be a new experience for us this year.  We talked about raising our own meat last year, but were still new chicken farmers.  This year, however, we felt we could give it a try.  So once again, I went to my old friend YouTube to learn how.  You'd be surprised how much you can learn from YouTube.  I found a few really great tutorials on meat bird processing, and my hat is off to these individuals along with a huge thanks for their contributions.  There were 3 videos that I assimilated info from, but posted above is my favorite.  It's pretty raw, so if you have a weak stomach, consider yourself warned.

Don't forget the cows...

It's easy to forget about the cows we live with.  After all, they don't belong to us.  We do, however, see them everyday.  So occasionally I need to recognize them for the integral part that they play on our farm.

Things to do during a thunderstorm...

Go for a hike!  While I don't really recommend this, it is exactly what we did today.  It wasn't planned, that's for certain.  But we haven't had many sunny days this spring, and this was a particularly stormy one.  Rain came down so hard that we had a river running down the driveway, into the cow pasture and down over the hill.  There was so much water that the cows were standing there drinking it as it flowed by.  Too funny.

As I said, we didn't actually plan on going for a 'hike' per se, but instead traveling out to see how much water was passing over the spill way at McConnell's Mills, a local state park in our area.  We certainly weren't disappointed as the water was over two feet higher than the spillway.  It sure was a raging river.  I caught a bunch of video which I'm planning on putting together into one, but here's a small clip:

The rain would switch between light, moderate, and heavy.  During one of those heavier moments, we ducked into the the old mill, which has been preserved as a museum.  How awesome it would have been to see the mill in it's glory days, grinding away at the various grains that passed through it's machinery.  The mill itself has four floors.  We only had access to three of the four.   

The old wood in the mill was incredible.  So perfectly preserved.

This old grinding stone stood about 4 feet tall.

A look out the second floor window.

At the bottom of the 'basement' steps.  I loved the color and textures on this stone.  The stories that these old walls could tell. 

Portions of the old machinery.

A Good Hat

A girl needs a good hat!  Especially when the rain never seems to end.  I ran across this 'outback hat' (as was termed on the receipt) on sale when I went in to Tractor Supply recently.  Now all I need is the duster to go with it, and I'll be set!

A Good Dog

Reminiscence

Railroad tracks are always reminiscent of home.  Growing up, we lived a block away from the tracks that follow along route 6.  As a kid, I remember running as fast as our little legs would carry us up to meet the caboose.  During 'those days' the caboose man would throw candy to the kids he passed by.  It's been years since I've seen a caboose.  It wasn't just the caboose that I remember well; also the sound of train whistle as it passed.  While some may have found this sound disagreeable, it was comforting to me.  Strangely it was the night train that I liked to hear the most.  It came like clockwork, each night as I had just gone to bed.  Occasionally I hear the train that travels the tracks above.  But now we live at least 5 miles from it's closest crossing.

What do you find reminiscent of home or your childhood?

Flower of the Month

(Lily of the Valley - Convallaria majalis)

June Bugs

The June Bugs are coming out in droves.  I can't say that I remember  noticing them earlier than, well, June.  But a few nights ago, as I was coming back up from closing in the chickens for the night, I kept hearing this strange buzzing noise coming out of the soil.  Perhaps their larval grub-like bodies were awakened early by all the rain soaking into their cozy dirt and grassroots homes.

June Bugs are a type of scarab beetle in the Family Coleoptera.  I'm sure you're familiar with them.  In our Easter regions they are brown-rust in color and invade our after dusk campfires.  They are very attracted to light, and often swarm our porch and other lights.  Though harmless, they tend to give you a scare as they make a beeline for our heads.  Or so it seems.  Each year the females bury their eggs back in the soil where the larva will pass through a different stages, over winter in the dirt, then emerge as adults in the spring (this was what I was experiencing).  If you're a gardner, you may have accidentally dug up some of these larval grubs (see below).

So don't be frightened by these harmless little beetles the next time one lands on your arm of flies at your face.  Their legs may feel spiky, but they don't bite let alone eat eyeballs.  And as the old saying goes, "They're more afraid of you, than you are of them."

Phipps Conservatory

Last Friday I went to the Phipps Conservatory with my friend Karin.  I had only been there once before, and it was many years ago.  This place is really amazing if you are a plant lover like me.  It just so happened that we got the break in the rain that I was so desperately hoping for (almost a whole five days of rain-free weather!), and that it corresponded to the plant/craft sale that was also going on outside on the Phipps grounds.  We meandered through the crowds and booths for about an hour before we finally found our way inside.

At the top of the stairway, just before entering into the green houses, we found the most amazing hanging glass sculpture.  It had to be 5-6 feet from top to bottom.  Karin told me that they had recently had a huge glass exhibit and that this piece had been donated to the conservatory.  As we wondered through the greenhouses, other magnificent pieces of glass work could be found hidden all over the place.  Here are a few others:

These were all so beautiful, but my personal favorites were found in the orchid room:

These ghostly glass figures could be found hiding everywhere: from dancing on the log above, to wondering through the stream flowing through the greenhouse, even hiding amongst the orchids.  Here are a few more:

So if you are even in Pittsburgh, even if you are not as passionate about plants as I am, stop by the conservatory and wonder through.  There's something for everyone to see and enjoy.  I will be post some of the other pictures I took on my Flickr site, including the amazing orchids, for ease of viewing.

Back-Posts

Blogger's been having some issues this past week and I couldn't seem to get anything to post.  Determined to get my 31 days in for May, I am going to back-post and get caught up.

My husband is taking a photography class this month.  However, this is not one of his pictures.  I've always wanted to take 'close-up' pictures of the moon phases.  My little Sony camera, while it has done it's job well, does not have the capability to zoom in enough to effectively take the shots I'm seeking.  So I got creative - I shot this picture through my field goggles (binoculars) with my camera, and here's what I got.  It's not great, but I was impressed that it even worked to begin with.  I am hoping to get some better moon photos if ever this rain will pass and acquiesce to the clear night sky.  Preferably with a bright full moon.  This time I will use my husband's camera instead of trying to balance mine and my field goggles.

And by the way, the term 'field goggles' was learned from my dear old ornithology professor way back when.  I've never been able to go back to 'binoculars' since.

Banjo Equinox Summer

I'm finally learning how to play the banjo (clawhammer style).  I bought this old banjo at a garage sale a few summers ago and plunked around with it (bluegrass style) here and there.  I've never been a great picker even on my guitar, so I got discouraged.  Then earlier this spring I got the motivation to join another group of new banjo players inspired through Cold Antler Farm in what was being called the Banjo Equinox summer.  Every so often we need to post a video of ourselves playing a selected tune from Wayne Erbsen's book Clawhammer Banjo for the Complete Ignoramus.  So far we've made two posts and are gearing up for our third.  I've only been playing for a little over a month, and while I'm certainly no seasoned frailer, my banjo is actually sounding like a banjo.  I never thought this possible.  Wayne has a number of other books for Ignoramuses out there (you can find them here) and I highly recommend them for ANYONE who has ever wanted to learn to play a mountain music instrument.  And to prove my point, here's my last post:

So hop on over to Wayne's Native Ground site, pick your instrument, and get started!

Moonshine Over the Greening Hills

Happy Mother's Day

Mothers come in many shapes, sizes, personalities, and types.  Whether you are a person mom, a pet mom, a spiritual mom, or a mom of any other sorts: Happy Mother's Day.

Henny Penny

We have a hen; we named her Henny Penny.  She is a Speckled Sussex, hatched last year.  The only noticeable physical difference between her and her sister, Stella, is that she has orange eyes, and Stella has grey eyes.  I figured this out a few days ago.  However, they have different personalities.  While both are the two friendliest hens on the farm, Henny Penny follows us around like a puppy.  Even right into the house.  If we're outside, she's beside us.  When we walk into the house, she comes in too.