wade with me wednesday

The Honeylocust are blooming.They smell fabulous. I adore the smell of these trees. They are one of my favorites. The blossoms float down to the ground on the breeze when you walk by.. and you are surrounded by the fragrance. They grow along the river. So on a hot day, as I try to plant the last of the squash and sunflowers, and the bugs are bad..the honeylocust and the river call to me. Memorial Day has past. It is time to go.

Wade with me!

The water is cool and refreshing, but watch your step, the rocks are slippery when wet. The water is still to cold for a dip. It is rare that I would even think of swimming until the 4th of July, but I do love to go wading.

I took some Honeylocust home with me...watch out if you pick um...they are thorny devils...but they make the kitchen smell heavenly!

yellow beard

By the time I got the camera, the bumblebee was gone. But he sure looked like he was enjoying the walk down the yellow beard and into the iris cave.

Almost finished planting the corn and squash. They are always the last seed to go in. It is such a large area to plant. This marks the first time in 4 years (maybe 5) that I am planting squash. I am hoping that I have discouraged all striped cucumber beetles from feeding in the area.

significance of the day

Take the time, remember them, thank them.... honor them this Memorial Day.

caddisfly, my inspiration

The following text can be found at: http://tolweb.org/Trichoptera

"The larvae, and the fascinating nets and cases they produce, represents the life stage most familiar to the non-entomologist, and the case-making behavior of some species may account for the English common name, caddisfly.

Although the origin of the word is obscure, it has been suggested to derive from cadaz or cadace (caddys), a word of variable spelling used in Shakespearean times to refer to a ribbon made from a certain kind of yarn sold by traveling vendors,

... who because of this were sometimes called "cadice men." Cadice men would pin samples of their wares to their clothing, a habit which may have suggested the name caddisfly or caddisworm for the aquatic larvae, who exhibit the analogous behavior of attaching bits of leaves and twigs to the outside of their cases (Hickin 1967). Hickin, N.E. 1967. Caddis Larvae. Hutchinson. London."

Project notes: After finding the caddis fly larvae in my watering pail, I was admiring the protective case that it made for itself. Having just purchased a new pair of spectacles, and needing a protective case for them, I decided to spin my own. I liked the method the caddisfly larvae used, and collected bits and pieces of of scrap roving and yarn that I have produced in the past (somewhat like a sampling of the work I have produced in the last few months). I inserted the tufts of leftovers into a ply to lock them in, then wrapped the spun yarn around a tube of hand lotion that was the approximate size that I wanted the finished case to be. I then used a wet felting method (for what seemed to be a longer time than I imagined it would be). When the fibers didn't lock as quickly or as securely as I intended, I let the case dry, and went back into it with the felting needle.

work with me wednesday

furrow the rows....plant the beans....soy, green and wax.

pick the lettuce...cut and come again...

pick the chive and onion, it will taste good with the fresh lettuce.

...and don't forget to pick the asparagus....AGAIN!

8 things

I am hopelessly enamoured with my Great Wheel. My librarian was able to locate Katy Turner's book about the Great Wheel, and I have been devouring it! I made a few adjustments to the position of my wheel and the position of the spindle, and it has made such a big difference! Suddenly, my motions are more fluid, continuous and almost sweeping (as they should be!)

There is a very good chapter in the book, that deals with building the yarn packages. Apparently, yarn wound in elliptical shapes were the ones that used the quill. I almost always wrap the spindle with a corn husk quill before I start to spin.

This makes it easy to remove the finished cop, and saves the additional step of having to skein off before a ply.

I have almost finished spinning the blend of Black Finn and Angora. I am just short of the 625 yards needed for the Jawbreaker Cardigan (Interweave Knits Winter 2006)...but that didn't stop me from starting the project!

Vanessa tagged me with the 7 Random Things meme....

1. I know the exact measurement of my fingers and feet...and the distance from my elbow to the tip of my middle finger (which happens to be a perfect 17 inches). This way, I always have a method of measuring if I find I don't have a ruler handy...one never knows when one may have to measure yarn...
2. When I find a hide-e-hole in a tree, I am tempted to look inside to see if anyone left a treasure in there... I am also tempted to leave treasures in said hole.
3. I am way overdue for a haircut.
4. I would rather wear sneakers than any other shoe.
5. I received my first mosquito bite of the season yesterday whilst eradicating the burdock from the hillside.
6. When I go on a walk I like to find a view where I cannot see any telephone wires or houses, etc. and pretend for a moment that I am living in a different time...
7. I keep two different barometers which I check daily, and I think both of them are broken.

I tag these seven: catena treheima edgeeffect artis-anne littlefish fiberjoy raisingfrolic

walk with me wed sweet cicely

I have been having a hard time getting out of the garden. There is just so much to be done at this time of the year.

Sweet Cicely is blooming just inside the gate. The blossoms are pleasing to the senses, sweet smelling and subtle. A self-fertile plant, the flowers are hermaphrodite, so it spreads easily. You would never suspect this from looking at a seedling the first year. It is a small innocent looking thing, but if it is happy growing, watch out, it can invade! I've found it establishing itself as far as 800 feet away from the original mother plant! But it is a plant worth growing. I have heard it referred to as..."garden good 'n plenty." The seeds are somewhat shaped like the candy, and when they are just starting to ripen, you can pop them in your mouth for a burst of licorice flavor! (and one is just plenty for me!) A fly fisherman once told me that he uses the fern-like leaves of Sweet Cicely to keep the gnats away, by making a hat or crown out of them. He said it was an old Indian trick. So, I have tried it out once or twice and found it to be somewhat ineffectual. That and I feel rather silly when the neighbor drives by and sees me walking around with a crown of Sweet Cicely ferns around my head....

dandelion dye

Not wanting to start up the old mower, the side yard is getting a little bit high. Will we be able to hold off until Memorial Day?

I gleaned the area of the dandelions...OK, maybe not all of the dandelions, but enough to fill the dye pot (er, turkey roaster)...oh, and I did share some with the rabbits.

I concocted a dye bath, following the directions from the book by Jenny Dean, to extract the color from the dandelions.

The next step involved adding the yarn (a skein of the Farmer Dave's Special I have been spinning up). The fibers needed to be mordanted first, so that they would hold the color or fix the color to the yarn. I chose alum and cream of tartar for my mordants.

The finished yarn is a soft yellow. I imagine it would have been more chromatic, had I picked more dandelions and made the dye bath a bit more concentrated. It is kick to look at the finished yarn and know that it holds the color of the spring dandelion season!

hear ye, hear ye....

The peas (Snowbird) have germinated with the last rainfall. The beets are up too. I noticed that one of the new pea plants was sawed off, lumberjack style. It could only mean one thing. Cutworm.

I scratched around the base of the pea plant, and sure enough, the enemy was uncovered. I documented the damage and the perpetrator for you.

Assuming that he was guilty as charged, I decide to give him trial by chicken. The chickens are summoned to jury duty.

It is always fun to see which early bird will get the worm.

patience

A few nights ago I served this seasons first picking of asparagus at the dinner table. As I explained to our house guest, asparagus takes patience to grow. If you can get through the considerable amount of work that it takes just to plant it, you then must wait several years before you should harvest it. But don't let this discourage you...your efforts will be rewarded over and over each spring for 20 to 30 years.

We grow a total of 18 plants, the majority of them are male-(Jersey Knight and Purple Passion). We have a few wild plants and few Martha Washingtons. Our asparagus patch is about 8 years old now. It requires a little attention each spring...weeding by hand so as not to disturb the crowns. I also use weed block cloth between the rows. I remove these each spring, give the beds an overhaul, and replace them for the remainder of the season. We apply compost to the bed in the fall, normally in the form of composted manure from the chickens and rabbits. Here is a useful link for instructions on how to start an asparagus bed in your own backyard. http://www.asparagus.org/maab/homeGarden.html?id=771

hollywood spinning

Whilst perusing the video bank on YouTube tonight, I found this...btw, why does she need to wrap the spun yarn around the spindle?

and this...(some pretty funky yarn they are spinning)...I wish someone would have consulted with a real spinner before they made this movie!

walk with me wed, behind the wheelbarrow

Eastern Ribbon snake (i think) found in the garden.

I didn't get my leisure walk in yesterday. I walked and walked in the garden. I have been spending as much time in the garden as I can. There is so much to be done in the way of repairing beds and transplanting. It is good to get these chores out of the way before the warmer weather arrives. The cool of the mornings (along with bird song) makes it my favorite time to accomplish what needs to be done....and there is much that needs doing.

My hands have been taking a beating, and I have not been knitting or spinning...much. However, I have been scouring some kid mohair that Judy gave me (long ago I fear). I spun up a small amount~ just to see how it was (who could resist?)

The females (Pheucticus ludovicianus) have arrived.They make a handsome couple now, but rarely feed at the feeder together. The female hummers have not been spotted yet.

The male (Rose breasted Grosbeak) wears his rose bib, which is getting brighter each day. I am reminded of something an old friend once remarked..."in the animal kingdom, it is always the males which wear the flamboyant colors to attract the females. The human species got it backwards...the females wear the makeup and the color to attract the males." hummmmm.....

raising things up

Shhhhh...we are about to enter the nursery....

These little babies were planted way back in March. They are now ready to stretch their legs and move to individual pots, where they will grow for another month or so. I can tell they are ready because they have grown their secondary leaves. See? Have a closer look...

the first set of leaves are the primary leaves, and they don't have a distinct shape to them. The secondary leaves are also known as the true leaves. The look like the real thing...in this case ...tomatoes. One should never transplant one's seedlings unless they have grown a healthy set of secondary leaves...

In this neck of the woods, I cannot put my tomatoes in the big bed in the garden until the end of May...so I let them grow in the pots in the nursery, (er, grow house). Here they can develop a nice strong root system. I tickle the tops of them daily by lightly brushing my hand over the plants. This stimulates and strengthens the stems. I enjoy nurturing my seedlings...and I understand why they call it a nursery. This year I am raising:

• Pineapple
• Black Plum
• Yellow Pear
• Green Zebra
• Reisentraube
• Blondkopchen
• Early Girl
• Amish Paste
• Caspian Pink
• Bellestar
• Sweet Yellow Tangerine

new arrivals

The first week in May is usually full of new arrivals, a steady stream of summertime residents. Their color and song enrich the riverrim.

It was a productive week, full of outside chores. Shall I name a few? Tilled the garden, transplanted the lettuce, planted peas and beets, glads and dahlias and lilies from a friend (thanks Audrey!). Picked the chives and served with boiled potatoes alongside the roasted chicken. Picked the rhubard and served as pie for desert!

I keep the camera nearby to record the arrivals that I can see. Frequently, one hears the song before one can get a glimpse of the bird. They are all very busy, finding bugs to eat, nectar to drink, and places to set up housekeeping.

And I even found a little bit of time to take care of some fibery chores. I set the drum carder up on the deck. I like working outside...the vm just blows away on the breeze, and the light is fabulous. I filled another bowl with rovings of Black Finn for the Great Wheel.

walk with me wednesday, with the warblers

You might want to bring these along...

.....my friends are back! Yesterday, I heard them arrive! The wood was full of song!

northern parula

yellow rumped warbler

common yellow throat

Hello!

finding courage

The moon was so bright last night, I was tempted to move my wheel onto the deck and spin by the moonlight. I just had a little bit of plying to do...it would have been feasible.

I am still working my way through the farmers blend... I figure when all is spun, it will yield a little under a pound. Then the fun can begin. I intend to dye it!

I've had a bunch of Cushings Acid Dyes that I purchased from Countrywool--over a year ago. Hopefully, I can muster enough courage to use them.

White wool presents the same challenge to me as a blank sheet of paper waiting for the paint. I am presently facing this challenge with a water color I have been commissioned to paint.

It has been a while since I have picked up my brushes, which makes it even harder.

Intimidation strikes, and making that first mark requires prudent forethought to minimize risk....or does it? Judy seems to be able to jump right in...no fear! Go have a look at the magic she pulls out of the pot!