There are some lovely plum blossoms that are blooming on my windowsill.
They are from the prunings that my husband took of our trees, a few weeks ago. These flowers, sadly, will not see any bees, and will never become fruit. They will only be admired. Pruning in winter is advised as fruit trees that are not tended will become less productive. Even with heavy winter pruning, there is always the chance that the trees will still experience June drop, so hand thinning may be necessary as well.
Time will tell.
I've been working on finishing linen that I spun over the summer.
I measure off the skeins and record the yardage.
Then the skeins go into the pot and onto the woodstove to simmer. I rinse lather and repeat, until the water runs clear.
Then the skeins are taken out to the clothes line, where they hang in the frost...
and the snow...and the moonlight.
It seems fitting to spin in the summer when the humidity is high, and finish the skeins in the winter. The frost really works well to soften the linen.
I made some raspberry jam on the woodstove. I had frozen some of the berry harvest last July, and dug deep into the freezer to find enough to make a batch in February. I also made a jam spreader out of a piece of curly maple. This will be a gift for my Aunt E. Lately, I've been feeling like there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish all of the projects I would like to!
