the fawns

The doe finally brought her fawns by. I haven't seen them all summer. I've seen her, but not with her fawns. Last time I saw the fawns it was springtime and they were wearing their spots.

We've named this doe, "Beauty". She is sleek, and healthy, and well, beautiful.

Still no names for the fawns. Have to get to know them a little better.

granulobacterium pectinovorum or retting success

There is a bit of mystery that surrounds the process of wet retting flax. The procedure sounds simple enough. One need only submerge the dry flax stems in water and weigh them down so they are entirely covered for a period of time long enough for the bark to soften and allow the easy extraction of the fiber. The bark is macerated by active bacterium...specifically, granulobacterium pectinovorum...which dissolves the pectose present in the stems without injuring the bast fibers that will be spun to linen. There is science involved.



The mystery is "how long?" a period of time is required for the operation. How long will it take the microbes?? If it is under-retted the process is incomplete, the bacterium has not done the job and the retting has failed. If you over-rett, you have allowed the bacterium to go to far and it has ruined the flax. So, there is a decision to make about the timing...when is it "just right" to pull the flax from the pool?



It is an operation which for success calls for much judgment, vigilance, and precision. The determination of the exact point at which to stop the process demands much experience. So says Alfred Stewart Moore, author of .."LINEN" published by The Macmillan Company in 1922.

So, it isn't any wonder that I approach the retting pool with trepidation and proceed with caution. After raising the plants from seed and having a successful harvest, no one would want to risk it all and loose the fiber in the retting pool. I've lost linen in the pool in the past, and expect it will happen in the future. There is a learning curve. So, I rett small amounts at time, and take good notes.



I wait for the weather. When I see a good heat wave approaching on the weather map, I prepare. I had some dried flax in storage. This is flax that has been harvested, dried and rippled before storage. (Rippled meaning that the seed has been removed, so as not to attract hungry little critters).

My husbands cement tub is used for the pool. I position it in the streambed, where I channel a trickle of water to flow into the tub. Since there is a slope to the land, the pool has a deep end and a shallow end, and the water overflows on the deep side. The root ends should be positioned at the deep end of the pool. The flax wants to float, so rocks may be used to weigh the stems down. My flax was too long for the tub, so I had to bend the blossom end and tuck it under the rock.



In the slow flowing, soft, warm water, the microbes of putrefaction work on breaking down the pectins that trap the fiber. They convert the insoluble to soluble, and free the cellulose substance.

"The change is stated to be achieved by a special enzyme, pectokinase, which converts pectose successively into pectin and sugar, the bacteria afterwards fermenting the sugar with the production of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and a little butyric acid. It may seem strange that this pectose is the same substance with gives apple jam its peculiar glutinous stiffness." ASM

I've been making raspberry jam, and have to add pectin in some form (fresh or powdered) in order for it to "gel". But out in my retting pool, I'm trying to remove pectin in order to retrieve my fiber. I find it ironic that adding and subtracting pectin can either create success or failure, depending upon ones objectives! You see, I've been thinking about pectin a lot.

There is no way of knowing exactly how many days it will take the microbes in my retting pool to do the job. There are estimates, anywhere from 3 days to 7 days. Water content, water temperatures, and the quality of the flax are all factors to consider. I test the stems daily after about 3 days...and pull the flax when I think it is ready. Then I hang it to dry for a few days. Then comes the moment of truth.



The shive or boon the broken fragments...some would consider waste, I will save this and use it this fall, for starting wood fires in my kitchen stove. The Longs, the Shorts and the Tow...I separate and set aside. I am relieved to see that the retting pool has yielded good results this time.



First we "completely remove all the pectin that binds the fibers together, and then the aim is to join them together again, by contact and twist inserted by the spinner".



I select a handspindle and fasten some of the new flax to the distaff...I cannot resist and must sample, just to see how it will look when it is spun. It really is a marvelous process..taking a little seed and raising it up..removing the tough outer shell to release the golden fibers so they may be spun...for me ...it is worth the work. Yes, Alfred Stewart Moore said it best...



"when you look at a dainty feather weight cambric handkerchief, you virtually see the soul of the flax plant"

phenological events July 2013

phenological events

July 2013

1st harvesting snow peas

2nd harvesting red raspberries

3rd cucumber beetles on squash

7th blueberries blush

8th catbirds and phoebes on

second brood of summer

14th harvesting blueberries

17th retting pool start

22nd harvesting greenbeans

23rd red fox at screen door

24th flax retting complete

now come the greens and blues.

The garden continues to produce a good crop of both! Every other day, I must make time to pick, prepare & pack. We also enjoyed a meal with our first potatoes of the season. They were small and gourmet style, yummy.



Gathering the equipment, setting up and actually canning the produce is not my favorite chore. Once it starts, I know the kitchen will be set up for preserving for another month or so...soon the tomatoes will come, and then the cucumbers. Pick, prepare & pack. Some will be frozen, but most will be jarred.



During the heatwave we had, the retting pool was set up for action. Flax that had been dried and then stored was added to the pool and weighted down with rocks.



It didn't take long, just over a week. It is drying now, and still has a way to go before it will turn into linen. Meanwhile, the flax growing in the garden is starting to flower. With a little luck, I will get a small harvest of Elecktra and the Hungarian Variety. Enough to sample. Doubtful that I would have enough time to ret this season, so it will have to be stored until next summer.

I've been spending a lot of time in the garden, not only working, but taking a moment or two ...looking. observing. enjoying. Morning and late afternoon hours are the best. I like to to take the distaff and spindle with me, dressed with Hemp these days. Standing and spindling while I watch the bees and hummingbirds provides time to pause. admire the beauty. the abundance. the peace.



With cooler weather on the way, and the subtle change of light, I am reminded that we are moving into late summer. The Queen Annes Lace is in full bloom, Joe Pye Weed and Golden Rods point the way to the next season. There are times I feel ready to move on to autumnal pleasures, past all the work of picking and packing...to cooler nights and cozy sweaters.... but I catch myself, and make the effort to linger in the summertime a little longer. Grab an empty basket, the beans need picking again!

beads and berries

Grace gave me some clay to play with. I had forgotten how much fun I could have, and what a mess I could make. Rolling the soft clay between my hands and playing with different shapes made me feel like I was a child.

My inspiration came from the clay bead whorls that I've been reading about. Most are very primitive, simple in design. I wanted to make a few different shapes and see for myself if one shape had any advantage over the other. As I roll the clay between my hands, I worry about wobbles and whorls being off balance. I thought and thought about ancient civilizations, and those who made crude bead spindles before me.

My bead whorls, set out to dry, look like kabobs on the skewers.



The clay whorls still need to be fired. I'm reading about pit firings and gathering fuel. We are heading for a heat wave this week, so I doubt the pit firing will happen anytime soon.

I cannot resist trying out a few of the whorls..and decide not to wait, I grab a handful of some fluff to tie to a distaff, and start spinning. A smile on my lips, I am delighted to discover that I have made an excellent spinner! Such satisfaction! A bit of clay and a bamboo skewer, and I have a fine tool. No wobbles! I spin off the point of the bamboo skewer, in-hand style.



As I build the cop, I decide to cover the bead whorl. I've read about and seen some of this on display in (virtual) museums. It makes good sense to keep spinning without removing the whorl.



Once I made the jump (with my yarn) to the other end of the bead, I had to build the cop on the other side.



Several lengths of spun yarn had to be drawn before the cop was built up sufficiently to cover the whorl. At this point, the added weight of the spun yarn on the spindle is giving me added spin time from one flick of the shaft.



Soon the cop covers the bead whorl completely! Time to leave this task, and pick up another.



Thankfully, we have had a bit of sunshine to help ripen the berries. I'm getting good yields, and the chore of picking and freezing has to be done on a daily basis. While I'm picking, it often seems like I turn my back on a berry for moment, and it ripens. Red Raspberries are fragile things, when they are just right, the fall from the cane into my outstretched hand.

agelenopsis pennsylvanica

It has been hot and humid around the riverrim. There is a fog mist on the mountains at sunrise. I woke to seeing the lawn covered with many webs from the agelenopsis pennsylvanica (american grass spiders). They had been busy the night before.



Their webs looked to me like so many silk hankies, scattered about on the lawn, just waiting to be collected and spun.



The bite from agelenopsis pennsylvanica is not harmful to humans, because the spider's Chelicerae are too tiny to pierce human skin....and the web itself is not sticky...

..I wonder..if...



I reached for an empty spindle to try to spin the web. Living in the wood without neighbors to watch me attempt this task, saved me the embarrassment of having to explain what I was trying to do. Well, I did have to explain to my husband, but he has become rather understanding of my ideas.



My attempts were unsuccessful. I was not able to spin more than a few inches at best before the webs broke. Maybe they were too wet, or just to fragile, but I did have fun giving it try.



I love to watch the spiders spin. I wonder if they have success and failures. Do they spin a perfect web every time? Being a spinner, I've gained a great deal of respect for the other spinsters. There is a special comradery that exists between those that know how to spin silk ...and other fibers.

I took my own spindle and distaff to the garden, and wondered if the spiders were watching me, but web spinning spiders cannot see well at all, despite the fact that they have several pairs of eyes, they navigate mostly by sense of touch. Maybe that is why they are so very skilled at what they do.

black-caps and white tails

She thinks I don't pay attention to what she is doing.



But, I see her, and I know what she has in mind to do.

During a brief moment of sunshine today, I noticed her. She dropped off her fawn for a nap in the meadow on the hillside.



... and then she takes a little nap, too. After a time, she decides she wants to eat a little snack.
The Black-caps are starting to ripen...they will do just fine.



Yum-Yum! That is what I named her.



Yum-Yum has been snacking on almost everything in my yard. I think she likes the variety that is available.



Don't forget to close the garden gate.  Yum-Yum has been leaving hoof-prints all around the fence!

muddy waters

It won't stop raining!

Going out to the garden to empty the rain gauge has become a daily chore. The rains keep coming and river keeps rising. It runs high and muddy brown. It rains while the sun shines. rain rain go away.



Hmmmmmmmm... mmmmmmm this song keeps playing round and round my head...

Today is, not like, any other DAYYYYYYY
This one is runnin, turn a darker shade of GREYYYY
What, will, I, have, left (tell me tell me)
(Somebody tell me now)
When, this, hard, rain's, gone awayyy
There is a safe place, that I used to KNOWWW-hohhhh
It's the only place, that I want to GOOOOOOO
Where, else, could, I (tell me tell me)
(Somebody tell me now)
'Til, this, hard, rain's, gone (ah-ah-away)



My garden is feeling the effects of too much rain. The plants hang their heads, looking water logged. The heavy downpours pounded my poor little flax patch. It went from looking like this:



to looking like this:



Too much rain gives me the blues.

So, it is almost July and where are the fawns? Normally, we see them around the end of May.



Memorial day is a good day for spotting fawns with spots.



This year, the first fawns are finally showing themselves while it is near the 4th of July. They must have been staying up on top of the mountain...out of the rain...under the ledges and the Hemlocks.

As a last minute decision (and a way to escape the indoor blues), I decided to join up for the Tour de Fleece again. My brother sent me a speedometer, that I have attached to my CPW! I am keeping track of my MPHs and the average distance as well as the yardage spun on this tour. I try to spin while watching the Tour de France race, and have started to work my way through an alpaca fleece, "Final Answer". Ironically, my last blanket from Finca Alta Vista.



Somehow the color of the fleece just looks the same as muddy waters to me.

phenological events june 2013

1st butterflies

4th planting corn

8th planting beans

12th planting squash

13th harvesting rhubarb

23rd baby woodcocks

30th fawns appear

flax connection

May has slipped away. It has been a busy month.

Most of it has been spent in the garden. The fence was repaired, new fruit trees were planted (plum, cherry and peach). Peas, lettuce, kale and new asparagus plants were sown early in the month and are growing well. The tomatoes and peppers and annual flowers that we started from seed in the green house, have been transplanted.

For those of you that follow this blog, you may know that I have previously raised textile flax, and processed it successfully. And as much as I wanted to try it again, I was frustrated because the only variety that was available to me was the one I had already grown. The seed type was from Holland and goes by the name, Marilyn.

By the time March had rolled around, I had pretty much given up on being able to obtain another variety of flax to grow this year. I was planning the garden, and know from experience that I should be sowing the seed in April. It takes about a hundred days from seed to harvest, and I had not found anyone who was offering flax seed for sale (other than Marilyn).

But with a little help from my friends, I was connected with a few people who have helped me to obtain some seed to sample. Many thanks to you! (and you know who you are!)



Although I am past the date when I would normally sow flax seed, I'm hopeful that it isn't too late. The unusual cool weather we have been having is good for something, in this case, germination.

About a week ago I planted a small plot of flax cultivar, Elektra, which is another cultivar from the Netherlands, and as reported from other field trials, scores high marks for fineness of the fiber, and good yields.



The seed was obtained by my friend about a year ago, so I am very please with the overall results of the germination!



Yesterday, much to my surprise, my request for seed from the USDA was approved, and I received a small amount (about 200 seeds) of a cultivar from Hungary. I am very excited to be growing this, and plan to sow it later today.



So, thanks to the help of others and all of you who have been patient with my whining and complaining and frustration about the importance of biodiversity and the lack of availability of textile flax cultivars in the United States in the year 2013! I am again growing some flax for linen. A very small amount of it, but enough to do a comparison and draw some conclusions.

the woods

May has arrived and the woods are waking up! The quince and forsythia are in full bloom, and the warblers are starting to appear. The blue blue skies of May and the bees on the blossoms on the fruit trees are pretty enough to paint. There is bird song filling the woods, and nesting materials filling the branches of nearby trees. Around the riverrim, we planted a few plum trees another cherry tree and a peach tree. Gifts from my husband.



The creatures that live in the wood are waking up as well. We were visited by the Black Bear around suppertime the other day.



He waltzed right up the back steps and through the open gate onto the back deck. We will have to make sure we close the gate from now on..and walk with bells and pocket air horn. He or she was much to close to the house for my comfort.



The snakes woke up with the last thunder storm. I've seen small garter snakes around.

They don't begin to compare with the size of the one that tangled himself in the netting we had around the blueberry bushes last summer. I felt so badly about that situation. Garter snakes are good guys, and I encourage them to stay around my garden. Last summer, the Blueberry bushes need protection from the birds who were stealing all my berries, so I hung netting on the bushes. I never thought that a big big garter snake would come along and get himself tangled up in it. By the time I discovered him, it was too late.



I've been taking my distaff and spindle with me when I walk. I've been experimenting with dressing the distaff with a painted roving arranging it in a way that allows me to draft down different colors when I want to.

The fiber I'm working with is a merino/ tencel blend, and I am enjoying the way it handles. I can slip the distaff into the belt loop of my jeans, and walk and spindle...walk and spindle....down to the river, out to the garden...walk and spindle ..it is very relaxing. It is not the type of walking that you would call a power walk, it is more of a stroll, or a wandering meandering type of walk. In the bucolic setting that surrounds me, I can well imagine a shepheardess of old accomplishing a good deal of spinning this way.



The amount that is on my distaff was easily spun in short walk down to the river and back...maybe a half mile? Maybe a half an hour or 40 minutes was spent on my afternoon break for spinning.



The distaff is a great tool for walking and spinning. If I want to stop and take a few photographs, I just park the spindle in the fiber and set the staff up against a tree or a rock. The distaff holds the fiber and spindle until I return. While I left it unattended...the little nesting birds showed great interest in the fiber...and I allowed a small chickadee to pick at the merino tencel on my distaff. She didn't take much.