Thursday, October 04, 2007

how many sheaves does it take to make a shock?

I missed my walk on Wednesday this week. I had to go and get tires for the car. I sat in a waiting room for 4 hours. It was a good thing that I brought some knitting to do while I was waiting.

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We have been without rain for a very long time. The river is low and still. At times, you cannot even hear the water flowing by. The color just starts to show, a little bit more every day. I am tempted to play the grasshopper, and wile away the hours...but I know full well that I need to get the corn cut so I can plant my winter rye.

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And so the afternoon was spent bending over and cutting the sheaves. They were laid into bundles of 50 and carried out of the garden. Eight time over. Now this may seem like a lot of corn, but almost half of the ears did not develop fully, and that is due to poor pollination. All is not lost, the chickens will get the dried cobs to munch on when the snow flies this winter, and when they have picked the cobs clean, I will save them to make bobbins for the Great Wheel. This is something I have read about, but have yet to try.

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Once I had the all the sheaves together, I built a shock. I made 3 bundles first, and lashed them together tepee style (so the wind or perhaps a hungry whitetail won't knock it over.) Then I laid the rest of the sheaves all around and in between the original 3 bundles. When I was finished, I braided leaves from the stalks, to make a tie to bind the center of the shock. It was my favorite part.

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Before I forget, I have finished spinning the Merino that I purchased from Misty Mountain Fiber Workshop. There was only 8 ounces, a quick spin on the Ashford...resulting in a double ply of about 14wpi...no plans for it yet. BTW, has anyone seen my Cushings Acid Dyes? I have over 25$ worth of them that I seem to have misplaced... grrrrrr....

10 comments:

Artis-Anne said...

Oh lovely Autumnal photos . I love your sheaves and what a great idea of using the left over cobs. Sorry your dyes aern't over here , besides I have never heard of that brand :) I use either Landscape or Ashford. We are limited to variety here in the UK :( Do hope you find them soon
Great spinning and lovely colour too again you have so many choices of prepped fibre over there ; enough to make me green LOL

Judy said...

Love the display and the fiber. #2 daughter even noticed how low the river is. It would be nice if they released some.

Anne P said...

Gorgeous photos! I love the braided ties for the corn. :)

Very dry here too, but supposed to have some rain here this weekend (or maybe snow).

judy said...

gorgeous and ingenious!
Your dyes are in a safe place. Same as all the stuff I have put aside.

Pat K said...

Beautiful pictures. You know I'm a sucker for anything autumnal. I'm going to Michigan next week for a fall colors fix. I'm sure you'll find the dyes soon. Probably along with some other things that have "wandered off". ;-)

Anonymous said...

Oh, that merino is gorgeous! And what a lovely harvest picture! Perfect for the coming weather.

Leslie Shelor said...

I love the corn stalks; reminds of the way the fields used to look around here in the fall after the harvest was gathered!

And your Cushings aren't mixed in with my dyes; I checked!

Fiberjoy said...

Wonderful corn shocks! How clever to use the corn husks to braid. Will you leave them outside or put them in the barn?

Dawn said...

Beautiful post & Beautiful pics!! I love your blog! It's always so interesting!

Leslie said...

You are so creative and artistic. I always enjoy visiting your blog.

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