Rainy Sunday

Warm and drizzly this morning on the farm.  The flies are about to pick me up and carry me away.  Need to make more patchouli creme, the best natural defense I have against them.  Forgot to buy fly strips in TS yesterday.  I hate the things and they fill up so fast anyway.  Market day was delightful.  I was able to visit with my friends Susanne Farrington and Candace Cain.  Several people stopped to say they were glad I was there.  One woman came to find colored fiber for making beads.  She said the Mill Artisans store in Sherburne has fiber but some of it did not felt well.  I assured her my Bluefaced Leicester/Rambouillet/Merino fibers would felt very well.  She was thrilled with the colors.  I will not be dyeing fiber on a large scale until my angora goats are clipped in a month or so.  They have three inches on them now but four would be better.  I have to get Big Jim Baldwin over here to shear a dozen or so goats.  I like to do it myself but he makes short work of it which is better for the goats.  I have to get them shorn early enough for them to grow back a decent coat before it gets cold.  The sheep were shorn late, in June, so they are fine for winter.  They already have nice fleeces coming in.  Mohair grows almost twice as fast as wool.  I'll have a lovely yearling clip this year.  On deck for today after morning chores...de-mold the Anise soap I made two days ago and set it out to cure.  I'm space challenged for soap curing and will have to be creative.  I have several totes cut out. They were very well received at the market yesterday, but no takers.  That's fine!  I only have ten and need them for fall shows.   I brought home three varieties of tomatoes grown in Hamilton by Joyce Nevison of Hilltop Farm.  I made a huge bowl of salsa last night and we ate it with corn chips for dinner.  One more day of freedom - to work on the farm - before school starts.  Robin stopped by to visit me at the market yesterday.  We will be reunited in the classroom after two years apart.  I adore her.  She is the consummate professional, great with the students, an organizational wizard, tough in the line of fire, and a good friend to me.   Robin knows all my quirks and eccentricities and likes me anyway.  What more could I ask for?