It's That Time Again

Fall shows are looming and I haven't even sorted all the wool from last season.  Time to get a move on it.  I don't usually go looking for wool as I have plenty of luscious fiber of my own...but once in a great while I give in.  I;m very fussy about where my wool comes from.  Kim and I were walking around the grounds of Maryland Sheep and Wool last May when we came upon a woman shearing her Romneys.  She was putting the giant fleeces out for sale as they came off the sheep.  Kim and I looked at each other and instantly understood that nobody else was going to get their mitts on those fleeces.  We were willing to fight for them if necessary.  Luckily, the grounds were deserted except for people taking care of their sheep and campers way down the lane.  The shepherd turned out to be from Mays Landing, New Jersey, and was happy for us to take them all.  I don't want to tell you what I paid because it was crazy cheap, causing me to wonder why I am raising my own sheep to begin with.  "Rita" even brought me another fleece or two at my booth the next day.  I am now getting around to sorting the Weymouth Walk Romney fleeces, and they are gorgeous.  I can hardly lift two fleeces at one time.  My Bluefaced Leicester fleeces are very light and hard to pick as they are so baby soft they attract every weed, seed and burdock within miles.  Romney fleece is what we call "open," with big waves of crimp that let the chaff fall out.  I picked them right out of the bag while stuffing the washer tub.  I have two giant dye pots and one fleece took both pots.  I have four more fleeces to wash and dye from Weymouth Walk.  I intend to blend them with my adult mohair, which is on the coarse side, like Romney wool.  The mohair and wool will blend nicely making the combination more palatable to weavers and sock knitters. 

Musings

Will do some tidying up, which I don't like to do, before I do the things I like to do.  It's my self-imposed rewards system.  Tinkerbell is sitting on my shoulder and purring in my ear, telling me, that's okay, the work will get done, spend some more time with me.  The Today Show, which I can't watch during the school year, is on TV.  Nicki Manaj is performing on the square outside the studio.  I was proctoring a test for one student at my school a couple of years ago.  He was fidgeting and staring out the window.  I asked him if he was okay, and he told me he couldn't take the test unless Nicki M. music was playing.  I had never heard of her.  I thought about it and said let me see what I can do.  I found her recordings on the internet and started the tunes playing.  He got to work, mouthing the words to the songs silently, and knocked out the test in no time.  That's what I like about being a special ed teacher in an alternative school.  Sometimes the kids need a little extra something...I'm sewing some gorgeous bags.  Somehow it seems right to create these functional yet lovely totes to carry the weight of the world.  Whenever I see someone carrying a tiny little flimsy bag I think their life must be wonderfully uncomplicated.  Mine is anything but.  That is my choice, or is it an inability to draw back and analyze what works and what doesn't,  what I can manage without stress vs. a constant crusher.  I think I am finally able to see things with more lucidity.  Having too much to do takes me away from certain realities I don't want to deal with.  I'm so lucky - I still wake up in the morning without having to take a single pill, letting the blessings of good coffee give me everything I need.  I have beautiful animals for company.  I'm going to do some chores - the barn floor looks terrible.  Lukie, God bless him, scraped up a whole bunch of dried manure but didn't have time to haul it out to the pile before I took him to Maine. I'll finish the task for him, with tears falling on the shovels full of poop.  What a fierce little worker he is!  I'll come back inside, put on a movie and sew my beautiful bags.  It works for me.

Family News

Reports from Maine are good.  Luke is attending Webelo camp at Camp Hinds where I visited when I took the kidlets home.  He'll be making lots of new friends and figuring out how to run the place someday I expect.  Luke has a very shrewd, analytical mind and has given me many pointers here on the farm.  For example - Omi, why in the world did you want so many dogs?????  Hannah is helping Annie unpack the many boxes delivered from the Dallas Palace.  She likes her periwinkle blue room with the Ikea loft bed.  Little Fergus is settling in nicely and has figured out how to climb the ladder to the upper bunk.  Eric continues to get the Pine Tree Council on track with his vision for it.  There are many meetings and dinners to attend.  The job of a Scout Executive is a way of life.  I'm hoping to get back to Maine with all the little things left behind, along with Luke's motorbike and bicycle.  Mia reports that her nurse practitioner job is coming along nicely.  She and one of her surgeons saw 35 patients in the office on Friday.  Her hours are long, making hospital rounds early in the morning, then seeing patients in the office in the afternoon.   She's learning all kinds of neat medical stuff.  Father Aaron is visiting in New Jersey now and will come up to the farm on Thursday to see me, continuing on to Maine on Saturday.  He's having fun with old friends and burning off some of that Army Chaplain stress.  He sounds so happy to be home.

Lean On Me

I love being home with my little friends over the summer.  Once September comes I'm always bombing out the door, leaving the critters to while away the day until feeding time in the evening. Everyone has their job - growing wool, guarding the critters, keeping the rats away, laying eggs, etc.  Some kitties are so adorable they become house kitties.  Portia is letting Tinkerbell use her as a pillow.  Portia thinks she belongs in the house and knows how to pop out the bathroom screen to get inside.  Tinkerbell is so cute she can stay in the house all she wants.  I wouldn't mind if she caught the mouse who likes to run across the stove while I'm cooking.  Yes, this mouse seems to wait until I get dinner going to come out.  I'm a big strong farm girl but the sight of a long tailed grey furry thing streaking across my stove always gives me a start - and sometimes a shriek. 

Sewing

What a gift sewing is.  Nothing occupies me when I'm "home alone" as happily as sewing does.  My old Singer is my favorite power tool.  My fiber artist/attorney friend, Carolyn D'Agostino, from Albany collects vintage sewing machines and decided to offer this one to me in exchange for wool.   It's similar in age and style to the last one I was using, only bigger and stronger.  When sewing my Bundaflicka totes with heavy tapestry and chenille fabric, bigger and stronger is a good thing.  My first show is in less than one month - Colorscape Chenango - and I'm working on hard on creating product.  Today I'm putting together snap frame totes with some lovely purply/flowery embroidered chenille chosen for me by my personal fabric consultant - Carol Crayonbox of Freeville, near Ithaca.  Love it!  I'm very late with sorting and dyeing fiber, but it will happen.  When, I don't know.  I go in fits and starts, ebbs and flows.  That's just the way things are.

Bean, Inc.

Eric took us to the LL Bean flagship store in Freeport.  This massive complex is open 24/7 year round.  I bought from Bean for many years.  Everybody got matching Beaners to wear on Christmas morning and I wore their boots until they wore out.  I got away from Bean products in recent years.  The quality is not the same and a lot of it is made in China.  What isn't?  Still it was wonderful touring the store with Eric and family.  I have some ideas for holiday gifts now.

Camp Hinds

Eric and Annie lived at Camp Hinds while waiting for their house to be ready.  Camp Hinds is outside of Portland where the BSA Pine Tree Council headquarters is located.  When I brought Hannah and Luke home to them last weekend Eric drove us out to the camp.  Vans of Boy Scouts were arriving for their stay at the camp.  We walked the grounds and met some counselors, the cooking staff and the waterfront staff.  Everyone was very friendly and happy to meet the mother of the new Scout Executive.  I was very impressed with the wild natural beauty of the location.  The dining hall is covered with creative and artsy signs made by previous Scout troops staying at the camp.  I love signs anyway and had a lot of fun seeing what the various patrols came up with.  Annie showed me where to pick wild huckleberries.  Luke will be attending Cub Scout camp there next week.  Lucky boy.

From Pond to Pond

The pond on the farm figured largely in our summer program here on the farm.  Luke now has his own pond adjacent to his yard in Gorham.  This lovely setting is actually a communal pond shared by the people who live in the development.  It's left wild and has bull frogs who make the same music we hear on the farm.   A fire pit and benches are provided for residents.   What a lovely haven for bird watching and contemplation.

Top Gun

After many years of moving all over the country in service to the Boy Scouts of America, including a recent stint at National in Texas, Eric has landed his own council.  The Pine Tree Council is located in Portland, next to the airport, and Eric took me to see his headquarters.  Eric has a large staff that oversees dozens of troops along with Camp Hinds, a beautiful rural facility on a lake, which we also visited.  He is in charge of developing a vision for the council and making it happen.  When I asked how it was going he said "They love me."  What's not to like? 

Stone's Throw

Eric and Annie's new home has a lovely variety of landscaping with pretty and interesting stones incorporated every where you look, appropriate for the Granite State.  The driveway is lined with a stone wall and even the drainpipe over the culvert is covered with decorative flat stones.  The front walk is absolutely beautiful.  Low growing evergreen shrubs form terraces at various levels of the sloping grounds.  I couldn't help but imagine Christmas wreaths made from the clippings.  Beds of flowers are interspersed throughout the lot and a small field of wild flowers lines the road. 

Maine Doggies

Booker, Eric and Annie's Kentucky blueblood English Pointer, is feeling rather indignant at being tied to a well pump on the grounds of their new home in Gorham, Maine.  Annie is training this world class runner on the invisible fence - not an easy thing to do.  Booker joined the family while they were living in Louisville, Kentucky, where Hannah and Luke were born.  Eric was working for the BSA council there and Annie was teaching English and Rhetoric at the Univ. of Louisville.  Booker was joined by Perdita, a Chihuahua mix who was lost of the streets of Louisville.   Dizzy, another little-white-fluffy-lapdog mix, also homeless, was added during Eric's stint at National Boy Scouts in Dallas.  The doggies fared quite well over the last month when Eric and Annie were living in sparse quarters at the local Boy Scout camp while waiting to close on the house. 

Room to Roam

There was much unpacking and organizing to do on the first day in the Gorham house but Annie makes it look so easy.  Hannah and I couldn't resist setting up her Louet spinning wheel in the great room.   This spacious area is very cozy with a wood stove, plush carpeting, fantastic lighting and could easily accomodate a few spinners.  There is another room upstairs from this one that Luke refers to as his "Man Cave."   After a month on the farm with no video games, Luke was enjoying getting reacquainted with his game buddies.

First Breakfast

I felt so lucky to be with the family when they sat down for their very first breakfast in the new Maine home.  Annie is a world-class cook and her blueberry pancakes were fantastic.  Maine is the leading producer of wild blueberries in the nation.  I suspect we will be enjoying more delicious pancakes with these scrumptious little berries in the future.

Halycon Yarn in Bath

Annie took Hannah and I to the famous Halcyon Yarn store in Bath, the historic ship building town.  Halcyon (named for the owner, Halcyon Blake) is fantastic, with yarn for knitting, weaving, hooking, etc., and fiber for spinning.  I had a great time looking through patterns and paging through big glossy knitting books.   I was proud of Hannah who asked for some rainbow roving to spin instead of commercial yarn.  YES!!

Home to Maine

Hannah and Luke are safely delivered back to their loving parents.  We packed up and set out for Gorham, Maine, on Saturday morning.  Annie and Eric spent the day unloading the giant trailer holding all their worldly goods into the new home on Settlers Way in the Fort Hill section of Gorham, near Portland.  I wish I could have kept the kids longer but they missed mom and dad and with the house secured it was time to return them.  I'm very lucky to have had them as long as I did.  There were, miraculously, no injuries, no trips to the ER, not even a fever.  Hannah and Luke are the easiest kids in the world to keep and I enjoyed them so much.  The trip took us around seven hours, with rest stops, etc.  The weather was great and it was all systems go.  Annie was waiting on the front porch for us and it was hugs and kisses all around as the kids ran into her arms.

Bovine Beauties

We are surrounded by dairy farms but rarely get a chance to see them up close.  The Otsego County Fair had plenty of cows for Hannah and Luke to admire.  What magnificent animals they are.  I can't imagine catching one if I had to...

I Did It!

We returned home from the Otsego County Fair just in time for chores.  We were hot and tired but the animals had to be taken care of.   Luke has wanted to climb the big pine tree all month, and, with the end of his visit looming, he decided it was time.  The branches are rather high so he stood on my shoulders to get high enough to grab on.  Climbing up is one thing but climbing down is quite another.  Luckily Omi found a step ladder in the barn.

Skein Competition

I made a point of stopping by to check out my friend, Mother Katherine's, skeins at the Otsego County Fair competition.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that she entered a lovely woven piece as well.  The fiber art exhibit featured some beautiful quilts, too.

Piggies!

I thoroughly enjoyed spending some time with this mother and her piglets.  She was very calm and patient with her little ones despite fair patrons sticking their fingers in the pen and playing with the piglet tails.  This sow is a mixture of Landrace, Duroc and Yorkshire.  It seriously stirred my blood and made me want pigs again.  I think they are the most amazing animals and a great way to raise a LOT of food very easily and quickly.

Otsego County Fair

I've wanted to check out this fair for several years and finally got there with Hannah and Luke.  They had a fabulous time, shooting at the carnival venue and riding the rides.  I wanted to spend more time in the animal barns and the kids were fine with it.   We could buy a cup of pellets for a dollar to feed the sheep and llama.  Hannah wanted to know why our sheep were not as friendly.  I explained to her that the pellets help the sheep become very friendly.  

Roadside Flowers

The flowers that line the roads around Brookfield are stunning this year.  I was worried because our very hard working, dedicated road department came by, scraping the shoulders and widening the culverts, which usually takes the flowers away.  They did their work but something beautiful happened - thick lines of lovely white Queen Anne's Lace grew along the roads, with blue chickory flowers and pink Globe Amaranth.  I went into the village to pick up my mail and had to stop along the way and admire the flowers (before the road department comes back.)

Going Home

Annie called with the news that they closed on the house in Gorham, Maine, today and all systems are go.  I'm taking Hannah and Luke to their new home on Saturday.  The kids are excited and a little nervous.  They are so sweet and already expressed remorse at leaving me here on the farm.  They helped me bring doggies to the free rabies clinic at the town barn in Brookfield - what fun that was.  Wish I could have brought the White Boys but with Matt out of town there is no way the kids and I could have wrestled those monsters into the little Saturn, even one at a time.  Izzy was a little sissy and screamed like a baby with his shot.  This others were troopers.  After chores Luke and I went up on the pond with the dogs, me on foot, him on his motor bike, and chatted for a while.  We diverted to the Hidden Pond by the apple orchard on the way back.  Luke picked mint to make tea.  Somehow we missed the rising of the full moon before we came in.  I had forgotten about it with other things on my mind.  Went out to bring warm oatmeal to the kitties on the stoop just now and there it was - so beautiful.  If the Olympics were not on we would surely be outside with a little camp fire going.  Low on everything in the kitchen so I made a big bowl of buttery mashed potatoes for Hannah.  Luke requested marmalade on toast - his new favorite breakfast.   Now it's ten o'clock and time to spin a bit I think.  Tomorrow we'll take a ride over to the Otsego County Fair to check it out.  Luke is going to help me shear Minnie Driver tomorrow night - my favorite little black doe.   She was so runty last year I worried about her growing at all, but now she's a mini goat with the nicest, softest black mohair. 

Kitty Company

We are fast approaching the time when Hannah and Luke will go home to their new life in Maine.  Eric and Annie have been living in the tiny staff headquarters at Camp Hinds BSA facility while waiting for the closing to go through on their beautiful Cape Cod style home in Gorham, Maine.  I always go through a "kiddie withdrawal" when Hannah and Luke go home.  They are the easiest, most undemanding kids in the world and I love to have them on the farm in the summer when I'm home from school.   Hannah and Luke never complain about being bored or whine about going home.  Their parents are always taking them on exciting adventures with the Boy Scouts or in Eric's plane.  They are happy with whatever food I give them, a miracle since Annie is a world class cook and I know they have fabulous meals on a daily basis, when they are not frequenting their favorite restaurants.   I will have plenty to keep me busy, with fall shows fast approaching but I still miss them.  I'll have many sentient beings to keep me company, including kitties who love to sleep on my sewing machine table.

A Boy and His Dogs

Luke loves dogs and he doesn't lack for company here.  I love watching him sleep with Izzy and play with the other dogs.  Luke has three dogs at home he will be very happy to be reunited with once I take them home to Portland, Maine.   The free rabies clinic is being held at the Brookfield Town Barn today and we will be there.  So glad I have some extra hands to help me with the doggies.  A couple are already vaccinated by the vet but the others are due.  This should be interesting...

Swimming With the White Boys

Thor and Knut love to go swimming with us.  They don't really swim, but they wade in and hang out with us.  Smart boys, they know how to cool off while being cool.  Finn, sadly, would rather take off to run wild on the piney ridge to scare up coyotes taking a break under a tree somewhere.  Thor and Knut stick close to me.  They are good friends, and getting on in years.   We got them the spring I moved up here to the farm.  I knew I was moving to coyote central and wanted three dogs - just in case.  It's not fair to expect one dog to fend off a pack of coyotes.  I've never had a coyote attack, that I know of, in the six years I've been here.  I have puppies coming up, but they won't ever replace the White Boys.

No Moon Tonight

In from chores ten of eight.  So much help from Hannah and Luke.  Woe is me when they leave, but I'm lucky to have had them for so long.  Back to climbing ladders with buckets and throwing down bales.  I only have so many square bales left and will have to figure out how to move the round bales.  If I manage to get a second cut they will be in square bales, but I saw the flock up there eating the lovely tender shoots today.  Was hoping to see the lovely full moon tonight but a bank of clouds has rolled in to obscure it and I hear some thunder.  Glad we stood outside to stare at it a while last night.  Would like to camp up at the pond under the full moon but I confess I love to watch the Olympics so much I'll stay in.  Hannah and Luke are not crazy about the O. and I don't really understand why, but they tune back to cartoons or kiddie shows first chance they get.  I give them a little time then switch it back. The Olympics doesn't come every year and I think it's a good lesson in unity and sportsmanship.  Love the personal vignettes. My kids were swimmers and I especially enjoy watching the racers.   Luke took off on his bike for a little while tonight for the first time.  I've been hoping he would take advantage of all this land to roam on but he's been a bit timid.  The sheep don't mind a bit when that mosquito is turned off and parked.  Speaking of sheep, they are growing some nice wool from what I can tell.  Time to schedule a shearing before school starts this year.  Also time to start up the dye pots and get wool going for fall shows.  It's hot work and the flies fall in the pots but it has to be done.  The beautiful colorful runs of blended fibers don't happen by themselves.

Helpers

They can look as droopy, drowsy and bored but when I say time for chores they snap to it.  Boots go on and we go to work.  Hannah fills all the water buckets, hanging for the sheep and pans for the dogs and chickens.  She carries water to the White Boys and cats on the porch and milk room steps, filling all the carriers back up before she goes inside.  Luke collects all the eggs in the chicken room and goes on an "eggspedition" to find the free range chicken eggs around the barn.  I mix the kitty stew, with dry kibble, water, eggs and a fishy cat food can all mixed together.  The barn chickens and cats jump up on the plywood table to lick the delicious concoction I'm mixing with my hands.  They drink it so fast I have to add more water.  I'm not putting out much hay now, but with Zack separated and in the back pen with John-John, Monkey's buck from two years ago, we have to get a bale out to them every day.  Luke and Zack are great friends.  Cracked corn helps.

Hannah's Spinning

Hannah is spinning so beautifully I can't believe it. She knows how to draft for different fibers and is spinning sweater yarn already.  I don't want to make too much of it, knowing that might kill the enthusiasm.  I'm gently nudging her to spin more yarn for the scarf she's started knitting.  It's tough for her to put down the Ipod, like most 14 year old kids.  She was spinning happily at the Hamilton farmer's market when the clouds rolled in and opened up.  We had to cover everything quickly and start loading up.  My pop-up only holds off the water for so long.  Hannah quickly improvised a rain cover with my booth tablecloths.  Worked great but not for running back and forth with boxes and spinning wheels.  I hate to complain about the rain as we are just starting to get some of the desperately needed moisture needed for a second cut of hay...but not on market morning.

Barn Repairs

Okay so I bought a magnificent old barn that needs a bit of work.  A bit of work is an understatement.  I still gaze in awe when I come over the hill from Brookfield and see my barn nestled in the valley.  Oh, what an amazing machine it must have been with 100 cows being milked twice a day and surrounded by 350 acres.  I'm lucky to own the barn and the few acres that were left by the time I got it.  The barn is the heart of the farm and it's mine.  Keeping it standing is a challenge.  I often say I wish I got it when I was 25 not 55 but here we are.  Boards are popping out and we won't even talk about the windows or the electric.  The enormity of it is daunting.  The three story hay mow upstairs is wonderful, and I imagine how it must have looked with hay stacked to the ceiling.  I always wanted a great, big house having grown up in a tiny 1950's ranch house with three brothers.  I have a giant barn instead.   My barn is an aging beauty, but she's still very classy and the prettiest barn around these parts.  Sometimes I just look away from the flaws, preferring to take in the whole package, kind of like with people.  Not a good idea to look too close. 

Eat It Don't Wear It

I put some goaties on the south side of the barn in an effort to defeat the burdock, nettles and other invasive weeds that run wild on my farm.  I should have done this several weeks ago as the young burrs are serving as ornaments for the goats. They don't seem to mind and munch away on the greens.  I read in the NY Times that young burdock branches are popular in Japanese salads.  Haven't tried it myself.  The burrs are miserable in fiber and must be dealt with before going through a carding machine.  The weather is absolutely lovely today.  Hannah and Luke are so good, and so easy, but I know they are looking forward to being reunited with their parents, as they should be.  I don't hear much from Eric and Annie but the kids are constantly in touch via Ipods, Facetime, etc. and they tell me what's going on.  From what I can tell Eric is running a Cub Scout day camp in his new position at the Pine Tree Council in Portland.  I expect I will be driving the kids to Maine in a week or so.  I'm looking forward to seeing the family's new home in Gorham, and checking out the Portland scene.  I simply must get some salt water in my veins and will somehow get into or onto the ocean while I'm there.

Omi's Swedish Pancakes

I grew up eating Swedish pancakes.  My grandfather, born Knut Birger Alexanderson, called Birger (pronounced BEER-yer) Alexander once he came to America, made them for us.    When Luke was on the way to the farm this summer he called me and asked if I would make him some Swedish pancakes upon his arrival. Now we are making them together.  Luke is learning to cook in the Cub Scouts.  Now he can add these scrumptious, buttery pancakes to his repertoire.  Here is the recipe, tweaked over the years since my Opa made them for me.

Omi's Swedish Pancakes

One dozen farm eggs
One stick real butter
One can evaporated milk
Two heaping tablespoons organic flour
One tablespoon cinnamon
One heaping teaspoon nutmeg
One level teaspoon salt
Pinch of black pepper
Genuine New York State Maple Syrup, if available

Melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan.  Combine all the rest of the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend for a minute.  Pour the melted butter from the pan into the mixture, blend another half-minute.

Melt another tablespoon of butter in the frying pan.  Add pancake batter, maybe two cups at a time.

Flip when the edges start to curl, cook for another half a minute, then roll the pancake up in the pan before lifting out and serving with real maple syrup.

Enjoy!
 

Hay Bale Challenge

Could you ask for a more exciting and unique playground?  Little did I know earlier this month that I would be able to provide my grandchildren with such fun in my own barn.  Luke couldn't wait to get Auntie Mia up on those bales.  Mia is very "physical" and Luke knew he would have a good partner to party with.  This morning I found them racing over the bales.  We had a bit of an upset when Luke went head first down in between two bales requiring Mia to haul him up by his feet.  Nobody was hurt and Luke forgot about it when he found a large clutch of eggs on top of another bale.  Hannah appeared and Auntie Mia organized a workout session.  I was assigned 20 leg-ups and 100 sit-ups.  We all did yoga together.  What total and complete fun.