Bag Factory

Awful weather, but I don't mind it. So much to do inside it's okay with me. Cold, drizzly sleet falling off and on all day. I missed my once weekly visit to the PO but continued on to the feed mill in Waterville and got my goat, chicken and sheep feed. I brought Mary her weekly sack of layer mash which I trade for her fabulous eggs. Just can't have enough eggs. I'll be getting some more chicks soon but they won't lay until late fall. We chatted for a while and admired the sheep now out on pasture. She let me taste the tender young arugula leaves coming up in her little greenhouse - so tasty!! Mary and I will attempt to get over to Hamilton for lunch at the Whole Foods Restaurant one day next week. Back home to find Matt had designed a way for me to feed the goats in the hay mow without being carried away by a stampede. Very much appreciated. I'm trying to improve my mohair with a feed called "fitting." Goats have different nutritional needs than sheep, including copper, which is deadly to sheep but essential to goats. My goats haven't had enough of it, which is one reason I seperated them. I would like to use more of my mohair, but it's rather coarse - even on the white goats. There are always challenges with multi-species feeding. Back to sewing, after morning errands and puttering around with critters and wool. The Bag Factory is fully operational. I'm pulling out fabrics and matching them with linings, striving to use only what I have in the barn, and it's quite a bit. I have another fleece in the washer, getting ready to go in the dye pot. I'm working on an orangey-reddish-yellow run, with wisps of blue. John from Frankenmuth promised to have my 100 pounds or so of wool to Maryland Sheep and Wool for me, carded into one pound balls, ready to put out for sale. He's a real blessing, taking my many colors and fibers, and collating them into something wonderful for me, in such short time.