Goldfish Pond

Mia and I were looking in the pond for a glimpse of "Goldie," my resident gold fish who has lived in the pond for several years now.  Goldie is about a foot long and has a lovely fan tail.  We usually see her early in the year when she has awakened from her muddy, wintery sleep.  Mia said look, there's a gold fish.  I asked her if it might be Goldie and she said no, this fish was smaller.  How smaller?  The way she described it I thought it might be one of the gold fish I was given by the Conservation dept. at my school.  They students had so many little goldfish stocked in their pond on the school grounds they decided to give some away.  I took the little ones home to my pond, hoping for the best, but fearing that Goldie would eat them.  Apparently, Goldie has satisfied herself with plant life, or other minnows, because the pond has a quite healthy gold fish population!  We spotted a school of gold fish swimming together!  It was quite a thrill to find I have my own personal "coy pond" which never needs feeding or other treatment.

Find the Froggie

When Mia and I were strolling around the farm this morning, we checked out some froggy friends.  My pond is teeming with new life, and old life waking up from the winter.  With the recent rains, the pond is high and healthy again.  I was concerned with the lack of snow melt to flush it out.  Not to worry, the springs are bubbling, the ponds are full and I look forward to floating around with my froggy friends very soon.

Manna from Heaven

My free range chickens are annoying to say the least, like when I am feeding the barn cats.  I turn around and the poor kitties have been roughed off the bowl of kibble by a hoard of wild hens and roosters.  I rush over and grab two or three to throw into the chicken room where they will hopefully leave their gifts in nest boxes.  The others see me doing this dastardly deed and take off for the high regions of the barn to hide.  I do tend to forgive them when I find little bundles of joy here and there, like these eggs left in the hay feeder.  I can count on finding enough eggs to feed us,  our dogs and cats, and occasionally a breakfast for my students (if they behave).  Mia made us omelettes for dinner last night, and scrambled eggs with LOTS of dill for Mother's Day breakfast.  I've never tasted anything so delicious.

Goat Girl

Mia offered to help me shear some goats who escaped last time Jim Baldwin came to shear.  We did one last night after the market and before dinner and the ritual burning of the old dog sofa.   The goats were way up on the tippy top where the grass is lush and delicious and where the flock can drink from the pond.  It was a good opportunity to sit by the water and chat about what is going on in our lives.  The pond is deep and full due to the recent rains.  Half grown frogs are swishing their tails around and little fish are darting about.  We love to hear the dogs slurp, slurp, slurp the spring water and listen to the crunching of all those sheep and goat jaws on the grass.  After all the work of setting up and taking down the market booth it was good to relax a bit.  We flushed the critters back down the hill and caught one aged black doe whose mohair I've been lusting after for some time now.  Mia sits on a chair while I do the clipping.  That goat is very happy to feel the breeze on her back after being relieved of the matted rug she was carrying around.  I will have to snip the curls away from the felt to salvage some for fiber art.   When it's ready to come off it should come off.  And that is all.

Market Babies

This gorgeous little market baby was modelling her parent's quilted and tie-dye creations yesterday.  The family is from Sherburne and tie-dyes all kinds of clothing and tote bags.  There are several vendors who sew totes at the Hamilton market, and I like to check them out against my own Bundaflicka knitting bags.  I have to say I haven't found any that have quite the labor and quality of materials that mine have, but they keep me on my toes, so to speak.  One local woman, a graduate student and young mother, called me up to say she wanted a bag "just like the one her mother has."  Well, the mother purchased her bag several years ago, and I have no idea which bag it was, but I invited her to stop by and see if I might have something she likes one of these days.  I was pleased to see her come in yesterday.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing, because I thought I was hearing a tape of myself, when she said how she "HATES the Vera Bradley bags, and gets sick whenever she sees one."  Vera Bradley totes are everywhere around here.  We had a lively conversation about how the VB bags are not sturdy, look more like cosmetic bags, and are surely proliferating human rights abuses as they are manufactured in China.  Well, the grad student admired a Bundaflicka tote, but said a smaller one would be better for her. Luckily I have just enough fabric left at home to sew one for her. 

New Artists

The Hamilton Farmer's Markets had a few surprises for patrons this spring, like this crafter who makes brackets and holders for various things that look like tree branches.  There are also two new potters, a couple of new quilt artists, a wood artisan and another barbecue cooker.   I'm sure there will be more as the season progresses.  This farmer's market is really an upscale venue with many fine crafts people.   It's tough to bring home one's meager earnings when there are so many ways to leave your money at the market.

First Market Day

We made it to the market fashionably late, but right on time.  It was hugs all around from old market friends and introductions to new neighbors.  The weather could not be more perfect, with sunny skies, moderate temps and gentle breezes.  Traffic was unusually slow, with people most likely at home in their gardens, and who could blame them, but I had some visitors who made the day worthwhile.  Mia's surprise appearance in my booth was the high point of my day.  She came up from New Jersey to spend Mother's Day weekend with me.  We walked through the market exploring new vendors, and chatting with this one and that.  Matt watched the booth while we sat under a tree and had lunch.  He draws the ladies like flies, so I never mind leaving the booth.  Chris, my Roller Derby Queen neighbor, had all her beautiful yarns displayed in the glorious sunshine.  I borrowed her ball winder to empty my bobbin as I was getting some spinning done with my new-this-spring Bluefaced Leicester.  The day went by in a flash and it was time to pack up.  We stopped at Tractor Supply for the weekly stock-up on critter supplies and headed home.  Mia made omelettes with aged Gouda, bell peppers and dill.  We ended the beautiful day with a ritual sofa burning on the hill.  I opened the bottle of Harvey's Bristol Creme Mia gave me last Christmas.  She and I toasted the survival of another winter in the wilds of Northern Appalachia in upstate New York, and the new market season.   When the coals burned down we ventured back inside and fell asleep on the sofas, dreaming happy spring time dreams.

Little Bo-Peeps

I had some very special visitors to my booth at Maryland Sheep and Wool.  I call them Little Bo Peeps.  I asked if I could snap their picture and they struck a cute pose for me.  I am still high on the festival.  All I had to do was sit at my spinning wheel and have "company" all weekend long.  I met people I had not spoken with in years and years.  All roads lead to Maryland on the first weekend in May.

"Poetry in Motion"

I was sure this picture would place in the Maryland Sheep and Wool Photo Contest.  Kim thought so, too.  I'm not complaining as three out of the five I entered won blue ribbons.  I will still frame this and remember fondly the day on the hillside that I was watching my lambs romp and play.  They are such beautiful creatures.  When they grow up to be big sheep you don't ordinarily see this behavior, especially after they have lambs of their own.  

Roadside Rhubarb

Year after year a sign goes up on King's Settlement Road on my way to work in Norwich.  I only got a glimpse of the farmer once as I was flying by, and it was a little old lady who moved rather slowly.  I admire her spirit in trying to hustle a buck for the farm, something I am familiar with.  I can't stand the thought of her making her way down the lane to the can to find it empty soooooooo....guess who has a boxcar load of rhubarb?  Yes, I'm planning on making strawberry rhubarb pies with my students tomorrow, then rhubarb preserves for myself.  Scandies are crazy about rhubarb.  Manna from heaven...

I Want to be a Hooker

I've been enthralled with rug hooking for many years.  I have a cutter for the wool and a lap thing for holding the canvas steady.  I have a collected bags of wool for a long time and even have a rooster drawing stamped on lovely high-end rug hooking linen somewhere in this barn.  There were rug hooking vendors all over Maryland Sheep and Wool last weekend.  I lusted after them, then retreated to my booth where I was safe from temptation.  Weaving will come first as previously discussed, then rug hooking someday.   You can't do it all but I like to try.

Packing Up

Packing up the little store and heading home is never easy, but the high of a successful weekend in the Land of Sheep and Wool makes it easier.  Kim is a real teamster and barks orders like a general, getting us loaded and on the road in about an hour.  I would play with things and say long goodbyes to booth neighbors while she's working her butt off, so it's good that she keeps me focused.  Now all my goodies are packed up tight and won't come out until the Hamilton Farmer's Market on Saturday.  Hopefully there will be a healthy Mother's Day crowd coming out to support the farm and craft people.  There won't be a leisurely Saturday morning for moi until next November.   That's okay - I like the market people, and I always meet some very cool folks there.  It's all about keeping The Farm going another year.

Downhill Slide

Still getting caught up after Maryland.  Thankfully we are on the downhill slide to the weekend, and the end of the year.  This sudden job switch at school really threw me for a loop and I still haven't quite got a grip on it.   I took a walk in the back field after work with the dogs and it was just so lovely.  It's cool and gray, with lots of water coming down off the ridge.  I stopped by a babbling brook that wasn't there a couple of weeks ago and listened to the music.  I have many beautiful "spots" on my land that are hidden and beautiful.  It's very good for me to get out there and breathe deeply.  I had a nice conversation with Mia today.  She's got quite a bit of hard study ahead of her, learning what she needs to help the surgeons.  I am looking forward to seeing her this weekend and am hoping she will hold two goats for me to shear.  They got away from us at last shearing and are dragging a bit of precious mohair around with them.  I scored a new pair of hoof clippers at Md. which will be a joy to use.  I also brought home some lovely Romney fleeces, just shorn from the sheep at Weymouth Walk, New Jersey, who were getting ready for show.   I know if I had more time to wander the sheep barns at the festival I could have picked up more.  I never seem to have enough white wool for dyeing.  I adore my black sheep, but the wild colors sell better.  I keep the black fleeces for myself to wallow in, savoring the earthy, musky goodness. I had a nice note from the doctor who asked me to make her another messenger tote with a fabric she could put on the floor in the hospital while she worked.  I found some burgundy Gunlocke fabric I got from Carol Crayonbox and decided it was perfect for the doctor.  I finished it in two nights before I left for Maryland and hoped she would like it.  Wouldn't you know she popped in the booth first thing on Saturday to see what I made for her.  She loved it!  It was a bit larger and had eight nice sized pockets.  She wrote that she was able to put five knitting projects in it along with a thermos and her wallet.  That's what I like...happy Bundaflickas.

Kim Made Me Do It

I was so busy with my school job and making stuff for Maryland that I almost didn't enter any pictures in the photo contest at Maryland Sheep and Wool.  Kim kept telling me to send her the pictures I liked and she would get them ready.  She specifically mentioned one in particular, and I sent it to her.  Kim brought the enlarged and mounted pictures to me when she arrived at the farm.  They were just beautiful and I was proud to enter all five of them.  We brought them to the contest people and paid the entry fee.  Saturday morning Kim said she wanted to check the photo exhibition and came back with a big smile on her face.  I hurried over to the building where the photos were housed and was quickly overwhelmed to find I won not only three blue ribbons in three different categories, but Best in Show as well.  My shepherd friend from New Jersey, Joanie Schneiber, happened to be there and shared the joy with me.  Joanie took a pic and posted it on Facebook with her smart phone.  I had to wait a few days to share my good news with my friends.  A special thank you goes to my online friend, Dan, from New Jersey, who sent me the Canon point-and-shoot camera I took all these pictures with.  Thanks again, Dan, and thank you, Kimmie Cornerstone, for helping/making me pick out these prize winning pictures.

Beautiful Ladies

I find sheep faces so incredibly beautiful.  I saw so many lovely Border Leicesters, like the ram I purchased two years ago from the 4-H family in Maryland.  I still adore my Bluefaced Leicesters, but am hoping to put more wool on the back of my lambs.  I can truthfully say I never met a sheep I didn't like.  I have a love affair going with sheep and am an unapologetic wool snob.  Angora goats and their mohair come in a close second.

Weaving New Friendships

I spent some time chatting with Margaret of Greentree Weavers from Ohio.  One can't help but be attracted to the boxcar-like trailer full of incredibly beautiful woven cloaks and jackets.  Margaret is a real grass roots kind of weaver.  She raises the sheep, processes the wool with her own mill, spins the yarn, and weaves the cloaks on a loom of her own design.  I came away thoroughly impressed and eager to set up my Glimakra loom and start weaving.  I dream of a weaving studio here on the farm.  The Glimakra, a Swedish floor loom, I purchased prior to moving to the farm, is in pieces in the tractor shed.  I want to weave rugs with my mohair and coarser wool.  It's only a matter of time - and building a room somewhere in this massive barn - before I get the clickety-clack of the shuttles going and turn out those rugs.

Jenny the Potter

Jenny the Potter is my booth-neighbor in the Farm and Garden Building at Sheep and Wool in Maryland.  Jenny travels all the way from Minneapolis, Minnesota to participate in the festival.  Jenny brought her new baby, Benjamin, along with her daughter Lilly, brother, brother's girlfriend, Mom and Auntie.  Some family members flew to Maryland, and some pulled the trailer full of cups, buttons and bowls.  Jenny has quite a following and a line of fans formed Saturday morning to get first licks at her goods.  My building has a few long-distance vendors coming as far away as Montana, Vermont and Wisconsin.  Luckily, Kim and I only had to drive from upstate New York (after Kim traveled south from Ontario).  We hit heavy weather in the form of torrential rain and lightning on the way down - so much so we had to pull off and get a room in Hagerstown.  It was so comfy cozy in the Econolodge we were glad we did.  Friday and Saturday nights were spent in the back of our van, on an air mattress Kim prepared for us.  Despite all the hard work setting up, working the booth, and packing up, I got pretty decent rest at night.  Spinning yarn under the full moon was absolutely divine.

Little Sheep People

Sheep people come in all shapes and sizes.  I loved wandering through the sheep barns and watching the farm families work on their animals.  This little girl was very excited about the process of grooming her great big ram for the show ring, and helped her sister get him ready.

Heads Up

My friend, Jim Shelley, expert knitter and teacher at a Philadelphia yarn shop, couldn't make it to Maryland this year.  I met Jim 15 or so years ago when I used to go to Maryland Sheep and Wool by myself and wander through as a patron not a participant.  I sat down on the grass to eat my lunch and struck up a conversation with Jim who was sitting nearby.  Jim had traveled to Maryland on a bus from Greenwich Village, NYC, and was a fledgling knitter at the time.  Now he creates gorgeous sweaters and hats, and doesn't have the "startitis" problem so many of us suffer from.  Jim finishes his knitting projects!  I hope to see Jim at Rhinebeck in the fall.  In the meantime, Jim sent some knitting students of his to my booth to say hello.  I'm very impressed with their creative and colorful hats, knitted under Jim's tutelage.  Way to go, Jim!

Sheep Friends

I love the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival largely because it is so exclusively about sheep.  Sure, there were a token alpaca or two there, but sheep were everywhere you turned.  Kim and I enjoyed walking around the sheep barns in the evening, watching the shepherds get their animals fed and bedded down.  Early in the morning the sheep people were up, carrying buckets and getting their animals groomed for show.  I don't bring sheep to Maryland, as I have a truck full of wool and crafts and can't do both.  I do bring pictures of my sheep, which are very well received.