3 Ring Circus

In the first ring, 5 fiber campers.  In the second ring, Tiny House Camp, and then came friends from New England.

Yesterday, being Martin Luther King's birthday, Cabin Spring Farm hosted a "No School Fiber Camp".  The kids had all been here before so it was a very relaxing day.

 

 

LOTS of imagination and kindness, I LOVE these kids.


Lyndy and friends had the day off as well, so they came to work on the tiny house.  It was in the teens most of the day with wind, so they worked in the shop, planing and routing siding. (Sorry no pictures)

Lyndy gave the kids a tour of the tiny house at lunch time.  They really couldn't understand the concept at their age, accept for one (age 13) with an eye for a little separation from siblings.

When all campers had returned home, we had 3 hours before a friend and his nephew were due to arrive.  I gathered up all of the above tools and materials (with help from Beverly) and John vacuumed.
By the time the third ring arrived all evidence of the day's activities was gone.

Our friend brought us FRESH haddock from the Cape and his nephew( previously a chef) proceeded to cook us a fine fish dinner, complete with homemade chips (french fries).  He had just driven 12 hours but cooked and served us in stride.

Some fine conversation, a cup of tea, and a last check on the animals on a cold night--a perfect end to a lovely day.

Our Perfectly Designed Home

A great part of the last two days, I have spent resting in my green chair in our living room trying to recover from a winter cold.  The cold gave me the opportunity to finish the book I was reading but, even better, I can watch the sheep graze from this chair.  This picture was taken in the early morning.

I love the way it worked out that we can see parts of the barnyard and pastures first thing in the morning from our bedroom,   (a little hard to see the sheep in this picture)






from the kitchen sink,

the sunroom/TV/office space, my seat at our dinner table,

and most importantly, now,  from my green chair.  (back to the first picture)


They say from studies, that if you have a view of trees from your hospital bed you will recover more quickly.  So imagine how quickly I can beat this cold with a view of my wonderful animal family from my comfy chair.

I remember, before I had the sheep, I used to look up at the pastures and imagine the sheep grazing up there.  I could really visualize them and they looked, then, just as they do, now, from my green chair.  I didn't visualize the geese, they are a bonus (when they are behaving).

The First New Moon of 2016

Today is a new moon day, the cycle begins again.  Having sheep makes me more aware of what the moon is doing.

On the new and full moon the sheep get Garlic Barrier (circle T trade mark).  It seems to be quite good at keeping the parasite levels down.  I give it to them at the new and full moons because that is suppose to be when the parasites lay their eggs.    

I was spinning with 13 others today, to celebrate Distaff Day. To remind some, Distaff Day, historically was the day the women went back to their spinning after the 12 days of Christmas.  There were two other Distaff celebrations in our part of the state, one an hour and a half south and one an hour west.  There was probably one in Charlottesville, an hour and a half east and maybe, the group that first introduced me to Distaff Day, in Harrisonburg, an hour north.  An interesting note (at least for me).

  In our group the youngest was 3 and the oldest seventy something.  The 3 year old was drop spindle spinning as a partner with her mom and sometimes with her 7 year old brother, who is one of my students.  H, my student, is amazing.  He hadn't spun since July and he just took off with the drop spindle after I got him set up.  He figured things out on his own, required little assistance, and showed me how he had figured out how to let the weight of the spindle work for him to draw the yarn through his fingers, an advanced concept.

Later,  He told me he wanted to spin on a spinning wheel.  We always start by just treadling for awhile to get that part set before we bring in the hand motion.  I love it when a student listens to why we have to learn to treadle slowly and when we might want to go faster.  He was really looking over the wheel and asking me what things are and what they do.  It is always fun to witness the young boys noticing the mechanics of the wheel.  H also observed that 4 of the wheels in the room, had double treadles and reasoned that they would be easier.

I hope H will continue coming to fiber camp and be the next boy to master spinning.  Maybe he is at the new moon of learning but I bet it won't be many moons until he is really good.

Winter 2016 Has Arrived

Finally, winter has arrived.  Our high today was 33 degrees and last night it got down to 13 or 17 degrees depending on which side of the house you took the reading.  It feels good to be in winter again.

  This has been a season of unusual blossoming.  There is a yellow jasmine blooming all over town that has been brighter than I have ever seen it at its normal time, which is in March, I think.  There are roses and cherry trees blossoming and dandelions are still going.  There are big stands of spring bamboo.  And look at the new grass in the barnyard.

This was the morning sky one morning, not long ago.

 Another thing, I forgot to mention in the previous blog, is that I decided I want to paint more.  This would be a good picture to paint.

This one is taken through our bedroom screen.  

The only problem with cold temperatures is the animals' water in buckets freezes.  I got a new heater for the sheep trough but it doesn't seem to be working.  Fortunately, we have two blue plug- in buckets (one in the goose/chicken run, and tonight, one in the barn).  The goose tub and the puddle pond are both, iced over.  

When it was muddy, it was hard to getting from point A to B without tacking or traversing.  Good thing I spent the time I did, sailing and skiing, in earlier years.  Who knew the experience would come in handy getting around barnyards and pastures.  But now the mud has turned to frozen, uneven cement like rubble, Yuck.  Tomorrow, we shall take an excursion to the cabin yard and I will hang out in my greenhouse van and perhaps paint a few sheep or continue my knitting.  

Plenty to do in all seasons and temperatures.

While I Was Away from the Written Words

Where have I been?  mmmmmmmmm, not sure.  It seems like the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was a big blur.  I went to my pictures to see.

I hung out with the animals and made walkways with straw when the mud got really bad.

I made an angel for a Christmas tree.

 I went to Ohio and came home.  I also went to NC for a few days.  I have been knitting a baby sweater and knitting a second mitten.

I have been dealing with a great deal of MUD (2 straw bales worth).  Which reminds me I owe Cathy for a bale of straw.   We were away for Christmas and my birthday and it rained just about everyday.  You know you have good friends and farm sitters when they will contend with all of that MUD and still talk to you.  THANKS ALL.

The Woods in "What Season is This?"

Mid December and it seems like September or maybe April.  It is really getting spooky.  It was much cooler in October and November.  There has not been ice on the puddle pond or tub in over a week.  I am getting spoiled.  My neighbors keep saying it is going to be hard to take winter when it comes.  I think they may be right.  We still believe winter is going to come.

Lyndy and I found a tree on the property for a Christmas tree and decorated it last night.  It feels funny to be putting up a tree in the house when it is in the 60s outside.  When I went down earlier in the day to scope out possibilities, I took a long walk in the woods of Cabin Spring Farm.  I walked the deer paths and found that there are some tiny pines coming along in a woods of predominately cedars but then I looked off into an area I haven't walked in awhile.  There were 2 VERY large pines, one must be a great great great grandmother.  I just looked up in awe for several minutes.

Since the weather is so accommodating, I did more outside projects.  I cleared the beginning of the main path into the woods, for one thing.  It is behind the fiber studio where the nature spirits told me it should go (a few years ago).  At the time I was told where the path should go, I started clearing and found it was a major dump site (barbed wire, cans, glass, you name it).  I cleaned it up and put a couple of logs on either side of the path.  When we did the addition to the fiber shed, a couple of years ago, the path ended up in a great place except for the initial incline.  Since then things have been coming together beautifully to create a special new place.  I love how the universe works.

I love when the leaves fall from the trees and one can see deeply into the woods driving the back roads.  Will this be the year I paint silhouettes of trees in the woods?  I hope so.  How can I not, when the weather is so delightful (that is if your not ready for winter yet).  Winter will officially be here in 5 days and 2 hours.

TREACHEROUS

This is the time of the year I am not sure if I like it to be warmer or cooler.  It rained more than 2" at the beginning of the week.  It can rain frequently this time of year.  Not a problem if there were more grass but when the grass is short and the animals are eating hay, the area near the main gate, where there is a lot of traffic, can get quite muddy.

Even the pastures get slip-slidy and it becomes treacherous (more so on 2 feet).

When it turn cold the mud looks like this

Then it becomes hard to walk on but it is no longer slippery.  Mira walks carefully toward the pasture.

I think the animals prefer the mud.  I know the bird do.  They do not like the cold under their feet so we put down areas of straw, here and there.

The last couple of mornings we have had HEAVY frosts.  

 It is so beautiful to look at but definitely difficult to maneuver through.