Friday, April 27, 2018

Friends


Donald, Annie, and Little Gray look like they are fast friends in this picture.  It is always interesting to see who makes friends with who and why.  Since Little Gray's mom pushed her out on her own, she has decided to make friends with all the barnyard animals.  The geese, however, harass her whenever they feel like it.  They are especially difficult since the arrival of this years goslings.  Cirrus and Prince won't let anyone get a close look.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

AWAY

"AWAY" at Cabin Spring Farm stands for Adventurous Wool Alluring Yarn. The first half of April I was away having a spectacular adventure.

Rosemary and I took a road trip in the green VW Eurovan weekender that I call my greenhouse.  It has been doing close to home travel and hauling for the most part the past year but we decided to take it for a road trip to Tucson Arizona and back.  We packed a spinning wheel, drum carder, drop spindle, hand carders, wet and needle felting supplies, a large pot for dyeing and plenty of wool fleece and alpaca along with all the camping gear.  And of course we took our knitting.  We also took cameras and watercolor supplies.  We used almost everything we took with us.

We carded wool made some felt and dyed it with native plants we found along the way, where we could collect them.  We also spun yarn to add to the dye pot.  We took a 2 hour introduction class on Saori looms in Tucson.  The whole trip was a "Fiber Extravaganza".  But we also took short hikes in the desert, learned to bake bread over coals in a cast iron dutch oven and made pizza inside two enamel plates.  We camped in the desert, in high country along the Rio Grande, and water saturated ground in the midwest, in State and Federal campgrounds for the most part.  We drove through amazing canyons that we were not expecting and also some unexpected snow on the grasslands.

All the while we were traveling, John was taking care of the farm.  Every time I checked in he would report he had the same number of animals he started with.  What an amazing guy I live with.

In case anyone is interested, here are a few pictures of our adventures.


White Sands New Mexico

A morning sunrise in the desert.

Catalina range in Arizona


That-away