tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36490976786442899672024-02-07T00:16:18.424-08:004 acres and a streamUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger419125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-42371079267784666702019-02-03T18:50:00.002-08:002019-02-03T18:50:39.943-08:00Spinning Wheel RepairI am doing more with spinning wheels lately. Below is a photo of a completely new bobbin I made for this19th c. wheel made by Heinrich Zuber. She will be going to her new home soon, along with three more bobbins I will make for her.<br />
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Here is the wheel with all it's new parts. She spins beautifully! I hope her new owner loves her.<br />
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Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-34217773061627640382017-05-08T10:22:00.001-07:002017-05-08T10:24:27.100-07:00DellaOne morning last week when I went out to feed I fed Clementine in her pen with her two lambs, went outside to feed the other ewes and lambs and did a double take. I couldn't figure out how Clementine's ram lamb got outside so fast. When I picked up the lamb it was wet! Della had her lamb and never made a peep. She was eating away happily with her ewe pals while her lamb was wandering around. Into a jug went Della and her beautiful little all black lamb, a ewe! She'll be staying in our flock!<br />
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We think we'll call her Delia.<br />
<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-61019792255195663762017-04-25T12:30:00.000-07:002017-04-25T12:30:04.599-07:00ClementineClementine was the first of our yearlings to lamb this year. She is daughter to Chloe and sister of Clara. And like her mom and her sister she is an easy lamber and had twins as a yearling!<br />
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I knew she carried color genetics but I am super happy to have two more black lambs, and one is a ewe lamb. Clementine is half Royal White hair sheep and half Coopworth and her fleece was pretty nice considering. Her lambs are 75% Coopworth and the ewe lamb's fleece feels like a nice Coopworth fleece. The ram lamb's fleece feels more like our mixed lamb fleece. I was hoping to get at least one ewe lamb from this year's crop to keep. Hopefully this little ewe lamb will continue to grow into a good replacement sheep for us. We'll see what the last two yearlings give us in the coming weeks.<br /><br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-75399874889110566202017-04-22T16:36:00.000-07:002017-04-22T16:36:31.343-07:00The Flax PlotThursday was spent in the garden. The pound of "Lisette" flax seeds I bought from Landis Valley Farm went into the approx 150 square foot plot.<br />
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Since it is hard to weed flax once it gets more than a few inches tall I wanted to reduce the weed seed load as much as possible in this area. Over the last two weeks I hoed it four times in hopes that a large number of weed seeds would germinate and then be butchered. This is my first planting of flax and it will be interesting to see how this progresses.<br />
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<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-36491910059346980952017-04-13T16:54:00.001-07:002017-04-13T16:54:36.171-07:00Steel City Fiber FestivalI set up a booth at a local (30 min away) fiber festival last weekend. I took yarn, roving and three spinning wheels. Two of the wheels sold and I sold a decent amount of yarn and roving. All in all a pretty good weekend. And I am pleased with how the booth turned out.<br />
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I demonstrated spinning on a great wheel (that I then sold) even though I am still learning myself. The public was great to talk with. And the other vendors were very interesting. I let a few vendors try out the great wheel; amazing how many people have a hidden desire to try one. Next up, MD Sheep and Wool with the American Coopworth Registry booth.<br /><br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-56268823599345184042017-03-21T15:27:00.004-07:002017-03-21T15:27:19.999-07:00Learning to Flock<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-78841320313117628132017-03-21T15:26:00.001-07:002017-03-21T15:26:23.633-07:00Basement FloorThe contractor came today and set up to pour the basement floor today. They framed out the area for the stone section for the root cellar and leveled off the dirt floor, then installed plastic. Tomorrow they are back to pour the concrete. It's been a long time coming and we will be very happy to say good-bye to the old dirt floor in that section of the basement.<br />
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The cats aren't too happy about the work going on in the basement. They get fed in the basement and their litter boxes are down there. Their little kitty door is blocked off and their bowls and one litter box is upstairs. They caught on to using the litter box but were more upset about getting fed upstairs. Well kitties, only one more day.<br /><br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-77223480841932768662017-03-12T07:22:00.000-07:002017-03-12T07:22:09.266-07:00Way To Go Hazel!I was so worried about Hazel's lambing after the mess with Ruthie. Thankfully, she did it all on her own about 10 minutes before I went out Tuesday morning to give the bottle lambs their 5AM feeding.<br />
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Two beautiful ram lambs! Apart from the white on the tips of their ears and a little on their faces they are completely black. Such beautiful fleeces they will have. But what to do with all these boys!</div>
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<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-42846323055217016592017-03-06T17:33:00.001-08:002017-03-06T17:33:33.942-08:00A New CreepAlan built a creep the first year we had lambs, but we rapidly outgrew its approximately 12 square feet size. Last year I used the long side of the creep in front of the door to the smaller stall. That worked great, but we lambed nearly a month later and it never got too cold at night necessitating the doors needing to be closed. This year we have had some frigid nights in the teens with the winds blowing right in the doors. We needed to come up with a creep plan that would allow the doors to be closed and still let the lambs come and go in the creep.<br />
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We were able to use some of the support structure on the barn wall from the old creep set up, a gate that I needed to move anyway, and the end panel for the original creep. The lambs are figuring it out. The older ones are happy to be able to eat grain without having to jostle with the big ewes.The lambs now have 32 square feet to get away from the commotion of the ewes and eat in peace.<br />
<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-8538713119785255882017-03-05T09:30:00.000-08:002017-03-05T09:30:13.418-08:00RuthieThis post about Ruthie's lambing has taken me a while to write. I feel such a sense of failure and questioning after her ordeal. I have no idea when she began labor or when her water broke. Her 150 day mark was on Feb 16th, but she showed no signs of anything until she began having occasional dripping from her back end around day 155. She was huge and the fluid was clear and I thought she must be a little incontinent of urine since she was acting normally and eating well. But by day 157 she was only nibbling at food and seemed listless. She drank a bucket of warm molasses water and would eat grain if I hand fed her. Her temp was normal. On a vaginal exam I could feel a lamb nose but there was a rather thickish membranous something stopping my fingers from going into the lamb's mouth. I have often felt a very thin lower uterine segment that it was possible to feel baby parts through in laboring women. Was this Ruthie's lower uterine segment or very thin cervix I was feeling? Since nothing seemed to be changing I called the vet to come out and help me figure out what was going on.<br />
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The vet arrived about an hour and a half later and found Ruthie to be fully dilated with a dead lamb presenting with nose forward but legs back. This lamb had stopped everything. As the vet was getting the first lamb out I saw the membrane that I had felt. At first I thought the cervix was coming out with the lamb but then I realized it was a thicker than usual and opaque membrane. Had I realized what I was feeling would I have been able to save this lamb? The second lamb was also born dead but thankfully we were able to revive the third lamb. Triplets again. But only one ram lamb living. At least Ruthie has a lamb to mother. Judging from the smell of the lambs Ruthie must have had her water break at least a day or two prior.<br />
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The other lambs, a ewe and ram lamb, looked just like this little guy. All the lambs weighed between 9 and 10 pounds. These were the first full blood Coopworth lambs we had from our newer ram Mercer. I always learn when the vet comes out and this time was no exception. I can't be afraid to do a vaginal exam if I am not certain of something. Can a sheep even be incontinent of urine? I am petrified I will have similar problems with Hazel, who is right now at day 148. She at least loves my attention and is enjoying all the scratches and rubs. <br /><br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-74857581251963581912017-03-05T08:59:00.000-08:002017-03-05T08:59:30.684-08:00121 Hay BalesThis is what 121 hay bales dumped into your driveway look like.<br />
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We are blessed to have a hay auction less than 5 miles from our farm. We were running low on hay and Saturday was a frigid, blustery day, perfect for the auction. Our last adventure at the auction was in a small snow storm and the prices were good. Saturday was equally good. The only buyers were serious and people, like me, with small stock and deep wallets were mostly missing. We bought a beautiful load of 2nd cutting mixed grass hay that the sheep love. And it came out to $3.50 a bale. I can't touch this kind of hay in the retail market for under $5.50 to $6. Hopefully this load will last us until we can start grazing.<br /><br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-13207333500881886142017-02-21T16:27:00.001-08:002017-02-21T16:27:43.983-08:00Chloe Had Triplets Too!Good ole Chloe. She is such an easy birther. I went out to feed Tuesday morning and saw a sac coming out. By the time I went back to the house to get my daughter and some towels, she had already pushed out the first lamb and was busy cleaning her up. Next came a little ram lamb, followed by another ewe lamb. She is nursing all of the lambs and everyone is doing well.<br />
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They are quite vocal, but then so is Chloe's first daughter Clara who delivered on Saturday. Like mother like daughter they both are super moms!<br />
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<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-83857007725097306372017-02-21T07:37:00.001-08:002017-02-21T07:37:03.034-08:00Clara's TwinsAfter Mama Sadie's delivery I had a stern conversation with the remaining pregnant ewes. I told them they needed to stop this mixed up, malpresentation stuff for their deliveries and start having nice easy and uncomplicated births. Apparently, Clara was listening.<br />
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Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day, sunny with temps in the low 60s. We were cleaning out the stalls, getting ready to move Moose and her lambs into a nursery stall with Mama Sadie and her triplets when Clara began acting like she was in labor, lots of pawing at the ground, sniffing her back side, arching her back, etc. We kept checking on her while mucking out and I nearly missed her delivery. She plopped out a lamb as I was walking out to check on her. Her second lamb was born a few minutes later. The other sheep watched from afar but our wether Hiram seems to love lambs and came over to check out the new arrivals.<br />
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Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-87397016984302588472017-02-19T06:31:00.000-08:002017-02-19T11:24:15.088-08:00Mama Sadie's TripletsMama Sadie went into labor late Thursday evening. She had triplets last year and was looking as large again this year. I missed her delivery last year by about a half an hour and one of her lambs was stillborn, so I was glad we caught her going into labor.<br />
Her first lamb was coming out with just the nose, no feet. So, gloving up again, I had to bring the lambs legs around to come out with the head. Once everything was in position she delivered quickly. A nice ram lamb. She has previously refused to nurse her ram lambs so I was happy to see how attentive she was to this lamb. She readily let him nurse too. The second and third lambs came out easily and my daughter took care of their deliveries. Final tally, two ram lambs and a ewe lamb. And she will only let the firstborn lamb nurse. It wasn't ram lambs she wouldn't let nurse, it's that she will only let her firstborn nurse. Last year we went out to the barn day and night to hold her still so the lamb she wouldn't let nurse could eat. Not this year! Now that they have had their colostrum we are beginning to bottlefeed them.<br />
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We will try to sell the bottle lambs so someone else can take over that chore.<br />
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<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-39073519549293889822017-02-16T10:18:00.000-08:002017-02-16T10:18:29.232-08:00Lambing Has Begun!Moose kicked off lambing in her very Moosey way. She never does this easily! She had a bag of water hanging out on Feb 14th around 2:30 in the afternoon. By 3:30 she had two water bags hanging out and was intermittently bearing down. By 4:00 there was no obvious progress. Since Moose has needed much assistance with her other deliveries I decided to check things out sooner rather than later. She was fully dilated but two heads and three legs were all vying to come first. Moose has a very small pelvis so it took a while to figure out which two legs went with which head. The first lamb was finally born at 4:20 and took a good bit of pulling once everything was lined up. The second lamb wasn't born until nearly 5:30. That lamb had moved into the birth canal but Moose was showing no signs of trying to push out another lamb. So that lamb got pulled as well. That lamb wasn't breathing and had an irregular heart beat. Lots of stimulation and swinging got the lamb going. The first lamb was prancing around and eating with no help by the time the second lamb was born. Two ram lambs. The first lamb weighed 13 pounds and the second lamb weighed 11 pounds. Much smaller than her 15 and 17 pound lambs last year, thank goodness.<br />
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I should have given her prophylactic antibiotics since I was in her uterus for quite a while trying to sort things out. By the next afternoon Moose was feeling poorly, had a temp of 105 and was breathing rapidly. I gave her IM and SQ penicillin and then aspirin after talking to the vet. This morning she is feeling much better. She is eating well and breathing normally. And her temp is down. The lambs have done great throughout all of this.<br />
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The other ewes are patiently awaiting their turn at lambing. Ruthie should be next, maybe later today or tomorrow.<br />
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Followed closely by Mama Sadie and Clara this weekend.<br />
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Hopefully the most complicated delivery is now out of the way and the rest of the lambs will come easily.Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-27707891017931792392017-02-03T16:12:00.001-08:002017-02-03T16:12:23.063-08:00Getting Ready for LambingIt won't be long.<br />
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Poor Chloe is patiently waiting. Everyone due this month is getting big. We've done the big clean out of the stalls, set up the first lambing jug and have a quick set up for two more. The heat lamps are ready to go, and there are extra bulbs in the cabinet. The lamb coats are ready. And so is the lambing kit. And I have a week's vacation scheduled in the thick of lambing. <br />
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Mama Sadie, the sheep with the red stain on her rump from the marking crayon, would not let her ram lambs nurse the other two times she lambed, she loves her ewe lambs though. I missed her delivery by about a half hour last year so I am hoping if I am there when she lambs I can get her started with both her lambs.<br />
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<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-7498906567316836252017-01-15T14:21:00.002-08:002017-01-15T14:21:35.573-08:00Basement Joist WorkThe work has begun on the basement! Alan spent Saturday afternoon propping up the old joists so he could add support to the main beam.<br />
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Today he added a 2x8 to the main beam (he had cut away the ends of the joists yesterday) and then sistered 2x8s to each joist on the east side of this section of the basement.<br />
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The original joists were only 3x4s and there was considerable sag in the floors. We had added extra support when we first moved in and Alan had taken most of the sag out so the support added to the main beam required no shimming. The floor in our bedroom feels different already. Next up, the other side. That will be a little more difficult since all the plumbing for the bathroom is there.<br /><br />
<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-15039780553492982052017-01-07T13:06:00.000-08:002017-01-07T13:06:28.361-08:002017 GoalsI can start with the goals we are carrying over from 2016; the root cellar and other basement work, the mudroom, and the wool room.<br />
The root cellar sounds like a pretty simple goal, but the section of the basement getting the root cellar has a dirt floor that is currently covered in black plastic. The plastic is a kitty magnet and they love to pee on it, right next to their litter boxes. But before we can get the floor poured there is some structural support work that needs to be done. The floor joists and main beam support are all undersized and need to be beefed up.<br />
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Our old Ford E150 van is nearing 190,000 miles and needs to be replaced. We love the van for it's versatility. We can put 10 foot boards in it and still close the back doors. It has served us very well when we go camping too. Ford, in their infinite wisdom, no longer makes the E series vans. Instead we could get a Sprinter type van that everyone we know who has one hates. 2014 was the last year for the E series vans so we have been looking for one in that year. But E150s are next to impossible to find. Looks like we might have to go with an E350.<br />
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My big gardening goals for 2017 are to have a flax plot and to give a quarter of my garden to my daughter so she can start a flower business. These changes, plus putting the chickens into another quarter of the garden, should make to remaining veggie garden much more manageable.<br />
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In the sheep world I really need to pare down my numbers of hair sheep. And I am building a business brand. LLC paperwork is ready to go in to the state. Next up is an EIN and business insurance. I am booked at my first fiber festival, in April, and have to get a booth ready too!<br />
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So we'll see how we go with all these goals. Hopefully we will do better than 2016! Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-13774627310300243742017-01-01T12:38:00.000-08:002017-01-01T12:38:01.854-08:002016 in ReviewWow, no blog posts for December. And we didn't fare too well on our goals for 2016 either!<br />
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The goals we actually met:<br />
The ram hut for our boys for the winter was pretty smashed up by Elwood. It took a bit of work to get it back to a normal shape, but it provided nice shade and a place to get out of the weather during this hot summer.<br />
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The lambing jug I made from hog panels worked well. Now I need to figure out how to get more jugs set up in the barn since I have five ewes due in the third week of February.<br />
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Mama Sadie ended up in the lambing jug much longer than she should have been but she has a problem with letting ram lambs nurse. We would have to halter her so she would let her ram lamb nurse. Eventually she would stand still and let him if we just stood next to her and scratched her back.<br />
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The pasture seeding went well. The feed mill up in Kempton sells orchard grass and clover seed by the pound and my little seeder worked well. The pastures still need work though and I wasn't able to get any lime down this fall since it never went on sale. And when you need to by almost a 100 bags, a dollar off makes a difference.<br />
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The garage is basically finished. We still need to change the siding on the back and one side but that will get done when the rest of the siding gets replaced on the house.<br />
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And the rotting foot bridge was replaced. I can now get a wheel barrow across the stream without going around to the road.<br />
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The goals we didn't meet:<br />
The garden was a complete bust this year due to the extreme heat we had. So no irrigation system was installed. The older I get the less I am able to tolerate the heat. Early mornings were the only time I could work outside and the garden was the loser.<br />
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The barn addition/wool storage room did not get built, but I wasn't really thinking that would get done. Another goal I didn't really think we would accomplish was the mudroom. We'll just tack these two goals on to 2017.<br />
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One goal I really did want to get accomplished was the root cellar. Again, another add on for 2017.<br />
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But we did accomplish quite a bit that was not on our list for 2016.<br />
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We managed through over two feet of snow in one day.<br />
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We continued to learn more about lambing and had a pretty successful season, only needing the vet once. But we did lose three lambs; one was sat on by her mother, one was stillborn or died at birth before I got there and one was my own fault for not feeling deep enough into the uterus looking for another lamb. We had out first Coopworth lambs born here on the farm.<br />
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We had our first visit with the shearer!<br />
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And I decided it was time I learned how to spin.<br />
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This whole fiber thing led to a collection of spinning wheels and fiber. And then there was the education on dyeing.<br />
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Alan learned about spinning wheel repair.<br />
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The grapes and raspberries got the attention they have been needing with the installation of the new trellises.<br />
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We welcomed Della to our flock!<br />
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So the year was busy and we did accomplish a lot of projects and we continue to grow the farm.<br />
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<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-79492313095178084472016-11-30T07:07:00.000-08:002016-11-30T07:07:19.589-08:00Spinning and Dyeing at Historic SitesWow, I've been very lax about posting! I have been writing this post in my head for weeks, but am finally getting down in print.<br />
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In late October we went to the Bolton Historic Site's fall rendezvous. We set up a "store front" so I could get some pictures and, hopefully, sell a little yarn. <br />
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What great fun it was to spin on my antique wheel in 18th century clothing while talking to people about fiber! I sold a decent amount of fiber, considering I really wasn't trying, and made contact with someone from the spinning group that meets at the Daniel Boone Homestead. I have been trying to get in touch with that group for a while but not having any luck.<br />
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The next weekend we went to Historic Londontown in Edgewater MD and I dyed some yarn with cochineal and weld. I really wanted to experiment with 17th and 18th century techniques over a wood fire.<br />
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I forgot the cream of tartar at home so the cochineal came out more purple and the weld was very subtle. But the two colors look nice together.<br />
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I have been researching more period texts on dyeing and have found a couple from the late 18th century. <a href="https://archive.org/details/gri_c00033125009355278" target="_blank">The Country Dyer's Assistant</a> from 1798 and <a href="https://archive.org/details/dyersassistantin00haig" target="_blank">The Dyer's Assistant in the Art of Dying Wool and Woolen Garments...</a> from 1800 are fascinating reads. I also purchased Organic Fiber Dyeing: The Colonial Williamsburg Method helpful in dyeing larger quanities. Most of their recipes call for Glaubers Salts and I haven't found any recipes of the period using salts in the dyebath. So more research to come.Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-81704776406198248752016-11-09T16:37:00.000-08:002016-11-09T16:37:08.569-08:00Internet Problems,,,,AgainAnother tractor trailer drove down our road and ripped the phone line off of the pole yesterday. For a change the line wasn't ripped off the house. I was at work all day long, but my daughter said the line was hanging in the road and cars were driving under it. Then a school bus came along and someone lifted the line up so the bus could drive underneath. The fire police came and cut the line and coiled it up in our front yard, much to the chagrin of the tech who came today to fix the line. He said the police could have called it in as an emergency then Verizon would have dispatched someone right away (yeah right.) <br />
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The tech who came out today was the same one who fixed the line in August. He only comes to Berks County 12-15 times a year so he was surprised to be back at our place. He was able to move the wire up the pole about a foot and that also tightened up the wire so hopefully it won't get snagged again. The only good part about having the phone line disconnected was the lack of internet on election night. It was nice to not be able to get caught up in all the political drama. Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-60613695289662732452016-10-22T11:59:00.000-07:002016-10-22T11:59:28.995-07:00Natural Dyeing Workshop at the Hans Herr HouseThis morning I spent a very enjoyable three hours at the <a href="http://www.hansherr.org/" target="_blank">Hans Herr House</a> near Lancaster, PA participating in a natural dyeing workshop. Marty and Jess were our instructors for the course; Marty focusing on pennsylvania german dyeing and Jess on native american dyeing. We used indigo, onion skins, blood root and the bark of the sassafrass root. The main reason I wanted to attend this workshop was to learn dyeing in a more historical setting, using a wood fire and seeing how dyes worked in cast iron pots. Well, how about this for a hearth!<br />
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The site itself was beautiful. We were in the basement kitchen of this old stone house.<br />
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We even had a very affectionate furry visitor!<br />
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But, alas, no cast iron, just enameled and stainless steel. So I will have to do more practice on my own with some of the cast iron and brass/copper kettles I have.<br />
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Marty started by talking about some of her dye books. I think my next purchase will be a lovely looking dyeing book from Colonial Williamsburg, "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Fiber-Dyeing-Colonial-Williamsburg/dp/1604601116" target="_blank">Organic Fiber Dyeing</a>."<br />
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We all brought something made of natural fiber (wool, linen, silk or cotton) to dye. I brought an off white silk blouse I had bought a while back for dyeing and had just never gotten around to doing anything with. Others brought cotton shirts, pieces of linen or cotton, a silk scarf. One woman brought a beautiful vintage young child's dress that looked amazing dyed in the indigo vat.<br />
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It's hard to see in the photo, but the cotton lace and a sort of ribbon near the hem had subtle shade variations. The whole piece was just incredible.<br />
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I realize now that I didn't get any pictures of things dyed with other colors. My silk blouse came out a very vibrant orangey mustard that is right now simmering in a walnut over dye bath. I loved the color but I didn't think I would have worn the shirt. I am hoping for a more burnt orange after overdyeing.<br />
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Marty showed us some of the colors she has dyed in the past:<br />
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And rugs she wove with some of the yarns she dyed.<br />
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And Jess talked about porcupine quills in native american decorations and had quills for us to dye.<br />
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And that orange thing that looks like a leaf in the photo above is a deer tail dyed in blood root. How cool is that!<br />
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I definitely need to dye with onion skins. The yellow skins gave a really deep color but I have seen people getting a really pretty green with red onion skins on wool mordanted with alum.<br />
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The sassafrass was a bit of a disappoinment. It was very expensive but only yielded a color that was OK. But it smelled good!<br />
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And here are a few more photos.<br />
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<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-25007492542797873102016-10-20T05:41:00.001-07:002016-10-20T05:41:39.222-07:00NY Sheep and Wool FestivalMy daughter and I went to the NY Sheep and Wool Festival on Sunday. Last year I wasn't able to get there but this year we were successful. The three hour ride was uneventful and the long lines to park that I had been worried about did not materialize, thankfully. My first impression was how uncrowded it was. The MD Sheep and Wool festival has always been packed when I have been there. I did hear that the crowds on Saturday were much bigger. The weather forecast for Sunday was a little iffy so that may have had something to do with the lack of crowds. This was also the first year for the equipment auction on Saturday so that may have also had an impact on which day people decided to attend.<br />
I had three goals for the festival. The first was to not buy any fiber! And I succeeded. The second was to get a pair of combs, and there I also succeeded. I also wanted to get some Kookaburra wool wash but I found no dealer. My only impulse buy was some natural dyeing materials- logwood, weld and cochineal.<br />
I had been told that the MD festival was more about sheep and the NY festival was a little more about fiber. I think the focus was pretty similar between the two festivals but the NY festival seemed smaller. I really missed the lamb kebobs!<br />
But we did see lots of sheep!<br />
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And alpacas!<br />
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The weaving demo was impressive too!<br />
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I learned a lot and have a better understanding of what I need to do to sell with my Coopworth group at the festival next year.<br /><br />
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<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-36514725706503676092016-10-13T11:24:00.002-07:002016-10-13T11:29:32.419-07:00Browns, Magentas and Blues!I've spent the last week and a half experimenting with natural dyeing. First I made up a dye bath with some of the MANY walnuts on the ground here. The resulting skeins dyed brown have a wonderful depth and glow to them that pictures just don't do justice to.<br />
Next up was picking some of the pokeweed berries growing everywhere here. The first dips into the dye bath gave a deep magenta. I still had the walnut dyebath so I did some lighter dyeing in the pokeweed bath then let the yarn sit in the walnut dye bath. I also played around with some mottling of the pokeweed and walnut on some of Elwood's roving.<br />
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Yesterday I played in the indigo vat. What fun! I am in love with this blue. I haven't decided it I want to make some of the skeins a darker, deeper blue.<br />
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I was hoping to get some mordanting done this morning and then spend the afternoon making up dyebaths with jewelweed and madder root, but we've been having off and on showers. I need a little yellow/red spectrum in the mix.<br />
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<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649097678644289967.post-34112808134247738272016-10-03T10:51:00.002-07:002016-10-03T10:55:37.622-07:00DyeingHave you ever really wanted to do something but just needed a confidence boost? That's how I was with dyeing. I have lots of books, have watched videos and read website and blog instructions. But still there was that feeling that I needed to actually watch someone dye from start to finish and ask all the questions that came up in my mind.<br />
Saturday I took an amazing workshop at <a href="http://whitebarnsheepandwool.com/" target="_blank">White Barn Farm </a>in New Paltz, NY. I saw the pictures of a workshop done by Paula last year and had been looking for another one this year. The over 5 hour drive (round trip) was more than worth it for all the education and experience I gained.<br />
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Paula has an amazing space for dyeing that I can only dream of.<br />
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Paula taught us much more than I could have even hoped for in the short 5 hours of the course, and we all came home with amazing memories and beautiful mini skeins of samples.<br />
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Documenting what we were doing (so we would remember) was stressed and we made these notecards for reference.<br />
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The day began, after getting a nice big mug of my favorite Earl Grey tea, with a discussion of mordanting with alum and cream of tartar. Paula had already started mordanting the wool we would be dyeing during the workshop. After splitting up our skein into ten mini skeins and marking them with different colored rubber bands (so we could tell ours from the others) we went out to look at Paula's dye garden and pick some leaves and flowers.<br />
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She had two nice patches of indigo.<br />
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One of madder (which needs to be three years old to harvest the roots. Unfortunately this patch was only on its first year.)<br />
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Then we focused on flowers; specifically marigolds and cosmos.<br />
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Back inside with our harvest from the garden, our first task was making a dyebath with fresh indigo leaves. A blender was packed full of leaves, then distilled water was added and the whole lot blended.<br />
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We added our mini skeins and waited. While waiting we went on to the indigo vat. This was just indigo powder, lime and thiox. The scum on top is removed when dyeing, and then replaced.<br />
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The color was at first a blueish green which quickly turned blue in front of our eyes.<br />
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The longer the skeins from the indigo vat were exposed to the air the darker blue they became.<br />
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The skeins dyed in the fresh indigo leaf vat also started out green then turned a beautiful pale blue with exposure to the air.<br />
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The skeins on the left, above, were dyed by us, the skein on the right had been dyed the day before with about half as many indigo leaves as we picked.<br />
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We made up three half gallon canning jars with madder root, brazilwood and logwood in a large canning kettle on a camp stove. Each jar received two tablespoons of the dye material and was a little over half filled with distilled water. The jars were the simmered in the water bath, then our skeins were added.<br />
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I can't remember if this was brazilwood or madder, but the colors were gorgeous!<br />
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We made another three jars with cosmo flowers, marigold flowers, and cochineal. The cochineal bugs are shiny little bugs that live on the prickly pear cactus in the southwest.<br />
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Two tablespoons of cochineal were added to a jar, and the flower heads were half or more filling the jars. The cosmos gave a yellow with a little more orange tinge while the marigold gave a clearer yellow.<br />
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One of the most interesting parts of the workshop was playing with the modifiers. An ammonia rinse gave the most gratification. The ammonia turned our deep purple/brown logwood into a lovely shade of blue with a touch of violet. The cosmo yellow became a vivid orange, and the ammonia brought out more of the reds in the madder. The iron modifier turned the marigold yellow into an olive green.<br />
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With all the knowledge I gained on Saturday I felt confident enough to play around on Sunday at home. I had a vat of soaking walnuts and over 30 skeins of Mercer's wool. After straining out the walnuts I simmered the dye on the Coleman camp stove I found in the basement from our modern camping days. Then I added the skeins. From all my reading I learned that walnut dyeing does not require mordanting, unless you want to change the end color.<br />
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In the first bath I dyed on skein for 10 min, one for 50 min and one for 60 min. In the exhaust bath I did the same with another three skeins. These were my results:<br />
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The exhaust bath skeins are on the right, above. The colors in real life are much richer than this screen shows. I put another two skeins in the second exhaust bath and will take them out after 24 hours. This is so much fun and I can't wait to try more colors!<br />
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<br />Erika kellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02086673285608786783noreply@blogger.com0