New fiber shop, mainly

AFTER that last post in October, I just didn't think about this blog at all, what with the holidays, the winter doldrums, and a new venture. So I figured I'd better catch up a little. THE founder of our Limestone Creek Fiber Guild has been wanting to start a little shop where members could sell their various handwork. She had talked to the owner of Yarntiques, a yarn/knitting shop about an hour away from me, about using the second floor of her place. She wasn't able to do it until last fall, so Limestone Creek Fiber Works had its grand opening on December 1st. There was an article about us in the Sunday, December 16th issue of the Johnson City Press. I have yarn, two triangle shawls and some needle felted figures for sale, plus I'll be giving spinning lessons. The last session of the first class will finish up this Saturday, and another one will start on March 2nd. There will also be classes on triangle loom weaving, basket making, possibly needle and/or wet felting, and whatever else we can come up with that one of us wants to try teaching. JUST checked the preview. The paragraph spacing is STILL not working. So I will start every paragraph with all caps. THE DS and BIL's house is done except for the shower door in the master bath and possession of the garage door opener. The contractor's son, who is 30-something and should know better by now, was a pretty crummy foreman. He never took notes, didn't always pass information on to the workers about corrections, let the guys get away with murder, and if he said "We'll make it right." one more time, DH was going to slug him. I was thinking of telling him that when Mike Holmes (Holmes on Homes on DIY or one of those channels) says he'll make it right, he does! But at least DS and BIL were able to start moving in some of their things that they've brought down already. There won't be a whole lot at first, since this will be a vacation home for a few years.

No more chickens

The last of the chickie girls got picked up two days ago. Seven went to one new home and 14 to another. Now we don't have to get up at the butt crack of dawn to let them out and don't have to worry about something getting in the coop and getting them after dark when we're not there at dusk to close them in. (Who knows what time DD closed them up when we went away for a few days.) NEW PARAGRAPH (Since the return key isn't recognized by blogspot, I'm going to announce new paragraphs.) NEW PARAGRAPH The chickens went just in time. We'll be heading north to visit family and Howell Farm this coming weekend. This is Fall Festival weekend, when they pull the thresher and steam tractor out to thresh wheat or spelt. They'll also be either planting some kind of grain or at least harrowing the field in preparation for it.

Great shot of the tractor, but the thresher looks tiny. I have a better one somewhere, just have to find it. NEW PARAGRAPH I don't see how someone can do these blog posts every day. I know someone who posts almost every day, with lots of pictures and not just a few paragraphs of text, but novels. Oy! NEW PARAGRAPH DS and BIL's house is coming along. Some things were done wrong because the subcontractors didn't get told about some of the changes, but they're gradually getting fixed. The siding should be done today.

Clarification of last post

Just a couple of things. FIRST, when I said the return key doesn't work, I meant the blog doesn't recognize it as doing anything. I can hit it all I want and spaces will appear on the page where I'm composing the blog. But then when I preview it and post it, no spaces. For you youngsters out there, the return key is, like, the Enter key. SECOND, this "new and improved" blogspot sucks.

We Don't Have Garden, But We Have House

First, a disclaimer. It seems the return key, to put a blank line or two between paragraphs, doesn't work anymore. So it's hard to tell where one paragraph ends and the next one begins because they're all run together. I tried adding a bunch of extra spaces at the end of each paragraph, so at least there's some kind of break in between. But that didn't work either. So I'll make the first word of each paragraph in all caps. WE did go back to Fox Park on Fridays for several weeks from the end of June into early August. But the weeds have gotten ahead of us (again) and it's such a pain in the butt to pick while trying to plow through the weeds without tripping on them. Even the paths haven't gotten mowed. Right now, approaching mid-September, the morning glories, or bindweed or whatever they are, have covered most of the tall growing things and their fences in lots of pink and purple flowers. Between the weeds and wacky weather, which has a lot of the plants dying back early, we haven't had much to take that's decent enough to sell. So, needless to say, we haven't been to Fox Park in a few weeks. HOWELL Farm just had their annual Plowing Match on the Saturday before Labor Day. The winner in the Fine Plowing division was Luke Vastine, who has won before with a team of Clydesdales. But this year he had Belgians, for some reason. And Tommy Flowers, from South Carolina, was there with a team of Brabants (European-type Belgians). Neat looking horses. Tommy came in 5th in Fine Plowing. DON'T know whether I posted about this before or not. Back in June or early July, DS and BIL finally ordered their modular house for their property here in TN. Preliminary work on the site began in July - digging basement, setting basement walls, pouring the basement floor, etc. The house was delivered and set on Aug. 28 and 29. Now the carpenters and subs are working on finishing up various parts, like roof, siding, plumbing, electrical hookup, flooring, stone on front of the fireplace, and some support walls and divider walls in the basement. They'll get the keys when they come back in November. BACK to the garden. DH and I have decided not to continue with the market garden next year. Too much work with not enough to show for it. The chickens will go too, probably in the spring. We'll be looking around for someone who wants some laying hens. The girls are starting to molt now and production is way down (5 or 6 eggs a day from 21 hens). So I think we'll go ahead and feed them through the winter, then move them when laying has picked up more.

Fox Park in June? Plus Shawl

Well, here it is, a whole month and two days later. We were at Fox Park the first three Fridays, plus the first Tuesday, with some scallions, garlic scapes, tomato plants, pepper plants, eggplant plants (is that redundant?), tomatillo plants, ornamental pepper plants, and eggs. But once the plants got too overgrown and the scapes were gone, it's not worth the time and effort to set up just for a few scallions and eggs. So we've been skipping it for now. We've been quite late in getting the garden all planted, but I think everything is in now and we're in the process of finishing up the laying of soaker hoses and mulching. There are a few tiny zucchinis, tomatoes, and tomatillos starting, so it won't be long before we can get back to selling on Fridays. The garlic will be dug this weekend, so that will be at the Fair in probably two weeks. That Bluefaced Leicester/silk blend that I was spinning is now becoming a Shetland-style shawl (center square, with border and lace edge). Nowhere near the delicate, wedding ring shawls that are traditionally done with lace-weight Shetland yarn, but will probably be a lot warmer.

Fox Park Fair

Yesterday was the season opening of our little Friday afternoon market that was started last year. We didn't have a whole lot to take (scallions, garlic scapes, Napa cabbage, eggs, and plants), but we did OK for the first day. We used to belong to the Greeneville Farmers Market, which is held on Saturday morning and which used to be a nice homey, small-town, open-air market. A few years ago, a few things happened in quick succession. First, somebody had the bright idea to incorporate and become a 501(c)3 non-profit so we could get better grants. I was on the interim board for that. Then we were getting too big for the parking lot we were using in town, so the search was on. Once a "permanent" board was chosen, I wasn't in the loop anymore. But DH and I did attend some of the board meetings. They had a consultant come in and (supposedly) help them do all the paperwork for incorporation and then the request for non-profit status. At the same time, a "deal" was made with the fairgrounds for the market to use a new shelter that was built there for cattle shows - about 100' x 150' pole barn with no walls. The first year there (2009?) was OK. It was nice to be under a roof when it rained. But a few people on the board were trying to make the rules more stringent and were getting a little too Hitler-esque. The turnover of board members was unbelievable. Then in 2010, it really got bad when the egg and baked goods sellers were no longer allowed to sell without inspection of their kitchens, etc. Then, to top it off, the board voted that the vendors no longer could vote on anything. The board's vote was the final say on anything they came up with. (This had been a vendor-run market up to this point.) And somewhere during that time, it was discovered that the consultant had steered the board in the wrong direction as far as the non-profit paperwork, which had to be resubmitted and was finally approved over this past winter. So a bunch of us defected. Over the winter of 10'-11', one of the vendors talked to the folks at the Nathaniel Greene Museum, which now owned a vacant lot across the street from them. As long as we didn't call it a farmers market and as long as a percentage of the take was donated to the museum, a bunch of us could set up there to sell. And so the Fox Park Friday Fair was born. The lot had been an old warehouse that was burned down by some kids playing with fire. The museum bought it and cleared it out (LOTS of bricks) with the intention of making a park. There's also an old log house that's been moved there from somewhere in the county that's now in the process of being chinked. The vendor donations kept the grass portion of the lot mowed last year. We set up on a paved portion at one end. This year there will also be a Tuesday afternoon market, which helps a lot during the height of the season when things need to be picked more often. And it doesn't hurt that the egg rules have been loosened up a bit. OK, that's my soliloquy for the week.

Roots

I've been trying to watch the genealogy shows "Who Do You Think You Are" on NBC (?) on Thursday nights and "Finding Your Roots" on PBS on Sunday nights. I'm usually re-encouraged to get online to Ancestry or Family Search (the LDS search site) after watching them. Of course, I'm sure very few of these people (whether celebrity or ordinary Joe) do their own research and, on "Who . . .", I'm sure their trips overseas are subsidized by Ancestry, the main sponsor. I really don't expect to go to Flasch, Switzerland, real soon, myself.