Fall Colors and More

Our fall colors have gotten to the gold/bronze/ maroon stage now. Still pretty, just more subdued. This picture is from 2007, looking out the front door. Glad we didn't get that early snow over the weekend. Heck, this place gets paralyzed when it snows in JANUARY! Snow before Halloween would have put them over the edge.

The six new pullets have integrated pretty well into the rest of the flock. I think they're over trying to fit four or five into a nest box to sleep. Tonight I found two boxes with a pair in each, one with one of our more docile older hens, and one by herself on a roost. I'm only getting one or two eggs per day right now, and sometimes none at all, due to molt and shorter daylight. I could put a light in the coop on a timer, but it would involve 3 extension cords, so I'd rather just put up with less eggs.

Mosheim School's Heritage Days is coming up at the beginning of Thanksgiving week. I'll be doing a spinning demo again for them. They have the various classes rotate through the demonstrations for 30 min. each. Last year, most of the younger kids (3rd grade was the youngest, I think) seemed interested in the spinning, but the 7th and 8th graders practically yawned in my face. I've requested that the 7th and 8th graders be replaced with K thru 2, so I'm not wasting my time being there. Hopefully they'll have time to rearrange the schedule.

One of my sisters was here last week, so we went through the family pictures that I have and she picked out which ones she wants me to send her. DD joined us for part of the time, so we had lots of laughs trying to figure out mystery people (unlabeled photos), trying to see details with a magnifying glass and a jeweler's loupe, and just seeing some of the stupid things in the pictures. For instance, my mother had a skunk coat when she was in her 20s. It was a knee-length, black fur coat that just happened to be made of skunk fur. Nope, no smell. Here's my mother wearing the coat and my father in something a little more sensible. Then when the kids came along, that coat went out for Halloween more than once. Ha ha! Just add a gorilla or monster mask and we were SET!

Tapioca Pudding, Garlic, Heirlooms

Oh, my achin' back! And feet! I just made tapioca pudding. I need to get a barstool. That's why I don't make tapioca pudding very often, because I have to stand for a full 40 min., stirring it constantly, waiting for it to come to a boil. Well, turn it up, you might say. Nope, can't do that. Bringing it to a boil any faster than on medium will give me burnt milk and crunchy tapioca. Blech! (remember "blech" from Mad Magazine?) Actually, I do use the so-called "quick" recipe on the tapioca box. Yeah, right. I got news for ya. 40 minutes ain't quick.

Haven't gotten my garlic in the ground yet. Maybe this week some time. The new moon is on Wednesday, so will totally miss "the dark of the moon." But I know the planting's not going to happen tomorrow, so if I miss it, I miss it.

DH wants to try to do all heirloom varieties next year, at least of tomatoes and peppers. I won't have any trouble finding heirlooms; there's a bunch of them out there. We've already tried several (Cherokee Purple, Amish Paste, Roma, San Marzano, Aunt Ruby's, Jupiter pepper, et al) and had mixed success with them. My favorite is a cherry tomato, Grandpa's Minnesota Hardy, that we did this year. I've saved some seeds for next year.

Comment on Oct. 8th

See the Sat., Oct. 8th, blog. Apparently I'm not allowed to make comments on my own blog! I tried to post the following comment on the Oct. 8th posting and it wouldn't let me. ??

And the comment is - - - That song that I thought should be called "Tin Lizzie"? It's "Rag Doll" by Aerosmith. I heard it today on the radio.

Apres SAFF

I'm back from SAFF. Didn't buy nearly as much as usual, but met up with a friend who I haven't seen in a year. I left at about 8 this morning, got there about 9:45, and started walking. LOL I left there a little after 12, stopped on the way back for lunch (found a big Chinese buffet - Yummo), and got back around 3. My feet are KILLING me.

I got a pound of light gray Bluefaced-Leicester/silk blend combed top, 13 oz. of Merino top in a darkish fushia, 40 in. size 8 Addi Turbo circular needles (I'm going to try another Shetland style shawl with the BFL/silk I'm currently spinning and wanted a slightly smaller needle to do it.), 3 bars of soap (lilac, kitchen soap to get rid of garlic and onion smell, and one with more moisturizers for apres-gardening), and 3 pairs of alpaca socks (irregulars, so only $9/pair - 2 for DH and 1 for me).

And the friend is a member of the Limestone Creek Fiber Guild that I go to monthly. We're both "charter members," but Debbie doesn't usually attend during llama show season (now) and I wasn't able to attend during the summer market seasons until this year, when we switched to a Friday market, so we only saw each other a few times a year. Well, for one reason or another, Debbie hasn't been able to come to the meetings since last summer. I knew Mary Lou (Guild mother) would have some of her girls at the llama show, so I took a walk by the stalls on the way to the show ring, where I saw Debbie's farm sign too. I got to the show ring just in time to see Debbie getting ribbons for her girls' fleeces! She was so excited! So I tagged along with Mary Lou and Debbie while they were walking their llamas back to the stalls, and talked a little about what was going on. Debbie's a hugger, so I got 6 or 7 hugs over the course of the 30 minutes I hung out with them. She said she was getting proficient on the triangle loom, but was still tense when spinning. I told her to remember to breathe. LOL

Next show, Charlotte, June of 2012.

SAFF

Only two more days till SAFF. OK, so it's REALLY only one more day, since it opens tomorrow, but I'm not going until Saturday. It runs through Sunday.

SAFF stands for Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair. I've been going since 2002 (or 2003 maybe?). Can't remember exactly. It's held at the Western NC Agric. Center (read here: fairgrounds), right across the road from the Asheville Airport. There are a bunch of vendors selling all sorts of fibery stuff - supplies for spinning, weaving, knitting, etc., raw fiber, commercially processed fiber, yarn, stuff made out of yarn and other forms of fiber, books about fiber and what to do with it, plus live fiber animals - sheep, llamas, goats, and rabbits. There are also three days' worth of classes and workshops offered. There's even a guy who makes chairs, rockers, and weaving benches with woven cord seats. Way cool! It can be overwhelming for a first-time visitor, but probably just as exhilarating as for a Disney-phile visiting the Magic Kingdom for the first time. LOL

This is actually a small show compared to some others. The first one I went to is the Maryland Sheep and Wool Show, held the first weekend in May just west of Baltimore. That one is maybe twice or 2 1/2 times the size of SAFF. And the Dutchess Co. Fiber Festival (I THINK that's the official name), held in Rhinebeck, NY, is about half again as big as SAFF. There are other big ones around that I've never been to (yet). There are shows all over the country, but I've only been to Kentucky Sheep and Fiber (their first year in 2010), Michigan Fiber Festival (just a little smaller than SAFF), and Garden State Sheep Breeders show (small at the time, but may be bigger now; it's been at least 10 years since I was there), besides the aforementioned Maryland, Rhinebeck, and SAFF. Charlotte, NC, will host a new show next year that I hope to attend. Fortunately, it's not on a race weekend, so traffic will be manageable.

I have a few sheep fleeces that I've been holding onto for about five years now that desperately need to be washed and carded. I MUST take them with me and drop them off at Ozark Carding's booth. I think I might use the resulting roving to braid into a rug or maybe chair pads for the kitchen chairs and front porch rockers. It'll have to be dyed because the wool is white and there is no way I'm putting a white rug on the floor in OUR house. I'll just have to decide at what point I'll do the dyeing; while it's still roving or after braiding. Braids would be much easier to handle, but as roving, I can do different colors and then blend them as I braid. Or maybe a little of each. And I have a little bit of light gray roving left from a previous fleece, so I should be able to work that in too.

Puppy Update and Reading

If you haven't already read the September 6th blog about the puppy, do that first. I'll wait. . . .

(humming
(tapping toe)
(more humming)

OK, now that you're back - - - - I think the one thing I say to Chloe the most is "Whaddayagotinyermouth NOW?!" And I think she is actually learning what it means, because she will usually either drop what she has or run away from me. "Catch me, catch me!"

She's up to 27 lb. as of last Thursday's vet visit. She got the last of her puppy shots and isn't due back there until next October. Don't know what kind of breeds are mixed up in there, but it isn't anything too tall. She'll be a solid, mid-size dog and we hope she'll turn into a good farm dog. She's already mostly ignoring the chickens and we're trying to get her to chase off any visiting cats and NOT pounce our cats, thereby causing the cat to run, resulting in a chase. Next door's beagle/bassets come by some evenings and give Chloe a good run and wrestle session. They still have a few pounds on her, and they have much better stamina from running around the neighborhood all day.

I'm currently in the middle of reading a bio on Rita Hayworth. She had a rough childhood, if you could call it that. Today's her birthday and I caught the tail end of "The Strawberry Blonde" and beginning of "The Lady From Shanghai," on TCM, but got interrupted about 15 min. into "Shanghai". I couldn't get back to the TV until the movie was over.

Musings and Popcorn

Pet peeve: People who makes words plural by adding an apostrophe before they tack on that last s. So how do they make possessives?

Regional vernacular: One of the favorite sayings here in TN, and I'm sure in other parts of the South as well, is "Bless your heart." This is often, but not always, said by a woman (rarely a man), sometimes condescendingly, to an old person who doesn't get around too well or needs a scooter, or to a younger person helping an older person get around, such as with a wheelchair or pushing a shopping cart for the older person, especially if said older person forgets what they need in the store. (Ask me how I know.) Or it might be said to anyone who is obviously not in the best of health (leg in a cast, maybe?). Or to someone going through a hard time with just about anything in their life. We've come to the conclusion that "Bless your heart" is a euphemism for "Sucks to be you!" But heaven forbid a proper Southern lady would stoop to such vulgarity. LOL

Chickens: We got 6 new pullets a little over a week ago, since we've gradually lost some of the older girls for one reason or another. Our pen is divided in half, with a gate, so for the first two days the old and new girls were separated. The new girls had their own little coop made out of a doghouse. But then we were supposed to get an all-day rain and the tarp we had wasn't big enough to cover much of the pen for the new girls (which the old girls already had on their end), so the day before the rain, we opened the dividing gate and let the two flocks mingle. OK, so far, so good. No huge fights or pecking, and everyone was able to keep dry if they wanted to. But the new ones were still returning to their little coop at night while the old girls went into their coop as usual. We let them continue to do that until yesterday. With temps forecast in the 30s for last night, we decided to force the new girls into the big coop, where it would be warmer. So DH closed the door on the small coop after he let the 6 out in the morning. Then last night, when the main flock was heading in for bed, he herded the others in too. There was some squabbling and I think three of the new girls slept on the floor (not for lack of roost space).

The new girls are Partridge Rocks, one of the color variations of the Plymouth Rock. They appear black from a distance, but are actually mottled black and brown.

Garlic: Our garlic is about ready to be planted. The bed is all tilled and the one variety that we had to order has arrived. We'll be planting Inchelium Red, Duganski, Purple Glazer, and Susanville. Last year's Inchelium, grown from bulbs saved from the 2009 crop, didn't do too well, so we decided to start with fresh stock. The Purple Glazers did very well when replanted last year, so we'll continue with our own cloves. This will be the first replant for Duganski and Susanville. We've eliminated Music this year - it was popular, but the cloves are much too big. There aren't enough in one bulb to get too many new bulbs out of it. There will also be less hardnecks this year. Garlic scapes just didn't sell well enough to warrant planting that many again. The scape is the flower stalk that grows on a hardneck garlic. They should be broken or cut off right at the top leaf while still soft. That puts more of the plant's energy into the bulb. Scapes are edible and can be saute'ed, stir-fried, made into pesto, or chopped and added to any dish where a little garlic flavor is needed.

Popcorn: Next Saturday's program at Howell Farm is Corn and Popcorn Harvest, which is kind of self-explanatory. Some people don't realize that popcorn is a different type of corn than sweet, Indian, or field corn. The hard shell acts like a pressure cooker when the corn is heated. The moisture in the kernel heats up and suddenly explodes the shell (the "pop" sound), and the kernel turns itself inside-out.

On the evening of Friday, the 21st, there will be a presentation, "Pleasant Valley in the Revolution," with reenactment programs on Saturday and Sunday.

More Howell Farm

On Sept. 27th, I started telling you about Howell Farm. I didn't really get very far. So here's some more.

Saturdays are the big visitor days. There's a specific activity each Saturday geared toward the seasonal farm work, like Maple Sugaring, Sheep Shearing, Haying, Corn Planting, etc. Maybe what I'll do is talk about the activity coming up next. Most of them are the same each year, though the timing may change a little. Sometimes there is an entirely new program, to be tested on the unsuspecting public.

Since I already described Fall Festival (threshing), I'll do two to catch up. This past Saturday, Oct. 8th, was Pumpkin and Indian Corn Harvest. This was a low-key event, which is necessary after a busy weekend like Fall Festival. Folks can go out into the pumpkin field to pick their own or they can choose from some that have already been brought in from the field.
And they can help pick Indian corn, which are then tied together, usually in bunches of 3, for decoration. They may choose to buy one for their own front door.

A tangent - A new visitor center was built in 2002, so the historic farmhouse would no longer have to bear the brunt of that role. An old barn was moved from another Mercer Co. park a few years later and re-erected as part of the visitor center. There are now some Friday evening programs being held. And the historic house is now in the midst of restoration and repairs.

On Oct. 7th, there was a presentation, "Get to Know Your Quilts", which was sort of a lead in to next Saturday's Quilting program. There will be quilts on display and visitors can learn to quilt.

Musically Eclectic

A few weeks ago I said I would continue to 'splain my musical preferences.

Country - I got into country music for a while back in the mid- to late-70s. Even went so far as to go line dancing a few times. What was I thinking? Most of the stuff released lately, the last 10 years or so, is blah and tune-less. Not many toe tappers or catchy tunes. Yeah, even Shania. I like some of Tobey Keith's songs, Garth Brooks is OK (though he's really more 80s-90s), and Trace Adkins is OK. And you can keep the real old, twangy country, a la Hank Sr., Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, etc. The only one of the old-timers that I really like is Patsy Cline. Some of the individual songs are OK, like "Take Me Down To The Little White Church". Don't know if that's the actual name or not. I used to like Sugarland, then they started doing syrupy ballads. Yuck! But then they redeemed themselves when they released the one about the fatal attraction, "Stuck Like Glue".

80s and 90s rock/pop - Mostly depends on the individual song. I don't usually pay attention to who sings what, if the radio station even announces it. One local station puts tags at the ends of all the songs with artist and title, so I've picked up on some of the names. And actually, when disco ended, I didn't pay attention to WHEN songs were released. They all kind of slopped together. I like "Africa" by Toto, "Land Down Under" by Men At Work, "Saturday Night" by Kiss, "Come On Eileen" by ? (DD calls it the armpit song because the guys in the group wear bib overalls with no shirts and spend most the time with their arms in the air), "Who Are You" by The Who (and their two other CSI themes). There's one that sounds like it should be called "Tin Lizzie" but I don't think that's the name. I like Heart, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles. Sometimes I start humming or singing along with a song and DD looks at me like I'm nuts, because she thinks I shouldn't like that kind of music because it's a relatively recent release. (Say THAT three times fast.) And even though it's parody, I think I should include Weird Al Yancovic - "Another One Rides The Bus," "Stop Draggin' My Car Around," "I Love Rocky Road," etc. I like most of Al's songs, as well as the originals that they're based on.

Ethnic - I like polkas (Saturday morning radio when I was little), like Hawaiian/Polynesian, LOVE bagpipes, like Greek, Russian, other eastern European (particularly with balalaika), like samba, rumba, etc. (favorite is a tango, "Jalosie"), like Middle Eastern (belly dancing music), like some reggae. Don't care for oriental.

Same day, different subject

In my post on September 24th, I said I might not finish spinning that yarn for the farm. Well, TA DA! I finished that last 100-yard, two-ply skein in the nick of time. So the last 6 skeins were delivered last Saturday, which made a total of 20 skeins of bulky yarn. Quoth the raven, "NEVERMORE!"

Nighty-night. Don't let the bedbugs bite (which is a real possibility these days!)

More threshing

OK, I said I would post more threshing pictures. Here ya go! First, the farm's steam tractor, showing the PTO and belt that drives the thresher. Next we have the thresher itself, a much better picture this time. This photo was taken when the crew was taking a break, but to the right there are still some grain sacks waiting to be filled. To the left you can see a metal pipe. The straw is blown up this chute and into the barn loft.

Did you know? Straw is the stem of a grain and is hollow, hence the name of that plastic thing you drink a soda with, whereas hay is the (solid) stem and leaves of a grass like timothy or leafy plant like alfalfa that has been dried. In fact, the more leaves, the better. Many types of grass are used for hay; some grow better in some parts of the country than others. A good quality hay, with no mold or weeds, smells WONderful. Since my back yard used to be a pasture, the grass in it smells a great deal like hay when it dries after mowing. Hay has lots of nutrients for the animal eating it, but straw, while edible in a pinch, is a poor feed. Straw is better used as bedding for the horses, cows, sheep, chickens, and other farm animals, because it absorbs a lot of their urine. It is then spread on the fields, along with the manure, which feeds the next crop of grain, corn, etc. Recycling at its finest.

And just because I like this picture, this is looking up the lane on a June morning.

Lettuce, threshing and chickens

Observation: Yesterday I looked across a parking lot at a row of dogwood trees. They reminded me of bunches of giant red leaf lettuce, with frilly leaves that are green at the base and red at the tips.

We visited Howell Farm over this past weekend. It was Fall Festival weekend and it certainly felt like fall, with temps in the 60s. They harvest their wheat and spelt in July and store it until the first
weekend in October, when it is threshed. Threshing separates the grain from the straw and most of the husk that is around the individual wheat or spelt seeds. Spelt is an old-time grain, sort of a cousin to wheat. The farm grows spelt for animal feed and wheat for grinding into flour. There was also some plowing being finished up in the Hunter Rd. field, which will presumably be planted in either wheat or spelt in the coming weeks, after the field is harrowed to smooth it out. Farmer Ian did the plowing with Belgian team Chester and Jack. Sorry, I don't have a picture of them, but I DO have a picture of another team the farm used to have, Buster and Duke.
Actually, a farmer with this size farm (130 A.) in 1900 New Jersey probably wouldn't have owned a thresher. There would have been a crew that traveled the countryside, going from farm to farm. The neighbors would have brought their wagonloads of wheat, spelt, rye, barley, etc., to have them threshed, and they would all share the cost. Since crews like that haven't been around in quite some time, the farm owns a full-sized thresher that has to be run outdoors, and a barn thresher, a scaled-down version that could be used in an empty bay in the barn. Either type is powered by a long, flat belt from a tractor or engine. The farm recently bought a steam tractor to power the big thresher, which is more authentic than using a McCormick H. Some pictures of tractor and thresher next time.

We got some new pullets this evening. They're Partridge Rocks, the mottled brown color-variation of the Plymouth Rock. A friend is raising them, so we bought 6 from her. She was able to catch 5 tonight, with one more coming tomorrow. (Chickens are easiest to catch in the evening when they go in to roost. They don't see in the dark very well.) We already have Barred Rocks and a couple of White Rocks, plus some Buff Orpingtons and Ameraucanas, but have lost a few over the past two years. The young girls are about 4 1/2 to 5 months old, so they should be starting to lay very soon, if they haven't already.