November, BLAHvember

November in Northern Ontario.  Damp, grey, wet, cold, dark at 5:00pm.

All those fun things like:
- getting the snow tires on
- remembering to put my snow wiper in the car and buy some ice-melt at the hardware store
- trying to remember to put away all those tools before they get buried in the snow
- staying out of the bush so I don't get shot by a hunter
- lugging hay out through the muck of the barnyard
- the start of "hat-head" season
- the extra 2 lbs in the newspaper that is Christmas advertising
- someone reminding you that there are only 47 shopping days left, then 46, then 45, then 44...
- freezing rain
- fourteen hours of darkness and ten hours of grey dimness

and for me, November is also the month that my age changes.  Okay, the number doesn't just 'change'...it actually increases.

So, I am changing the name to BLAH-vember.

Are you with me?

Chin up.  We'll get through it with a big dose of Vitamin D.
And Vitamin F. (F is for fibre, preferably alpaca fibre in beautiful handdyed colours and it's also for friends that make you laugh)

Here's something else.

A few years ago, my sister sent me this silly card by the artist named Sark.  It was titled 'How to be a Succulent Wild Woman' and had suggestions like

- paint your soul
- be rare eccentric and original
- celebrate your gorgeous friendships with women
I have this card cover taped up where I can see it when I am doing office work.

Look what I found in the library the other day!

It's a lovely happy book by Sark, all about learning to cultivate pleasure in our lives no matter what else is happening.  Apparently, there is another book titled " Succulent Wild Woman".

This is good month for this book!
I hope you are finding pleasure these days...you deserve it!

Almost Summer

Well, I won't bore you with the details of why I've been too busy to blog for several weeks.  Life happens and blog entries sometime get to the bottom of the priority list.  Thanks to everyone who takes the time to leave comments on my blog.  I really do appreciate it.

As I am writing this, I am waiting for our hay producer to call giving us the go-ahead to leave to pick up the first of four loads of hay.  The trailer has been on the truck since Thursday.  It's always a waiting game for the hay-drying weather.  We've had great weather for 4 days and then last night, at our house was a major downpour.  Thankfully, the hay farm, which is about a 30 drive south only got a sprinkling.  The hay wasn't lost but needed a bit more time to dry today.  So, it will be 5:00pm by the time we load our first bale on the trailer.  Gatorade and chocolate bars are our friends today.

We sheared our herd of alpaca in between the rainy days at the beginning of June.  I can't let this go without posting a before and after shot.

This is Lily.  If you've been reading this blog, you will remember Lily, the cria that was rejected by her dam.  Her first start was with dried colostrum, then milk with yogurt, then goat kid milk replacer.  She likely wouldn't have survived except that she was soon adopted by a maiden alpaca who miraculously started lactating to feed her.  It was a happy story.  She's now a saucy yearling with great conformation and lovely fleece.

Well, I guess she doesn't have her fleece anymore!  I do! It's in a couple bags waiting for processing into yarn.

People often ask me if the alpacas mind being sheared.  Well, alpacas seem to have their own personalities and therefore, their own opinions about being sheared.  Giving up control to a group of people, with one of them holding some power shears, is undoubtably not an alpaca's idea of a good time.  However, the majority of ours seem to actually relax on the table to the point of appearing to be snoozing.  No doubt many appreciate the instant cool sensation from being released from those pounds of fibre growth.

Every year, though, there is one winner in "The Most Annoying Alpaca on the Table" award.  This year was Vivaldi.  Vivaldi is normally a very calm, cool 2 year old.  The whole time on the table though, he screamed a very high pitch, deafening squeal and had very vile smelling green spit bubbling out of his mouth.  Of course, since he was laying on his side on the shearing table, his head was rubbing in the green slime.  The person covering the head also came in contact with the smelly green slime.  (That would be my freaked out teenage daughter :) hehehe)

So, without further ado, I present "Vivaldi the Slime-Faced".  Shame on you Vivaldi, you smelly boy.

Maybe next year, he will remember that we are helping him by removing his warm fleece, not trying to harm him.
I found a new book at my public library that every handspinner that I know will want to rush to get their hands on.  It's called "The Fleece and Fibre Sourcebook"  by Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius.

It is literally packed with valuable facts about animal fibres used in spinning and interest tidbits of information about the history of our relationship with these animals around the world.  For each breed or species, there is a summary of the animal, pictures of both the animal, and their fibre, facts about the fibre that includes staple length, fleece weight, fiber diameters, lock characteristics and natural colours.  It's just beautiful.

Although I have the library's copy currently, this is one of those books that I should have on my bookshelf.
So far, I've planted lettuce, purple beans, squash and 3 types of tomatoes in my little garden.  I still have room for a couple plants.  This is going to be my most successful garden yet.

I'm not sure how many hours until the actual calendar start of summer is here.  But with any luck, I'll have a loft full of sweet smelling hay.

Avoidance

I'm reading an awesome book, called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver.  In brief, the author, her husband and two daughters move from Arizona to a farm in Virginia with a commitment to eat only food that they grow or that they can source locally. 

I can hear you now..."Really?  An awesome book about growing and eating food?  Was it more exciting than the washing machine manual?"

Trust me.  Ms. Kingsolver writes so descriptively about good food, that I could taste tomatoes and asparagus right from the page.  She has a great sense of humour.   The book also contains a lot of facts about the impact of mass-produced, widely transported food on our society and our environment.  It's an informative book that is a pleasure to read.  

She's made me think about food in a whole new light.  I have never been so excited about the prospect of finding locally grown asparagus at the opening of the local Farmer's Market on Saturday. 

In the morning, I made pancakes using my own farm eggs, and topped them with locally-produced maple syrup.  I vowed to do more of this.

I've been avoiding lots of paperwork for the past few months.  Alpaca registry business, yarn sales business, and farm business.  The one that is making me lose sleep at night is my farm income tax return.  Every year, I vow to do better.   But I've been really, really busy.

So...I had the whole morning to myself and a todo list that included...registry paperwork and income taxes.

I did start.
But...then I remembered that sandal wearing season was upon us!

Avoidance never looked so pretty!

Popcorn on My Mind

 I'm not much of a farmer.  I don't know how these chicken things work.  But, I think it's a bit like popcorn.  It seemed to take forever for those young hens to start laying eggs.  Hubby would be all happy when he came in with 4 in the morning.  Then, 6...then 7....then 12.  I think the chicken house is like a big popcorn machine.  Once one of those hens starts to lay, there is a chain reaction and all those hens are bouncing off each other popping out eggs.  Anyway...it's January, it's cold, and I'm running out of egg recipes.

Okay - I used 2 eggs to make some chocolate chip cookies.  I follow a couple of blogs that often have recipes.  I'm always overwhelmed by any recipe that has more than 6 steps in the instructions.  But I'm inspired by my fellow bloggers.  I also needed to prove to my daughter that I know how to bake cookies.  And, of course, I blogged the picture so that I could go back and prove it to her later again when she denies I ever baked her homemade cookies.

 Don't expect me to print the recipe.  Go buy a pack of Milk Chocolate Chipits...flip over the package...there's the recipe.

 I feel like Betty Crocker.

My friend Joanne sold her gift shop that she ran for 30 years in our small town.  She found this text book in the basement of the store as she was cleaning it out. Knowing that I'm into textiles, fibre and books, she gifted it to me.

It was copyrighted in 1925, although this copy was printed after that.  It apparently was a text book that young women were taught from. 

It's got some very interesting pictures in it regarding fibre production around the world.

In the glossary, alpaca refers to a textile, not a fibre, that is used for suiting and can be woven from mohair with a cotton warp.  In a section describing fibre-bearing animals, they write of the 'Alpaca Goat',a goat-like animal.

In books written today, a reference to alpaca textile would only mean textile made mainly of alpaca fibre.   Alpacas now are known as new world camelids, as they are related to the camel family (along with llamas, guanacos and vicunas). 

To be fair, in 1925, alpacas would have only been seen in the mountains of Peru, Bolivia and Chile.   Alpacas are ruminants (multi-stomached mammals that chew their cud) like goats.  However, alpacas are sometimes called 'modified ruminants' due to their 3 stomachs (not 4) and their soft-padded feet (not cloven hooves).

One of the great pictures in this book is of a caravan of horse-drawn wagons loaded with wool, crossing some great plain on the way to the mill.  I'm not sure how many days that caravan would have travelled to get to a mill.  I wonder if it was a lonely trip or a party caravan to celebrate the end of shearing season.

Cut to 2010, when I crammed about 100 pounds of raw fibre, along with my overnight bag, into my PT Cruiser and headed south to the mill near Kingston.  Having that much bagged fibre in my car, is like having my own crash-cushion.  Mind you, the rear window is obscured and I am constantly aware that at any moment, my windows might blow out with the force of all this fleece.  That would really make my little car look like a popped kernel of corn, wouldn't it?  All that fleece makes it difficult to find room for the bottles of wine that I pick up at the LCBO along the way...but I manage.  I always make time to visit other alpaca farm friends on my 'fleece delivery to the mill' weekend.

Have a good weekend.

Some of My Favorite Things

I received this book as a gift last week.  It's a very cute, very Canadian book that'll get you singing to the old familiar tune of "The 12 Days of Christmas".  (Substitute with the likes of "Four Calling Moose, Three Beaver Tails"...you get the idea!)  The artwork is fantastic.  The only thing that would have made it better, would be an alpaca or a spinning wheel in there somehow.

I found a new favorite thing....dangerous!

Do you know what this is?  My friend Joanne dug it out from the basement of her gift store that she has sold.

 It's a skein winder or wool winder.  After a spinner has spun yarn onto the bobbin of their spinning wheel, they would then use this to make a skein (big loop) of yarn before washing or dyeing it. The new ones have adjustable arms so that after you have wound your wool, the arms collapse in a bit, so you can get the skein off. 

This is my Quebec production wheel.  At one time, many Canadian farmhouses would have had one of these kept busy spinning yarn for the family's clothing.  I have to admit, it's not very productive in my house.  I have a modern Lendrum double-treadle that I use as my working spinning wheel, and an electric spinning wheel that I would like to be more productive on.  I never got the hang of this old wheel, and it may have been a bit warped when I bought it. It is a nice conversation piece and even though it's not being used, I take comfort that I am keeping it safe as an historical artifact.

Happy Mother's Day Thoughts

We are heading into Mother's Day weekend.

A good friend of mine is missing her daughter right now, as her daughter is away serving with the Canadian troops in Afghanistan. However, I know that she is very proud of her daughter. They both will be thinking of each other this Sunday.

My thoughts are with all of the mothers around the world that are separated from their children because of war...whether they are away from their family and home serving their country themselves, or whether they are the mothers that are left home to wait.

I'll be busy this weekend, as my studio is part of the Country Roads Mother's Day Tour around the rural roads where I live. This collage shows a few samples of the interesting things and people that you find along the 12 stops of the 2010 tour.

This is the 30th anniversary of the Country Roads Tour. Find out more at www.countryroadstour.com.

I'm reading a book right now by Annie Leonard called "The Story of Stuff'. As the picture shows, it's about "How our obsession with stuff is trashing the planet, our communities, and our health - and a vision for change."
I'm probably three quarters through the book. It's a fascinating book.

I've been on a downshifting/downsizing/simplifying slope for a few years now. That 'downshift' in career was necessitated by health, and well, after a few years of not bringing in a nice fat salary, the finances get downshifted as well.

I already know that money doesn't buy happiness. My riches in life are made by being with the people I enjoy and by doing the things I love, not by the things that I buy. A message from this book is that once your basic needs are met, you can't get happier by buying and owning more. Most of us in North America need to figure this out - and for the sake of our planet - soon. I speak for myself - I have a long way to go... but after reading this book, I want to do better.

Here's a radical idea for Mother's Day. Bring Mom to your local public library and get her a library card. If you live in Ontario, Canada, it's free! Besides oodles of books to borrow, there are typically internet-connected computers to use, DVD movies to rent, magazines, audio-books, subscription to databases such as Ancestry.com. Our library loans out pedometers, others loan out tools and decorative cake tins. There are book clubs, knitting clubs, and the like. Everything is shared, so that one book or one movie can be used by many people in the community. And to make your mom REALLY happy...sign out a book for yourself...mothers like it when their kids read ;)

Happy Mother's Day!