Monday, August 26, 2013

i am one of those people who longs for acres of land to grow food and raise livestock...    my grandparents all grew up on farms,  and my maternal grandparents continued to homestead even though my grandfather worked in the automotive industry.   my mom grew up drinking goats milk and almost everything they ate they had produced themselves.   by the time i came along,  they still had several acres of garden,  a small apple orchard with at least half a dozen varieties,  a couple of tart cherry trees, a pear tree,  and 5 damson plum trees.    there were strawberries in the garden,  and wild blackberries in the woods.  there were chickens who laid green eggs.    i learned to can at the side of my grandmother, mother and aunts.

i always wanted a homestead of my own.   when i learned to spin and weave in college,  the need to have sheep was added to the dream.   over the years,  i've never lived anywhere that could qualify as a homestead.    i've had gardens, here and there, and the occasional fruit tree,  but never had the ability to have livestock of any kind.  well,  i had an angora rabbit for a few years,  but he was more of a pet than livestock, lol.

for the last 9 years i've been living in an apartment where,  while there is a pretty large yard,  i'm not allowed to plant things in it.   so my garden has been limited to what i can grow in containers.   this year i have rutgers and marglobe tomatoes,   and a heirloom eggplant, whose name i've forgotten....
it's my first time growing eggplant.  people keep telling me it's difficult to grow and prone to insect pests.    just recently i've noticed very small holes in the leaves,  but the eggplants are growing like crazy.   i'm very pleased.  :-)        the tomatoes have not been as happy with the weird weather this summer,  but i have one rutgers tomato that is nearly ripe.    and quite a few green tomatoes which will hopefully have time to ripen.  






pretty eggplant :-)

and lovely tomato :-)

Sunday, August 25, 2013

a slow sunday....

it was a quiet sunday in harmony today. 

after work, i went to spend a few hours at the weaver's cabin.   spent some time chatting with liesel and amanda,  and didn't get a lot of weaving done, lol.    i am MUCH more productive when there isn't anyone there to talk with.....      i am working on the last overshot table runner on this warp (i had dressed the loom with enough warp for 3,  in variations on an overshot draft called 'ancient rose design').    this draft has 2 versions of treadling,  so i did one runner with the rose treadling, and 2 with the star treadling.   the star treadling of this draft has been one of my favorite overshot patterns ever since i started weaving overshot in college.

when i initially set up this warp,  i fell back on old habits (from weaving mostly on countermarche and counterbalance looms) and tied up the treadles backward (as far as this jack loom is concerned, lol).    so the pattern that i see as i weave is the back.    i have to look underneath to see the front.  not too big a deal,  but i'll fix it next time i use this loom.

the warp and tabby is 8/2 cotton (same as i use for dish towels) and the pattern weft is yarn i spun and dyed from local sheep.    the first runner i did in a light teal.    for the second and third i dyed more traditional colors.    dark blue (resembling indigo or logwood) for the rose treadling,  and red (which would traditionally have been dyed with madder or cochineal) for the star treadling.


this is the top...   technically the back side of the pattern.


and this would be 'technically' the front.

i spent some of the time supervising (ahem) as amanda photographed some of her scarves so they can be listed on etsy.






and then turned and took pictures of a few local buildings.....   harmony is such a picturesque little town.   :-)


both of these houses are historic buildings.   the log cabin is more than 200 years old, built by members of the harmonist society.   i'm not sure if the brick building is harmonists or mennonite.


the harmony inn, one of harmony's many haunted buildings.   it was originally a residence and is now a restaurant.   it's recently under new ownership.   i'm looking forward to seeing what changes they make.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

spinning at the farmer's market

this has been my second summer vending at our local farmer's market.  it's a young market, in it's third year (first year at this location) and is very small.   we average 8-10 venders.   most are food related and there is a wonderful variety of everything from seasonal produce to plants to amazing imorted olive oils and balsamic vinegars.    apart from the olive oils and vinegars, everything is local.
my booth is a combination of handmade soap/herbal goodies and fibery stuff.   i usually bring a spinning wheel and spin in my booth.  sometimes my friend amanda comes along and brings a spinning wheel or whatever knitting or crochet project she happens to be working on that day.   the spinning wheel gives me something to  do with my hands,   and also draws people into the booth.  i enjoy showing people how it works and how yarn is made.

it's hard to believe how quickly the season is passing.   the market goes through the second thursday of october, tentatively (weather permitting and assuming vendors still have things to sell).  only a month and a half (or less) left.    :-(            i love the comradery with the other vendors,  and the availability of amazing fresh, local foods.     today i came home with peaches,  with the intent to make peach salsa.    but i forgot to get hot peppers to go with them.    sigh....     maybe i will peel, chop and freeze them,  and get the peppers next thursday.