Foothills Folly

I am plagued with wildlife here in the country. Some of which I like well enough, the daily birds and butterflies,  the occasional bobcat, the snakes , toads, and frogs. But the deer and woodchucks are too much, and destructive of most gardening efforts. So this year I put in a garden bed meant to keep them out— welded wire stapled together on the ground, stapled to the wire that rises vertically. Raised beds of two layers of concrete blocks. More wire on the sides. It is working!

It is small and compact; here are the little asian greens just set out. Flowers, herbs, some onions and scallions fill in the holes on the borders:

Next photo is the lettuce patch; we’ve been eating from it now for a week or so. I’ve got more little lettuce seedlings to replace them, and figure it won’t be too hard to put a shade cloth up next month. I think this garden is going to be a bit toasty come summer, but the back yard has gotten shaded out by all the trees.

We’ve had a nice long spring–many of the old tulips put on a good showing this year:

The tree peony bloomed with a lovely dinner-plate sized  bloom– and then got trashed by the rain.

And the iris my dad hybridized has made a huge comeback out by the mailbox; I once thought I had dug it all out of there—and look what remains!

Mostly photos of my evening so far: today it snowed, then got cold:

Here the Indoor outdoor temperatures at 10:00 pm:

And soon after:

Then about 15 minutes later:

(And edited to add it is 4.8 degrees F. at midnight! )

CPTV is showing  “Live from Lincoln Center” with the NY Philharmonic:

Here’s part of the brass section:

I’ve finished warping the borrowed table loom.

Here’s a closer look; it shows the header, of homespun. I was going to use the same homespun for the scarf, but the warp is fingering weight and the reed is a 12 dent reed, and it makes the heavier homespun feel like shotgun pellets, hard and bumpy.

 So, all the best for 2009!

Today we have arrived at the turning point, at 7:04 am this morning. The sun has reached its low point and will now wend its way back to its highest point in the sky next June.  Of course it is we here on earth who are doing the maneurvering, but appearance is everything, especially up in the heavens, to me.

We have had a great winter storm cycle, like much of the US.  A foot or more on the ground; we are covered in the silence and slow-down that comes with snowy weather.  Here is my home:

The sky was wonderfully colored tonight; paying tribute to this significant day.  When I look down my street on the Solstice, the sun is actually a bit farther south than the transect that the road cuts. Not so for some early folk on an Orkney Island who cut a 47 foot slit that is only illuminated at its end on the winter solstice, featuring carvings made thousands of years ago; there is something similar in Ireland. How did those people manage to be so perceptive? ( I am lost without my internet to answer my every whim.)

And another:

I love the graphic nature of my yard in winter; it goes monochromatic and takes on a peaceful demeanor.  Here are the seed pods of my very tropical Hibiscus that gets larger each year, and which holds on through snow and ice to add drama to my front walk.

Almost all my photos have telephone poles and wires, but hey, they bring me my broadband!

I spent some time in my yard today; first mowing on my more or less once every three-weeks schedule; then I began to get house plants cleaned up and repotted to bring in as cold weather looms. As I got ready to open my water reservoir (a sturdy Rubbermaid trash can) I found this bitty wood frog. Warming himself in a sunlit spot:

I often hear the trill of the adults (males I suppose) this time of year; but they are difficult to find. I have before seen tiny spring peepers and little-bitty toads, but this might be the first tiny tree (wood) frog!

The Kalanchoe is re-potted and ready to come in:

It was a present from Sam and Kath on Mother’s Day, and is thriving. If I can just manage not to overwater it..

 Next is a Plumbago, a lovely blue-blue-blue leadwort, not very showy but such a great bit of color for this late in the season. I have no other blossom in my yard that is this blue, and I am so glad it has survived. It stays in the ground near the pond; I admire it for its tenacity:

Another Sunday, another blog post day. I have been planting new fruit trees; trimming rampant vines and killer invasive roses, starting veggies, potting up things for the garden club sale, and potting up other things for the forest garden workshop I am taking next week. And, without any help from me, things are blooming. The Nanking cherry, now 15-20 years old:

This year it is just covered with blossoms; and nearby the Sand cherries are blooming. Much younger bushes, they are not so heavily covered with blossoms, but the cherries are a bit larger than the Nanking cherry.

Also blooming yesterday and today is my lovely apricot. And it has been warm enough for the bees to have been very active; hope that means a good crop. Of course we could have a frost, or the trees could get buggy (I skipped the dormant oil spray this year). I can’t be the only one who cheers on the honey bees; so glad to see them!

One of the early tulips is this species type:

They last so much better than the taller, more usual tulips. Year after year they come back, and bloom early. I hope I remember this next fall and put in some more. I also noticed this year that although the bees ignore the daffodils and narcissus, they love the earlier blooming crocuses; another one to plant more of this fall.

A shrub I remember fondly from my childhood was an azalea; I was always amazed at how early it burst into bloom. This is probably not the same variety, but the color is similar:

These are the daffodils and narcissus in front of the house; the white patch on the lower left edge is the cat’s chin; she loves it that the sun has warmed the earth. She also loves it that I am out there working in the dirt and she can roll around in the newly exposed soil.

The outdoors has a hold on my attention; I did spin this March fiber from Amy at Spunky eclectic. It’s called “mud season”; I spun it and then plied it Navaho style, very poorly! Love the colors tho.

The frame shop is driving me batty. There is either no new work, and therefore no money— or there is plenty to do, but, life intervenes. We’re swamped, but I am off for this forest gardening workshop! Can’t win; must figure out retirement!

It wasn’t planned to coincide with the beginning of spring,  it just happened. Old things in the backyard got up-rooted and carted away. First the old truck, kind of sad to see it go:

Next was the manure spreader, race car shell, and old snow-mobile cases. All in a big moosh:

And last was Bean’s vw, which had been acting like a rain-holding cistern for the last four-five years. It’s a toss-up which was the most quaint, the vw or the old truck. Here’s a picture (of his) from last summer, and then today:

Meanwhile the fellow moved a limb, removed some old broken garden machines, a truck cap, a heavy sink, an even heavier old bath-tub, an ancient rusted off-set press, a heavy equally-ancient air conditioner, an old wood stove, and best of all….

…when he left, he put money in my hand!

It’s been mostly cold, snowy, and blowing today. There was a patch of sunshine during the afternnon, and I sat in the big dining room window in the warm rays and spun some llama roving I got last fall at Rhinebeck, from the Northern Vermont Llama Co. They take folks on Llama treks, and sell their fiber. It’s two tone so it’s spinning up tweedy. I have to decide whether to ply it to itself, or to some other single, a tan or dark brown . I have a bit more to do, of the 4 oz. ‘bump’, and then I’ll experiment.

This is the fiber, about half-way spun:

I don’t know the name for this type of thin-spun roving; not ‘pencil’ spun, more like ‘ruler’ spun. Fun to work with, and looks like this on the wheel:

Here’s a photo of this morning’s snow and the old truck:

Someone left me a card in the shop door for their scrap metal pick-up business; I may take tham up on it this spring. The neighbor would love me.

I love the new beginning feeling that comes with the 1/1 date. I have made some sweeping resolutions; one of which is to get outside more: (starting tomorrow!) (I am nothing if not a procrastinator!) I am up for changes in five categories: Health, Wealth, Art, Life, and Permaculture.  I think that about covers the essentials. I would have put in a spinning and/or a knitting goal, but they seem to be my default activities and don’t need any encouraging.

This is the storm of yesterday; I didn’t get a photo of today’s; kind of looked the same. I would miss this season if I ever went south for the winter. Especially that cozy feeling of a ’snow day’ with food in the house and no where one needs to go.

Mitzy has taken over the tree; I know she thinks we brought it in the house just for her. To her credit she has been a huge help at undecorating it, though I’m not yet ready to take it down.

 The amaryllis opened yesterday; the picture does not capture how red it really is. Kind of the red of this yarn:

The Fleece Artist sock yarn was part of a raffle prize from the fall Spin-Out. I wasn’t able to go, but made a donation to the Heifer Society—and was delighted with the prize package that arrived yesterday—Thanks, Cara, and all your sponsors!

I have been spinning, this fuzzy fiber I carded a few months ago—is it the alpaca mixed with wool?  Or the moorit locks from RHLindsay? Inquiring minds want to know, and I have forgotten.  Lesson learned: always label!

Lastly, Sam, and girl friend Kath, dressed for a dinner out at Bizen’s, everyone’s favorite Japanese restaurant.  I stayed home and made my own sushi!

This is my backyard view, this afternoon. A storm around us; overcast; but still so much green for the last bit of October. (I need to trim some of these shrubs so as to not lose my view of the mountain; but I have to do it on a weekend cause they aren’t really on my property.)

I have tried to get rid of the sumac in my yard, but here it is:

The red and the bit of yellow resemble, in a far-reaching way, the roving we used in the spinning workshop at Rhinebeck on Friday. Margaret Heathman was our leader, and she was soooo encouraging. We were given dyed roving to spin and ply five ways:

On the left is a strip of the roving; on the right it is plied with a red; the ones in the middle are single plied, plied from the inside and the outside of a center pull ball, two strands hopefully spun in a similar thickness and length and plied together, and some that is Navaho plied. That was the name of the workshop: one painted roving prepared five ways.

I was happy to be shown Navaho plying, and did some more at home but I still need a lot of practice, actually I s**k at it. But the relaxed day of spinning and plying was perfect for honing my hardly existent skills on the wheel; I hope they have spinning classes next year!

I am just now looking for a hat pattern to knit, using these yarns. A rolled brim one, I think.

I have a split personality: I am trying to spin and knit for ‘A journey to a shawl’, and I am trying to do the mystery stole#3.

I dyed my NZ Romney a week ago Sunday with the butternuts and leaves that had been soaking in the sun for many days. Here are some pictures…

This is the set up in the back yard, camp stove and all:

The lovely blues and greens in the dyepot are reflections; the deep brown is
the butternut dye: