Life With The Crew

Late December Loveliness

Late December.  That means happy Christmas preparations and parties for some.  Extra work and stress for others.  Waiting for the return of the light (the Winter solstice is tomorrow) for all. 

We had a nice visit to the local arboretum late last week, hadn't been there for a while.  I assume most people think this is the ugly season in a garden, nothing but a bunch of dead stems, dried and brown.  Personally though, I love the gold and silvery vegetation, rustling in the wind with the light shining softly through them.  I love to think about all of the insect life that is hibernating, hiding, waiting, for the return of the warmth so that the next cycle of life can begin.  This is an informative article about how insects overwinter if you're interested.

And here is Tiny Tim.  He will be overwintering with lots of snuggles, warm blankets, and crazy kitten playing to keep warm.

A December Day

The second day of December.  Five weeks ago my little lady fell off her pony and broke her arm.  The cast came off Monday morning.  It was so great to see her back in the woods again, wild and free, if still a bit cautious.

A moody sky, dried goldenrod waving in the wind, the death of a Monarch, beautiful turkey tails full of tiny details, and lots of late Autumn texture.  I hope your month started off happy.

If you've started your holiday shopping or are in the market for a spruce up to your own Winter wardrobe, consider visiting my Etsy shop.  I have a couple of new items, including this easy to wear red wool cowl.

 

Always Time for a Wander

I've talked about the importance of getting outdoors in nature many times before in this space.  I've also talked about how that doesn't mean disappearing for a week or even a whole day in the woods.  Even an hour spent outdoors, tuned into the natural sights and sounds around you, is beneficial on many levels.  While running errands last week, we stopped for a quick stroll along a local creek.  Nothing too special happened, except the sun sparkled on the rushing creek, the Autumn palette of leaves rustled on the oak and maple trees, and we heard a kingfisher call along the stream.

We returned to the car with faces warmed by the sun, hungry bellies ready for lunch, and thankful for safe places to explore.

The Path for Monday

The path for Monday lead us through a beautiful November forest of oak, maple, hemlock, pine, and tulip poplar.

We walked beside ferns, along a rippling stream, over moss and pine needles, marveling at shiny red berries and vibrant yellow maple leaves.

We ended at a lovely lake, calm and clear, reflecting the surrounding colors.

I am glad I had this hand to hold as I walked through the Autumn woods.

My October

MY OCTOBER:

-Bouquets of blooming dahlias

-Flying geese on a mission

-Monarchs saying goodbye

-White Wood asters topped with buzzing bees

-Dancing rainbow colored leaves

-Fuzzy furry muddy horses

-Pumpkins picked from our own backyard patch

-Red raspberries ripening before the first frost

-A little girl saying goodbye to eight and hello to nine

And knitting this sweet custom baby blanket.  This is one of the first items that I sold through my Etsy shop and last month, the customer reached out to me saying that the blanket had been destroyed.  The blanket's owner had really loved it and so she wanted to order a replacement.  

And now we are entering the spooky season and the woodstove season.  It isn't fired up yet - we always like to see how long we can hold out.  Nights have only been in the high 40's, so not quite yet...

A September Friday

September is here!  We had a free Friday morning and so we hit the trails (on our bikes instead of on horseback).  After a quick stop at the park, we headed into the gamelands and had them all to ourselves (I love when school is back in session!)  We have been having a very wet end of summer, so the forest is covered with mushrooms and the mosquitoes are horrible.  I mean really horrible!  Our snack break was cut short because taking a bite and slapping mosquitoes was no fun, so we just kept moving.  Other than that, it was a great ride!  Blue skies and some interesting nature finds.  The fungus is white coral fungus - there were many clumps of it growing out of the ground in several areas.  

I've been stocking up my Etsy shop in preparation for the wooly weather season.  If you're in the market for a new wool or alpaca wrap either for yourself or a gift, please stop by!  I also have several smaller baby blankets in both wool and cotton.  

Have a happy weekend! 

 

The Warmth Returns

End of April.  Tomorrow is a new month, one in which the sandals come out, the winter coats can be put away, and the woodstove should go into Summer hibernation.  The first month of Spring is still rather cold and potentially snowy here, April is everything getting green and the early flowers starting - bulbs, Bleeding Hearts, Forget-me-nots, Brunnera (Siberian Bugloss - a favorite of mine), azaleas, dandelions!  May is when the sun feels like it is hear to stay for a while.

My latest shawl is a blend for Summer - 100% organic cotton and Merino wool.  And for the babies, I have a sunny golden yellow smaller baby blanket.

Happy May everyone!

This Spring Thing

Hi-ho, hi-ho, into April we go!  Halfway through already - not sure how that happened!  The grass is green, though I have not mowed yet.  I'm going to wait until we see if any morels decide to pop up this year beneath the old apple tree.  The chickens have been loving their free range lifestyle and I have to admit that it is pretty fun seeing them roaming all around and come running whenever we step outside.  However, their toilet habits leave something to be desired - good thing the garden hose is located right on the deck.  One of the bonuses that I didn't think about was how yellow their yolks are now that they are eating so much greenery.  Their coop is a large area for just three chickens, but the ground is compacted dirt.  We give them regular chicken feed and kitchen scraps, plus whatever bugs they find, and their eggs are always more yellow than grocery store eggs.  But now that they are foraging throughout the whole yard, their yolks are GOLD and firm and more "eggy".  My pancakes actually look like I added yellow food coloring or turmeric to them!  

We have been spending four mornings a week at the barn, enjoying the time in the outdoor ring and gearing the little babe up for her first show season.  So far that only includes two shows, but we have had fun buying the necessary show attire and gear.  The furry white pony has been getting lots of exercise and I can actually see some tummy muscles!  

The woods are looking greener at every walk and we've spotted the first white Hepatica, Bloodroot, white violets, and the first thrust of Mayapples.

In the animal world, we saw about 40 turtles today, heard a gazillion bullfrogs and managed to sneak up on a couple before they indignantly jumped away, and then we saw THIS:

It might not look very impressive in the photo, but this was one HUGE snapper!  It's shell was between 2-3' across.  I always have my eyes open for them at this location, but the little babe spotted this one luckily across the pond from us.  All the Painted turtles slipped into the world when we approached, but this one wasn't phased at all.  No need to be afraid when you're that big.

Hope you've been spotting some Spring things in your neck of the world!

And Then There's Green!

This week has definitely felt Spring-y!  Lots of yard work was done to spruce up our Airbnbs, some pansies were bought for a bit of color, and yesterday I decided to clean up my main flower bed even though my back wanted a rest.  Glad I did, because last night we had an unexpected thunderstorm and now this morning the sun is shining bright and illuminating all of the florescent green tips.  The garlic is growing, the Hellebores are pink and blooming, and the new garlic chives are telling me its time to cut down the old stalks.  I think the seed heads are so beautiful, so I leave them up all winter.  

In the woods this week, we saw a Mourning Clock butterfly - that was a first for us!  We heard Spring Peepers and Wood frogs and spotted the first Wood frog eggs.  We have been seeing muskrats, a Great Blue heron, Mallards, Canada Geese, and Wood ducks at a marshy wetland on the way to the barn.  It is always exciting to see the male Wood ducks with their rainbow of colors.

And in our own yard, the chickens have taken over.  With the loss of our prey-driven Corgi, Ruby, over the winter, we now only have Lola, the 16 year old Corgi who has always been more interested in the chicken poop, than the chicken, and Wallace, our Romanian rescue who isn't prey driven either.  Last year, one of our chickens was being picked on by the other two and so we had to segregate her in chicken isolation.  After her head feathers grew back (her supposed friends had pecked her head until it bled), she still chose to be the loner and she started hopping the fence.  Even though Ruby was old and slower, she still would go after the chicken, so we didn't encourage the chicken's free roaming ways.  During the snowy winter, she kept close to the coop, but just in the past two weeks, she started hopping the fence again - that whole grass is greener thing.  Well, then we noticed one day that there were two chickens in the yard for short periods of time.  Then this week, we decided, "Why not?"  It is pretty fun to see them in the yard - we'll be reading on the sofa and all of a sudden this black streak will shoot across the yard or approach the back door.  We do get regular visits from a Cooper's hawk in our yard, but these ladies are big enough to be left alone.  And the Red-tailed hawks in our neighborhood have never shown interest in our chickens.  We still have two bantams that are locked up in an Eglu because they would definitely make a tasty hawk lunch!

I'll leave you with a little more green.  This small baby blanket/play mat was knit with 100% wool in "Grass" green.  Happy Spring!

In the Middle

A quick drop-in here at the middle of the month.  As is expected, March is a little of this, a little of that.  The snow is gone from the backyard finally, but the lakes are slow to lose the ice.  Having a difference of 30 degrees between night and day makes it difficult for knowing when to blanket the horse and pony.  Being chilly isn't going to kill them, but I think that if I was 93 years old, I probably would like a little something around my shoulders in the middle of a 30 degree night.  (Frank is 31, which in "horse years" is 93.)  But the grass is getting greener every day!  One of our chickens is a loner and has been jumping the fence and going on walkabouts in the yard.  She didn't bother doing it all winter, so she must be able to see the salad bar on the other side and decide it is worth the effort!

Below are a couple of photos from last week - in the game lands and at Shaver's Creek.  The stone foundation is from an old homestead that is now part of the nature center's trail system.

I've been knitting as fast as I can, trying to get my Etsy shop stocked before gardening season comes and I'll have to be outside more.  I have two new baby blankets in the shop in Spring colors and all of the alpaca items are 30% off.  My shawl is always at hand when I'm sitting inside - I don't know how I kept my neck warm before I became a shawl lover!