Winter carrots

Early last September I planted some winter carrots in my raised bed, along with lettuce and spinach seeds. When the weather turned colder we covered the beds with plastic hoop houses. We ate the last of the lettuce in December and ate a spinach salad last week. The spinach is still alive but done producing until warmer weather. On Monday I harvested these carrots for a chicken stew from our own stewing hens. I baked a couple of loaves of whole wheat bread to round out the meal. Yum, yum.

Maple syrup time

Maple syrup time is just around the corner. With all our mild winter weather my husband has been able to get the sugar house up. My husband is a wood worker so with Eric Sloanes book "A Reverence for Wood" in hand, he fashioned hinges for the door out of black gum lumber he milled himself from our woods in the fall of 2010. Last year we had an evaporator welded up for boiling off the syrup. There is dry wood in the sugar house so let the sap flow. We only have 1 1/2 quarts left and that is from 3 gallons from last years run.

Small Business Saturday

Just wanted to let everyone know next Saturday Nov. 26th, is shop small business day. So don't forget to stop in your favorite small business and support them by purchasing something. This is my latest natural tanned lamb hide. It is tanned using no chemicals or bleach and is for sale on my etsy store.

Holiday Towels

This is my latest set of handwoven towels. It is a viking twill pattern with a warp of one color and towels woven with different colors. they turned out very nice. I'm getting better at weaving towels, making sure my tension is correct and warp is wound on the back beam evenly. This all makes for very even weaving and an even end product. I will be selling these at the Christmas show here in my hometown and what doesn't sell , will be put on my etsy store.

Open Pollinated Corn Varieties

With all the talk about GM(genetically modified) corn and grain seed and roundup ready alfalfa my husband and I decided to grow some heritage corn with the help of some Amish friends and Johnny's Selected seeds.The field corn at the top of the page is an open pollinated field corn we grew despite the late start and raccoons. This seed was given to us by an Amish friend who has been growing this variety for several years, organically. The white variety, below is an heirloom variety called Gourdseed Corn also given to us by our Amish friends.  An article in the 2008  Oct/Nov. Mother Earth news lets you know all about the origins of this unusual dent corn used for cornmeal particularly in the south. The Bi-colored sweet corn to the right is called Double standard and is from Johnny's Selected Seeds. This sweet corn was not super sweet but had very good flavor and we have peace of mind knowing it is not GM corn.Please be aware of what these GM grains are doing to ourselves and our livestock and make wise choices so that in the future we will have choices.

Pinecone Peaks Mittens

This is my first attempt at creating a mitten pattern for my naturally dyed DK weight yarn. Now to write up the pattern so others can knit it if they want. I've decided to go with a National  Parks theme for my patterns because I was so inspired by the PBS series. My bucket list is to visit as many as I can.

Auction Finds

This was one of my purchases at a local auction. I love things made of wood and who can resist an old stocking blocker at a whopping bid of $1. I also was able to snatch up two wooden butter paddles in great shape for $17.