I'm not quite sure what this blog will end up being; I'm sure it will include a whole lot of randomness, including funny stories of me on the farm (that's funny enough already!), craft things, adventures outside, and whatever else I feel like putting on here.
Right now, I'm about to go give the chickens some treats (mostly smooshed cherry tomatoes) and maybe go stake up some tomatoes in the garden. I've been avoiding going outside all day because, well, it's finally summer here, and me and the heat just do not agree. Plus I've still got residue of my migraine yesterday (doesn't help that I slept FOREVER today either...) I'm trying not to let today be a COMPLETE waste... I still have unpacking to do that I've said I would do for the past... month? And the apartment desperately needs cleaning...
Just in case you're wondering... yes, I really do farm in flip flops. It's a terrible idea, I know, and it has already proved itself as such, but I just can't help myself. I'm hoping eventually to toughen my feet up enough to be a barefoot farmer... but I'm not sure I can avoid sheep and chicken poop as deftly as I would hope too... not to mention the poison ivy and screws that I seem to find everywhere... So. I live on a 23 acre school farm, home to 3 sheep, 18 chickens, 3 hives of bees, and a garden big enough for all the veggies (and weeds!) you could ever want. I live in the upstairs floor of a 100 year old craftsman farm house, the bottom two floors of which are a Montessori Middle School . I've never taught before, so I'm a bit nervous about that, but I have worked in both a Montessori Middle and Elementary school for the past year, and I adore it. This one can only be better, being on an actual farm, and consisting of only 13 students (my last was 60...)
I live by myself, in a very, VERY rural community. The nearest walmart is 25 minutes away. Which is good for my bank account (sort of... I do tend to stock up when I go...) but means that there isn't a whole lot to do around here... especially since I know practically no one. So I get a lot of crafting done, which is probably mostly what I'll talk about here.
This week I scavenged a spinning wheel from the main campus, and I've been playing around with that practically every day! It doesn't help that my air conditioning was out upstairs, and it was miserably hot.
So this is where I've been holed up for the past few days, spinning and watching movies. The wheel is a very nice Ashford, with very strange rubber-band tension (no joke, it's really controlled by a rubber band...) that I actually like. It's still really strange to use a big wheel, since I'm used to my drop spindle, but we're going to do spinning for our farm tour in October, so I figure I should do all my mess-ups now, rather than later. I've made two yarns so far, neither of which are very good, but hey! it's always an adventure.
The one that's on the wheel right now (because I'm too lazy to take it off and set the twist...) is one I'd like to call "Candy Striper" or something about creamsicles. Both singles are merino, one is an insane orange color, and the other is just the natural white.
The one that's on the wheel right now (because I'm too lazy to take it off and set the twist...) is one I'd like to call "Candy Striper" or something about creamsicles. Both singles are merino, one is an insane orange color, and the other is just the natural white.
You can also see the rubber band, and the nice Ashford label ;-) I had fun messing with the tension on this when I plied it, so the white is usually wrapped around the orange, which acts like a core. It was fun, but there isnt' much of it, so I'm not so sure what I'll make with it.
The one I made before this is mostly made on the drop spindle, but the plain half is off the wheel. The fun half is natural white merino, carded with something called "firestar". I have absolutely NO clue what that really is, but I imagine it's something plasticy... It is wonderfully multi-colored though, and reminds me of days when we lived in New York when the snow would be so blindingly white that it would actually sparkle like a rainbow. So this one will be called "Snow Days".
Again, there isn't much of it... And that's a shoddy picture, Sarah. With the drop spindle, things took so long that I never wanted a lot of roving to work with, but this big ol wheel just makes me realize how much it really takes to make any sort of actual yarn. Luckily, the school has a box of natural roving that I can mess with, and I think the lady from which we bought our sheep might also sell either raw wool or roving. YAY!
Okay, I'm really going to go play in the garden now, since the chickens need to be put up in an hour. I'm sure I'll be back soon, if not tonight!
The one I made before this is mostly made on the drop spindle, but the plain half is off the wheel. The fun half is natural white merino, carded with something called "firestar". I have absolutely NO clue what that really is, but I imagine it's something plasticy... It is wonderfully multi-colored though, and reminds me of days when we lived in New York when the snow would be so blindingly white that it would actually sparkle like a rainbow. So this one will be called "Snow Days".
Again, there isn't much of it... And that's a shoddy picture, Sarah. With the drop spindle, things took so long that I never wanted a lot of roving to work with, but this big ol wheel just makes me realize how much it really takes to make any sort of actual yarn. Luckily, the school has a box of natural roving that I can mess with, and I think the lady from which we bought our sheep might also sell either raw wool or roving. YAY!
Okay, I'm really going to go play in the garden now, since the chickens need to be put up in an hour. I'm sure I'll be back soon, if not tonight!
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