The gift I didn't know I needed

Does it ever happen that something comes to you that so deeply fills you up, and you didn't even know that particular hole was there, needing to be filled?  Well, that just happened to me!  My amazing mother-in-law (whose birthday it happens to be today... happy birthday Aurora!), fabulous and intuitive woman that she is, sent me a giant box of roving for my birthday. 


A few years back, while visiting my beautiful East Coast family for a special 90th birthday celebration, I discovered the most amazing little fiber farm* in a neighboring town to my mother-in-law.  This particular farm raises Icelandic and Shetland sheep, two breeds I am pretty keen on and whose wool I really enjoy spinning.  Well, despite the fact that we had precious little time to spare, I carved out an hour or so to go visit that spot and arrived to find not only the most picturesque, dreamy 100 acre rolling farm, but also a fiber and yarn store where they sell their self-produced and processed goods!

Needless to say, I was in heaven.  A giant Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog named Ranger greeted us in the driveway and escorted us into the shop.  There I found rack after rack after rack of the most lovely natural color and dyed roving and yarn. Yum. And through the back doors of the shop, a mirco fiber mill where all of the farm's wool is processed.  And just outside the front door.... that's right, 100 acres of rolling pastures crisscrossed by streams and dotted with sheep.  Oh my.  I kind of get a little fluttery just thinking about it. 

So, anyway... back to the box of fiber.  Mother-in-law extraordinaire sent me 40 oz of beautiful Shetland roving in the most lovely natural colors from the above farm for my birthday.  In all honesty, it's been quite a shamefully long while since I sat down at my spinning wheel.  But today, with that gorgeous fiber peeking out of the box at me and a baby who happened to take an oddly long nap, I dusted the wheel off and got to spinning.  Oh my goodness....

I had no idea how much I needed that!  As soon as my foot began treadling, the wheel began spinning, and the fiber began sliding through my fingers, I just felt a sort of peace and contentment that I've been lacking these last few weeks.  The simple joy that comes from just making, doing, creating.  As that wool spun up into yarn, my breath deepened and much stress and tension that I've been clinging to seemed to soften and slip slowly from my shoulders.  Ahhh... yessss....

Sometimes I get so caught up in the everyday this's and that's that I forget to create.  I am slowly learning that allowing myself to be creative and artistic and giving myself that time is so very crucial to my happiness.  It feeds my joy.  And without it, I get a little lost.  So thank you, Aurora!  Thanks for a gift much, much greater than the physical gift itself.  I really needed it... and I didn't even know!

*I'd post a link to the farm, but I cannot seem to find a website for it.  Sorry!

When Opportunity Knocks....

When opportunity knocks... for goodness sake, open the door!

This last week has been crazy!  In the best of ways.  So very much has changed since this time last week, I can't even believe it's all real.

That lovely greenhouse is but one of the two greenhouses that we just acquired for the season.  And, believe it or not, it is the smaller of the two!

Steve and I working to amend the soil in the small house

the big greenhouse - before amending the soil

In addition to the greenhouses, Doug, the owner offered us full use of this propagation house:

the propagation house

and all the outdoor bed space we can revive and plant!  And, here's the kicker.... it's all for free!

I had approached Doug back in the early spring and asked if he'd be willing the rent the greenhouses to me for the season.  They are only a half-mile down the road from my house and I had known that he was looking for someone to manage them.  He was interested, but the price was way too high.  So, I just let the idea go.  But, I started way more seed than I could possibly grow here in hopes that maybe something, somewhere might work out....

Last week I got word through the grapevine that Doug wanted to get in touch with me.  So, Thursday evening I gave him a call and he asked me to meet him down at the greenhouses Friday morning.  Of course, meet with him I did!  Turns out, a fellow had paid him in full for the season for the greenhouses but did nothing with them.  Poor Doug had no idea why nothing was being done in them.  Finally, just last week, the guy left Doug a note saying he wasn't into it.  So... Doug offered them to me, free of charge!  "Just put them to good use, take good care of them, and give me what you can't eat," he said.  The excess we can sell from a roadside stand in front of his office.

And even better... Doug is the person that we get our organic composted dairy manure from.  He owns an organic soil business.  So, he has been bringing up unlimited loads of manure for us to use in the greenhouses for free as well!  And that gigantic white bag you see in front of the propagation house is full of his organic potting soil mix that we are also free to use.  Crazy right?!

It is quite late in the season to be suddenly trying to get the greenhouses going, but we are doing our best.  The hardest part is prepping the beds for planting.  They are tired and neglected and need lots of love.  So far we have all four of the big beds in the little house amended with manure, minerals and nutrients and partially planted with tomatoes, peppers, and basil.  In the big house we have one 5x40 foot bed amended and planted with onions, broccoli and beets.

happy tomato!

planting onion sets

As of this evening when we went to water and close up the greenhouses for the night, the beet seeds that we sowed on Monday were already up!  It's amazing what a difference some heat makes!  Here in our cool, shady garden, we never get germination that quickly.  I couldn't believe my eyes!

And, oh boy, it gets even better!  Sometimes, when it rains, it really does pour....

I also contacted my neighbor just down the hill from us about renting her pasture.  She was rather surprised and overwhelmed when I asked, so I figured it was a "no".  However, she called me Monday evening and said, "You know what?  I would love to have you put some animals down here.  And I'm not gonna charge you rent.  I just need an extra set of hands around here.  And, if you're willing, I'd like it if you would teach me how to spin.  So, you go ahead and get yourself some sheep.  Get yourself a horse if you want to!"

Seriously folks, I almost passed out.  Right there on the spot.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  Was it possible that this woman who I don't even know was really telling me that my age-old dream of having farm animals (larger than chickens) was really possible?  Like, right now?  I could put animals on pasture the next day if I wanted to?  By the time I hung up the phone, I was shaking like a leaf and had to walk in circles taking deep breaths for about 15 minutes just to calm myself down.

In addition to the pasture, there is a good-sized 4-stall barn with electricity and water that we are free to use.  Her horse and old angora goat are very sweet and mellow and would be more than happy to share their barn with some new wooly friends.

And, in trade for me teaching her to spin (which I feel really funny about given that I've spun for all of a week), she would like to teach me to weave!  She has an 8 harness loom and would really enjoy showing me the ropes.  Please somebody... pinch me.

And then, just to add icing to the cake that I am both having and devouring....

I got to spend all day Tuesday and Wednesday helping with the shearing of 20 gorgeous alpaca!  I got to be the fleece skirter and weigher.  This means that, as each fleece came off the animal, I took it and laid it out on a skirting table (a high table made of wire or plastic mesh that allows debris to fall through).  I got to carefully examine and go through each fleece removing any dirty or coarse fiber, straw, pinecones, whatever I could find that would lower the value of the fleece.  The most important thing that I was looking for and removing was second cuts.  This is when the shearer travels over an already sheared section of the animal with the shears, therefore making a second cut.  The second cut fiber is less than an inch long and is unusable.  Therefore, it needs to be removed from the long, usable fiber.  Then I took the fleece to the scale and weighed it.

Do you have any idea how lovely and deliciously soft an alpaca fleece is?  It's heavenly.  They were so beautiful.  The colors ranged from pure snowy white to deep earthy brown to silver grey.  Again, they were so beautiful.  Mmmmm....

And, in trade for my helping hands, I get to go back to the ranch next week to pick out some fiber to take home!  How's that for a deal?!  As if the experience alone wasn't enough.  We were so busy during the shearing that I did not get any photos, but when I go back, I'll be sure to snap a few of those funny looking little alien animals!  They're so cute and too funny looking now that they're naked!

Well that was my crazy week summed up.  Now, I'm bed bound with some nasty springtime virus.  But, I'll be sure to be moving through this bug as quickly as I can so that I can get my hands back in the soil again and get those greenhouses planted.  I've also learned this lesson... put intentions out there, plant the seeds, and good things will most definitely happen!

Kiss the Moon

Between a tweaked neck and so much going on around here, I haven't had much time to post lately.... And I'm sorry for that.  Writing here is something that I really enjoy and I would like to get back to a more regular rhythm.  That being said....

Last weekend was so full and so wonderful.  I got to see Medeski Martin and Wood and dance until my heart swelled with that goodness only dancing brings, have a delicious breakfast alone with my mom, learn to spin wool into yarn (!), watch Sequoia participate in her first ever gymnastics meet, and (of course) work on the land.  Wow!

Shallots awaiting their new home.

Sequoia's meet was so sweet!  She is not actually at competition level, but the gym where she practices holds "mini-meets" a couple of times per year where all the kids, no matter their level, are invited to show off their skills.  There were routines as sweet and simple as three-year-olds working hard at awkward somersaults, and those as technical, complicated and breath-taking as you might see at national events.  I am so proud of Sequoia.  She was really, really nervous and almost didn't participate at the last minute.  But, she chose to push through the nerves and give it all she's got.  And she did beautifully!  I wish that I had photos to share but, alas, I do not.  Way to go, girl!

And spinning... oh spinning!  I knew I would fall in love, and fall hard I did.  I am taking a two-part class in Seattle at The Weaving Works.  Part one was last Saturday morning and I nearly had to pinch myself to believe it was real.  I felt giddy and tentative and shy as I sat down for the first time ever in front of a wheel - an Ashford Traditional.  The instructor told us all to start treadling and get used to how it feels.  I was so in awe of the timeless beauty in front of me, I was afraid to put my foot on the treadle.  I managed to overcome my silliness and began treadling away.  The steady whirring of the wheel was hypnotic and soothing, and I thought to myself, "Wow, this is so relaxing...."

Then I actually tried to spin.  Oiy!  It was no longer relaxing at all!  It was hard and awkward and confusing and oh so frustrating!  I would pinch too hard and the yarn would twist so much that it would clog the orifice, then pinch so lightly that the roving would fly through my fingers without twisting at all.  I would draft too much and the wool would wisp into nothing and I'd loose the end of the yarn to the bobbin.  Or, I didn't draft enough and fat chunks of barely spun roving would squeeze its way through the orifice to cover more than its fair share of my hard work.

I did finally kind of get the hang of it and was able to relax a little.  By no stretch of the imagination did the yarn I was creating even kind of resemble what most would think of when they think of yarn, but I was actually spinning nonetheless.  And as those luscious wool fibers slid through my fingers and spun up into yarn, my heart strings twisted right up with them.  My dear friends, I am hooked.

my first ever bobbin's worth of homespun yarn

bobbin number two
 getting better!

I was allowed to borrow a wheel from the shop for the week until my next class this Saturday.  I have been practicing every chance I get.  It's surreal to see a spinning wheel in my own living room.  I have to say, I really like it... a lot.  I'm going to have to work on making that a permanent reality I think.

Tonight I have a date with a friend to spin with her.  I can't wait.

Last night I worked in the garden until I could no longer see what my fingers were touching just before my eyes.  I got to watch the swollen, golden glowing moon rise above the garden with my fingers still plunged deep in the soil.  At first glimpse, my breath caught in my throat, my heart pounded and the blood rushed in my ears.  My family close to my side, a wheel by the wood stove, earth on my fingers, and a full moon so close I could kiss it.... love.