what a day

When I'm working w/ fiber I get pretty into it, I turn up the music and kind of get lost in the wool. So today I'm finishing up the mystery batts, and I'm really into it, the baby is napping, maggie is on the couch doing math, the other two are playing in their room.... and then I realize that it is suddenly too quiet. So I get up to check on the kids walk back to their room, and they aren't there. So I head to my bathroom which is generally where they go when they want to destroy something and they're not there either, so now I'm a little worried, I yell for them and when I get no answer I ask maggie who just shrugs at me. Now I'm more worried, the house is not a big one, there's not that many places to hide. I make maggie get up to help me as I'm walking throught the house yelling for them and then I hear a noise and turn around. after 15 min. of searching I realize that they are in the dog crate the husband dragged into the house for me this morning (to put a rabbit in for a few hours). When I asked them what they were doing, why they didn't answer me Amadea told me that they were playing sleepy puppy. The panic kind of killed my wool blending groove but I'm glad that they're okay.

Look at him grow!

My little man, Cassius.

Look at her go!

This is my daughter, Magdalena, spinning for the first time! I started her out with some nice superwash and she is learning so fast. I credit most of that to my babe, which is heavenly to spin on.

Is this some kind of sign?!?

So anyway, I'm mixing up this little powdered bit of flavoring into my glass of water because I wanted juice but was out and was too lazy to make tea right then, and I stir it all up and walk away for a min. and when I came back it looked like this.

I had to take a picture to show the husband because I just knew he wouldn't believe me and it really kind of freaked me out. Am I the only one who thinks this looks like a skull?? Is that not weird?? This is my drink, that I just stired up and the foam forms this pattern randomly?? WTH?

Today's little bit of Joy

So I'm in the laundry room, switching laundry, it's right before bedtime and the husband is in the bathroom with the kids presumably getting teeth brushed. Now my son, Phinneas will be 2 in Jan. We are kind of sort of potty training. He regularly takes his diaper off when he has to go. He regularly sneaks/climbs into the bath tub and goes...... Yes, that's right, the bath tub. (he will ocassionally go on the potty for my daughter, but is currently refusing to do it for me. ) Anyway, he was running around with no diaper because I hadn't gotten around to tackling him to strap a new one on yet and they're all in the bathroom and then my husband comes into the laundry room carrying his pants.
And I look at him kinda funny and say, problem? So he says, I got peed on. Apparently he was using the bathroom and phinny seeing daddy and wanting to be a big boy, deciding to stand there and pee too. Except that he's short and can't reach the potty standing up... Sooo, he peed all over daddy's leg.
Now I thought this was hilarious, vince, not so much. But I was laughing so hard I almost fell over.
So there's a little bit of joy for the day, and I personally consider today's episode a step in the direction of potty training!

Come and join the spin a-long

I am hosting a mystery fiber spin a-long! It's a surprise but I can tell you that all batts will have the same fiber content, they are sparkly and wonderful, and there will be a surprise at the end for one lucky person! If you've bought from my shop before you can get your first batt free (just pay shipping) but everyone is welcome to join in. There are listing to join in my etsy shop www.punkjordane.etsy.com

On another note:
I am finally getting around to posting picutres of all my buns. The links to the pages are in my links section. As of now I've got all of my French pictured.

Kids are so amazing

So anyway, last night I put a roast and veggies and such in the crock pot, when Maggie (6) asked me what I was making I told her that it was a roast and we'd eat it tomorrow, and she asked, Ooh, the one with the gravy mommy? So I said sure, I'll do the gravy for it too.
Fast forward to today, did not feel like doing anything. I'm getting ready to carve up the roast and feed everyone and she reminds me about the gravy... and I said in my best whiny kid voice, do I have toooo? and she looks at me and smiles and says, I can do it mommy! So I figured what the heck? She's watched me cook enough times. I got her out what she needed and set her up at the stove and stood by watching as my magical beautiful daughter proceded to show me how it's done. she put butter in and once it was melted started with her little handfulls of flour until she thought it looked right, she remembered how to brown the flour/butter and then started added the juicy stuff from the roast and stirring and before I knew it she had made a wonderful gravy for the roast all on her own! This kid never fails to amaze me. and all I can think is, this is why I teach my children. This is what it's all about. These little things, which are huge accomplishments. I am so thankful for the opportunity to stay at home with my monsters, to take things at our own pace and explore everything and anything that interests us. To have a husband who supports (and usually encourages) us. My children inspire me to try new things and re visit old. They keep me motivated and filled with wonder, They inspire my creativity, and re affirm my lust for life.

A few of my favorite things ( 3 in particular)

This post is an ode to some of my favorite things to eat.
#1 is Rouge River Blue, it's a cheese, and not just any cheese, it's quite possibly the best cheese in the world. I spend most of my summer longing for it and when it starts to get cold I start pestering the wonderful man at the cheese counter about when it will come in. It is a seasonal cheese and despite my best efforts to stock up I have to go months without it every year but it is totally worth the wait, I would rather eat this cheese with bread and honey or a good oil than almost anything else on earth. I never get sick of it, I just love it more.
#2 is Mo's Bacon Bar from Vosges, Salty and Sweet and everything you could ever expect a candy bar to be I don't eat alot of candy but this is definitly one of my go to chocolates. Note: Their D'oliva bar is a tie, it is equally awesome!
#3 is Chuao's Firecracker Bar This is the single best chocolate experience of my life. There's just nothing like it and there's no describing it. It is a taste explosion. Amazing.
Anyway, that's it for today, happy holidays!

She fought the bowl and the bowl won

I have a few rabbits that dig in their food bowls, eat their food bowls, dump their food bowls, or do a combination of the three. I have tried different bowl, feeders, and crocks at different heights and positions and nothing has made this better. I didn't realize how bad it had gotten until I sheared in Nov. and saw that a few of the worst for it were looking a little skinny. So with renewed determination I started looking for a way to stop this, because not only is it costing me money in wasted feed but it is starting to hurt my bunny babies.

I tried to do some research on the internet for a solution but no one seemed to have one. The only helpful tidbit I could find was to get something that was less wide and taller than the feeders and crocks that I had. So yesterday I was in Petsmart, picking out some new toys and a concrete perch for my little lovebirds and in the ferret section there was this neat little crock that attached to the side of the cage. It holds 10 oz. of feed and is skinnier and taller by far than any of my feeders. So I bought two of them just to give it a try with my two most difficult rabbits. Mr. Blue (a french), who has eaten his plastic food bowls that attach to the side of the cage so that he can better dig the feed out and waste his feed and Wonderbunny (a german hybrid) who eats a few bites and then tears her metal j-feeder off of the cage and attacks it every single night no matter how I try to attach it. I brought the feeders home and attached them to the cages, filled them with food, and left them overnight. This morning I went out to check because I figured if these bowls could make it through one night with those two they should last forever with the rest of them and I am happy to report that I have two angry bunnies and two intact feed bowls! No feed spilled either! The way that they are shaped they can't get their feet in there to dig and they attach well enough that they can't pull them off.

I am thrilled. Wonderbunny was so angry that she demolished her cardboard box (I put smallish boxes in for them to eat/play/snuggle in) So ha! I will not be outsmarted by cute fuzzy critters of any sort!

On another note, people suck.

While at petsmart I brought this home

Why, you might ask? Surely not because I needed or wanted another cat! No, it's because some low life peice of crap dumped her out in the dirt lot next to petsmart and it was freezing and she was scared and I am a sucker. This is her in the pocket of the robe that I wear to take care of the bunnies when I am too lazy to put on real clothes and it's cold. She stayed in there the whole time I was out with them and does not like to be away from us. She's a tiny little thing, not old enough to be weaned but she's eating well and I think that she will be okay. What kind of person does this crap?!? I am so angry, what makes someone think that it is okay to drop a pet (that was probably born due to their lack of responsibility in the first place) out in the cold, feet from a busy road to fend for itself. This time of year we always end up with a few extras, I do my best to get them to the vet and get them fixed and find them homes, though there's been quite few cats that have stayed permanantly because we couldn't find them a good place.

Please everyone fix your pets. EVERY pet should be fixed if you aren't a breeder. No excuses. By not fixing your pets you are creating generations of possible unwanted or mistreated animals. Barc is possibly the best pet related program on the face of the earth. Barc helps people who can't afford it to get thier pets fixed. No residency restrictions, no hoops to jump through, just the help that you need. The impact that they are making in reducing the number of stray and unwanted pets is amazing. If you are thinking of making a donation during the holidays please consider Barc

We're reading!!

Today was an amazing breakthrough, my daughter, who recently turned six is learning to read. We're homeschooling of course and technically she would have been in kindergarten this year. We've been working on writing and letter sounds and such for a while now and being a beginning homeschooler I have had my worries about how we were doing in general (made worse my certain members of the husbands family's lack of support) and I haven't been pushing too hard because I figured it would all click when she was ready. I've found that when we start to have a hard time with something it's helpful to switch to another method and with her reluctance to try to sound out words in books (she seemed really intimidated by the thought) I decided to let her work through it on the computer. We started playing the games on starfall and today she started doing the little reading "books" on there and she totally got it! So after computer time was over she still wanted to practice so I got out one of the I can read books (level 1) that I had gotten a few months ago and she just started sounding out the words and putting the sentances together and it was magic! We've done it, we've learned to read, all on our own with no excessive amounts of homework or "boyfriends" or early morning hour long bus rides! I am thrilled and so is she, I just can't wait to show the husband when he gets home from work!
AND that's not the only breakthrough that we've had today! My son phinneas (who will be two Jan. 23rd) went on the potty! We've been trying for a few weeks and he wanted nothing to do with it, absolutly refusing to even go near the potty and I was getting really fustrated so we decided to switch back to cloth diapers since I got a bunch of nice pocket diapers at cotton babies a while back and they are still to big for little Cassius and I just got some really wonderful diaper inserts from Purple ducks on etsy. So anyway I put him in the cloth diapers and then he decided to take it off and I asked him if he needed to go potty and first he shook his head no but then he nodded so we ran in there and I put him on it and he went!
What a day, I will admit, sometimes having four kids this young and the business and everything else going on it's hard. The bad days are really bad, but then there are the really good days like this when everything is working and I'm getting the house clean and fleeces washed and kids taught and it all comes together and it's like, wow, what a sense of accomplishment!
Now here's hoping that tomorrow goes smoothly, we will be making pies and anything else that we can make ahead for thanksgiving since the husband will be at work all day and I will be cooking and handling the kids all day by myself. I can't remember a thanksgiving that I didn't have some sort of meltdown and that's even with the husband helping But I love being able to have his mom and whoever else shows up over and serving this giant meal that I made from scratch and all that.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Bah Humbug

I am sick again! my sinuses have decided to rebel and I'm in a rather foul mood at the moment. Today I am washing wool, just finishing up a nice charcoal grey/brown shetland fleece and then I am going to start on a super nice looking but horribly rammy smelling white fleece.

I am also working on a little basket to store some of my excess stuff in. Not sure what will go in it yet but I've finished the bottom and now I am starting up the sides. I am making it out of scraps of the things the kids outgrew this year!

And I am starting to prepare for the upcoming years fiber fests! I am braiding roving and dying fibers and figuring out what I will run short on so I can be sure to get more. The best part about being sick is that the husband handles the kids and mostly no one bothers me so I can actually get stuff done as long as it doesn't involve alot of moving around.

Here's some dyed angora as it rinses (it's drying right now).

After the dust settles

Sept/oct was such a traumatic time for me and my family. Being in the hospital, separated from my kids, not able to go home and then having our little man early. Then the almost full month of driving an hour and 45 min. to the hospital and back everyday to see him and the struggle to get him off of oxygen and ready to come home really took it out of me.
Now, after almost a month of having him home we are finally starting to settle down, I don't think I will ever recover from the stress and trauma of that time, but I think that I am finally starting to move past it.
I still kind of can't believe we all made it through in one piece and though I have always been pretty laid back when it comes to the kids I will admit I am still pretty anxious about Cassius. He spend alot of time in the sling or in my arms. Even now he's chilling out on the boppy in my lap as I type.
I've been taking my anxiety on the dyepot and creating some really beautiful stuff because of it and I think this whole experience had helped me grow. Being able to pour all this emotion into my yarns and fiber has been an immense help and I am starting to to plan for next years fibers fairs and other fun events.
After coming through all of this I feel like I can handle anything and it is pure joy to be at home with the family. I think that I appreciate it all so much more now.

And the Winner is.....

Congratulations to 4dogsmom who won my big birthday fiber gift pack!! I had a ton of fun putting this together and I am sure that she will love it!
On another note cashmere and soysilk have arrived and will be in the shop very soon but if you just can't wait to get your hands on some let me know and I will get you hooked up early.

Today is my Birthday!!

Today is my birthday! I am having a sale in the shop http://www.punkjordane.etsy.com/ 15% off of any $25 purchase and 15% and free shipping off of any $50 purchase, plus every purchase enters you into a drawing for the giant 8 oz. fiber goodie box! This box is 8 oz. of art batts, hand dyed rovings, and other fiber goodies.

There's a bunch of really awesome stuff in the shop right now and if you're looking for angora I am in the middle of shearing so I have tons, if you don't see what you are looking for just email me and I can let you know exactly what I have fluffingtonfarms@yahoo.com

Just soaking up the baby goodness

Well my little man is home and I am loving it. I'm still a little anxious and he spends the majority of his time in his sling because I can't bear to be away from him but we are all doing well. The kids adjusted to having him much better than I thought and so far there hasn't been any major jealousy or other badness. I am starting to get going dying and carding and spinning again, and I've got a ton of things to post about as I have time so there will probably be more than one in a day sometimes. Anyway, here is a picture of my guy. We named him Cassius.

The roughest month of my life

Well, I know that I kind of disappeared for a while, At the beginning of September my water broke early ( I wasn't due until nov. 9th) and I was put into the hospital. On the 17th I had the newest addition to our family, Cassius Sullivan Shaw. He weighed 5lbs 1 oz. and is mostly healthy.
I haven't felt much like blogging (or anything else) lately. He is still in the nursery and we are making the almost 2 hour drive to the hospital on a daily basis.
This has been a really hard last month and right now we are just trying to get through each day.
I am slowly trying to get everything back to normal though right now I'm kind of just going through the motions.
Hopefully this nightmare will all be over with soon, it's taken it's toll on all of us.
Thank you everyone for you thoughts and well wishes.

It's been forever

I seriously didn't realize that it had been so long! It's pregnancy hormones, I swear! I still don't feel very talkative. All is well but I am tired and ready to be done being pregnant. Will try to do a real blog post soon.

Goin Crazy

Well I have kind of retreated lately, the pregnancy hormones are not treating me well. I am bouncing from one extreme to another and it is really taking it's toll. I've still got morning sickness - of the never ending nausia variety. I've got bunnies for sale, new fibers dyed, and tonight I am going to pick up a bunch more fleeces if all goes as planned. But I am waiting on my camera to recharge so that I can take pictures.
I have been super stressed lately. We still haven't decided what curriculum we are going to use this year, but other than that things are going well. We've been without tv since june and it's wonderful. My kids have always been imaginative but yesterday I found them acting out the movie "The Incredibles" and they were doing a pretty good job of it! They even got little phinny involved and he was loving it.
We are getting ready to paint the kitchen in bright colors. And I got all the stuff I need for some bunny shed renovations that will make my life easier as I get bigger and it gets harder to do my chores.
We are 99% sure that the baby is going to be another boy. With the girls I am calm and lazy and get super huge. But this one is just like with phinny, except worse. The hormones are baaad. I am anxious and hyper without really accomplishing much. I've really only gotten big in the belly area. I'm a little nervous about the prospect of having two boys so close together. I can only imagine what it will be like when they are old enough to team up. Phinneas by himself is a tornado.

Look what I found!!

Please ignore the horrible mess in the background!! My vaccum is broken and I just couldn't wait to take pictures.

Okay so I found this wheel. It's pretty, seems to be in good condition. It's missing the thing that connects the treadle to the wheel, the drive band(s) and part of the flyer. I think that it is fixable.

It has made in Canada Stamped on the bottom but no other identifying marks. I want to clean it up nice but I don't know what to use. My neighbor (who is very handy) is making me a makeshift piece to connect the treadle to the wheel so that I can give it a test run and decide what to do with it. It does not seem to have an orifice, which is really confusing me, and I can't find anywhere that would adjust the tension either. All advice is appreciated. I am just so happy that I found it, it's so pretty!

5 days old

These are my new little guys. I still don't know if they will make it but they are 5 days old now and I am hopeful. We are still forcing momma to feed them but I am making efforts to encourage her mothering skills.

4th of July Sale

4th of JULY Sale!!

First: All purchases starting today 6/24/09 are going to be entered in a drawing. On July 4th I will draw names for prizes. Prizes will be #1 2oz. of hand painted mulberry silk brick, #2 2 oz of handpainted milk protein roving, #3 4 oz. of handpainted bamboo, #4 Firestar Sampler pack.

Spend $10 or more and get Free shipping from now until the 4th all items 4 oz. and smaller, 50% off shipping to Canada and overseas.

Free gift with any purchase $20 and over.

Name that bunny contest, will soon be posted on the blog, prizes will be angora rabbit wool.

Shop will be updated with a new item (sometimes more) every day, check the shop daily, surprise discounts and new items might appear out of nowhere.

Yarn is buy one get one of equal or lesser value 25% off

punkjordane@earthlink.net
www.fluffingtonfarms.blogspot.com
www.punkjordane.etsy.com

Rough Going

Well yesterday we had a litter born early. She had them on the wire and I found them in time to save some I hope. She's a first time momma and wants nothing to do with the nest box. We finally had to remove it because she kept tipping it and destroying the nest. She isn't feeding them so we are having to hold her a few times a day so that they can eat. Three of them look really good, considering. The other one is hanging on but I don't know for how long. He is much tinier than the rest but he is determined to eat so I am rooting for him. I am doing everything that I can to save the ones that are left and I hope that some of them make it. They are Mr. and Megans babies and with all the difficulty we had convincing Mr. to breed in the first place I don't know if we'll ever get him to again. Keep your fingers crossed, I will post pictures in a few days if they make it.

Been so Busy!

Hello All! I have a Free Shipping sale going on in my shop http://www.punkjordane.etsy.com/

I have been so busy soaking fleeces and dying up silk and bamboo and milk. But I am loving the new dyes and the results that I am getting. It's inspired me and I am spinning some new stuff too! My bunnies are getting big and I am behind on taking pictures of them but I plan to get it done tomorrow. I am sooo sleepy but I have accomplished alot in the last couple of days and hopefully I will have the energy to keep going. I feel so serene lately, like no matter what happens I can handle it. I am so blessed to have the friends and family that I do. I feel so lucky to be able to do what I love everyday.

It's finally over

Well my little media scandal is finally over and I just want to thank the over a hundred people who stood up for me and Angoras and handspinning until they apologized! I am exhausted but for the first time since wednesday morning feel like I can breath. I am so proud of the fiber community as a whole for pulling together on this and even the many local people who made their voices heard. I hope to put this behind me as a lesson learned not just about evil reporters but about all the wonderful people out there willing to stand up when something isn't right and defend a little guy. It's so difficult to put into words the range of emotions that I have been through or the depth of my gratitude to all of you. All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys did this wonderful thing and I am so grateful. What a wonderful world that I live in to coexist with you all.

ummm....

Well, my babies are growing nicely. Active and cute and momma has really settled down in the last few days. New pictures of them are at www.meetthebuns.blogspot.com I got a ton of stuff done today and updated the shop www.punkjordane.etsy.com free shipping has been randomly sprinkled around the shop. I was lucky enough to be included in the spindies co-op, so now you can find some of my things there too! http://hyenacart.com/onestore.php?vid=3017&category=14 Tomorrow I will be at the Desoto Farmers market with some bunnies and my fiber and yarn and maybe some herb plants too, then I will be heading over to Illinios to pick up this years shearing of a cheviot flock. I seem to be mostly over the yucky morning sickness part of this pregnancy, which means that it's probably a boy. I can't wait to find out! I've been playing a bit with my new mx dyes and so far I am loving them! Though I am going to have to find a special storage space for them because now all of my dye stuff has taken over the kitchen! The garden is going well with tons of green tomatoes and tonight we will eat a salad with lettuce and radishes that my maggie has been in charge of. I am still behind but feeling less horrible about it which means that I can actually get some things done.
I bought lotion the other day from Crazy K Bath and Body. This stuff is awesome. It's their Shea & Macadamia Nut Body Mousse and I got it in the Cuban Coffee Bean Scent. It's super rich but the real reason I love it, aside from the killer coffee scent is my husband. He has fair skin and if he goes outside, even with sunscreen he burns and then, even worse, he peels. I've found that if I slather this stuff on right after he comes in not only is his burn much more tolerable but there is no peeling! He says that it really makes it feel better and any time that I can convince him to indulge my lotion/body cream addiction I'm happy.

Overwhelmed

The last few days have been rough. I feel so overwhelmed. Messy house, misbehaving children, horrible wool eating dog. And an ever growing list of to do's that is really starting to freak me out. I think it's mostly pregnancy hormones but I am having a rough time. The husband was wonderful yesterday, helping me make a dent in the house after I spent an afternoon crawling around underneath it trying to reconnect the a/c wires that one of my darling kitties helped to disconnect. So I decided to make him something wonderful for dinner. This is perfect for more towards summer when the garden provides half of the meal or more but I just couldn't wait any longer.

Tomato salad:
cut up four large tomatoes into slices or chunks
cut up a large hunk of mozzarella into slices or chunks
tear up a good handful of fresh basil leaves
mix it all together and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil

Serve with Fresh bread and wine. Homemade bread is the best but for store bought my vote goes to LaBrea Bakery Rosemary olive oil round loaf (commonly found at schnucks) . For the wine we had Bella Sera 2007 pinot grigio. Which is my favorite wine for light summer dishes, especially those with fresh tomatoes or a light pasta. The kids get white grape juice.
My three monsters will clear thier plates and want more everytime I make this and my maggie always helps to prepare it.
It's nice and quick after a hot day in the garden or doing other labor that does not leave you in a cooking sort of mood. This is best eaten outside somewhere shady and wonderful so that you can lay back and relax afterwards.

It's starting to feel like summer

Well it's hot, I am frazzled it's starting to feel like summer! But today while staking up some of my tomato plants and weeding the flower garden I noticed that I have tomatoes on two plants! Then I saw that my hollyhocks have opened up their first blooms! So my day, while hectic, was pretty wonderful. I am exhausted, but in a mostly good way. Hopefully tomorrow I will get to play with some of my new dyes. Also, there are new pictures of the babies at http://meetthebuns.blogspot.com/

They're Here!!

My babies are here! Five perfect little bunnies. Four are dark and one is light and one of the dark ones is a bit of a runt but I am very pleased. Momma has turned into a bit of a psycho, she is very displeased with any thought of my handling the babies or even watching her and she grunts and squeeks nervously the whole time that I am within sight but she is taking good care of them and I'd rather have an overprotective momma than a bad one. The babies look like they are ready to burst after thier morning feeding and are pretty acitve for two days old. I will start updating the Meet the buns page at about four days so that everyone can watch them grow with me. I can't wait to see what colors they are, wether they are boys or girls, and hopefully at least some of them will have gotten that wonderful satin sheen from thier momma and the upped wool production from thier daddy.

We're Expecting!

Somehow I lost track of time! I woke up this morning and started my day, feeding the kids, getting my coffee, sat down at the computer and saw the date..... Jumped up and ran to the bunny shed. Now on the 23rd I checked both girls and was 99.9% sure that my french girl was not pregnant but I was having a really hard time deciding on my Satin girl. So I put my buck back in with them in thier playspace outside and the French doe was very receptive andhopefully this breeding took. My little satin passion though was not, she grunted and squeeked at him and he left her alone. I had planned on checking again yesterday but somehow got sidetracked so when I realized the date and ran out there I first checked the French, definitly not pregnant (or at least not from the previous breeding) so then I go to check Passion. Passion is usually such a sweet girl, running to the front of the cage for love and treats. I reached my hand in there and she crunched up in the back of the cage, when I tried to feel her tummy she made unfriendly noises at me and almost tried to bite me! So I grabbed her out and sure enough, big hard baby belly, you can feel where her milk is coming in, and she is not feeling very friendly either. Soo I started rushing around setting up the nusery cage, brought her in and right away she started nest building activities! I usually like to bring them in a few days before so that they can get used to the different cage but time just got away from me. I am really excited though! I remembered just in time and should have baby bunnies by tonight! Will post pictures as soon as they're here.

Today was pretty okay, we got up early and headed to the farmers market. Sold some yarn and met lots of nice people AND There was a wonderful woman named Kelly who sells Fresh baked bread and other goodies and her stuff is to die for! She has a website http://www.mamasweettreatsandbreads.com/ . We ate almost a whole loaf of her asiago cheese bread while we were there, it was just to good to stop. Then we came home and I worked in the garden and turned some of the compost and did a good cleaning of the bunny shed. Then I let the buns out in thier playgroups for some excercize in the play area. Everyone was well behaved and really seemed to enjoy the time outside and I got to spend some serious time just loving on them. I love how the personalities are so different, some them like Passion and Tigerlily (who have side by side cages) totally stick together. Some like my Sammy and Mr. Blue Stay within petting reach of me or the kids at all times. Cass is bent on making sure that everyone knows that she is in charge of her space in the grass and that she does not want company. Puff and his sister both tear around like wild things. I could sit in there and watch them all day and I couldn't help but pull out the camera for a bit.

Marshfield

Saturday we went to the Marshfield fiber fair and it was awesome! We had so much fun, I got to see old friend and meet some new ones, I found a few things that I just couldn't live without but I did better this year, actually brought some of the money home instead of spending it all. Very proud of myself for my restraint. It was great though and I am so happy that I decided to go. I am really considering bethel but god, the stress that comes with getting ready for a fiber fair, I don't know if I can do that more than once a year! I have been back to the dye pot a bit today, and have totally fallen in love with milk protein fiber. If you've never tried it before you seriously have to.

Getting behind again

There I go, getting behind on the blog again! On the 9th I went to the Indian Springs wool day and I had such a great time. I found a nice mohair fleece at a bargain price, got to chat with friends and see the beautiful Angora goats and really enjoyed myself. The goats were awesome and friendly and I am in love with mohair all over again. I can't wait for next year!

Getting it done

Well the last few days have been hectic. I am working hard to get everything ready for Marshfield on the 16th, http://www.hfafiberfair.com/fairarchives.htm It just won't stop raining and I have been washing and dyeing wool like crazy so I set up the old box fan at a slant and my fibers are drying quickly (but not quick enough) there. I feel like I am going crazy, the house is a mess, the kids are on the warpath, and I keep running out of hours in the day. I have wool in the bathtub, wool in the sink, wool in the outside utility sink, wool in dyepots on the stove, wool hanging from cabinets, wool on the fan..... Good thing the husband is working a double today! Between the kids fort building activities and my wool he might not be so thrilled. Tonight I have to pack orders, once the house is clean and I have a space to do it, and at some time I have plants that need to go in the garden. Did a pretty good cleaning on the rabbit shed last night and shoveled compost and printed up new labels for my stuff at marshfield. So excited to be going again this year. But really nervous as always. I always do best under pressure though! The etsy shop is a bit low or not stocked with certain things www.punkjordane.etsy.com if you are looking for soemthing in particular just email me punkjordane@earthlink.net Most likely I have it, I'm just trying to get things situated.

My first batts

Well, the morning sickness has been overwhelming and I haven't gotten much done lately but I did finally get pictures of my first batts. 7 oz. of alpaca, cotswald, silk, angora, merino, and two colors of firestar. I have already gotten a good portion of it spun up and now I am getting ready to recard about half of it and add in more of the same alpaca that I have dyed purple. Then I will spin it all up and ply the lighter one with the darker one and have a pretty purplish alpaca blend yarn. Right now it's probably about 60% alpaca 40% other goodies and it's just so awesome. It's the first of some yarns that I am spinning for some alpaca owning friends and I am so excited to get this one done and start on the next one.

the garden

This morning I woke up early and got 40 (yes, I counted them) more tomato plants in the ground. Then I had a conversation with the peppers and remaining tomatoes about being patient and not dying before I planted them. My carrots and radishes are looking good, my cabbage and brussle sprouts and other spring goodies are coming along nicely, and I am getting ready to plant another round of peas. I realized last year that If I plant the peas on the other side of the house and I keep planting in sucsession that I can have peas all summer long even though they don't like the heat. The beds that I have at the back of the house get shade for most of the day and it stays cool enough that even my lettuce doesn't really bolt over there. I've been sprouting morning glory seeds for the last few days and they are just about ready to plant. I never had much luck with morning glories until a friend told me how to sprout them and now I have the most amazing display every summer when I wake up in the morning. To get big healthy morning glories the best way is to ignore the directions on the seed packet and get a damp paper towel. Spread the seeds out on the paper towel, fold it up and put it in a ziplock bag. Label the bag and forget about it for between 3-6 days and then when you remember and open up the bag you will have morning glory seedlings ready to go in the ground. Mine are just about ready and that means that tonight I will have to get out there and get the sunflowers planted so that I can put the morning glories at thier feet. Oh well, it is time for me to shower and head off to my friend Anne's house for a day of spinning and fun!

They did it!!

Well today, because it's hot and I had nothing better to do in the heat I decided to try to breed my new French buck with my Satin doe. They did it so I should be expecting a litter next month. Then, just for the heck of it I decided to put my Satin buck (the one who just won't do it) in with my new French doe and who would have guessed, he did it too! So now I am expecting two litters! I really did not expect Mr. to ever be interested in a girl, it's been over a year of trying but I guess love was in the air today. I am so happy! I have been shoveling compost for days now and have gotten lots of stuff in the ground. When it cools off tonight I might try to get some more tomatoes in, they are ready and I need to get it done. I am now on to planting flowers, melons, herbs that didn't make it through the winter, and extra this and that. I am so happy though, my mint, chocolate mint, lemon balm, tyme, and sage all made it through and are starting to go nutts. My rosemary looks like it is considering coming back to life, the pumpkins are sprouting in thier usual spot though I have no idea how I get pumpkins that I didn't plant in the same spot every year. I swear I picked every single one of them last fall. I also have tomatoes on the side of the house that come back every year, though they always come up late. I have tons of weeding to do in the flower beds and tons more compost to shovel and disperse. I wanted to add another raised bed behind the house and fill it with hollyhocks and other misc. but I am running out of time and It's hard to get it all done with phinneas getting into everything. The weather has been hot and I need to go get all the fans out so that I don't roast. Morning sickness has me on the couch quite a bit lately but I have been tearing through books like I used to before the kids so it's not a total waste of time. There's yet another cat that someone moved away and left behind so I am planning another trip up to get animals fixed. It will have to wait though, this spring has not been kind to the unowned kitties and so far we have had one get snakebit and almost die and then this newest one had a disagreement with someone and has horrible gashes around his eye and one that is in the inner corner. I am putting stuff on it and it looks as good as can be expected but he's lucky, just a hair to the right and he would have lost his eye. This year only brought in a few cats, each year it is less which makes me happy because I know that it is due to me and of course www.barcstl.org I could never have done any of this without them. When we moved out here there were at least 30 cats that lived in or around the dumpster. Thier spay/nueter program has reduced that # greatly as I have gotten them fixed through them and then paid their shots and other things on my own and found most of them good homes. This year we have had three tom cats and a single female kitten found. One of the Tom's and the little girl I already found homes for but need to get fixed and the other two boys will get fixed and then probably just stay with me, They are the ones that have been injured and I don't see them ever being content as being indoor housepets. Then of course there's Opus who didn't come from the neighborhood but found me all the same. It is hot and much easier to sit at the computer and type than it is to venture out and try to work. The heat makes me sick and lazy and the kids are restless. Maybe we will go outside and see if we can arrange the sprinkler in a way that it doesn't soak the laundry on the line.

Another day of excitement

Well, first here is a picture of my new girl, a lovely little lilac tort. French doe from Celtic Hare Rabbitry. Her name is Megan May and she is a sweetheart! I am so happy with the buns that I got from her, if you are in the Ohio area and looking for french I would suggest getting ahold of Vici.

Yesterday I went to visit my friend Kati, she has new angora buckling and the most adorable little shetland cross lamb that I have ever seen. He is more puppy than lamb, I just wish I would have thought to take pictures while I was there! We got to spin together and catch up and she let me borrow one of her drum carders! I made my first batt today, well actually half of my first batt. I wanted to see how a color/fiber combo would work it's two different shades of firestar, blueish silk, white angora, purpleish cotswald, and purple, blue, and white superwash. I love it so much that I decide to wash up some white alpaca from a friend and as soon as it is dry I plan to recard and add a bunch of it in and it will be the first of a bunch of really awesome yarns that I am spinning for them. I am so proud of myself! I picked up the drum carding pretty quickly with no mishaps or issues so far. AND I searched last night about cleaning it and saw that someone is using a shop vac to clean thiers so I am going to try it when I am done, I would be thrilled if it realy is that easy. I plan to add more silk and more sparklies to the batt when I add in the alpaca but I am really pleased with how it is turning out! I will post pictures as soon as the alpaca is dry and I get to card it in.

Sheepy goodness

On Thurday we went to visit my friend Debbie at Redbud Lane Farm. We took on of our French babies out for her and got to see her lambs. She raises the most wonderful Shetland sheep and a bunch of other critters too. I don't get out there very often to see her, they are about 3 hours from me but everytime I go I am struck by how horrible it is that all of my favorite people live so far away from me! Seriously, if I lived closer she wouldn't be able to get rid of me. Of course I got some scrumptious fleeces while I was there too, If you are looking for Shetlands in the Missouri area she is the person to go to, her sheep are loved and it shows. They all come running when "mom" calls, they are friendly and tame and as a handspinner the fleeces are to die for. I can't wait until we have the space to bring one or two home. It was a really great day and I was so glad to have made it out there, I can't wait to go back and visit again and hopefully I can convince the husband into it sometime this summer. By then I will have gotten a chance to spin up some of those awesome fleeces and there will hopefully be a new baby donkey to ooh and aah over.

Too good not to post!

While digging in the garden this afternoon I noticed that my green onions were doing really well so I yanked a bunch up, enough to share with the neighbors and have plenty for myself. sitting there looking at my bunch of rather large, delicious looking little onions I decided to go in search of a recipe that would show them off and found this one. We had it for dinner tonight and I didn't think to take pictures but it was wonderful. Everyone loved it and I was so happy to use my onions! One thing though, before you add cream and 2nd cup of mushrooms the soup should be strained through a colander to get out any stringy onion bits that didn't get pureed enough. Other than that it was a perfect seasonal recipe and I am very very happy with it.


INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons butter
6 bunches green onions
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
5 cups vegetable broth
2 cups small mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup heavy cream

1. In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, melt the butter and add the green onions, along with salt and pepper to taste. Saute for a few minutes, until the onions are softened, then add broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Add 1 cup of the mushrooms. Puree in a food processor or blender until smooth, then put the soup back in the pot, add the cream and the remaining mushrooms, and heat gently (do not boil) until the mushrooms are tender.
3. Serve warm.
Serves 4

Our little vacation

As I said before, I am catching up so posts are just a little bit out of order. On the 7th we loaded up the van and left for Ohio. We visited family, hit some local attractions, and of course picked up a few new buns. It was a really awesome trip. The first picture is my new boy, His name is Bluman and he is from Celtic Hare Rabbitry, I also brought home a pretty little tort. doe but I don't have pictures of her yet. Both of them are super sweet and just beautiful. We went to the Cleveland Zoo and they have the most awesome rainforest area, we saw Lake Erie and Amish Country and picked up some maple sugar candy for me. We also had a very unfortunate wrong turn onto the Ohio turnpike, which resulted in our being lost for hours. I wish we would have had more time but we did have alot of fun and by the 12th I was ready to get home so we loaded back up into the van and started our 9 hour drive. We got home around 4 in the morning and I was so relieved to be home in my own bed. Next year I am thinking maybe Florida, But it depends at least a little bit on the buns that I can find along the way.

Shearing day

Okay, obviously I have fallen behind so my next few post will possibly be a bit out of order. So much has happened and I have horrible violent morning sickness so it's hard to get much done. On Tuesday we went to shearing at Big River Alpacas, Mariposa Farms Alpacas and some others were also there. We had so much fun! My husband got to play photographer and I got up close and personal with the alpacas and loved every minute of it. The shearer was so efficient, finishing an animal in about five minutes, at first I was stunned. It all went so quickly, everyone worked together and really it went so much more smoothly than I had imagined. It was a great day, alpacas are usually a bit standoffish and I really got to touch them and examine fleeces and I feel like I learned alot. The babies were my favorite though, after shearing they are so tiny!I brought home fleeces that I saw come off and couldn't keep my hands off of and I learned that alpaca spit smells like poo. I have tons of spinning work to do and have already started washing fleeces. It was the most awesome day and I hope that I get invited back next year!

I caught it

Well, it's happened again. We've caught babies. I am thrilled, though maybe a bit surprised. Vince of course is hoping for another boy, I think I would be happy with either, though I do still have tons of super cute girly stuff. I can't wait until all of this horrible morning sickness stuff is over and the nesting kicks in. I get so much done when I am pregnant, I don't even need the coffee because hormones take care of it for me!
On another note, I got some new stuff posted to the shop today, stuff I was working on the other day. We got Vince's aunt to take the kids Wednesday night and headed off to the lake house for a day to ourselves, It's been a long time since we got to do much of anything just the two of us and it was nice to reconnect and just spend all day together. It rained on and off and I opened up the sliding glass doors so that we could listen to the rain and the birds and we curled up and watched the squirrels chase each other all over the place. I guess I really do need to take more time here and there for that kind of thing, it's not often that I slow down long enough to relax like that. I have also been working on a little sweater that I found a pattern for, it will be the first real thing that I have knit from a pattern and though I am only 40 rows in it is looking good so far.
Today I have a list of things to do, I have been shopping online for a new van, we are planning to buy one before Monday and I am so anxious to have a vehicle that will fit all of us again. The house has gotten messy again and I am working on it in between other stuff, trying to pack because we are heading up to Ohio to see family for a while. Hoping to leave on the 7th because I want to be able to make it to the Farmers Market meeting that night. I need to be better organized. I say this every day, yet it just doesn't ever seem to come together quite the way that I had planned. Guess that I have rambled on enough for the day, I am going to try to get everything done so that I can work on some experimental yarn that I had an idea for.

Catching up

Well I've been so busy that I have been a bit neglectful of the blog. So this post is going to be all about good news. First the phat fiber boxes went out, I got one and blogged about it because it was awesome and here are some links to people who got a box with some of my samples in it and liked them! Farm Girl Chic , Marcie's Variety , and Black Tie Fiber Arts . Next comes a link to a blog, she was my 100th customer so of course I sent her some extra goodies, now I find myself reading her blog regularly, I think we would like each other quite a bit if we lived closer. Electric Tree. Also I am going to be participating in the new local Farmer's Market! Our opening day is May 9th and I can't wait! They are using pictures of my yarn and buns on the flyer and I should be added to the blog soon too! I am so excited at the prospect of meeting local knitters and fiber people! So anyway, life is good. Phinny seems to be doing fine, though we still have a few appointments with specialists left to go. We are going to be making a trip to Ohio in April and I am gearing up for that and trying to get over the anxiety that leaving my buns for a week involves. I know that they will be in good hands, my neighbor is going to be taking care of them for me and she has helped out enough to know what she is doing. Today I am washing wool, so far I have a cheviot fleece soaking in the tub and I am working on a cotswald in the sink. Maybe i'll get the dye pots going too. I am thinking of destashing some special project angora but I am not sure how to price it yet. I have been saving it forever but I just don't think that I have the time or ideas to make it into something awesome. Hope to post pictures of my wool progress tomorrow.

So much

I have so much to do! Today I am repotting seedlings, some of which I am going to be offering for sale though I am still a bit nervous about shipping even after talking to the post office people about the best ways to ship. I am going to be dyeing up a ton of wool today and maybe experimenting with bamboo too and maybe if there's time I will make some new art yarn rovings. Today has an awesome start, I feel very ambitious. Tomorrow I am going to meet a woman about a horse, if all works out I will be riding for her a bit and I am really excited if a little nervous. I realize that I have not ridden in a ring in quite some time, mostly because my buddy finds it mind numbing and turns into a rodeo horse after about 10 min. which usually results in our having to run hills for at least an hour before he becomes managable again. So now I am worried about how sloppy I might have gotten and wishing that I had gotten a chance to get up there to ride a few times this week. I would feel better about things if I had. I always have liked the horses with a few issues, the ones that no one else wants to mess with and those type of horses have found me throughout my life and provided hours of intense thought on problem solving, even more hours of intense riding time, and not just a few injuries. I know that it will all be fine, but I am still so nervous to be meeting someone new! So today I will throw myself into work and hopefully deal with it so that tomorrow will be okay.

I got my Box!!

Well, after a really horrible week I got my phat fiber box today! It is full of nothing but awesomeness, like x-mas in a box! Two of my teenage neighbors were there with me to open it and though they have no real interest in fiber they were amazed. It really is that good!