Today I harvested an armload of oregano (my 2nd harvest of that) and of basil (1st harvest of that).

oregano (this is a pretty big basket)

basil before......

.....and after.  

Still plenty to eat fresh, and  what I cut today will be dried.   I prefer to dry my herbs naturally, but ended up today having more green stuff than places to hang or lay it out to dry.   So, out came the dehydrator for a wash, then I fired it up for the first time this season and have the oregano drying in there now. 

OOPS!   That ruffled green 'spaceship' tells me that I got my seedlings mixed up.  I have 2 Patty Pan squash (aka scalloped squash - is there a difference?)  and 0 zucchini.  Oh well, as prolific as that is, I'm sure someone will have some they want to give away.  If not.....Farmer's Market! 

I have green tomatoes on the Roma plants, but the German Pink got a later start, and as I remember last year, they were late-season producers. 

All the Angora bunnies have had their Spring/Summer haircuts and mani/pedis now. 

Niko enjoying his new 'do,' while playing with Mom in her bedroom.  He can hold his ears up if he wants to, but one is lazy. I think it's adorable.

He's much lighter than he appears in this photo.  His body wool is very white with taupe points. 

  

And Abigail is laying like clockwork again.  Nothing from Dolley yet, but I'm thinking it could be soon.  I'm not sure how old she was when I got her, but I think it was 10-12 weeks, and that was three months ago.    

Breakfast last week.  As soon as this photo was taken, I broke those yolks and thoroughly cooked them.  I don't like runny yolks.  They're raw!  Ick.  

It's great getting food, seasonings/medicine and fiber that can be made into garments from your own home! 

Until next time, from Wren Cottage...    

Earth stood hard as iron .......

......... water like a stone.   Familiar lyrics from "In the Deep Midwinter, " and very descriptive of the conditions here, only it isn't even winter yet, much less 'mid.'   We had a couple of inches of snow here last weekend that are still hanging on, because it's so coooooold! 

Not much farming goes on at an urban farm in the winter.   I still haul bunny poo out - 5 gallon buckets at a time - and dump it on the garden, but I quit composting when it started getting so cold.  I know it should still be able to 'cook,' in the winter, but mine is such a haphazard pile, I doubted it would do that for me. 

I've upped my diligence about filling the bird feeder - and don't mind other critters that share in the dropped seed.  Last winter I saw definite wild bunny tracks going from heap to heap of bunny poo - checking it out.

Abigail is still broody, the Angora bunnies are about halfway through a coat-growing cycle, the Mini Rexs are molting, and the cats are practically hibernating.   Not much going on here - farm wise.    I went to Versailles after work one day this week to pick up chicken feed, and there inside the door was a huge, black, stove (coal? wood?) giving off lovely rays of heat - just the thing when walking in from the cold.  The hiss of the stove, the homely smells of the feed, the people in coveralls coming in and out.......why do I live in the city?

I made another score at the auction last week - that as usual I did not plan to go to - a lovely old piece of transferware: 

I had said in another post that I would like to find another piece or two of brown transferware, and even though this is a LOT more elaborate in design than what I really like - it was mine for a low bid.  A blogger who seems expert in this area was nice enough to tell me the pattern when I e-mailed her.   The really exciting part is she is sure it was manufactured between 1826-40.  I don't have to have old things, and I'm usually just has happy with reproductions and Home Goods ware, but the history-lover in me was impressed with the age of this.

Lastly, thank you to Michelle , who surprised me yesterday with a package of some samples of her Shetland fiber, because I said that was one breed I had never spun.  The samples are luscious, and I can hardly wait to get to them.  I may even pull out a spindle for the occasion.   I keep telling Michelle I wish someone in this area would get into Shetlands for fine fiber, and now that I've felt her Shetland roving, I'd like that even more.

Until next time from Wren Cottage ..........

Yarn and more

I finally got my first skein of angora done.  It was a blend of angora and Corriedale wool.  I don't have scales to measure exactly, but I would guess it was roughly 30% to 40% angora to wool.  I used hand cards for this.  I have fine fiber cards, but just used my regular ones, and it worked out fine.  I used the clipped angora, and since there were 3 or 4 lengths of coat in each 'lock,' I thought the shortest pieces would act like second cuts and pop out, but they didn't.  How much it will pill remains to be seen.  It was surprisingly easy to spin - because of the wool, I would imagine - and seemed similar to alpaca in the way it spun up.  I don't have a photo of the skein, but if I take one, I will add it later.  Not much to see at this point, just a light gray skein of yarn, but it is soft!   I could tell just as I held it while spinning, that it will be warm.  I spun it as fine as I could, and I normally spin pretty fine.  I found a lace scarf pattern that is supposed to be good for beginners, and thought I might use it for that.  This first spinning will stay natural gray, I think - plenty of time for dyeing later. 


Shearing vs plucking experiment:  Holly's  (the clipped one)  coat is growing in very, very dense, but at times I think to myself, "but it isn't soft....' (relatively speaking-I'm sure it's just my imagination).  Ivy (plucked) is very silky soft, but her coat has lost a lot of it's density, naturally, since plucking removed 1/4 to 1/3 of her coat, depending on how many she was growing in when her baby coat began to molt.   I haven't decided what to do in the future, but especially since the clipped wool spun up so nicely, and clipping is so easy..........I haven't thought about clipping Ivy down at this point, though.  It's too cold, and I want to see if I can get more length on it.  


Holly and Ivy are still loving their pets and ear rubs, but still hating going in and out of the cage.  I don't know where I would put it, but I may also have to resort to a grooming table.  They are far more interested in exploring and wadding up the towel I have them on, rather than be content to sit still for grooming.   And easing them onto their rump to tip them back enough to get the belly brushed - fu'get about it!!   Holly pulled a naughty one last night!  I had been petting her and touched her toy to move it so I could reach her better, when she growled, lunged and tried to bite me.  She did it twice, so I said NO!, took her toy away, closed the cage and left the room.  Later after she had calmed down, I came back, gave her the toy back and stroked her a while and she was fine.  Everything I am reading says this is hormonal, that pet rabbits should be spayed or neutered, but not to let any vet who is not a rabbit expert touch your bun.  I'm sure my vet is no rabbit expert, and I don't know if I want the expense of that anyway, so - since rabbits are supposed to be able to be trained, to some extent, I'll try to temper the hormones with that.   My bunny girls are funny, sweet when they want to be, but placid - they're not.  (can you say Diva?)


I'm searching for other Angora owners in KY, and think I may have found a couple, but none of them show, which is why they don't join the clubs or show up on member's lists.  Still, it will be fun to meet local rabbit people.