Monthly Archives: February 2013

I Love Shadows …

Posted on February 17, 2013 by | Comments Off on I Love Shadows …

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Fish Tales

Posted on February 16, 2013 by | Comments Off on Fish Tales

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For Valentine’s Day, I took Daniel out shopping for the fish tank and fish he’s been after. They are doing well but he’s realized black fish and black rocks was not the best choice. When these get gunky, we’ll be getting a different color of rocks!

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Roosters – RIP

Posted on February 15, 2013 by | Comments Off on Roosters – RIP

Well, We knew Col. Brunswick was a boy, but as it turns out we had FOUR boys and you can't have 4 roosters, forget the crowing, they will kill each other.  It was pretty awful, 5 chickens, 4 roosters:



IMG_0560, originally uploaded by lasdcm.

They were gorgeous!  I had a plan for butchering, but when the second rooster started to crow, my plan fell apart as my teachers had a house to settle on and I could not wait 2 weeks because roosters do not crow at sunrise, they start at about 2 am and just let one loose whenever they feel the urge - which can be pretty constant.  We put it off to be sure all 4 were indeed roosters and one morning the week after Thanksgiving at about 5:30 in the morning, we butchered them.  It was very hard and very awful and very empowering all at the same time.  The hens seemed relieved.

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I Love This Back Lit Tulip …

Posted on February 15, 2013 by | Comments Off on I Love This Back Lit Tulip …

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Once upon a Valentine

Posted on February 15, 2013 by | Comments Off on Once upon a Valentine

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Lambing Season is Upon Us!

Posted on February 15, 2013 by | Comments Off on Lambing Season is Upon Us!

I don’t know how it happened but after ten years, this lambing season snuck up on me.

Actually, maybe I do know how it happened. See, I put the Draco, our ram yearling, in with the ewes for two weeks, beginning on October 13th. That gave us a lambing window March 3rd through April 8th. The only problem was that the ewes didn’t look bred to me. They just weren’t getting as large as they usually do and I was about half convinced that our ram was shooting blanks.

Sicily

Honestly, I was dreading coming here and telling you all that there would be no lambs this year, but I had kind of gotten used to the idea. Then, on Monday, I had all the sheep in the barn for a pre-Spring worming, and while I was at it, I checked the girls for udder development. KAPOW! We have lamby buns in the lots of ovens.

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The only trouble is that I am not convinced that these ladies are due in a month; they just don’t seem that far along to me. It’s entirely possible that Mr. Sneaky Ram resorted to some self-help in November or December, which stinks. Not knowing when lambs are coming is almost as bad no lambs at all. I have a truly insane amount of stuff going on in the next few months, which is why I tried to schedule an early lambing this year.

Ladies in Waiting

 

More on all that later, though. Right now, it’s time to nominate this year’s naming convention! As you may remember, Juniper Moon Farm’s lambs are always named according to a convention chosen by our readers. The first step is to open the floor to nominations. Are you ready?

Callum, Feenat & Friend

Let’s hear your best ideas! Before the lambs start hitting the ground we will put it to a vote.

 

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Sweet Tradition

Posted on February 15, 2013 by | Comments Off on Sweet Tradition

Happy Valentine’s Day!

We look forward to this day every year for one reason: Chinese Take-Out.

When Paul and I had been married for about 3 years or so and were deciding to spend our romantic evening curled up in front of the tv with some take-out it dawned on me: we had done chinese food every Valentine’s Day since we’d been together.  Thus, a tradition was born!  We have done it every year since – this year being the 17th.

I am a big sucker for traditions, and thankfully my kids are as well.  It makes it easier to make a holiday or event special without having to go “all out”; you don’t have the stress of having to decide what you are going to do.   Everyone knows that February 14th is for dumplings, spring rolls, and stir fry, and they ask for little else.

Another tradition that we like is to buy the left over Valentine candy on clearance the day AFTER.  It’s usually 75% off, if you can find a store that still has some stock left.

For my Book Club we have a different February tradition: fondue.  It also happened accidentally – we just happened to do fondue the last two Februarys and decided we were on to something.  This year we had 3 kinds: traditional cheese fondue, chocolate, and salted caramel.

The point is that these traditions make the year that much more fun; there are little things to look forward to scattered all throughout and excuses to spend time with the people you care about.

So go! Go forge a new tradition for this often pushy and demanding holiday and find something you will look forward to the rest of the year!

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The kids made paper heart garlands today.  Aren’t they sweet?


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Susie’s all spun up

Posted on February 14, 2013 by | Comments Off on Susie’s all spun up

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The shetland roving from Gilead Fiber Farm was a delight to spin up. It was probably the fastest yarn I’ve ever spun, start to finish. I filled two bobbins in an afternoon and plied it the next morning. It washed up brighter and stunningly lustrous and so very soft. I’m not sure what I’ll make with it but I definitely want to get some more. EDIT: I had two unlabeled rovings that I brought home from SPA and it seems this may actually be Varitek. Confirmation will come in a week when I visit the farm. This will be great news as there is plenty of Varitek left.

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I Love Valentine’s Day …

Posted on February 14, 2013 by | Comments Off on I Love Valentine’s Day …

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Happy Valentine’s Day


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Valentine’s Gift to You!

Posted on February 14, 2013 by | Comments Off on Valentine’s Gift to You!

Or should I say, Galentine’s Day? (Does anybody watch Parks & Rec? It started off kind of lame but now I think it’s really well written and hilarious. When Ben wanted to play The Settlers of Catan for his bachelor party, I nearly wet my pants laughing.)

Wow. I can’t believe I just wasted so much time talking about a t.v. show. Moving on.

We are not necessarily big fans of Valentine’s Day around here. We can take it or leave it, to be honest with you. But we do love knitting and yarn, so we’re giving you one of my very favorite patterns, written for one of my very favorite yarns, by one of my very favorite designers!

Ladies and gentlemen (but mostly ladies), here’s Bramble.
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Bramble is a gorgeous cabled wrap, knit is Sabine and shown here in Icicle. (This is one of my favorite colors and most of the yarns in my personal stash are this lovely shade of blue.)

I love this picture of Emily modeling Bramble, because I remember that it was raining when we shot it, and that there is an umbrella being held over Emily’s head just out of the shot. The rest of us got completely drenched and we all ran back into the farmhouse as soon as we were done, laughing all the way.

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The pattern for Bramble can be downloaded right here, or by visiting the Sabine link on the free pattern page. (By the way, Lauria worked with our graphic designer on the new layout for our free patterns, and has optimized them for printing at home. No one like a pattern that uses up your entire ink cartridge! They are still lovely but now they are smart as well. Cause that’s how we roll.)

Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all! I hope your day is filled with people you love.

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