Plant Fiber dreams

I have been working to clear out my "back forty." Which is really a couple thousand square feet which I also refer to as "the lower meadow." This has been hard physical labor to clear out the years of weeds, vines, brambles and and garbage from the neighbors.

I've been pushing myself hard to plow through it. And I'm still trying to figure out how to actually till it when I get it to that point. In the mean time, I've been using hand saws, blades, scythe, mower and pure frustrated strength to pull, hack and chop my way through.

The other night after work, I was out there again with the mower running over some areas that is mainly dead creeping vines. I kept thinking of the flax and cotton I would plant. The area where I would plant my dye garden and the area that will get the medicinal plants. Echinacea, Valerian, etc.. I was very caught up in my plant and fiber dreams. I was suddenly wrenched from ideal thoughts by a huge BOOM!!!!

Uh-Oh. I went in to my standard process for when things like this happening. I don't even need to think about it anymore. 1. Jump back as far as possible while letting go off all equipment. (when in doubt, let it out) 2. watch for fire, sparks and smoke 3. asses if equipment is posessed and will continue on it's merry way unmanned. 4. slowly approach like you would a wounded tiger 5. poke with foot. I don't know why, but this always seems smart to do. 6. All Clear is given 7. truly see what the damage is.

In this case, the vines had completely grown over a soccer ball many years ago. The mower had just popped it.

I think it's time to call it a day. The fiber dreams will be there tomorrow.

Spring Clean and De-Stash!

The craziness of destashing. I know, who would want to destash, right? But really it is a swap and also let us make more room for new fresh items to goo-goo over and pet. For example, in a Few short weeks, the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is happening with all the fibery goodness one can hope for. This time, I am just hoping for nice weather.

So, there will be roving and yarn, doodads and gizmos. Yes, I know that I do not need anymore yarn or fiber. But I have made a little room for a select item or two. I'll behave.

Promise! ;)

Meet the neighbors

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Meet the neighbors. I have named them Bob and Charlotte.

Wool Sweaters

For those who don't know, yes, you can wash wool. The trick is to do it gently. Veerryyyy gently.

So, I've been starting a pile of sweaters to wash all at once. Sweaters are definitely one of those items that does not need to be washed every time it is worn, unlike underwear. One sweater had lipstick on it (yes, I smooched myself somehow), one had gotten damp from the rain and had a faint "funk" going on with it. So, on and so on. Two of the sweaters being my new favorites that my sister gave me for Christmas.

So, I prep the sink of water with Ivory Snow, and slowly start adding sweaters and waiting for them to sink. Because wool sweaters should be soaked and laid flat to dry. Meantime, I start up the washing machine for a load of dedicates. Slowly, sinking sweaters. Sigh. I get to the one sweater that my sister gave me that is my cool, soft fav and wonder if the wool has been blended with anything to give it the silky feel. So I check the label.

100% Acrylic.

Into the washing machine it went.

'Cause I have a Cool mom!

She is standing just to the right of the machine in the group picture.

Cheese!!

I'm making cheese! Why? Because, why not? I can bake bread and make butter, so let's add cheese making skills to the list. A basic skill that was once known by every farmer and housewife in the not so very distant past.

So I went online and found a website that teaches you how to make cheese. The author is a professor of Biology and Chemistry. This is the recipe for basic 1 pound of cheese from 1 gallon of milk. I went to the health food store and got fresh goat and cow milk for my experiment. The point was to try to make it as natural as possible.


First, we must warm and inoculate the milk. Which is funny, because we are adding sour milk(buttermilk) to do this. Then we add rennet. I used the vegetarian instead of the stuff from a sheep's intestinal track, simply because, ewe! (hee hee)

We separate out the curds and whey. This is whey.

Then the cheese must be pressed and formed into a round or a cylinder for shaping into wheels. Since this is a small batch, I am using a quart size yogurt container with the bottom cut out.

Then we have cheese. This is fresh farm cheese here. It will then be refrigerated to 2 weeks while the rind forms. Then dipped into wax to be aged more for a sharper cheese, or used for a mild cheese.

When I was in the Netherlands, in the grocery there are 3 types of cheeses essentially. New, regular, and aged. I was told that regardless of the type of cheese, it all had to be labeled with how long it had been aged, by law (or so I was told). New cheese is aged under one month. Regular cheese is aged around 3 months. To be considered aged and the expensive stuff it had to be aged more than 6 months, but usually more than a year. This was how they were graded.

So how long should I age the cheese? I realize that people have been making cheese for thousands of years with out the benefit of refrigeration, exact chemical formulas, or anything closely resembling a sterile environment and man kind has survived. Still, I think it would be safer to divide the cheese in half, use one as new cheese, and age the second half.

I also think that I will be eating samples of both cheeses before serving it to anyone else. If anyone is going to be poisoned in this endeavor, I'd rather I go down than have all of my friends cursing my name as they hang over toilets!

The Project-Brumbaugh Fleece

Fleece (from sheep)
Carding
Carded fleece
Spinning
Spun
Dying
Dyed
Balled
Knitted
Worn