a little crafty nest

moments here and there

Sunshine set herself up with a fingerknitting station

There are these moments that I like to wrap my heart around, to linger over and bring peace and happiness to those days that just seem to, well, go on forever. 

The last few weeks have seen a lot of goodness, and a lot of challenge.  And while those difficult times certainly do help clarify the beauty of one's life, I certainly have no photos to record these milestones...like my sweet girl traveling far, far away with my husband to Children's Hospital for her quarterly visit; my grandmother passing (at the age of 102 years old!); the road trip my sister and I took alone, without our children, to say goodbye; to return home to the stomach flu that settled into our home for several days and has no signs of relenting; the trip to the ER for one of the littles who fell out of bed and began vomiting (only to find out it was probably the stomach flu beginning)...

These are the moments that have dominated the last few weeks.  But, I did manage to find some grace, some beauty, and some smiles along the way.  And those, dear friends, are what have carried me through...er, are carrying me through.

Huckley made a worm farm

Forrest wanted a haircut, his first in two years.  Papa is definately the more experienced hair expert here as I have worn the same hairdo since I was in grade two...long and straight (oh, maybe there was a grade 7 perm in there that lasted 12 hours).  Forrest's enthusiasm dwindled when he saw how short it really was, and like me at that age, a few tears were shed.  I reminded him it will grow back,like my mother would tell me, and by soccer practice that night, he was over it and hasn't looked back since.  I admire his adaptability...he teaches me so much!

While the flu bug is visiting, the books and puzzles have come out...oh, we do love puzzles!

And I love this last photo most of all...I was nervous leaving all three littles at home while I went to my granny's funeral for three days.  There were a few tears shed, especially at night, (and some achingly empty mama arms), but all in all they did wonderfully well with Papa.  And coming home, this was how I found them waiting for me...

Indeed, this image is held in my heart to carry me through any of life's obstacles. 

homestead happenings ~ trans-farm-ations

These past few weeks have been a little frantic around here...in a good kind of crazy way.  Not only was the weather teetering from hail to sweltering in the span of a few days ~ making us play musical chairs with our starts in and out of the house, under cover and out in the open ~ but our little homestead has evolved into a small farm of sorts.

Now, to be honest, both my husband and I are feeling a little self-conscious using the word farm in relation to our place...but truly, that is what it seems to be now.  For if you build it, they will come and well, we built a pen and look who arrived...

Please meet Higgeldy and Piggeldy...and while we were advised not to name them, it really was quite irresistible.  It's true that they won't be around all that long, but there is important work for them to do here...we penned them into the part of our Big Garden that has yet to be turned into raised beds.  Rooting and turning over the soil is their job...and they couldn't be happier doing it.

Would you believe I was a vegetarian for 17 years...and vegan for 7!  Ironically, my parents arrived for a visit the same day we acquired Higgeldy and Piggeldy and they sure were surprised.  I became vegetarian at 15 years old and my mother tried very hard to accomodate my passionate dietary opinions.  I remember her taking me to a nutritionist to make sure I knew how to eat sensibly...and so it was with much disbelief that they arrived to see our new critters. 

A few days after the piglets joined us, forty "broiler" chicks came home with us.  Papa was up til 2 in the morning working on a brooder for the birds as he is still building our chicken coop.  I am so grateful for all his hard work in making our farm become a reality.




The days are now filled with tending animals, making sure they are comfortable and healthy, observing their behaviours that enrich many a dinner conversation.  We are all pretty green with the whole farming thing...Josh had animals once upon a brief time in his childhood, and I had about as suburban an upbringing as you can imagine.  We began with a conversation with the children about what farming may mean...some animals may get sick, some may get injured or even killed by predators, and eventually some of them will become our dinners.  For young children, the harsh reality is nothing more than words right now...and perhaps for me, too. But one day spent with the piglets and chicks, the contented feeling I felt deep inside watching my children's delight, confirmed that this is truly the very best kind of childhood I can think to give them. 

There may be a lull in that frantic feeling, for now.  But in two more weeks, it begins again as our layer chicks arrive...and then we begin fencing for next year's sheep.  One thing I am learning quickly is that on a farm, you are always trying to catch up with the chores ~ I best get used to the change in pace around here.

moments from the week

 

Huckley getting to know a young Icelandic ram named, oddly enough, Leif.  We are very keen on getting some Icelandic sheep next year...but first, I want to spin a little of their fibre.


 

These past few weeks have been as busy as can be...visiting a friend's farms, acquiring critters for our own little farm (more on that later), spending some time at the local skatepark with some homeschooling friends, and celebrating a special cousin/best friend's birthday. 






And at home...

My big boy is fascinated with outer space right now.  He wants to be an astronaut and often will ponder what gravity is really about and what it must be like without gravity holding things down.

Huckley does an uncanny rendition of most Bob Dylan songs...he sings just like him, twang and all!!!

My sauerkraut fairy.  She won't eat it, but she loves to help.

Enjoy your weekend, friends.  May it be filled with outdoor play and happy smiles!

riversong

A little milo knit up with my hand-dyed, homespun wool that I mentioned here.  The colour really reminds me of the spring sunshine on our valley river.  From this bridge, we dangle our feet over the waters that wind, run, or surge (depending on the season).  We spend a lot of time tossing rocks, sticks, ideas and dreams into this here creek...mostly side by side, sometimes only in the company of our very own thoughts.  It is peaceful here...and yet, also full of rippling energy that we can hear inside our house, even with the windows closed.  This summer will mark ten years living on this land...and I can't imagine living anywhere else.  The creek, like a vein pulsing in my body, reminds me of the vitality and energy of Mother Nature.  It is nothing short of awesome, in the true sense of the word.

(I went off on an unintentional tangent there, and I meant to be brief and to the point and let the photos express the passion I have for homespun and hand-dyed).  This 2-ply wool is dyed with onion skins followed a week later by a brief 15 minute indigo bath.  I love the mottled effect the dyes had on the Blue Faced Leicester wool, giving depth to the colour...a little yellow peeking through greens, aquas and blues. 

While I am still just getting into the groove of spinning, I had such fun working from start to finish with this yarn, bulky an chunky at times, smooth and tight in other places.  I used size 5 needles and knit the 12 month old version of the milo with extra length to fit my Viking boy who will be three this summer.  As you can see, it will fit him well into next winter which I had intended.

I have been a little neglectful of the other part of the yarn-along lately.  So I thought I'd share a book so dear to me when I was a child which I will be reading to my seven year old son as soon as we finish "The Book of Fairy Princes".

Did anyone else read this book when they were young?  I can't remember much now, but just looking at the cover triggers a happy feeling inside.  I'll let you know what several decades does to memory once I'm finished.

ravelry notes here

yarn-along fun here

and one sweet little treasure right here...

outside

With winter becoming a memory, and before the bugs descend, we live to be outside.  This year I am noticing how easy it is for mama to be working hard in the garden and the three littles busy being, well, little.  While I have been turning over turf and creating new beds for the Big Garden, my three children have been by my side for little bursts of help, playing with worms and toads and snails and slugs, helping Papa build the chicken coop, setting up bike trails and jumps, climbing trees, splashing in the creek, and exploring this new corner of our land that we have claimed this spring.  I am left often for long periods of time while the three of them orbit around me, always within hearing range but often out of sight.  They listen to our boundary limits ~ most of the time...the neighbour's children tempt them outside of our agreement a few times, or else you can hear my three shout "Come on up!  We're up here...come on for a play!" and then before you know it, three or four friends are wandering up our laneway for some fun.

first nettles emerging

spring pie...made with nettles and chives and a grain-free crust

We are all grateful for being outside...in sunny or windy or cloudy or rainy weather.  As the day progresses, we shed layers and I am often picking up bits of clothing and equipment as we head in for meals or snacks or a change of clothes.

eight more days til our first farm friends arrive...and yes, this is still a work in progress but no, this is not the chicken coop!

she says she looks like Princess Leah here (a new obsession of her older brother, though I'm mystified how he knows about Star Wars)

My body aches a bit in the morning and it feels good!  But the progress we are all making feels even better...slowly, day by day, with a bit of work here and there, we are manifesting dreams.  Yes, outside is where you'll find us right now...it's our happy place.

indigo

homespun onion skin dyed wool soaking before the indigo bath

the indigo bath appears green ~ oxygen makes the blues come out ~ reminds me so much of watching each of my babies pink up with their first breaths of life

wool roving dyed with indigo on the left; the roving pre-dyed with onion skins then indigo on the right

One sunny afternoon, my lovely Friend From Across The River invited me over to show me how easy it is to dye with indigo.  I had already dyed some homespun and some roving with onion skins beforehand, anticipating a green of some sort, as well as some natural roving for clear indigo blues.  I was amazed at the simplicity of the process, the intensity of the blues and greens, and the doors it opens for creating homespun goodness.

Feeding my dyeing and handspun obsession, I began my own indigo plants indoors under my start lights.  It is incredible that such a delicate plant can yield such intense colours...and it is no wonder indigo has been a revered plant in many cultures for thousands of years.  Once you witness the transformation of green to blue as you "birth" your wool into the world, you respect the wisdom of plants on a whole new level.

Over several nights, I spun the greenish-blue wool, so reminiscent of our river winding through this beautiful valley...and there was no question who this wool was meant to be knit for....can you guess?

He's as tickled by his wool as I am...I can hardly wait for the next indigo dyebath.  But first, I have some knitting to get to in order to make room for more wool.

*yarning along here

moments from the past few weeks

Lately, I've been so busy here on our little homestead and trying to get many projects started (and some finished) before the growing season takes off and time is shared between so many new tasks.  We have some critters arriving here in the next few weeks and there is so much to do...luckily Papa has been home, though he is so busy pounding nails and putting up fencing that if we want to spend any time with him, we are outdoors, too.

And so, with the surge of sap water running up the trees, and the sound of our creek beginning to make rumbling noises (rather than the quiet murmurings of winter), we are also feeling the rush of activity, the urge to move forward.

We have been gardening...

before big sister showed him how to line up the peas all in a line

...building...

beginning to build a sod house with turf I dug up before building a few new raised beds

...working...

...relaxing...

...biking...

...discovering...

...loving...

they don't know I'm behind them, taking their picture...LOVE!

...and always, always, styling...

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

work party

Around this time of year, when we trade indoor coziness for outdoor ruggedness, the homesteading projects seem to pile up on each other and threaten to topple over.  Not that we mind all the wonderful visions we have for our little parcel of land, quite the contrary ~ they rather fill us up.  However, trying to manage visits with friends and yardwork and homesteading can be a juggling act that always leaves one aspect compromised.

A few weeks ago, I had the unexpected pleasure of sleeping in ~ which really means I was secretly lying awake, pretending to sleep but really I was reading or knitting in bed...but shhhhhh! don't tell the husband I wasn't actually sleeping!  From beneath my pillow, I pulled out the newly arrived and long anticipated new issue of Taproot magazine and it goes without saying that if you haven't had the pleasure of reading it yet...well, you are in for such a treat!   Alana Chernilla wrote a piece about work parties and I was immediately seized with inspiration.  So much so that the first thing I did after coming downstairs that morning and greeting my family was to call my Friend From Across the River and organize the very first work party of the season.

We kept it small to just three families and ensured that the dynamic of children would be simple and easy.  Everyone brought tools, and appetizers and bikes for the children.  My family provided the main meal which followed about 3 hours of work.  I was so impressed with the efforts these families put into the work party...from some snacks provided, holes dug, and general good energy. 

We were all amazed at how much fun we had, chatting with two of my favourite girlfriends and their families while accomplishing some homestead work that needed doing.  We ended up putting up almost all the fenceposts and digging a trench around the perimeter of the coop to bury chicken wire against predators.  We also burned so much rotted wood and logs in order to clear some land to begin a pasture for some larger critters for next spring.  And of course, the children had so much fun...the hooting and hollering and guffawing coming from the direction of our rope-swing over our creek will echo in my heart for weeks.

The time flew by quickly and easily, despite the threat of rain which managed to stay put til after we had lunch around a campfire.  And then of course, there was talk of the next work party for May...more chicken coop work at another home.

With all three families having lots on their plate (one friend is moving further north up the valley in six weeks and the other is expecting a baby at the end of the summer), this was a brilliant way to get lots accomplished in half a day.

And most importantly, these young ones of ours had such fun!  My own littles were anticipating the work party for days, helping me bake cookies and make bread.  While the pig-shed never got built by the kids, they had such fun with the fires burning, watching the dogs in the creek, digging holes, making bike jumps and being enveloped in the general all-round happy vibe, that my heart felt full from just watching their happiness.

Indeed, three more weeks til the next work party at our friend's place and already I have been asked twice how long three weeks is.  Right there is all the affirmation I need.