Goodbye to the Guinea, Prepping for Winter,How to Make the Floating Tea Cup plus a craft from the past

 We had one guinea left from the last coyote  massacre when all our chickens, turkey and guineas were killed.  We fell in love with it as it followed us and the dog around the yard. It began to love to tap on the front door each morning to tell us to wake up. Today I noticed there was no tapping. I looked all over. 

It was no where to be found. 

Just a pile of feathers every where. It is so sad when something like this happens. It will be missed.

Today all the summer plants were pulled from the kitchen garden. We are left with strawberries, herbs and two fig trees.

A deep soak was given.  It was definitely the warm before the storm at 80* today.

We gave everything a layer of new dirt and a layer of mulch.

Fire wood was brought in and the rest covered. 

Dude worked on the well this weekend. We have a filter at the well, a whole house filter at the backdoor and a reverse osmosis in the kitchen yet, every 3 months Dude has to clear the faucets of any bits of debris that is blocking the flow of water.  Over the weekend he tried something new.  He put chlorine tablets down the well and then ran the hoses outside for a good long while.

 He tested the faucets indoors at first it seem disastrous but he said no, that it just needed more flushing out outside. Now everything is super clean, no more egg smell and no bits of rust and Sulphur.  We get our water tested about once a year.  It is potable but high in sodium so we put all the filters in place. It can be a pain living on a well.

We did get a dog door put in but we giggle since the dog only uses it to look out. 

Both Dude and I set out separately for lunch meeting old friends. 

Then home to work and craft. 

I prepped for folks coming to make floating tea cups and other things this weekend. 

Here is how I get the cups ready.

I use a strong coat hanger.  One hanger will make two supports for the cups. 

If you cut them just below the twist at the first curve you can still you the two bent parts for the saucer. 

Here is how I bend them.

Start with the cup. If you try to start with the saucer then the hot glue will just drip out of the cup and make a mess. I use a glue gun.  Put a big glob of hot glue in the cup. 

Put the end with the two prongs in the cup and hold. It will take a few minutes to harden. 

I was able to lean it in another cup to dry. 

Then put glue on the saucer .

Hold the end firmly in the glue and put more glue over the wire, crisscrossing it over both sides. This gives it added stability.  Bend the wire to find the center of gravity so it doesn't flip over.  I lean mine a bit forward.

I rested it on another overturn cup while it dried. This only takes 2-3 minutes since it dries quickly. It doesn't matter if it all gets messy since it will be covered later.

I have a table all set up so family can decorate the cups however they like. 

These cups and plates are from the Dollar Store and fairly heavy but the hot glue holds well. 

Ready.

Here is a craft from the past....

Found a label online and dirtied it up. Mod podged it on the bottle , added a hand that I tried to make old, spiders and webs.

peace 

Learning to skirt wool today and a couple of homestead goodness

I got my first lesson in skirting wool. The folks at Rocky Mountain Fleece Factory are wonderful and will give skirting lessons for free. They are so kind and share their knowledge .  I can't wait to take other classes. 

I brought my wool from a Romeldale ram lamb we raised and a bag of alpaca from someone else.

Rule #1 never store your fleece in black bag... you can't see if there are any moths in it.  To check you would need to take the whole thing out and possibly contaminate other wool. 

Wait... go back... I did get a chicken out for tomorrow's dinner to thaw. Cool part of homesteading … freezer full of chickens, turkeys, chicken broth, lamb and so many veggie and fruit (oh and tons of Dude's ice cream!) 

Okay back to the wool... I was actually proud of our first ever wool. It had good staple and not as dirty as I thought. There was the usual vegetation and poopy bit which I did remove (yes, I saved it for the garden (the wool bits not the poop)...which it is great for... holds water and is biodegradable. 

We did skirt the alpaca which was easier to work with (it's in the background) but it was a bit dry , as in the way the fleece snapped. The wool was better but greasy. I will be making the skirting table in the near future. 

We learned a lot … about roving....

The carding MONSTER machine. 

This was a tiny amount of fleece waiting to be worked for customers. 

Back to my lamb... separate, sort and get the dirt out. 

Here is some of my alpaca I separated.  I will be working on it all this weekend at home. 

Learning about different sizes, crimp, and thickness of staples and why you need to know... what are you making? Would this wool be suitable for it? Would it be better for felting or a sweater off the skin vs wearing it next to the skin.  My lamb's wool rated at a number 2 ...fine. The ratings are 1 to 6.

A tumbler for the alpaca, removing dirt ... it would be fruitless to use lamb fleece in here since it would just keep falling off and sticking back on to itself. 

Washing stations... why it is important to wash and rinse at the same hot temperature 120* or it will felt and what you can do if the temp goes down. 

Drying racks. 

Roping to make rugs... wool vs suri … making a rug for your morning rising feet or the backdoor? 

Mega spinner!

Roving being spun. 

A huge felter. 

It was the bright spot in my day (my car was in the shop and they were giving me a hard time!)

Back to the homestead...

We need a baby shower!!! Momma Guinea was off the eggs when I got home. I ran over to check on them and the eggs were moving!  They have tiny holes in them. We will have chicks by morning!

peace 

Wooly Wednesday, What is Dude up to, All Veggie Wednesday Dinner and more!

Wooly Wednesday … I worked on my first wool scene by felting. Hmm not sure if I have totally figured it out yet. 

A little mountain scene.

Hmmm did I over felt it? I will wash it by hand see if it calmed down. ugh

My mom needs newborn caps to go with the layette sets she is making. So, I got to work making hats. 

We are having turkey egg omelets for dinner. They are the speckled eggs. 

My sister gifted me this wee container plant. Seeing her container garden this past weekend inspired me to plant a few containers. 

I hope they do well.  Excited to plant more in small cups. 

Dude has been working in the greenhouse. He says he doesn't have to pay to go to the gym to get a steam room effect. 

A few carrots left and then we will plant again ...yum!

The spring mix continues to take off. The more we trim the more it grows. 

Beets are full of joy and yummy goodness. 

Tomatoes!

Our first year growing celery. Go, go, grow!

Pickles, okay cucs and zucchini beginning to grow after the third time being hailed out! (yes, we only planted this much so we didn't jinx ourselves with more hail - smile)

I picked a few beets for dinner. 

Dude also got started on splitting wood for the winter. I made him stop and come in from the 98* heat. I will help tomorrow... I like doing this. 

Of course, he had help today. 

The guinea hen got off her eggs for a bit. I prayed she was not abandoning them. 

Twenty minutes later she wearily came back to continue sitting on them. Poor thing, I only raised four not 21!  Hopefully they will hatch soon. 

Her family is always close by keeping an eye out for predators. 

Dinner from the garden. We used the whole beet for dinner , tops and all. 

Spinach and onions for the omelets. 

Sautéed beet tops with onions, garlic in olive oil with salt and pepper.  At the end drizzled balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. 

Then we cracked our turkey eggs. They are large and the membrane inside was thick. Turkeys only lay eggs 4 months out of the year and our little visitor is going to town giving us eggs in exchange for free room and board. 

Cooked them up, topped with our spinach plus onions and tomatoes and cheese.

The turkey eggs turned out super fluffy with a mild taste. 

I cooked up a bunch of edamame noodles(they have 24 grams of protein) and topped with the sautéed beet tops - the lemon juice really helped. The beet tops were strong before that. 

Roasted beets with the last of the broccoli and onion. Added olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Roast 400* for 25 minutes. 

Dude ate and like everything except the edamame noodles... yay, we didn't grow those. 

I am finishing the hat during tv time(movies from the library), start another  and I did get more fabric cut out today. Yippee for days off work.

peace