Summertime, and the Livin' is Easy

Jeff's garden

The garden is producing lovely veggies at a very nice pace.  We have had just enough zucchini  for a few suppers and then to make my zucchini relish. I am grateful that we are not being overwhelmed with them.  I also made zucchini brownies which are always yummy.  Put up many green beans for the freezer.  I have a bowl of beets he pulled that I am trying to decide what to do with.  I may try pickling them.  I've never made pickled beets!  It would be an experiment.   We have moved on from raspberries to blueberries.  Yesterday I made my molasses and blueberry cake--a yummy recipe I got from a fellow spinner probably 15 years ago.  Mostly the blueberries get frozen for winter consumption. The lettuce is all done, so Jeff planted some more for the fall.  He put them where the two remaining eggplants were struggling.  I have no idea why they were so pathetic, but they were never growing and it was evident that they would never fruit.  So, goodbye to them and hello to lettuce.

Ladies who want breakfast in bed

In my little chicken world I had a funny thing happen this morning.  Jeff came in to say that two of the hens were still on the roost.  Everyone else had left at least three quarters of an hour before that.  Concerned, as there had been an episode of pre-dawn egg drop this morning, I went out to investigate.  Sure enough, two were sitting on the roost.  They didn't look ailing, so I held up a handful of grain to see if they would eat.  The ladies sidled over to each other and began to nibble out of my hand.  I held up another handful which they gobble right down.  By the third handful I began to see that, really,  what they  wanted was to have breakfast in bed!!! Well, I told them that they had to get up as it was a beautiful morning.
They did, but not until I heard Lil'Roxie giving someone an earful.  I don't think she was happy about something.  I found her ten minutes later in a nest box, looking grumpy.  Yes, chickens can look grumpy.  Hopefully she will lay me an egg and get on with the day.
Besides, I have a lot of spinning I want to do today. Don't want to be fussing with lazy chickens.  I'll bring the wheel outside to keep them company.  That will be fun!

Mentor

Met today with the college student who wants to learn how to spin.  The college in our town has a working farm on it, and one of the courses is entitled "Homesteading".  The students taking this have to learn a particular skill, and it seems almost every year I am asked to mentor someone for spinning.  Although, once I had a young man who was interested in weaving.  Regardless, this newest pupil is going to be fun to work with as she already knows that she really wants to spin, and has been collecting and stashing roving and fleeces in anticipation!  She has clear, attainable goals, and has worked out how to reach them, so this will be just a fun time for me.  The wheel she is borrowing to learn on is a Kromski Sonata, and I sure hope she realizes what a lovely machine she's got.  Must be the person who is loaning it to her trusts her, because I sure would have a hard time letting a newbie use it, if it were mine! As nice as it is, I only covet the way it breaks down and packs into a backpack bag.  My Reeves wheel suits me perfectly--I love it being single treadle and double drive, and a reproduction of an antique. I actually saw one just like it in a museum in Old York Maine that was from 1812.  The only difference was that mine doesn't have a distaff. This is mine in action. 

The Flyin' Bobbin!