Baskets

I've always loved baskets and have collected a large number of them over the years. Some time ago I decided it was time to learn to make them myself so I bought a kit and tried it out. Seems I had an aptitude for it so I began making more and eventually selling them.
This summer I've had the opportunity to teach some basketweaving classes at a community center in Vernonia, a small town about 20 miles from here. This, plus regular attendance at an open-air market there, has given me the chance to meet many interesting new people and share my love of basketmaking and other almost-lost arts. This picture is taken in our kitchen which became a makeshift basketry studio when I arrived at the class with everything they needed to make their market baskets but the handles. These gracious ladies were willing to make the trek all the way out to the house to retrieve the missing parts and construct their baskets in a very messy, busy, in-use kitchen. It was great fun and all the water that was slopped on the floor made it very easy for me to mop up later.
Baskets are things that people tend to pick up for very little money with the expectation that they will break easily or fall apart quickly. But making a beautiful basket that will last and be useful is truly an art. In keeping with my business philosophy of creating items which are useful and beautiful, I am trying to instill in my students a similar vision. You can buy a cheap basket at Ross to hold your knitting project on the floor beside a chair and it will serve its purpose. A carefully crafted handmade basket, however, will not only serve the purpose but will bring pleasure to you in its every use. You will admire it as you walk through the room and feel a deep sense of appreciation every time you reach into it, for the beauty of its form and the artistry in its creation. Our society seems to have lost that type of appreciation as it seeks to buy cheap, disposable goods which will find their way quickly to the landfill or second-hand shop. Why not invest in a few truly worthwhile items which will have long usefulness and be treasured possessions? Why not invest a little of yourself and create your own worthwhile items? Instructional books and classes abound, and the sense of satisfaction you gain is enhanced by the bond that can be found in fellowship with other craftspeople.
It has been such a wonderful experience for me to meet the wide variety of people I have this summer, to meet kindred spirits and people whose new ideas open avenues of possibility for my own life. I am grateful for the fledgling acquaintances which could become satisfying friendships and shared enlightenment.

This One's for Margaux

After much cajoling from Margaux (Auntie Margox) I decided now was a good time to take some pictures of the house. There are some flowers blooming in the front yard and everything's been recently mowed so it looks very pristine, making it a perfect photo-op. If only there were more of me and I could really make the place look the way I visualize it! I know it will happen with time (I've only been here for 3 years), but it's frustrating to be unable to create in a short time what I have imprinted so clearly in my brain. Oh - the place will be so beautiful someday...

Katy, Billy, and Sam returned Wednesday night so I've gratefully relinquished chores to them temporarily so that my poor hands can heal. Yesterday, Sharon and I went to Sherwood to collect our new little buckling (with forays to antique stores and a delightful lunch along the way) and he is making himself at home with our dear friends and their 11 children. We have yet to decide on a name - I favor Perseverance or Fortitude, but we agreed we'd put names in a hat and draw for one.

In the meantime, we've decided to free Pru from the burden of motherhood and are separating her from her babies as of tonight. I believe I'll keep a fan going in my bedroom window tonight in case there are despairing cries coming from mother or babies as a result of the separation. It really needs to be done - she is a cranky little thing and is not terribly interested in having little ones following her around wanting to nurse at all times during the day. She's a good milker and we're much better off taking the milk from her directly and feeding it to them in bottles. Bottle-feeding is a pain in a lot of ways, but it's also fun and allows us to form a bond with the kids that we're unable to have with those who stay with their mamas. As of this writing we're still undecided as to which kids we're going to keep. If we could breed them on a timeline where we'd only be milking 2-3 goats at a time I wouldn't have a problem with having 6-8 does. But trying to have that many milking does at one time would be impossible. So there's some discussing that needs to be done. They're all so cute we want to keep every one!

I have to prepare for a basket-weaving class I'll be teaching on Sunday afternoon, and I'm trying desperately to get my studio in order for an interview/photo session with a local newspaper on Monday morning. I'll probably end up with so much stuff that I have to cram into my bedroom in order to make the studio look tidy and inviting that I won't be able to find a path to my bed. Not that I want to give any false impressions, but you know what they say about creative minds and neatness. When I have a lot of projects underway, the last thing I want to do is keep things picked up.

I'm adding some pix of views from the porch - towards the barns and across the road towards the river. FYI - this is all our property! We are so blessed!

Babies, Babies, Babies!

We see to be inundated with new life around here. In the last 3 weeks we've doubled the size of our goat herd. On the 10th of June, Peace, Temerity, and Mercy each had twins - all 6 kids born in a 2-1/2 hour period. I was on hand to put my two cents in (probably unnecessary) and generally get in the way, but when there is any kind of birth taking place I want to be there. Someone called it being a "birth junkie". If the shoe fits...

Peace has turned out to be a great little mother but a terrible milker, so we have turned her into the pasture with her little ones and they all seem to be doing well. The "big guys" treat them with the proper respect and we know they're well looked after. Mercy and Temerity, on the other hand, were indifferent about their offspring so after a week we separated them. We ended up selling Temerity's kids to a family in Scappoose who were very excited to be increasing their livestock and branching out from chickens to goats. The original idea was to keep two does but no decisions were made as to which two since we needed to wait to see what Pru produced.

We assumed all four girls had been bred at the same time, but Pru showed no signs of following the delivery trend and just kept getting bigger and bigger. Yesterday morning she began to exhibit symptoms of impending delivery so we kept an eye on her and I missed the birth by just minutes. She had two beautiful little does, bringing our grand total to 8: 6 does, 2 bucks. Now that the kidding is over we'll need to make our decision - so, maybe we'll be keeping more than two. They're all so cute! How do we decide?

While the goat herd increases, the chicken flock diminishes - in part due to some clever and elusive raccoons, but also as a result of some judicious butchering. Actually, the two causes are tied to each other. The raccoon raids were knocking our numbers down quickly and since we'd planned to butcher the roosters anyway it seemed like a good idea to do it while we still had a few roosters left. The deed was done yesterday and we have 6 petite chickens resting in the freezer. They won't make a huge meal, but I'd rather they be a meal for us than the local marauders.

Things are busy here as we begin canning season (strawberry jam already checked off the list), gather in our hay, and continue to plant and maintain the garden. There isn't a whole lot of produce yet but we have high hopes for this year. It's definitely our largest and most organized garden yet.

There are new flower and herb beds going in, and with luck we'll have some clean and tidy paths as well. Why is it that when you want things to grow quickly it seems like you can't see any progress, but when you try to keep undesirables at bay (i.e., weeds and grass), they seem to be on steroids and grow by leaps and bounds overnight. I feel like all I've been doing lately is mow grass!

After Katy, Billy, and Sam return from their week in Minnesota we're considering getting a shipment of meat chickens to butcher in the fall. That, however, SHOULD be the last of baby world for this year.

March comes in like a lamb, becomes very lionlike, and goes out WITH a lamb!

In Colorado, snow in March is hardly a surprise. Spring break skiing is some of the best, and no one expects green grass and flowers for a good two months yet. But here in Oregon? Well, we love our cheery daffodils and the misty haze of green creeping over the trees, and we are very PUT OUT by snow. Especially days and days of it. After tomorrow a week of sunshine is forecasted, and it can't come any too soon. I have to say I minded the snow much less than my poor mother (I'd rather see white flakes drifting past the window than harsh sheets of rain), but I'm ready to change my muckboots for sneakers--it's just too darn wet out there!

But in other areas it is truly spring. We got baby chicks for Easter and, a week later, a surprise lamb! Though Erin and Tally had a honeymoon back in October, she seemed to want nothing to do with him, and we'd finally given up expecting anything from her (it was not possible to detect pregnancy under six inches of dirty wool). Yesterday my mother went down to the barn and heard little grunting cooing mothering sounds from Erin, and sure enough, there was a little boy lamb just struggling to his feet! So far she seems to be a good mama, which is fortunate because we simply cannot bottle feed an animal that's going to end up in the freezer--and there's nothing else to be done with a wether (except letting him be a lawnmower, and we have plenty of those). So we are all quite pleased, and looking forward to more births in June.

The little chick who hatched out a few weeks ago was joined the following day by another (and another, that died--three chicks out of three eggs! Go roosters!), and then another hen who'd been sporadically warming her two eggs hatched out a couple of chicks as well. I am amazed by the 100% hatching rate, and thrilled to have four chicks that require absolutely no care at all. From now on, we're doing it this way--Henrietta is a fantastic mother, and Moe has at least kept her two alive, with no effort on our part.

The other fifty chicks are also doing well. They arrived, to our surprise, Saturday night (and the post office called at 6:15 on Easter Sunday morning!) instead of the expected Monday or Tuesday, so poor Mommy and Olin had to rush about getting the coop ready before picking them up. One was DOA, and another died the following day, but the rest are perky and cheerful and cute as can be. Unfortunately I can't look at them without thinking of how many more chicken tractors we have to build...

Odious and I have been churning out chicken tractors at a steady rate, and have more than half the chickens corraled within them. It's actually a pretty simple project, and reasonably satisfying, but I'm a little bored now. I'll post more about them, with pictures, and share our design.

Our New Baby

I would love to be able to post a picture of our new little one, but it is hiding underneath its mother/caregiver and giving us barely a peek. One of our unspecified black hens has been diligently setting on 3 eggs for the past several weeks and, while we didn't hold out much hope of new life, we decided to mark the eggs (in case any new ones were laid in the meantime) and see what happened.

When I went out to do chores this morning, I found her in her usual place - firmly ensconced in the farthest nesting box. As I reached under her to see if there were any extra eggs, I heard a peeping noise which was definitely not coming from her throat. It took me a second to realize what it was. Our very first hatchling! We've had so many hens over the years that have been fair-weather setters that I'd given up all ideas of ever actually raising chickens. Most modern hens have had the broodiness bred out of them, but occasionally there will be a mutant who will stick with the task.

We've tried to get a better look at the little one throughout the day, but the hen is keeping it well tucked away. It's a grey and light yellow fluffball with definite ideas about visitors. I guess we need to set up a ramp for it since the nesting boxes are elevated and I don't want any suicidal chicks teetering on ledges when it decides to make a foray into the coop.

There are two more eggs under her, so we'll see if they hatch as well. I guess if she's going to be a reliable setter we'll need to keep her well supplied with eggs. Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to BUY more chicks?

A Day of Small Accomplishments

But after the past couple of weeks, any accomplishment is a blessed relief. Billy and Sam and I had a pleasant day at home together, enjoying as much of the winter sun as possible. Now that Sam can walk around outside, it's a lot easier to get things done. First we made some necessary repairs to the two chicken tractors; the roosts had fallen down in both, owing to the rough movement to which they're subjected every day, so Billy nailed and screwed manfully to at least temporary success.

In the afternoon we spent some time considering the overgrown thicket of plum trees in the side yard; Billy has long been wanting to thin it out and make it penetrable, so he got a good start on that today, clearing out a large pile of dead branches and sapling shoots. The detritus went on the burn pile, but some of the branches should be usable for building more chicken tractors.

Having a dozen or so chickens running around free-range is fine, but 40+ means--well, no going barefoot, that's for sure. Our current plan for this summer is to get all the chickens into tractors (including 25-50 new layers, to replace the old hens who are headed for the stewpot in the fall, and to increase the egg business slightly), which we'll put down in one of the big hayfields. The fields need some attention and fertilization, and this seems the easiest solution; we'll probably keep the sheep and alpacas down there as well, for protection and grass management.

Maybe tomorrow we'll get started on a new tractor; we also have to get some more firewood from our neighbor. It seems ridiculous to buy firewood when we live on 200 acres of wooded property, but there is just simply too much to do! Hopefully this summer we'll be able to cut and split some of the logs washed up during the flood; there's plenty of firewood down there if we can only find the time to process it.