Does our house have bad air?

Mike was doing his research on gardening, veggie plants, and whatnot and came across a gardening book from 1954, The Homeowners' Complete Garden Handbook by John Hayes Melady. It suggested that you start your tomato plants indoors in January, to make sure that your house is a suitable place to start seeds. So we planted some saved seeds from a friend's heirloom Stuffing Tomato, some Cherokee Purple Tomatoes, Genovese - an Italian Heirloom, and Orange Amana another heirloom variety.

So far, there are sprouts of each. We are using organic prepared potting soil, not that it matters it was what we had on hand, and they are under the light for 12 hours. It is just a regular florescent light, not a heat lamp. We are excited that it worked and ready to get the other plants started this spring!!!!

The benefit of doing this not only saves you a ton of money, time and effort if your house is not suitable, but also should yield a nice bunch of early tomatoes.

Our Maple syrup adventure yielded us a shot glass full of smokey maple syrup/water. We have several more gallons to process, which I think will work out better the next boiling day, because we have a better understanding of what's going on.

BUT now our buckets are under snow.

So on our snow day we are obsessing over our giant pumpkin books and seeds that arrived in the mail on Friday. Our seeds came from a pumpkin that was over 1600 pounds!!! Our goal is an 800 pounder. Oh the pie we will make.

Boiling - Day one

Our first day of boiling sap was cold and not very productive. The wind whipped around our kettle so bad that it took forever (and the deconstruction of a metal shevling unit) to get it up to boil. We had a nice fire going but the wind kept the kettle from holding enough heat to boil, so after hours of no luck, Mike found an old metal shelving unit and took it apart to use as wind breaks and insulators. Once that was set up around the fire pit the fire blazed and the kettle held a rolling boil. We are still processing the sap, so we are at the sweet water point. Hopefully by the end of the day we will taste the sweetness of victory. Here are some pictures before the shelves.

The sap is flowing!!

The sap was flowing last weekend, then we had horrible rain and wind. When we checked the buckets after the storm we thought they we full of rain water but we tasted it and it had some sweetness to it. Then is was warm enough again for the sap to run even though the wind chill was incredible. We got such a harsh wind it pulled on of our taps out. So we have to fix that today.

We have collected over 16 gallons of sap to boil down. The fire is started and the kettle is set, We'll let you know how it goes.

The pictures here are one of the taps, 10 gallons of sap and our little investigator checking out on of the buckets.

Tapping the Maple Trees - Syrup ahead!!

On our walk around the yard yesterday, we noticed that some of our smaller maple trees had already went to bud. Oh no!! That means we missed the sap run. We have been having the right kind of weather for the sap to start running but we are 2 to 3 weeks earlier than any of the suggested tap dates.

Luckily, when we came home from work on Friday, our box from Anderson's Maple Sugar had arrived. Since we had the equipment, we decided to tap one and see. The drill went in and before we could get it out the sap was running down the tree!!! We hit the mother load.

We tapped 9 trees with 11 taps around 11am on Saturday morning, by the time we checked the buckets at 4pm we had 1/4 of a bucket of sap from several of the taps. So I guess it was ok to tap, I think it's a combination of the weather and the fact that we are further south than most sugar shacks.

Thanks again to Grit magazine, Martha Stewart Living, and the PA Maple Syrup Producers for letting us know how easy it is to tap, collect, and make our own maple syrup!!!

On a different note, we finally got the Christmas Tree out to the goats. They love pine trees. There is a goat farm in town that sells trees at the holidays and what is left over they give to the goats. So we thought we would try it. They loved it. The sheep tried it but they weren't into like the goats were.

Awesome Seed Stand - Grit Magazine

Ok we finally finished our seed starter stand with the help from Grit Magazine, Jan/Feb 2010 issue, page 82. ( www.grit.com ) We were looking at several stands out there but they are all so industrial. This article makes a stand/bookcase.

It's not overly fancy but it is nice wood and the lights are hidden for year round use I guess the key is to not fill it up with junk in the off season.

It's funny how we came across this magazine, it had goats on the front and one of the pictures inside had goats in a tree. If we had a tree close enough to the pasture, I know Athena, the pygmy devil would be in it. So I wanted to read about other peoples goats. Then we stumbled onto this article about the seed starter stand and maple syrup making.

In Martha Stewart Living this month ( Feb issue) It also mentions how easy it is to tap your maple trees. So I looked into it and Mike spent some time with the PA Maple Growers Association at the PA Farm show last week. It seems like we understand the whole process and our supplies are on their way. We ordered them from Andersons Maple Syrup, www.andersonsmaplesyrup.com

On another note, we had a hard time finding dry bean seeds. We don't eat alot of green beans but our diet is full of kidney beans, chick peas, and black beans. I came across this wonderful seed company: Vermont Bean Seed Company, www.vermontbean.com . The seeds were shipped quickly and as soon as we get them planted this spring I'll update on how they are doing.

What do we do now?

Well, we were lucky enough to gather about 11 different varieties of pumpkins from friends and family to save seeds from. They are interesting one like the fairy tale variety and a handful of white ones. So, the beginning of December we are slicing through pumpkins gutting them and drying seeds. The seeds laid to dry for 2 weeks, it was getting close to the holidays, I wanted the counter back. The seeds felt dry and they were bagged and tagged just like the one book suggested - plastic bags.

I always thought seeds kept best in envelopes, but into plastic they went.

We received the purchased seeds, and while looking through the collections to map out a plan, we open the box to find this, a bag of moldy pumpkin seeds. Crap, now what??? It's not a vital thing to save these seeds. We were just trying to see what would grow from saved seeds. So off to our books we went, one suggested that you should disinfect your seeds with a bleach to water solution. So far it looks like it worked. The seeds are mold less.

I guess it will be spring until we see if they grow or not.

On a happy note all of our purchased seeds have arrived from Johnny's Seed and Reimer Seeds.

The New Year with a New Focus

We have successfully set up our farm as a business. Dusty Bottom Acres, LLC. We have a goal for the year and that is to plant, grow and harvest some of the oddest and coolest veggies and pumpkins in the area. We have redirected our blog from being just our crafts and everyday life to what we call confessions of a first year farmer. See, we have no experience with growing much of anything. So, this is going to be our diary as we learn, grow and mess up.

Our farm includes fiber animals, so we have plenty of wool and mohair for sale. We are currently working on the Etsy store now.

The Blacksmith might find some time to post a project or two, but who knows because of his ambitions to grow the largest pumpkin. It looks like the largest is over 1600 pounds!!! I think he will be happy with anything over 200 pounds. But still that is a huge pumpkin!!!

Join us in our adventure for 2010!!!

9 month baby Pictures

My photo class project was to take pictures of something that you're passionate about. Well it was time to take the 9 month pictures anyways and I do love my baby. I wanted something vintage. I was looking around for props and almost fell over the Pram in search of something. It's part of our lives and I never really think of it more than a stroller.

So I wheeled the baby off into the field. The day was beautiful and these are a couple of the pictures that I got.

The family isn't as excited as I am about them, they are more about "photography" less about the baby.

I'm part of the Kid Craft Jamboree #1

My felt Peep Pattern is part of the http://www.kiddio.org/ Kid-Craft Jamboree #1. There are tons of spring time crafts to do with kids and for kids. Check it out!!!

Eveie Peasy Baby Leg Warmers - Free Pattern

Eveie Peasy by Stephanie Nericcio

Super Easy Baby Legwarmers. As a new mom I want all the cool trendy things for my daughter, and I want them now! She’s 2 months old and doesn’t fit into anything, everything is so big. I sat down one day between feedings and baths, grabbed the needles and went to town.

The product was these adorable self striping leg warmers. They are perfect addition to any winter wardrobe, they stop drafts from going up the legs of pants, keeps legs warm when changing and look super cute. They are easy to knit and can be finished in a nap time or two.

This pattern will stretch to fit a 9 inch thigh at mid-thigh. In most cases, according to the average range growth chart for babies, these will fit babies up to 9-12 months, without adjusting the cast on figures. As the baby gets bigger (at the thigh) the warmer will become more snug, which works out great because the babe will become more mobile and the warmers will stay in place better.

Grab your double pointed needles and knit these up for a shower or holiday gift for the little one in your life.

SIZE
0-3month[3-6, 6-9, 9-12](shown in size 0-3month)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Length: 6.5[7.25, 8, 8.5] inches

MATERIALS
[MC] The Plymouth Italian Collection Sockotta [45% Cotton, 40% Superwash Wool, 15% Nylon; 414 yds per 100g skein]; color: 5616; 1 skein
1 set US #2/2.75mm double-point needles
1 set US #4/3.5mm double-point needles notions required
tapestry needleGAUGE
24 sts/32 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch

PATTERN
Using #2 dpn CO 36 sts
Divide sts evenly onto needles
Work 10 rnds *K2P1* ribbing
Switch to #4 dpn
Work in St st until piece measures 5[5.75, 6.5, 7] inches
Work 10 rnds *K2P1* ribbing

FINISHING
BO by K2, *insert left needle into the front of the 2 sts on the right needle and K2to tbl - 1 st remains on right needle. K1*
Cont until all sts have been BO
Weave in end

Additional Comments on the pattern: I knit and wrote this when she was 2 months, she's now 9 months and still wearing them, they are just getting a little short because they were only knit for a 0-3 month old.

Any questions, please contact me. Enjoy!!!

Felt Food - My Peeps are here - Free Pattern

My new obsession is felt food for my daughter to play with. Right now I'm working on an Easter Basket filled with felt goodies instead of sugary ones. So far, my collection includes a Chocolate Bunny made from the kit purchased at Lilly Bean Market, a couple wrapped candies, a bunny cookie w/ frosting, a jelly bean and marshmallow Peeps.

I love marshmallow Peeps and really wanted to share the fun chicks with my baby. I think they came out pretty cute and I offering my pattern for free for everyone to make these chicks for the holiday.

The pattern is set up in a pdf file and you can get it here http://www.dustybottomacres.com/feltpeeps.pdf

I hope you enjoy it and I'd love to see your creations

Spin, Spin, Spin

I've finally gotten a chance to spin up some of the great fibers from the fiber swap. Here they are.

The first one I call Yummy, because the colors are yummy, it's so soft it's yummy and the hat I'm knitting is so cute...you get the point.

The second one is called Twister. It looks like a storms coming through, then the little coils in it are the mini twisters. Not sure what this is going to be knit up into yet.

Fiber Swap month 2

This was my beautiful package for month 2 of the Ravelry fiber swap.

fiber swap

It's been a while, but with the new baby and all.

Anyways, here's my score from the fiber swap on Ravelry

Baby's Room Done

Here are the picts of the long awaited Nursery. We bailed on the idea of hardwood floors for the arrival on the baby, so we painted the sub flooring. It wasn't the best idea, because the floor is very porous, but what else can you do??? The baby will be here in less than a week, so we had to do something.

It's been really hard for me because the nesting thing hit and I really wanted to organize the room, but couldn't because of the floor hold up.

Here's the best I could do for a 360 shot of the room.

Although the theme is Vintage Baby, somehow it turned into Petting Zoo. The crib is vintage along with the mobile. There are bits everywhere of the old, but with the BRIGHT colors there's also a lot of new too.

I haven't gotten the baby pictures hung yet, hopefully tonight. I also have to finish the belly cast. Here's a picture of me during the drying of the cast. I'm sanding it and will paint it before it's hung up. It was fun to do.

Goat on a Hot Tin Roof!!!

Well, here's the little goat on the roof of the barn. How She got there, well we saw that. In one big jump she got onto the half wall of concrete, then another little jump onto the roof. I guess she's got more pygmy in her than we thought.

Then we have poor Adder. After attending the Maryland Fiber Festival and getting a great deal on our shears we thought we had a good handle on shearing this sheep. Things did not go according to plan. But luckily it's like a bad hair cut, in a couple of weeks she'll look fine.....Right?
And Then there's AJ. The tree has leaves again and they irritate him so he's been trying to bite them off. Here he is in mid air going after the branch.

New things in our world

I can't believe I've slacked off so badly at posting to my blog. Well as you can see our little world is full of new things. My growing size is one of them. With only 2 months to go, it's gone by quickly. The house is full of baby stuff.

Then, yesterday we went to the Maryland Sheep & Fiber Festival. I got a very cool flyer for a spinning wheel, it's super big and I can't wait to use it. I also purchased a fleece, took it to the next building, dropped it off at a processor and when it arrives home in 2 months it will be clean and ready to spin. I'm in no mood to wash tons of fleeces right now. We also got the shears we need to shear the sheep and goats. SO there'll be 4 more fleeces to deal with.

Our big purchase of the day was this tiny little Pygora Goat. She's awesome. She has a wonderful angora fleece but will stay the size of a pygmy goat. Her name is Athena and she's 3 months old. She's beautiful.

When we got home last night we found a large rock in the middle of our pasture!! The rock gods were looking out for us. The goats were desperate for something to climb on and I said NO junk cars, or ugly plywood structures. So the rock search was on. They love it and are already all over it. Thanks a million Pap!!!!

The last really new thing is Duke. He wandered onto the farm one day and we finally decided he needed to stay one of the family. He fits in well and loves to snuggle. So, there's another German Shorthair Pointer to add to the family.

Spin Challenge # 5 CIRCLE THE WAGONS!

Spin Challenge # 5 Circle the Wagons.

Pluckyfluff issued the following spinning challenge in her blog, Holly of the fantastic fiber famed HollyEQQ...if you are not familiar with her and her amazing fibers...check her site out ASAP! Our good friend Holly has run into a whopper of a medical situation as many of you may know from her blog. So it's fiber-friends-unite! form of a spin-auction...a spauction!! Sandy from Homestead Wool and Gift Farm along with some other pals, is going to host an auction on her site of yarns and goods donated for the Holly cause. How does this effect the spin challenge you say? Well....every yarn entered in this challenge will be donated to the auction! So only enter the challenge if you are willing to donate the yarn!!
They have decided to call the auction CIRCLE THE WAGONS.....since everyone is gathering round and working together to help out a fellow pioneer. So that will be the theme of this challenge.
Challenge #5 CIRCLE THE WAGONS!
The criteria: this challenge is more open to interpretation than we usually do, so have at it. It just has to relate to the theme "Circle The Wagons". This could range from a very literal visual interpretation to a more philosophical take on the meaning of "circling wagons". Any material is fair game. this challenge will last one week. As usual, submit entries to The Yarn Museum.

My yarn - The Duke

I took the more literal approach to Circle the Wagons. All I could think of is the star of the silver screen - John Wayne. Rough, Tough and doesn’t take crap from anyone!!! My yarn is a pile of jute, cotton thread, wool, linen, and red sparkle fibers. A couple little homemade patches of guns, sherif’s badges and a covered wagon complete the look. Also, a second skein of wool, cotton thread and red sparkles over-dyed in a denim color help create a strong, cowboy themed set. This is not a cuddly yarn set!!!
Strength played a big part in this. We as friends need to be strong to support a fellow fiber artist, Holly and hopefully our strength will give her strength.

The New Phonebook's Here!!!

"The new phonebook's here!! The new phonebook's here!! I am somebody!!!" - Steve Martin in the Jerk.

That's how I felt yesterday when I opened the box from amazon. The AWESOME new book Intertwined: The Art of Handspun Yarn, Modern Patterns and Creative Spinning came in yesterday and I have a full 4 pages about my super cool yarn into neck cuff project!!!! My name is in print and everything.

I'm so excited!!!

The book is full of spinning techniques as well as patterns for knit projects.I think that Lexi put together a great book.

Snow Day = Dye Day

Since it's one great big sheet of ice outside, we have a no school day!!! I'm taking advantage of it by dying a whole bunch of fiber I have lying around.

I used kool-aid for all of these except the bottom right, I used a synthetic to try and get a "dark green/olive green". It turned out more blue then I like.

From the top left down

On Curly Wool

1. Strawberry

2. Mad Scientist

3. Mango

Row 2

On Dorset Wool

1. Grape

2. Cherry

Row 3

On Mohair

1. Cherry

2. Lemonade

3. Strawberry/Kiwi

Row 4

On Mohair

1. Grape

2. Tropical Punch

R0w 5

On Mohair

1. Lime

2. Synthetic Dye - Dark Green