Farming in the shade

He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. Isaiah 33:6 In honor of our oldest daughter's college graduation tonight.

We are receiving rain after rain after rain in our area. The earth is a soggy mess, and each new wave of rain makes us a little more nervous. May is typically our crop planting time here in Michigan. May is just around the corner. Last week we spent an evening trying to drain off a couple of wet spots in a field. This is what things looked like before the recent rains. It's a low corner of the field, and we might not end up even planting it. But we don't need standing water there, either. What's the best way to get water off a field? You guessed it. A shovel and some grunt work. We'll probably be crying for rain in late July and August. Wish we could spread things out a bit.

We have a saying: "If you don't like the weather in Michigan, just wait 15 minutes." These photos were taken this afternoon, when much of this morning's snow has already melted away. I have faith that spring is still on its way, with just a bit of a delay.

Etsy does a feature on its blog every so often focusing on a certain decorating style. They show photos of someone's house, and then pick out items for sale from random etsy sellers that match the style of the house. Today, one of my rugs was featured on the etsy blog (scroll down, down, down--it's on the right). I'm honored!

We know it's spring when the load limits finally come off the roads and we can get a couple of semi trucks in for loading out the compost. Here the driver takes advantage of the wait time to check his oil, maybe? We rent a loader from a excavator friend and The Farmer gets to play with it while he's loading. Not worth owning one ourselves just to use it a couple of times a year. Must be the oil level was okay--now the driver's going for a walk. Nice day...

Meet one of my favorite dyepots: I remember when we acquired it, I thought, "I will probably never have enough people over at one time to need this big of a coffee pot." I think it's a 450 cup pot. Not sure. For a few years, it sat neglected on a shelf in the basement. I might have used it once, but I don't think so. When we started dyeing we soon saw the possibilities of this unique dye pot. I can easily dye a pound of yarn in this pot. It's got a nifty emptying spout. It heats up just by plugging it in. We learned pretty quickly not to use the inside parts that make the coffee perk. That much sloshing around of the liquid tends to felt wool. Not good. So now we fill it up with water, add the dye, heat it up, shut it off and add the yarn. Very nice. Here's the latest--I'm pretty sure it measures as a worsted weight, so we'll have a new form of loveliness available at our fiber festivals. (See events tab on left for dates.)

Remember all the haying we did last summer? I do. The Farmer is selling it hand over fist right now--seems everyone has run out. So all that work we did putting the hay WAY up there in the loft of the barn? It's being thrown down bale by bale and loaded onto pickup trucks and trailers and hauled off to be eaten by horses and dairy cattle. I'm grateful for the sales right now. The cash flow of farming is unpredictable, like the weather that affects it. Those who cannot deal with uncertainty should not be farmers.

I've been experimenting with blogger's "pages" feature. If you look at the top of the page, just under the header, you'll see the words "Home" "Events" and "Weaving Books for Sale". If you're reading this, you're on the Home page. If you'd like to see our short list of fiber festivals and on-farm events, you'll want to click on the Events page. And if you are interested in purchasing weaving books, I've listed a few up for sale on the Weaving Books for Sale page. I'll keep the lists current, and I may add new pages as the whim strikes me. And if anyone knows how to use the Numbers program by Apple, I need to be talked through a chart snafu. The past few days the lamb charts have been all wonky, so I haven't bothered to post them. I'd really like to keep up with it, but only if it's accurate.

I know this isn't the best photo. But if you look carefully, you can see the nursery area within the maternity ward. We call it the playpen. I wonder if all the lambies sleep in the hay feeder to avoid being stepped on?

Over the past week it's been almost warm enough to work in the shop. I slipped out there for a while yesterday and got the loom up and running again. This is a rug made of old t-shirts. I hope you made time for something fun this week! If not, plan for it in the days to come. Doing something fun gives you a new perspective.