July Classes

Hand dyed nylon yarns

I'll be teaching two classes on Saturday, July 16 at White Violet Center at St. Mary of the Woods, Indiana.  [Just west of Terre Haute]

These are some of my favorite classes of the year.  Great place, great people, great fun.   I hope you can come!   Register at the link above. 

From their website:
9 a.m.- 12 p.m.: Color Basics and Harmonies.
1 p.m. – 5 p.m.: Dyeing Animal and Protein Fibers

Color Basics and Harmonies:
Take the mystery out of putting colors together. Learn how to combine colors in beautiful ways from a master colorist. Topics will include basic color theory, using color tools, wheels and books, classic color combinations, etc. Spend time making your own color notebooks. Expect to get a lot of practice putting colors together and using your new skills. This class is indispensable for anyone who works with color–artists, quilters, knitters/crocheters, sewers, interior designers, even gardeners!

Dyeing Animal and Protein Fibers:
Explore the use of acid dyes to turn your stash of ‘boring’ protein yarns and fibers into designer yarns and fibers that you will be excited to knit, weave or spin. Using safe and mild acid dyes, students will learn how to put several colors onto a skein to make variegated yarns. Students may bring their own wool, mohair, alpaca, soy silk, or silk fibers and yarns to work with. White or light colors work best
.

Pink Pea Flowers

We tried a new type of heirloom pea this year.   These are the flowers of Gray Pod Snap Pea.

They're pink!   So pretty.   I hope they taste as good as they look.

Mystery Chrysalis

I spied this chrysalis in a willow sprout at the edge of the road, right in the path of the mowers.   I snagged it and brought it to the house so we can watch it.   I have no idea what kind of butterfly will emerge.


Great camo, isn't it?   Looks just like bird poop from more than a yard away.

I'm excited to see what will come out.

2015 Canning and Freezing Report

Here's the summary of what we canned in 2015.   I've probably left a couple of things out but you get the general idea.   Also, I've put in quantities of fruit plus the canned yield so you can get an idea of how far a bushel will go, etc.  I've updated the Canning page [tab above so I can keep a record of the 2016 season.   I'm excited to get this season going.

February:

• Carrots:  7 quarts. [pressure canned].  Great for carrot cake!

March:

• Maple Syrup:   8 pts

June:

• Strawberries - 1 flat [2 gallons] Reeves in Worthingon/Freedom: frozen

July:

• Peaches [Freedom Country Store]:  2 bushels
• Plain peach jam for cookie/pie fillings:  2 batches
• Spiced peach jam with brown sugar
• Peach Chutney: 2 batches
• Peach pie filling:  38 quarts total [Spiced 7, Peach Raspberry Vanilla 20, Peach Plum Vanilla  11]
• Froze several bags full - store flat to freeze.
• Blueberries [Freedom Country Store]:  1 box, 10 lbs - frozen
• Sour Cherries [Freedom Country Store]:  1 box, 10 lbs:  11 quarts pie filling
• NOTE:  Make this after the mixed berry pie filling in the same pot for better color.
• Sweet Cherries [Freedom Country Store]: 3 boxes, 20 lbs each:  
• Sweet Cherry Vanilla jam:  7 batches
• Sweet Cherry Chutney: 3 batches
• Mixed Berries for Amy [Freedom Country Store]:  1 flat  red raspberries, 1 flat black raspberries
• pie filling 11 quarts
• mixed berry freezer jam with instant clear jel:  6.5 pints

August: 

• Tomatoes:  2 boxes [from Reeves in Worthington.  $10 / 25 lb box]: 28 quarts
• Tomasqua from garden produce:  7 quarts 
• Green beans:  from the garden.   I swear we froze a million bags of them.  OK, probably closer to 8-10 gallons.   Way a lot. 

September:

• Apples: 1 bushel Gala = 22 quarts pie filling
• Apples:  1/2 bushel Gala, 1/2 bushel Honeycrisp = 24 quarts apple slices in light syrup. 
• Red Raspberries:  1 1/2 flats [1 1/2 gallons] from Freedom Country Store, discounted for age 
• 3 quarts pie filling
• 3 large batches jam: 12 pints

October:

• Beans, dry off the vine:  Almost 3 quarts total, mixed.   
• The Kentucky wonder beans were FABULOUS to hull and came right out of the shells easily.   I shelled those, plus some Freshette hybrids [a pain to hull], plus a few dragon tongues, plus a few long beans.  And they're pretty!  Great reason not to feel pressure to harvest them all green for the freezer or canner.

I'm so looking forward to this year!

Green

It's green again in Indiana.   Really, really green.  

I read once that you shouldn't paint scenes with too much green.  People don't like it or something.   I think that's code for 'It doesn't go with the living room decor.'   I also read once that you should paint what you love.   I love green Indiana.  So I'll keep painting green Indiana.  

I mix all my greens myself.   I like the ranges I can get with just a few favorite primaries.  This piece of Virginia creeper climbing a pole was a good practice.   [Prussian blue, aureolin, mission burnt sienna, alizarin crimson].   This was the last piece I did for the watercolor class I took last month.   I had a wonderful time in the class, learned a lot and met some really great people.

Busy Bees

The bees are busy bringing in loads of pollen.   They started this season as a tiny fist-sized cluster and have built up enough to mostly fill a 10 frame medium.   I added a super last week and they're very happy.  

This hive is part Russian.   I bought a package with a Russian queen last year, but they didn't like her, and within a couple of months had requeened on their own.  This new queen does not like any loitering around the hive.   I got pinged on my cheekbone just for standing and watching near the front of the hive.   Rude.   Since then I've heard that Russians can be defensive.   So we keep an eye on things from a little further back.  

If all the pollen coming in is an indicator, then this hive is building up really fast.   I'm hoping to add another super in a week or so.   The wild brambles are just getting ready to bloom.   Assuming it ever stops raining.