It's Snowing All Over The World...

We awoke this morning to see snow falling. Lots of snow falling, and it hasn't stopped. There is at least 3 inches on the ground now. On the radio I heard that it is snowing in Portland, and from a blog I visit I saw it was snowing there (which I think is on the east coast). SIGH. It was back to long underware and my carthearts, hat and gloves, this morning. At least the birds are enjoying the snow, and the fresh bird seed Keith put out for them.

On the bright side, it's perfect weather for soup!

Garden Basket

This is my latest project. It is a crochet basket, using jute (biodegradable) and strips of material (old sheet). I'm going to market them as Garden Baskets, but right now I am using it as my knitting basket. What do you think of it? I combined 3 different patterns to get the basket design. I'm pretty sure I like it, but am just a little hesitant...even with my doubts I will make more to sell at the farm stand.

The Past Couple of Weeks

Time is flying by...I hadn't realized that it has been over 2 weeks since I last post...so here's a quick catch-up.

Arlene & Richard came for a weekend - the first we have seen Richard since he's been back from S. America- Arlene had a specific reason for the visit. She is volunteering on a oral history project for NCW (north central washington). The first program is about the ski hills. Turns out there was one on our River Road. During her visit she interviewed people who helped out with Ardenvoir's Ski Hill and we all took a ride up the road to see if we could find it. We did.

A old time family donated land to the valley for the ski hill. This is the lodge.

It even had two toliets.

We believe this is one of the runs - Keith found a tree with the lights - and we could see them going up the hill.

First blossoms of the season.

The other exciting event was when "suddenly" we heard a loud POP and then we had no phone service. A wide-load going up river with half a house, pulled out our phone line. That was on a Friday. It was fixed by Monday. It could have been worse - others lost phone & electricity.

There still is patches of snow on the ground - but not much.

Here are some photos showing where we will plant the Vineyard. This is looking up the slope. The Vineyard will start near the top of the slope going down.

Here's a view looking down. It will begin just past the rocks.....


can't you just imagine what it will look like?

Keith has been working on fences, irrigation pipes, and he just built a new roost. I'm going to move the roosters (except for the ones keeping company with our lovely hens) down to the goat/cow pen. He built the roost for them.

I've inventoried our seed and will begin the planting for this years garden.

We have garlic and lettus coming up in the main garden,

all is good.

What's Happenin' on the Farm

Each day a little more snow melts. I took these photos yesterday, and today half the field of snow has melted. With the weather changing Keith has been busy outside.

We both moved hay bales today, the beginings of getting a stall ready to be a nursery for the kids that hopefully will be born the end of April.

Last week Keith worked on the electric fence around the goat/cow pasture.

Today he did the first burn pile for the year - burned all the trimmings from pruning the fruit trees.


He also fixed up the horseshoe pit today. Racked and smoothed the dirt in the pits. His first throw was a ringer! This photo is before the fixing up, the piles of dirt you see are from moles or gophers!

We had neighbors over last Saturday for dinner. I was inspired by April to make my own humus. Started with the dried chickpeas, just like she told me. It is a lot of fun to make and very yummy.

I still need to work on the green house and milking room.....

That's the latest from WC Fields.

Sheds

This is the time of year that people in the valley go hiking in the hills looking for "sheds". We were told the story by Mike who is a "long-timer" in the valley. He is from a six generation valley family. He told us they pay you by the pound. I didn't catch who the "they" was, we were at Coaster's and the band was loud and the wine flowing. Keith and Spaetzle found this one on Longs Trail. It was the only one so no good money for us, but it is fun to go hiking and looking under the trees for them, a treasure hunt you might say

More Projects

This is a long project. It started last year with the planting of the gourds. All winter they dried on a rack suspended from the ceiling on the porch.

Lately I have been cleaning the dried gourds, scrubbing the mold off with a scatchy-scratchy and vinegar/water in the tub.

Here are the clean gourds, waiting for me to create something out of them.

This is my first gourd craft. This isn't from a gourd I grew or cleaned. Arlene did the work and gave it to me to work on while I waited for mine to be ready. After doing the cleaning myself I appreciate the gift of the gourd from Arlene even more than before!

I don't think I will make more just like this, but I do use the water pitcher everyday as an incentive to get me to drink more water.

These shopping bags I knitted from cotton yarn string. I got the pattern from Simple Crochet by Erika Knight.

I really like her books and her style. They are very quick to crochet (about 3 - 5 hours) and easy. They were a big hit at the grocery store and I love not bringing home anymore plastic bags! I hope to make more to sell at the Farm Stand.

That Darn Cat!

Felix brought a friend up from the basement to play with him.

Take a look at their fun!

"Hello Mr. Cat."

"Hello Mr. Mouse"

"You're very soft Mr. Cat. Can I get a little closer?"

"Sure come aboard My Little Morsel Friend!"

"Whoo-pi-ti-yi-yay, I go my own way, back in the saddle again!"

These two really seemed to get along,

sweet and benign,

very cute,

we have never seen anything like it.

Let us know how you think this encounter ended.

Afternoon

In the afternoon I usually walk the puppies around a field then check on the farm animals.

The Cow's horns are a-growin'.

Girly-Girl settlin' down for the night.





Tuffy is still wantin' to play.




The muddy road almost looks beautiful in the evening light.

Chickens

I realize that I haven't posted any chicken photos since the weasel attack.

Here are some current photos of our beautiful birds.

Hen 1






Hen 2

They are still laying eggs.

The Rooster we hope will do justice to those eggs!

The Great Divide that saved all the Roosters from the Weasels.



In the afternoons, I raise the blinds to see how they are doing; in the mornings I crawl through the wee door to feed and water the boys.

"Peek-a-Boo"