Still Waiting...

While Spring has finally sprung, it is nowhere near warm enough to think about prepping the garden yet.

I did get to start the next set of seeds on Monday.  I started 4 different types of tomatoes, parsley, and echinacea.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share pictures of my pitiful garden.

This is 2/3 of the available garden space.  This is what I will be planting this year.  I really need to get down there and remove all the plastic and old carpeting!

The plastic/carpet covering has been on for almost 11 months...much longer than needed!  The garden never got planted last year!

This is the other 1/3 of the available space.  There were tomatoes between the posts for the past 3-4 years, so I'm going to pile on the llama manure this year and let the area lie dormant this year.  If I manage to be successful with the other part, I'll add this part on next year.

Lots of space to expand!

And now for a bit of comedy...

This is the original compost pile that I built back in the fall.  I figured it would be more than big enough.

A little llama poop...

This is what happened after 6 months...I wasn't able to pile the manure/bedding more than about 3' high, so I had to keep expanding horizontally.  The pile is now at least 3x wider than the space that I set up!  Luckily this can be fixed...once the pile thaws out we're going to get at it with the tractor and front-loader, and condense the pile.  We'll also take out the oldest part of the pile to mix into the garden.

A LOT of llama poop!

Next week I'll be planting more seeds indoors, and hopefully my tomato/parsley/echinacea seeds will have sprouted by then!

Pasture Improvement

I mentioned in a previous post about all the pasture improvements I wanted to work on this spring/summer.  It finally warmed up enough this week to get started!

I don't know about everyone, but for me the minute it is relatively warm outside I throw myself into outdoor projects.  Luckily I had a good amount of stuff that could be done before things really warmed up for good (and the ground thawed).

The big thing on my mind right now is getting the pasture re-seeded, but before I can do that I needed to get the brush cleaned out of a few areas.

The sticker bush area almost a year ago.

The tall weeds up by the barn.  Luckily the llamas took care of these themselves!

Luckily the llamas did a good amount of the work last fall, eating down two areas that had shoulder-high weeds!  They wanted nothing to do with the sticker bushes though, so there were lots left for me to deal with.

Llamas make great weed-eaters!

That was the first thing I dealt with...cutting down all the sticker bushes.  After they were cut down, I raked them (and the underlying dead grass and weeds) into piles to be removed.

Another shot of the sticker bush area before clearing.

And after clearing!

Once the sticker bushes were out of the way, I tackled the grapevine.  I don't think there was a square foot of pasture without a piece of grapevine running through it, at least before I started pulling it out last fall.  I pulled out a good amount in the lower part of the pasture, where they set up their poop pile.  This week I worked on clearing it out of two other spots higher up in the pasture.  It is quite hard work...the stupid vines are really stuck to the ground!

This is where the tall weeds were by the barn.  There was also a lot of grapevine underneath, which I took out this week.

The last thing I focused on was moving some of the smaller rocks (well, anything small enough for me to carry) out of the middle of the pasture, and distributing them around the fence line to block holes.  The ground on this property is really uneven, so there were quite a few spots where there is a 4-6" gap between the fence and the ground.  Luckily the dogs haven't tried to get through them, but they could if they tried.  The chickens have also been getting through and into the pasture, and I definitely don't want that once I plant grass seed!  I've got most of the gaps filled now, another 2-3 loads of rock should finish the rest.

This is kinda hard to see, but this is one of the huge gaps in the fence that I plugged with concrete blocks and rocks.

Oh, and I still have to block off the rabbit holes.  I want to "evict" the rabbits but not kill them, so I'm afraid to completely block their holes...  I've been trying to scare them off...clearing all of the brush around the hole, and bringing Abby out to sniff around their hole.  I'm going to give them a week or two to "get with the picture" and move on, and then I'm blocking them off.  Don't want a llama breaking a leg!

Rabbit hole...

It has been a long few days, but I'm pretty proud with our progress!

All done with the work!

We're supposed to get a lot of rain for the next few days, but after that I think I'll plant the grass seed. If the ground is fairly saturated, it should be easier for the seed to get soil contact without too much work.  My plan is to rough up the soil a bit with a hard metal rake, spread the seed, rake again (and/or spread a little peat on top), and then walk over the area to compact it a bit.  I'm also going to spread some hay over the top to discourage run-off.  I really hope it works!

CNY Fiber Fair

I don't think I ever officially announced it...I got a booth space at the CNY Fiber Fair in June!  I'm really excited.  I've heard from friends who were past vendors that sales weren't great but they are improving every year, so hopefully they will continue to grow!

I have 3 big projects to work on before the festival...

First and foremost, I need to SPIN like crazy!  I do have quite an inventory (at least by my standards, maybe 60 skeins), but more is always better.  I've been pretty good though, trying to spin at least a skein or two each week.

Handspun yarn that I've finished in the last 2-3 weeks.

Second is figuring out and building a display.  I brainstormed ideas for a display with my mother, and we decided that something like an a-frame spool rack (typically used for winding rug warps) would be perfect.  I can display 2 rows of yarn on both sides, and the yarn can in a loose skein rather than twisted up.  I'm secretly hoping my uncle is going to make it for me...not sure if it is something I could figure out on my own.

This is originally what I wanted (metal grid panels), but they are EXPENSIVE!!

This is what we are thinking of now, with dowels on both sides.

And last but not least is writing more patterns for my handspun yarn!  I really need to get motivated with this, I wrote my last pattern more than a month ago.  I still need patterns for DK, Aran, Bulky, and art yarns.  I'd greatly appreciate suggestions if you have them!

My latest pattern, a sport weight cowl.

I Want Spring!

Technically spring was supposed to start a week ago, but today was the first day that really felt like it.

Of course spring around here means lots of rain (and thus lots of mud), but I'm so ready for things to be green and it to be warm!

The llama pasture last spring (technically almost summer).

I want to be able to work in my flower beds!

Flowers in bloom.

I want to put in my garden!

Baby broccoli.

I want the llamas to have fresh grass in their pasture!

Grazing llamas.

Llama Biography #16: Autumn Hill's Catlinite

Well I hate to do "biography" posts 2 weeks in a row, but I'm severely short on time today so I apologize...

On to llama #16, Autumn Hill's Catlinite.

Catlinite at 1 month of age.

If you happened to read last week's llama biography post, you may be having a deja-vu moment.  Catlinite is almost a perfect twin to Catalina!

Catlinite at 2 weeks of age.  Catalina is right behind him.

Catlinite was born to SHAG Cattera in October 2004.  His sire is SHAG Guido.

SHAG Cattera, Catlinite's dam.

SHAG Guido, Catlinite's sire.

Catlinite's birth was quite the show...both of my grandmothers were over at my parents' house for dinner on a Sunday afternoon, when Cattera decided to give birth.  So the whole family (minus me, but I don't remember where I was) got to see this little guy be born!

Newborn Catlinite!

Even though he shares a lot of physical similarities with his many half-siblings, Catlinite has one unique point...he was the first Cattera baby that I ever trained!  Cattera was originally my sister's llama, and thus my sister trained most of Cattera's babies for 4-H.  By the time Catlinite came along, my sister wasn't as involved in 4-H, so he became my project for 2005.  He was also the first male I had shown in 4-H.

He had a great set of hooked ears!

Quite the good-looking guy!

We had quite the interesting show season.  He never placed great in halter, but he was passable at performance.  And we had an awesome costume (he was a sled dog, and even pulled a sled!) for the 4-H fair.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture on my computer...

Catlinite and I at the 2005 Western Ohio Triple Crown.

Catlinite and I at the 2005 Hillsdale Hobo Show.

Catlinite sold in the fall of 2005 to an alpaca farm in Ohio.  He later found a new home with his half-sister Cataleya in New Mexico!

Catlinite with Cattera, winter 2004/2005.

We Have Batts!

I've been wanting to add spinning (or felting) batts to my Etsy shop for awhile now, but it takes so much effort to get the drum carder out of its hiding place, find fiber to card, card the batt, clean up, and put everything away (sorry, was that a whine?)

But I've been doing TONS of fiber trades through Facebook, mostly trading roving or shoe insoles I'd had processed for dyed wool and alpaca fiber.  I was getting quite the stash of carding fibers, so I finally broke out the drum carder on Sunday and went to town!

The fiber to be carded...wool/mohair on the left, and alpaca/merino/bamboo on the right.

Unfortunately I don't have the best carder for production work, but it does the trick.  I have a Louet Roving carder, which is quite narrow.  Once off the carder and fluffed up, the batts are usually 5-6" wide.  Much better for spinning, in my opinion.

Carding up a batt.

I had a lot of fun carding Sunday...  I did about half alpaca and half wool (sometimes both in the same batt!), and added some fun stuff like bamboo, firestar, and dyed wool locks to keep things interesting.

The finished product!

Tonight I finally took pictures and weighed everything to get them all on Etsy!

Abby was "supervising" my photo shoot.

Then I made some more batts...

I'm going to be selfish though, these are for me!  Well, one set of 4 batts will be sent to some lucky Etsy shop customers to try as samples (plus I'm going to spin one to try it).  The other set of 4 batts is all mine though!  I'll post pictures when I get it spun up...

As I mentioned, the batts are all in my Etsy shop now!  I've also created a new "Batt of the Month Club"!  Just like the roving club, you will get 4 ounces of batts once a month for 3 months.  Of course you can always choose to get more fiber every month or more months of fiber!  The batts for the club will be 100% unique and one of a kind- no two will ever be the same!  I'm even going to let you customize them!

And now for what you really want...batt pictures!

100% wool batt.

Llama/merino/firestar batt.

Alpaca/merino/bamboo/firestar batt.

Wool/locks/firestar batt.

The Garden Has Begun!

Well...sort-of...

I did get my very first seeds planted last Saturday, though!

As I mentioned in my post last week, due to our cold spring temperatures (and the necessity that all the plants be organic), I'm having to start a lot of tiny seeds indoors so that the plants are ready to get in the ground outside when the weather finally warms up.

A lot of people seem to start all their seeds at once (no matter the type of vegetable), which has its pros and cons.  While it would be easier at the beginning, since you can plant all the seeds at once and give them the same conditions), different plants germinate and grow at different rates, so this may not give the best results.  Since this is my first garden, I'm doing things by the book.  For all of the different vegetables I want to plant, I have looked up how many weeks in advance they should be started indoors.  I have then planned out when every different type of vegetable needs to get started.  This leads to a lot more work, as one week I may plant only 6 peat pods, but the next week I plant 20!  It also means that I will have plants of various heights on the light shelf, but there's not much I can do about that.

So this is my time-table for starting seeds indoors: (based on a predicted last frost around mid-late May)

• March 15
• Broccoli
• Lavender
• April 1
• Tomatoes
• Parsley
• April 14
• Peppers
• Sage
• Calendula
• Nasturtium
• Basil
• Yarrow
• May 1
• Squash
• Pumpkin
• Thyme
• Marigold
• Cosmos
• May 7
• Cucumbers

Obviously, the seeds I talked about starting last week were broccoli and lavender.  I'm trying 2 types of broccoli, De Cicco and Calabreese.  The lavender is for a flower border around the garden, to attract pollinators and deter herbivorous pests.

As I mentioned before, I'm using Jiffy Peat Pods to start my seeds.  (The one exception is onions, which I'll talk about next week.)  They just seemed like the simplest way to go.

The Jiffy Greenhouse kit.

Knowing I would have about 50 vegetable plants and also wanted to plant several varieties of flowers and herbs, I chose a Jiffy tray that held 72 plants.  They make smaller ones that would be more convenient, but the big ones are more economical.

To use the peat pods, you must first soak them in warm water to get them to puff up.  It takes about 30 minutes for the pods to inflate.

Peat pods inflating in some warm water.

Then you tear open the mesh at the top, and plant your seed(s) at the appropriate depth.  I'm planting 2 seeds per pod, and will thin to the healthiest 1 after they grow for a bit.

Next is preparing the seeds for germination.  Some people swear that you can just cover the pods in the tray with the clear plastic dome that comes with it, and stick it under the lights until it germinates.  From what I've read, the seeds need more heat than light to germinate, so I chose to stick the pods on top of my heater (turned on very low) to give them extra heat.  I put the pods in plastic bags to keep the moisture in, and then stuck them in a thick plastic box on top of the heater.  I had a thermometer inside to make sure that the seeds didn't get baked.

My two varieties of broccoli.  I'm going to be carefully labeling all my plants (from this stage all the way until they are planted in the garden) so that I can determine which variety of each type grows best in our climate.

Heat!

Surprisingly it only took a few days for the broccoli seeds to germinate.  Once most of the seeds had sprouted, I took the pods out of the bags and placed them in the tray under the grow lights.  One week after planting, 10 of the 12 seeds I started are up!

My grow light set-up.  As the seeds get taller I can raise the lights up higher.

Baby broccoli!

The lavender seeds could take up to 3 weeks to germinate, so they are still on my heater.  They may get moved in a couple weeks when I start the tomatoes, as my box doesn't hold very many pods!

Lavender seeds still waiting to germinate.