Updates in crofting and crafting

Above is a low-light photo I took Friday of my third breeding 'group,' Bench and Blaise. They seem to be co-habitating peaceably in the extra horse stall, but I haven't observed anything more.

That same day I decided Sanson really needed a bigger sheep suit if he was going to have full range of motion to do his job. In the process I checked out his fleece at last rib, mid-side and WOW! I do not recall it being this crimpy and gorgeous when I brought him home, but lamb fleeces often do change over time.

It was easy to do all this because Sanson was hanging out in the Ram-ada Inn – even though 'his' girls were out in the wooded lot. He didn't appear injured which was a relief, but he's supposed to be out fraternizing with Boop and Broadway, not staying in near Bridget and Bijou. It appears the only time they hang out together is when the girls come into the Ram-ada Inn to eat. Crossing fingers that hormones kick in eventually.

Part of the definition of crofting is small-scale food production, so here is what I've been working on since freezing and drying prunes. Thanks to a nice bucket of paste tomatoes from a neighbor plus fruits from our own plants, I made a batch of condensed tomato soup, one of Rick's favorites:

Note to self: leave more headroom

Next I turned my attention to our abundant apples. So far, I've canned 14 quarts of applesauce and seven quarts of apple pie filling, with another batch of apple pie filling to prep tonight and can tomorrow. I guess I'll keep making applesauce until I run out of jars, and then dehydrate some. I've been listening to Barbara Kingsolver's Small Wonder, which just reinforces my desire to utilize as much as possible what we can produce.

As for crafting, guess what arrived on Sunday!!!

sweet little four-shaft loom

On Monday, the first of the two weaving books I ordered arrived (the second is Learning to Weave by Deborah Chandler), and today I finished my TdF prize braid (perched on the loom, above). A friend is coming over tomorrow to look over the loom with me to see what we (the loom and me) need to get up and running, then we can move it out of the middle of the living room.

In late-breaking news, tonight Rick came home with a new-to-us tractor! It replaces the much smaller, worn out orchard Kubota my dad and mom delivered to us years ago (and Rick's old 8N/9N Ford, even though it's still here as a 'family heirloom'). Looking forward to getting the Sheep Sheraton cleaned out with its help after this rainy week is over.

That's it for now from . . .