Fate hanging out in my studio.
Category: Animals
Making Bedlam Farm Yarn
Deb was in the back room working the big machines that make wool into yarn when Jon and I got to the Vermont Fiber Mill yesterday morning. We went though the sample book of colors to dye the yarn, which is fun, but can be overwhelming too.
This was the first time in the five or so years I’ve been selling yarn that I had a good idea of what I wanted to do with my ten bags of wool.
I left Zelda’s and Suzy’s wool natural because I had a couple of people specifically ask for it.
I blended Kim’s white wool with Biddy’s gray wool. They’ll be twisted together to make a barber pole yarn. It’s the first time I’ve ever done that and it’s a more expensive to do, but I think it will be pretty special.
I blended the rest of the wool mixing Romney and Border Leicester or Romney and Cheviot for each batch.
I’m dying the rest of the white wool, from Liam and Rosemary, sage and a dusty pink.
I’m dying Socks and Izzy’s wool the same rich red and blue I did last time because I had people request those colors again too.
I’m keeping half of Pumpkin and Griselle’s wool natural gray and the rest I’m dying purple, which works really beautifully with the blue and red.
I should have the wool back as yarn in late September or early October. There was a lot of wool this year, so I’ll have a lot of yarn to sell.
Good Monday Morning From Bedlam Farm 6/18/19
Our Lives: Living With Animals, Our Latest Podcast
There’s a lot of dog poop talk in our latest podcast Our Lives: Living With Animals. But when you live with as many animals as we do, poop becomes almost a daily part of life in one way or another.
But we also talk about living with smart dogs like Fate and how donkeys fit into our lives. We ran out of time before getting to the cats, chickens, fish and snails, so we’re planning on a Living with Animals Part II.
For now you can listen to Our Lives: Living With Animals here.
You can also listen to it or any of our Katz and Wulf On Bedlam Farm podcasts by clicking on the Podcast button on the top and bottom of my blog.
Or you can listen on Google or iTunes. And if you’d like to leave a positive review on iTunes, we’d appreciate that. I’d also love to hear what you think so feel free to leave a comment on my blog or email me here.
Morning Sheep Walk
Stormy Bedlam Morning
The Little Blue Egg
I could easily have stepped on it, but instead I looked down and saw the small blue egg in the grass under the big maple tree, then I looked up into the branches of the tree, as if I would see the nest in the high thick branches.
I’ve never held such a small whole egg in my hand before. It seemed perfect to me. The shell was hard and silky, and it had a weight to it, a density so different from a chicken egg.
I wanted to put it back in the nest, I wanted the mother bird to come down and bring it back to the nest herself, I wanted to hatch it.
Not knowing what to do with it, but wanting to protect it from the dogs stepping it, I put it in the planter next to my studio door for safe keeping.
When I came out for lunch a couple of hours later, the egg was gone. Then I saw it, crushed in the grass, whatever was inside of it was gone.
I’m guessing it was Bud who ate the egg. It’s not something Fate would be interested in. It made me sad when I first saw it, but I imagine if he didn’t eat it, it would have just rotted away eventually, anyway.
Nature does have her way of dealing with such things.
Good Monday Morning From Bedlam Farm 6/10/19
Minnie and Me, The Garden Compromise
Jon came home with the Spiderwort and lily, because Minnie has been using part of the back porch garden as her own private bathroom.
I can understand how convenient it must be for her.
She sleeps all day on the cushion under the table on the porch and just a few steps away is an area of soft soil cover in wood chips (where I planted a mess of Zinnia seeds). It’s like having a bathroom next to the bedroom.
I thought if I had some big plants, that would make Minnie find another place to do her business. But then I looked at the place in the garden she hasn’t been peeing. The place where the seed are growing, but can still be easily scratched up by a cat’s paw.
If I took Minnie’s bathroom away she could easily move to the next best place.
So instead of putting the plants in Minnie’s bathroom, I surround her bathroom with them. Now, the patch of dirt where nothing will grow is under the birdbath and surrounded by plants. A compromise instead of a potentially, ongoing battle between Minnie and me.
Nap Time
Bud has become Jon’s napping partner. As soon as he sees Jon sit down in the chair he naps in, Bud jumps in his lap. It’s a sweet thing to see them both snoozing together. Each finding comfort in the touch and presence of the other.
