A welcoming sight - and the story of "Lila beans"

The Shepherd has planted these bright and cheery zinnias in the front bed by our gate - this picture was teken about a week ago and they are already about 1/2 again bigger and brighter.









He had some left over so he planted them in pots for my planter by the back door.

















His corn, sunflowers and pumpkins are all growing on the same row.

Unfortunately, the thieving raccoons have been stripping the ears off his corn this year. He is not a happy camper! Next year? Electro-net!






The green beans are coming on like gangbusters. He picked two of the BIG yellow Tupperware bowls full of beans today - 1 green and 1 purple. I'll snap the green beans tomorrow a.m. to take with us to our church potluck tomorrow. We call them "Lila" beans - here's their story -

The original bean that these came from were found in the crop of a duck that "Lila"'s father shot over 100 years ago up at their home up in Canada. Ever the frugal wife, Lila's mom decided to keep the beans for the next spring and see if they would grow. Turned out they not only grew but they provided very tasty beans - both green and dried. The family kept the seeds from year to year. Lila took some with her when she married Leonard and set up their own farm here in Whatcom County. What they didn't eat fresh or save to dry for seed, Lila would can.

When I first met Lila, she was in her late seventies. Leonard's family was one of the founding families of the little church that we go to, and whenever there was a potluck, Lila always brought a big pan of beans for the dinners - As Lila was getting on in age, she knew she would not be able to keep planting these beans forever, so one year, for our fund-raiser auction, she provided 4 or 5 little jars of seed to auction off. We bought one of the jars, and, since then, Lila has passed on. The Shepherd has now become "The Keeper of the Beans". Unfortunately, they don't freeze well (and I don't do canning) but they are excellent fresh - so I freeze the extra purple pole beans that we have, and for three or four glorious weeks in the summer we have all the Green Beans that one would ever want.

He will save enough seed for ourselves and for about 2 dozen plants to sell at our church's summer plant sale where they are very popular. (although when he's told people what we call them "Lila beans" they often will say, "Oh, I don't like Lima beans" and so the story of the duck beans gets told over and over.

We also have two huge patches of nasturtiums that reseed from year to year. They are bright and cheery too - sometimes I don't think that the digital photo's capture the color as well as they could. I used some in a green salad that I took to some friends last week. It was very pretty.


Across the driveway from the nasturtium bed are the "Turk's cap" lilies - they don't have any fragrance, but they are very cute, don't you think.

I hope you've enjoyed our walk through the garden. Come again soon, you hear?

Men in Skirts!

2009 Skagit Highland Games - Spindrifters Sheep to Shawl - - -

We had front row seats from the spinner tent - the pipers were on the left and the games were on the right with the Celtic stage right in the center. There were some great guitar and fiddle music acts on the stage until 2:30 when the pipers started. We are in range (within 60 miles north) of some of the best pipe bands IN THE WORLD - I didn't go to our Bellingham games this year, so I was glad to hear them -


We were all settled in our "spot" when look who showed up! Our friend and friendly wool mill mistress, Gretchen from Gretchen's Wool Mill in Monroe. It was so fun to sit and visit with her while we were spinning. She even wore her clan sash over her pretty summer dress! Turned out the the woman across from us was a new customer of Gretchen's and another one of her customer's stopped by for a visit (and to sit in the shade of our tent for a while - whew it was hot! - about 85 degrees!) We all forgave her coming to the games and not spending the day in her mill -








They were supposed to use one of our Shetland fleeces that had been provided especially for the event, but after putting together the warp for the loom in blues and purples, the committee decided that it wouldn't look good with the brown fleece - so they will use our fleece for the sheep to shawl that will happen at the NW Washington Fair in August. I suggested that they put out a call for greens and golds for the warp yarn - they would look good with the brown.




So we used a white romney fleece that Deb had purchased at Black Sheep last year.

People were picking and carding this floofy wool into batts that we were spinning from -

I'm mad at myself that I didn't take a picture of the yarn that I spun up - it looked really nice and I got some very nice compliments from some of the other spinners.







They said that it takes five spinners to supply one weaver.










So, while the wool was being picked and carded, spun into singles and plied, other ladies were warping the loom.











There was really a lot of interest in the spinning - both from men and women. I think the men like the "mechanics" of the wheel - lots of questions about why there were so many different types of wheels, etc.

Kids liked feeling the floofy batts - and since I had brought along some Shetland to work with in case things got slow, I'd give them a feel of the Shetland too. Personally, I thought the romney was pretty easy to spin, but very scratchy. The kind of stuff that gives wool a bad name.....


The weavers wove their magic and look at this - a beautiful shawl is taking shape - we sold raffle tickets - the funds will probably to towards speaker fees for our 3rd Annual Spin-In that will happen in the fall.

Even with the heat, it was a beautiful day - there was a bit of a breeze blowing through the tent and that kept things a little cooler.

The Shepherd bought me a steak and mushroom pie for lunch - yum, yum, yum. I don't know how they make those things but they are delectable!

The worst thing was that the breeze brought the enticing smell of Kettle Corn - about every 20 minutes or so! But I'm happy to report that I was a good girl marched right by the Kettle Corn tent and didn't buy any. (although it might have had something to do with the fact that I was headed towards the Porta-Pottie on a very important mission...ha, ha, ha)

I guess I'll just have to make plans to go to the fair so I can work on that pretty brown fleece.

Sneak peak -

From this - (pin drafted wool/mohair blend from Dawn's Custom Carding - picked up 4 bumps at BSG)













To this - OMG I can hardly wait to get spinning on this stuff!

I guess I've slipped a cog...I forgot to tell you about Black Sheep!

Well, you've probably read everyone else's stories about their experiences at this year's Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene Oregon, but humor me as I share my favorite things about the event.

#1 Favorite thing - seeing blogger friends -

MIchelle from Boulderneigh and Denise from "In Sheep's Clothing" (who, by the way, both have several splendid posts about their experiences at BSG) Denise kindly helped Michelle show her lambs.



And then there was Yvonne from Lavender Sheep's Fiber Garden. I have been reading her blog for a couple of years and it was nice to finally meet her - she was very busy in her vendor booth. She is one talented lady!









Isn't she pretty? Luckily, she was already sold or she would have had an all expense paid trip back to Bellingham with us!









I loved the markings on this little Jacob's sheep.












These Teesdale sheep have INCREDIBLY long fleeces - sometimes 12 - 15 inches - I don't know how you would even process that? But they seemed to be sweet sheep. (one would hope, 'cause they are ginormous!)








I didn't have a very good view of the ring, as I was sitting on the bottom rung of the bleachers. Going up in bleachers makes me dizzy and since I am not very steady on my feet anyhow, I just stay on the bottom rung - so you see a lot of sheep butts....









If you get tired of looking at sheep behinds, there is always shopping...











and visiting with more friends, like our fellow Shetland breeder, Donna from Schoonover Farmsin Skagit County.

















and watching the crowds of people flowing by - these folks were meeting some Shetland lambs.













We went out and had some lunch - sharing a visit with fellow "Bellinghamster" Yvonne











who raises CVM sheep - (that stands for California Variegated Mutant - don't ask me...) but her sheep are very handsome and had just finished winning all kinds of awards at Estes Park. Both she and her sheep were ready to go home -










and there's ALWAYS more shopping..........














And yet more friends from Bellingham - Doug and Roberta from Breezy Meadows Cashmere Farm.









Last but not least, was the Wool Judging on Saturday. We really liked the judge - he was very knowledgeable about fleece - although he needed a little bit of education about the fact that Shetland fleeces are very likely to change colors as the lamb gets older.






We convinced him that this black & white fleece was not the result of dietary deficiency or stress that it was "just Shetland for -


And here is Mary Beth, the proud owner of that blue ribbon lamb fleece. Just wait til next year, MB, we'll be back!

Word on the street is that the North American Shetland Sheep Association Annual General Meeting (that would be the NASSA AGM) will be at next year's BSG.

Yippee - there will be friends from ALL over for that one!

Miscellaneous farm "stuff"

"Oh, oh, Violet, she's in here again - what awful thing do you think will happen now?"

Pearl and Violet (in the front, isn't she pretty?) are surmising that since The Shepherd's Wife is in the barn with him something nefarious is about to happen -

"Don't worry girls, it's only worming paste - and it tastes like green apple, I think you'll like it."

With the barn door shut, everyone is easy to catch with the help of the shepherd's crook that I got The Shepherd for Christmas a year ago. He wonders how he got along so long without it It certainly makes things easier on the back (his, that is) I stand, pressed against the wall so I don't get knocked over and when he's got someone caught - "Blurp" there's your worming paste for the spring - on to the next one.
The swallows have nested in the barn again - I couldn't quite reach high enough to get everyone in the picture. It's only been 5 days since I took this picture and they are already out flying with their folks. I love watching baby swallows learn how to fly.





So, with worming fait accompli, the girls were turned out into their new pasture - but they couldn't help munching down a bit of grass along the way.

Speaking of munching, this year we've had a huge problem with bunnies munching everything they can get their little lips around. It is very apparent that Neelix kept the bunny population at bay. We sure do miss him.

He probably kept the raccoons out of the corn too - They have cleaned out The Shepherd's first planting. He is very discouraged!
He was also surprised to see a yearling buck bound into the girls pasture this a.m. The young fellow stood around and munched on some cherries for a bit and looked like he was going to make his way into the barn to see what was in there - but The Shepherd waved his arms and shouted and the little guy decided the better of it and bounded back out of the pasture an on his way. Cleared that 4 foot fence like an Olympic hurdler.

No, the new sign is not for the deer, it is for the neighbor's grand kids who had beat a path down the creek and were throwing sticks into H.B.'s pasture and taunting him. All we need is for one of those little buggers to get hurt - so we have two new signs on the creek to let them know that they are not welcome on our property. I think we should string some electronet along there, but, then again....

The whole creek bed behind our house is full of cherry trees. They are a tart cherry - but we never get to harvest any because the starlings seem to sense when they are coming on and beat a path to our back yard. They sure can get rid of a cherry crop in a hurry. Darn things.

I loved this picture of the cherries though - and yes, I picked that dark one and ate it right after I took the picture.

And a parting thought -

Do you think we should change his name from Cooper to Flash?

These are a few of my favorite things......

I got an email from a girlfriend the other day about how Julie Andrews had sung a parody of the song "My Favorite Things" to a theater full of AARP members on her 69th birthday. All about the things that are befalling us as we become "old geezers", it was quite cute, but, as with all things a little "shady", I checked it on Snopes.com - and it was an Internet Hoax - but with lyrics like this how could you go wrong:

(sing to the chorus melody of My Favorite Things)
When the pipes leak,
When the bones creak,
When the knees go bad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad.

Sadly, after a 1997 botched operation to remove a polyp on her vocal chords, Ms. Andrews lost her ability to sing, so she wouldn't have been able to sing this when she turned 69 in 2004.

Anyhow, here are a few of MY favorite things.



The very fragrant rose Sterling Silver.
















Peony Raspberry Sorbet













New stash from BSG - about 2# of pin drafted roving from Dawn's Custom Carding in Roy, WA - it is the teal/sea foam green mohair blended with grey wool - wait til you see how that spins up!

Two packages of jewel toned mohair locks - one in the water colors to match the hank of brilliantly dyed Bluefaced Leicester top and the other in reds, browns & golds to blend with some cream colored shetland to make a scarf for a friend.

Plus another basket. Now that's favorite things!

See -

Pretty cute, huh?
Yes, that's an end that needs to be tucked in -(looks kind of like it's umbilical cord...)
I suppose you could make it in a weekend if you did nothing else - but it did come together pretty fast (4 days) for someone who had made nothing but baby afghans and a few hats - and the hood will definitely be better, redone bigger.

Pat, pat, pat - that's the sound of me patting my self on the back - ha, ha, ha..........

I'm Baaaack....

Well, the sweater got almost finished while we were on vacation at Black Sheep Gathering - I didn't think that the hood was big enough and I still don't have buttons for it - but Sophia and her mamma Erin came over on Tuesday to try it on before they want home to England and it is going to be splendid, and I was right - the hood was too small - you can't see how much she is swimming in the sweater, but you can see that the hood is just right size now - so I ripped it out and made it bigger - It will go with Sophia's grandma & grandpa when they go to see her in August.

I don't have my pics from Black Sheep organized quite yet, so I thought I'd share this new recipe that I made for dinner on Thursday. It is from one of those little plastic ring bound "community cookbooks" called "Kernel's Delights" a fund raiser by the Dollar's for Scholars group at Mansfield High School where I grew up. I thought it would be fun to see what recipes people had come up with - not really thinking that over the 40 years that I have been gone, there are lots of new people in town - didn't recognize but a few names - but this recipe caught my eye the other day when I was looking for something to make for dinner. I used both a sweet potato (the yellow ones) and a yam (the bright orange ones) because The Shepherd likes yams better, but the next time I make this (and I will make it again, it is YUMMY) I will only use sweet potatoes - they just had a better flavor and texture for the dish. Sorry I didn't get a picture - we were hungry and I didn't think about it until the dish was consummed and pronounced delicious.

PORK CHOPS WITH SWEET POTATOES & MANDARIN ORANGES (by Rochelle Crollard)
(I have made a few changes in her original recipe - I'll list them)

2 tsp olive oil (I used 2 Tbsp canola oil)
4 (4 oz) boneless loin pork chops - I used two thick six ounce loin chops and sliced them im 1/2 inch slices
1/4 tsp salt for seasoning the chops - I also used some garlic pepper and some Pampered chef Asian style seasoning that I have in my spice cabinet -
3-4 green onions including about 3-4 inches of the green tops - cut into 1/2 inch lengths.
1 (10 oz) can Mandarin Oranges including the juice
2 Tbsp. Soy sauce (I think I might have use 3 or 4 Tbsp)
1 large sweet potato peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes - I used two potatoes

In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork chops and sprinkle both sides with seasonings. Cook the chops, turning occasionally until nicely browned on both sides, abaout 7 minutes. Add the green onions and continue cooking until they are limp, about 2 minutes. Add the juice from the oranges to the skillet, reserving the orange segments for later. Stir in the soy sauce, sweet potato cubes and any other seasonings you might want to add. Adjust the head so the liquid simmers gently and cook 8-10 minutes longer or until the sweet potato is just tender when tested with a fork. The liquid will have cooked down to only a tablespoon or so. If the pan begins to boil dry, add a few teaspoons of water. Add the orange segments into the skillet - don't stir too much - they will disintegrate, put the lid on the skillet and continue cooking just a minute or two longer until the orange segments heat through.

I served this with a green salad and green peas - both of us really liked this dish - I will make it again for sure.

I have a beautiful Icelandic fleece from Lila that our friend Nancy gave me that I need to get to skirting and we have a Summer Solstice (one week delayed) party to go to tonight but I'll get our BSG pics organized and posted in the next day or so - It was, as always fun - and wait til you see all the fiber I bought!!! (I almost bought a spinning wheel - but decided to hold off...) Later..........

A sweater for Sophia

Our friend's daughter moved to England to go to school - met a wonderful man in the town where she was living, fell in love, got married and now my friends have a grandchild (their first) in England, of all places. When I found out that Erin was coming home to visit with Sophia this month - I decided that I needed to make her (Sophia, that is) a sweater -

Inspired by this -
I rustled around in my (rapidly growing) stash of fiber and found some wonderfully soft Targhee hand painted roving by Mountain Colors in a colorway called Lupine (blues with green and purple) - Of course I had only purchased 8 ounces of it, and when I went back to look for more - no such luck - it was all gone. BUT, there was another colorway called Alpine - that was the same on the background colors (blues) with beautifully coordinating side colors (gold and turquoise) - so hey, why not - I'm not too savvy with Navajo plying to keep the colors straight, so, I was just planning on a regular two ply yarn anyhow. So I got 8 ounces of the Alpine and when I plied up the two , it looked like this:







Of course by now, I'm realizing that it would have been a heck of a lot easier to have just gone to Macy's and found an adorable little wool sweater that she could grow into. Erin and Sophia are here for their visit - they'll be here until the 24th - and that book does say "Weekend Crochet for Babies" - I'm hoping to get it done this weekend while we're in Eugene at Black Sheep...

And yes, I fell to the marketing - the one on the cover was so cute, that is the one I'm making - I'm going to look for buttons at Black Sheep on Friday (as well as checking out all the "tasty" fiber that will be there) and hopefully, I'll get to meet my friend Yvonne from LavenderSheep's Fiber Garden - I also know a little bit more about the kinds of fiber that I like to spin now - but it will be good to find some new things - and maybe try out some new wheels! Don't worry, I'll take pictures.

Just Shoot Me.....

These three little boys are looking longingly at







this .....

That's a LONG way when you are separated from your mommy for the first time.

The Mom's were unhappy -

The BOYS were REALLY unhappy -

It breaks my heart to hear them cry like that - I even went out last night before I went to bed and tried to bribe them to SHUT UP with some graham crackers...... Didn't work.

I hate weaning weekend.




"Oh, but we didn't know we'd each get our own bowl - maybe this isn't going to be so bad after all."

We'll see how long it takes for Galloway to get his squeaker back. Over the last 24 hours, he "Baaaaaaaa'ed" himself hoarse. Poor little guy.

I REALLY hate weaning weekend.

Bowing to Temptation -

Actually the dust bunnies have just gotten bigger, they are threatening to take over the spinning wheel and the strawberry rhubarb pie that I baked tonight tastes like "Old Spice" because I have gotten totally involved in the Joanne Fluke mysteries that my sister Nance sent me last week - I'm almost finished with the 4th one (I think there were 10 of her books in the box). It's called "Lemon Meringue Pie Murder" and it is pretty fun. I have been trying to figure our which one of her recipes I want to try first - most of them are pretty regular cookie recipes - but there are some intriguing ones.

Oh, and the strawberry rhubarb pie tasting like Old Spice? Instead of grabbing the plain cinnamon - I grabbed my Pampered Chef "Cinnamon Plus" which contains cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and CLOVES! Warning - do not put cloves in with rhubarb. Yucko - The Shepherd didn't complain, but he probably figured if he did, he'd never get another pie - ha, ha, ha . . . He brought in some extra rhubarb, so I made some plain rhubarb sauce - I think if he puts a couple of spoonfuls of it over the other, it might kind of hide the taste of the cloves.

Well, gotta go - I only have 16 pages left and I think I know "who did it" - then I have another 6 ounces of targee top left to spin up for the baby sweater I'm making. Everyone have a great weekend!

See more Lolcats and funny pictures HERE

Loss of a bright and shining star...

In Memory

Denise Guren
8.14.52 - 5.31.09

This is a would'a, could'a, should'a story, I suppose.

I've known who Denise was for years before I knew her personally - one could easily be in awe of her talent - she was a very gifted violin/fiddle player in both folk and Klezmer music - but I didn't get acquainted with her until I joined Spindrifters a couple of years ago - she was the consummate fiber person - a wonderful spinner (she and her husband designed a new little spinning wheel that is quite popular) and I think she could knit most anything.

Denise had cancer. She faced it with more courage and grace than anyone I've ever seen. She continued to come to our Saturday guild meetings and was also active in the Knit night at NW Handspun Yarns. She and Doug were at Gretchen's Fiber Frolic in April - picking up the first Shetland fleeces from their wethers, that Gretchen had processed for them. She mentioned something about overdying the grey and fawn to see what kind of heathery colors she could come up with.

I sat beside Denise at the last local guild meeting in March. When she mentioned that she had decided to accept Hospice. I didn't know what to say - I didn't know her very well. She quickly said it would make her life easier - that it would allow her to do things in the time she had left that she wouldn't be able to if she didn't have the help. In fact, a friend told me today that she had seen her at Folk Life in Seattle over Memorial Day and at the Farmer's Market last weekend. Denise lived her life to the fullest.

As I said, I didn't know her very well, but I would have liked to have known her better. Afraid of loosing something I had just found, I didn't "find" it at all. I had been thinking about her a lot the last two days, thinking I "should" send her a card to see what she had done with the fleeces that she picked up at Gretchen's - and then, too late, found out this afternoon that she had passed away on Sunday.

Do you suppose there are Klezmer bands in heaven?