is palm oil worth it ?

palm oil, everyone is beginning to hear of it now, but palm oil is destroying the greatest forsete we have on our planet. the animals who live in them, are innocent victims. Read the label... pass the word, no palm oil in our products,.not in our face cream , shampoo or coditoner, not in our easter candy , chocloates, or anything else, and definatly not in our cars.
We, the masses say what goes into the things we buy, make your dollar matter...
buy very local produce, this is the time of year. and freeze it in a very energy efficent deep freezer, it is better than the 3000 miles some of our food travels to get to us . there are EASY cost effective ways to be middle class and green !!! matter of fact, im thinking of a new blog... maybe not tied to the farm, but on being green and poor ...
not poor exactly... but middle class, and the definition of that has changes too. anyway
look for the new blog site , Ill post
the name here soon.
in the meantime,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070528/sc_nm/indonesia_orangutan_dc
here is an article on what palm oil is doing.

another nais action

if you are anti NAIS another step you can take is to go to moveonh . org and bring attention to our cause. we are of course trying to inform anyone and everyone how this will affect them weather they have a farm or animals or not but this step may just bring a bit of attention to us .
http://pol.moveon.org/feedback/fb/form.html?tp=suggest

please go there and let them know what all will be losty if nais is imposed ! thanks Melissa

flickr photos

Recently I opened a flikr page here is a link http://www.flickr.com/photos/8291178@N03/
and it shows many of my sculptures and puppets. DO feel free to comment ! I have been making more things and will be working on a new puppet this summer as well as a sculpture that I have in my head. My garden is growing great , my lambs all look fantastic and many of my 08 fleeces have been reserved. If your interested in an 08 fleece please do e-mail and I can tell you which I still have avaliable. grayjoe@charter.net thanks ! Melissa

MDS&W results

My MDS&W entry won best in show. I couldnt have been more thrilled and excited. Lots and lots of people took photos of my work and everyone was so nice and positive.

The turnout at MD was HUGE tons and tons of people there on saturday and by comparison sunday seemed slow and relaxed .

My parents came and my husband and son went too . We had a great time and I bought lots of new wool to create with as I also got several new Ideas. My friend Laurie was there and I got my annual laurie hug. But she brought me wonderful shetland treasures, and some mulberry trees I need to transplant today before they die.. they do look a bit pathetic after the ordeal they have been through.

check back because after MD I am very inspired and will have new things in the works on a very regular basis ! thanks !!!

MDS&W

Well, we will be headed to maryland this upcoming weekend. I have entered my lynx into the needle felting competetions, and shipped it last week. I hope it does well.. I can only cross my fingers. My parents who have never attended a fiber fest will be cutting their teeth so to speak at MD.
I also will be taking my 5 yo , who is calling it a sheep carnival. We will see how much he likes it
I will also take my camera and be sure to get plenty of photos for everyone.
I know I will be carrying wool to zellingers for priocessing and checking out sheepman supply for jackets for the sheep, but more than fleece shopping I will see, because it totally will depend on money lol.
anyway I hopwe to see lots and lots of ppl and things, we missed last year so this year should be great !

Averesboro fiber fair .

We attended the fiber fair in averesboro this past Saturday and I have to say it was quite a good time. Met a lot of new and wonderful people out there, and taught some of them in my needlefelting class. Several I hope to see again.
I am happy to say I finished the lynx/bobcat .. sculpture over the weekendand she will be winging her way into the care of someone in charge of submissions for MDS&W sometime today.
I also hope to get a couple of the sheep sheared that I will then carry to Zellingers woolen mill, to have processed into rovings that I will offer at SAFF.
Linda and I are discussing other fiber gatherings that we may wish to attend and naturally would like to stay close to the east coast for now.. so if anyone knows of any , that are just starting up or are planning to become an annual event please lety me know ! but for now , farm catching up to do !

feed prices and my solutions ..

First of all this photo is my "Strider" a 3yo percheron colt.

He is 17.3 HH and about 2200 lbs.. he is large but very sweet and goofy. I truly am enjoying owning this coldblood. This coming from a serious lover of arabians. Perhaps it is my age and knowledge that Im not unbreakable ..

In any case as corn prices have continued to increase , and according to my feed store will keep going up,

I have had to come up with alternative feed regimines.

rather than a basic "complete" pelleted 12% protien feed, I am now feeding, for example if the horse normally ate 5lb complete pelleted feed, I measure out in the same scoop, (not by weight)that I used to measure out the pellets, 4 scoops of dry beet pulp.

1 qt container, is my measuring device.. and I give 4 of those,

and then I also give 1 qt of alfalfa cubes. = the 5 origional lbs of feed, I soak this for about an hour... alfalfa cubes and beet pulp may cause choke in horses..

to help raise the protien lvl for those younger horses, I give 1/4 C soybean meal, and for the baby babies, I give 1/2 C rice bran too... because the beet pulp is a great base, but low in fat percentage , it is also only about a 6% protien.

the percherons are better off on less protien but my arab cross mare needs a little more, so she gets a little soy as well...

I personally chose to also add source, for the miocronutrients, and believe it or not still come out quite a bit less expensive in the long run ..

I do add horse mineral salts to the program too

I have incorporated this feed program for my sheep and goats as well with tweaking to meet specific protien needs, for example my rams do not get alfalfa cubes, but do get cottonseed meal for a boost in protien. cottonseed meal in stead of soy because soyhas some estrogenic compounds, and I do not want this to cause breeding complications.

my lactating ewes, get more alfalfa cubes than ewes that didnt lamb... as well as more soy bean meal and cottonseed meal.

I hope to have a feed that meets the nutritional needs of each species without breaking the bank . I believe as prices continue to grow, and NAIS gets pushed harder and harder small farmers will either need cost effective feeding alternatives or they will sell out .

IF you do try this feed alternative please use common sense , and watch the weight and condition of your animal closely.

I am not an equine nutritionist , but I have fed and owned horses for 30 years.

I am using a method I am trying out based in logic not in any proven scientific studies.

I would like to know your own results if you too try this regimine. and I will keep you posted on the overall health and condition of all of my animals on this feed program.

Melissa

Frost..

We are supposed to get temps in the upper 20's tonight. definatly a frost. I will need to try to protect the small bean sprouts and more coming up that will likely die from a frost.Hope it takes a bit of the pollen count down. But I also dont want to loose my peach crop, small but important to me.. I have tried very hard to have an edible landscape. we are on 6 acres, but I grow dye plants and medicinal herbs as well as a grape vine, we cut out the hedges close to our house, ornamental boxwoods, and are replacing them slowly with blueberry bushes... down by the barn Ill be growing pupmkins, for the sheep and goats as well as to put pumpkin up for pies later in the season. Iam trying to grow luffa..gourds, and heirloom seeds... Im trying a new tomato caslled amish paste, I will see how that does. and then the standard ones one grows in their gardsns, after this frost anyway.. makes me very glad I hesitated to get my cukes and squash in the ground.. they are in here on the table... thankfully they are looking great.. I wonder if a lot of others were lulled into a false security and planted before me.. if so , they are hating themselves now.

garden fare...

the garden is still being put in, in semi raised beds, I do not use wood or boxes to create these raised beds, I use mounded earth... on top of my old garden patch I then use spilled hay and manure from the winter, and I lay it about 6" thick all over the top of the mound... then on top of that I put rabbit manure or horse manure from stall bedding etc... then on top of that I use black composted earth, being sure to toss in several earthworms while I shovel.. then , I wet it thoroughly, and cover the whole row with a thick peice of discarded rubber roofing... I found this huge black rubber roofing when we moved here and I have used it for so many things since I found it I think finding something like this out here is a great treasure. the long narrow rubber matt stuff for floring also works I also managed to scab some of that too... so wherever the roof is not, the floor peices are... they stay on each row a minimum of a week but I prefer 2 ... and everything under them dies back ! except the earthworms and new more rapidly composting rows...
then in between the rows, they actually look more likr ditches than rows ... I toss in wool from the underbelly of my sheep and armpits etc... check at a feed store, many sheep producers dont even use their wool, belly wool is trash even to ppl who do raise sheep for fiber, and meat sheep, the wool is too coarse for spinners to want.. but makes great weed block...
toss wool and more chaff or old hay from winter over top of that...
depending on your own weed issues you may need to repeat this later in the season..

I put half a calcium tablet in the ground with my green peppers, and that really seems to work great... and I grow things like marigolds, and other flowers near my veggies to attract bees, but also to deterr some other bugs .. I pluck the praying mantis off my mimosa trees and transplant them to the garden...

and do learn to look for friendly bugs like assassin bugs for your gardens too..
http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/assassin.html

I always allow a big garden spider to stay,
and am very careful when I use insecticidal soaps near any beneficial insects..
my broccoli, spinich, and lettuce are coming along well... cabbage looks good too..

I need to get a few more chickens... they love cabbage worms,
or maybe I should get guineas, I hear they wont mess with the plants but eat the insects up
I'll have to look into it.


Currently (today) I decided to make my kids easter baskets rather than
buy a plastic toss it away disposable one...
I will crochet or knit a basket then wash it or "full" it ...
to make the basket...
as soon as I have some completed, I will post pictures.
but until then here is a photo of the bunny I needlefelted for one basket
but sorry to say the kids dont see them as much of a suprise since I make them .
more tomorrow.. im glad I didnt plant anything more fragile yet as we are supposed to have a very late frost this coming weekend.

going green

spinning wheels, using what you grow, weaving by hand, felting the leftocvers, scoffing at acrylic yarns.. arent these all green things? now, how to get the mainstream media to pay attention to it... hmmm all wool sweater, not only fully bio degradeable, but from a completely renuable resource... hand spun? hmmm... no machine work needed pedal power from feet ... but we want cheep cheap cheap.. and high quality.. funny how that dosent sound right... more like cheap and disposable... watching jericho last night, I had to laugh... they were running out of clothes? in winter? my problem would be a plethora of sweaters, and summer togs being string bikinis...

I have my loom but oh wow. make a peice of wearable fabric with it? it would suffocate someone south of the arctic circle... but necessity .. right? guess I'd have to not only learn , but spin thinner... the bees are dying? no suprise there ... ive been hearing that some geneticly modified strains of plants that are pest resistant are causing bees to abandon hives...

what happens if the bees are gone?

in any case, here are my latest super green projects ..

these hats are knitted and fulled... from a wool yarn called "poems" there are several shades at the tail-spinner.. and they knit up very nicely. several fleeces are in the shop from my flock and Im completing the bobcat for MDS&W

support US wool... support handspinners, and attend spinning events..

and go ahead and learn how to do it too!

Needlefelting..

please remember there is a fiber festival in avreysboro (Dunn NC ) April the 21st .. it will be the first like it at ths place .. and we of course hope there will be many more.

to the left is a chipmunk I made earlier in the year. I will be teaching this sculpture at SAFF in the fall along with 2 others. I recently read on another well known nedlefelters page that tthere are no skill levels for needlefelting, and I sadly must disagree.

While not everyone can visualuize in 3 d

still others have a hard time coordinating their hhands with their mental image... if I were the artist with a paintbrush of the things I can visualize in my mind, I would be phenominal, but sadly I cannot figure out how to make an image appear to have depth when working with a flat surface. I am not alone and while skill may or may not be in question, "creative vision" is important. If I teach a class , and say gently sculpt the entire surface area, no matter what I say if the student only felts in a single section, and not the entire area, the finished product will look different than what I myself create.

the medium does require practice and knowledge of how it works .. if this is a " talent" or skill level, such as intermediate, and advanced, then I believe classes will need to be seperated from beginner, and intermediate ... beginners may not fully understand then that , certain fibers felt better than others, and still others may give different effect to a finished peice. should someone accustiomed to using different wool be subjected to this information over and over again,

in a class situation just because "nobody is a beginner with this medium"

at some point with everything, everyone is a beginner.

if you wish to view more of my felting please read the archives. I am still creating but in the middle of shearing right now so the completion of new work is stalled for the moment :)

Melissa

)

shearing and farm updates.

Well we will need to sell chance, a beautiful personable colt that came here last summer with a flesh injury to his rump. the people who had him said someone had to take him or they would shoot him, Im putting up a b4 and a current photo of him, he is currently


10 months old, leads, loads, ties, bathes, clips, ponys, and has been sacked out to tarps, kiddie pools balls and more... He is a very nice mover , with excellent hunter/jumper potential. I am asking a super reasonable price for him because I cannot afford to feed 5 horses indefinatly lol, and because he needs to be cut (gelded) , and the new owner would incurr that expence.


I am asking $650 for him ..


so if anyone is shopping for a colt or knows of anyone who may be, ... here is a great one..

We have also been shearing this month.


im posting a photo of this , for those fiber artists who dont own sheep of their own, Here is Rogue, a yearling corriedale ewe lamb, who had a covered fleece.
I started shearing at the legs, because the fleece needs to come off in a single peice, the skirted wool is the fiber on the lower legs, belly and under the neck. The head is also thrown aside because if a sheep is dirty it is on their heads.



the metal thing is called a blocking stand, and many sheep are not shorn standing up . I have her on this blocking stand because she is too large for me to shear in the traditional manner of setting her on her rump . By the time I get one of my ewes on their rump they still are so tasll their heads touch me about my sternum area , much too long bodied for me to shear this way efficently. What is scarier, is rogue is not even one of my bigger ewes.
We had a rain day today, good for the pastures, and once the ewes begin to dry out some more, I will get more photos.
Melissa

Spring fiber flings.

Currently im knitting and preparing to "full" a couple of hats I will put my own needlefelted designs onto. I Hope to have a couple for sale at the Dunn Fiber Festival, but at the very least some for SAFF. Im getting a little excited about MDS&W , and my potential entry , he is coming along well, but I need to keep going, get it finished and not be working my fingers to the bone right before we leave. I dont know how I will avoid it because I have everyone to shear, wool to get ready to braid into rug mugs.. as a "local" contribution for the museum here.
I have put in most of my compost and am trying a no-till garden, that composte wise is in layers , and from all I have read is called "lasagne" gardening
First I made basic raised areas in my normal garden , I put manure heavy with hay sdown first then manure/shavings and on top of that , actual dark composted materials.. I then covered it with a black rubber roof.
I will post pictures as spring gets more into swing and the plants go in..

here is a little no bake recipe for a great cheesecake that I made up.

I hope you enjoy it and it is awesome with fresh strawberries.
you will need
grahm cracker crust
2 bars cream cheese,
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 box vanilla pudding.
a small container whipped cream.
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1/3 c sugar
soften cream cheese mix in yogurt, sour cream , sugar, vanilla,lemon juice.mix well with hand mixer until creamy...
add in 1 box vanilla pudding.. fold in 1 container whipped cream. add fruit if desired.
pour into grahm cracker crust... chill and serve.

hope you love it !
be sure to let me know if you do want more of my homemade recipes...
and remember we love cheese.
so most of our recipes have lots of it in there.

we currently have added 3 new white angora babies to the farm and they are playing king of the mountian. as I can catch them I will surely get more pictuires of them as well.
please pass our blog on to any and all ppl that you think may be interested in it !

Melissa

Events.

well April 21st I will have the puppest and more items at a fiber festival in DunnNC this is a new event so hand spinners please come out and show event planners that fiber arts is something we do want to see more of !
March the 10th there will be an all day needlefelting class for making an easter bunny, it will be palm sized, and plan on the class taking all day. It will be held at the Tail spinner starting at 10 am . please pre-register for the class! www.tail-spinner.com/
There will be a 3 day spinning class at the Tail Spinner starting March 23rd. on one of those days , students will come out to the farm to watch us shear a few of the sheep. From there they will scour the wool and get it ready for preperation for spinning.
We are still lambing and just had anopther little girl born a few minutes ago . I do still have several lambs for sale and you can contact us thru e-mail . As always all the puppets and hand sculpted items are for sale thru the tail spinner web site.
The SANTA ornaments. I am not selling them at this moment, but will have enough wool dyed to begin selling them again in July. IF you are going to need more than 10 of them please order them WELL in advance. and remember, I sell them for 10$ each . I do not care what you sell them for as long as I am paid upon reciept of the santas. WE are working on a new christmas ornament .. keep checking back for news on newest sculptures!
Melissa

New cashgora babies

It has been requested that I supply photos of my newest Cashgora kids..
they were born on Sunday, and arent they lovely? I think they are great My son has chosen the name for the little girl, and he wants to call her Shadow. the billys name is still in the works

But I'll let everyone know what we decide on.

In the works right now

This lynx is is in the "creation " stage.. he is not finished.

at this point the form for his body is there,the color applications of fur and details especially coloring like "markings" down to details like toe nails, and whiskers will come shortly.

I will be finding a y shaped branch to cut and mount this statue to.

This is what I hope to submit to MDS&W fiber artist competetion.

a lambie we have recently added to the flock... many more to come :)

Lambing and kidding.

I am up to my elbows right now with wonderful new lambies, expecting cashgora kids any second by the looks of nanna goat. but in the interm I am promoting wool to everyone I can, one tip to convince ppl who are not wool savvy... get a peice of acrylic yarn, and a peice of wool...
catch them both on fire. watch the expression of your new wool convert.

As of now Im creating a full body sculpture for competition at MDS&W and Im very excited about how it is turning out. as it gets closer to completion I will certianly post photos.

I am also working on a small bunny sculpture. as we approach easter, we will see what I can create ... I will soon post pictures of the newest bundles and also of the latest creations :) thanks Melissa

des femmes: Eye candy for the fiber artists

des femmes: Eye candy for the fiber artists

holidays and plans for the new year.

Attended the Parade locally, it was chilly and only emphasized to me my need to improve my knitting skills so I can make more warm things for my family. I came home and began spinning up some of my bets corriedale and right this minute as cold as my toes are Im thinking... socks.

on a more reliable note, especially considering that Im like a remedial knitter, I will be working on the 3rd part for my planned class for SAFF . It will be the third forest animal in that It will be a wild rabbit also on a stump. After completing that , I will begin sculpting the animal I hope to carry to MDS&W to compete there in needlefelting. IF I still qualify. I will need to read all of the rules and guidelines for it before I decide something like that.

Im trying to get several things completed around the farm before we begin lambing and kidding. things that will help me seperate the billy and rams farther from the ewes.
we will be looking into a new ram this spring to add to our flock of super fine corriedale sheep. We also hope to locate a cashmere billy that wont be too far out of our way or too expensive .

I will be ordering matilda coats for more of the flock this year, it should help increase the quality as well as quantity of wool my sheep produce and make sure it is nice and white.
I will post more photos from around the farm after the Christmas holidays end.
but until then happy holidays to everyone