Hand Dying Yarn with Food Coloring

This weekend we had another fun visit from my skilled knitter friend, Kate.  She had a couple gorgeous WIPs with her, and I hope to convince her to let me take pictures of them.  She was making stunning knitted lace with some silk lace yarn she had acquired at last year’s Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival, and I can’t want to see what they look like when she’s finished.

While she was here, we thought it would be fun to dye some yarn.  We took some skeins of  romney worsted weight yarn and proceeded to the kitchen.

Using standard kitchen food colors, Kate decided to make her yarns in shades of blues and greens.  I selected autumn colors.   In order to begin, the yarn has to be soaked in water with white vinegar.  We used about 6 cups water with two tablespoons white vinegar.  The acid is what makes the colors bind to the natural wool fibers.  Some dyers also use citric acid to achieve the same result.  We allowed the yarn to soak in this solution for over 30 minutes. 

While this was soaking, we started to prepare our dying solutions and the work area.  To make the dyes, we used small dishes with 1/4 cup water.  To these we added between 5- 12 drops of food coloring, depending on the intensity that we wanted with each color.  This is fun to experiment with. 

To protect the counter we placed clear plastic wrap in a large hollow rectangle on the counter.  The rectangle has to be large enough to accommodate the dimensions of the yarn skein.  It is hollow so that it can be wrapped up around the skein once it is dyed.

Here Kate is almost done applying the colors to her skeins.  She has two skeins side by side so that each will have the same colorway.  She has been applying the dyes with a small syringe.  Please also note her gloves…this can be pretty messy business.

painting yarn

When finishes applying the dyes, Kate starts rolling the plastic around the skein from the outside it.  You want to enclose the skein so that one side does not touch the other and have color leaking into other parts.  You end up with a large hollow doughnut shape.  Kate placed this in a Pyrex dish, and put it in the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.  The heat is necessary to “fix” the dyes.  (You can also microwave the yarn in two minute increments until it is steaming hot and the dye it set.)   After checking it, we decided another ten would help fix the colors.

 baking yarn

After removing the yarn and allowing it to cool, Kate has washed the yarn in warm water and a mild soap.  Wash until the water runs clear and be gentle so that the yarn does not felt.  Here she is showing the completed, yet still wet, product.

wet yarn

The two skeins turned out beautifully!  Some of the blue dyes separated and created spots of purple that add interest to the yarn. 

finished yarn

 

Kate has already swatched it.

kate yarn swatched

Here are the two skeins made in the autumn shades.  These two are available in our store.

 autumn romney

 

Madness

One definition frequently given of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result.  We have a fine example of that in the genetical engineering corporations, who push their GMO seeds and products on farmers worldwide.  These farmers are given the promise of better yields and higher profits.  The reality is that these products increase the use of herbicides and pesticides.  It has caused such significant problems in India that there is a crisis of cotton farmers committing suicide, and that is worth an article of its own.  Additionally, Vandana Shiva states in a BBC Interview that a “billion people go hungry because of GMO farming.”

But the problems with GMO crops are not just with the agricultural and toxin issues, it also has to do with what these feeds do in human and animal bodies.  I have already attached videos from Dr. Don Huber who is an expert on glyphosate (commonly known as “Roundup”) who has written and testified frequently on the grevious problems caused by glyphosate ready crops.  I have also provided links to a GreenMedInfo article showing the cancerous tumors that developed in rats fed GMO corn. 

The latest in the craziness is now emerging.  Researchers have now altered the genetic structure of wheat so that it “silences” how the wheat handles carbohydrates.  My guess is that someone is trying to produce a lower carb wheat to satisfy the trend for lower carb diets.  However, there is reason to believe that this gene alteration can be absorbed by human bodies, silencing how the body can handle and store carbohydrates.  Here is a video provided on GreenMedInfo’s website called GMO molecules May Silence Hundreds of Human Genes.  It is only 4 minutes long and certainly worth the time to understand the ramifications of dabbling in GMOs.

Please share this blog with as many people as possible since the GMO issue has been obscured by special interests.  This article provides many helpful links in one place that cover the madness.

Permaculture at Work

The last month has been rather hectic, not affording much time for working in the hoop houses, certainly not as much as I have in the past.  Yesterday, being one of the first really gloriously beautiful days of the spring, I went out to work in the poor neglected hoop houses and take stock of the situation.

My oh my oh my.

Hoophouse Chard

 

Here the chard is doing tolerably, but I have allowed the weeds on each side to go to seed.

 The stunted kale is starting to bolt from the heat, and it is also surrounded by weeds that have developed seed heads.  On its right, you can see bolted lettuces.   I also found aphids on the carrot top greens.

So here is the  option I am faced with – weeding this entire thirty foot hoophouse, and distribute lots of seed heads as I do it.  But I really don’t want to do that.  The seeds I leave will sprout, and in pulling the weeds, it will take a great deal of the valuable dirt we have built up.  Aha!  The next option – chickens! 

I went directly to the computer and pulled up McMurray Hatchery’s website, a large-scale chicken hatchery that operates out of Iowa.  They ship day-old chicks all over the continental United States and these adorable little peeps come straight to the post office.  I was very fortunate yesterday – when I went to the broiler chick page, it stated that the April 22 shipment date had a very limited quantity available.  The next ship date would not be until June!  Too long for the hoophouse to wait.  I picked up the phone and got a representative who took my order for 25 chicks for the April 22 date.  I clicked refresh on my computer – and the April 22 date disappeared from their options.  I had gotten their last 25 chicks for that day.

So for the next several days we will eat out the chard and other edibles in the hoop house, and by the time the chicks arrive everything left will be for their consumption, including the aphids on the carrots.  So this is the beauty of permaculture.  It is literally labor-saving, as the chicks will do my work of removing delectable weed seed heads.  The chickens will consume the slugs and other insects, and will feast on luscious bolting greens.  These chicks won’t be contained in a small space – they will literally have 408 square feet of greens-filled space .  This, in addition to their organic diet from Countryside, will provide a well-rounded diet and create nutritious birds not raised on soy and GMOs.  Even this is a win-win situation, since I will be able to coordinate with Eva of Ironwood Farm on the Countryside delivery, and we can save some gas (it’s my turn).  Eva is currently raising some chicks and you can read about her adventure here.

And 6-8 weeks from now, I’ll have a perfectly clean hoop house.  By mid-June  that hoop house will again be available for planting with cucumbers, melons, tomatoes and other plants that can withstand the heat and actually thrive in it.   And I won’t have done any of it :)  Permaculture.

 

Dangers of Commerical Fish “Farms”

In this article, Dr. Joseph Mercola discusses a documentary that reveals the problems with commerical fish operations.  It confirms what he was warned consumers about for years – that these operations are not good for either the fish or humans, that they destroy the environment, and that government agencies charged with protecting the public are actually complicit in covering up the damage.  Please take a moment to go to Dr. Mercola’s article with embedded video here.

Consider What You Wear – Thread

Clothing is a highly personal thing.  What we wear reflects a great deal about us, and to an extent even our religious beliefs.  But few people consider that our decisions regarding clothing can affect sustainable economic outcomes and in a large way, the amount of toxins that are spread globally.

If you have been reading this blog, you know that the view promoted here is not of earth worship or global warming.  Regardless of political views, scientific opinion, etc, it still just makes common sense to care about our surroundings and each other.  God made us stewards of the earth.  Promoting industries that make materials out of toxins that won’t break down in a landfill for several hundred years just isn’t logical.   Cancer rates keep rising, and no industry will accept responsibility.  Let’s stop making guinea pigs of ourselves and go back to what worked.

This interesting documentary, Thread, calls our attention to the massive amount of pesticides and toxins that are used in making clothing, especially in parts of the world where the standard of living is abysmal.  It shows the role of the fashion industry in creating much of this problem.   The  link is for the documentary trailer.  It is only about three minutes long.  One staggering statistic is that it takes 700 gallons of water to make one T-shirt.   When the documentary is released, this blog will report it.

Thread documentary trailer

I have seen the fashion industry make superficial attempts at making organic or sustainably produced clothing.  However, these same industries set a standard of changing what is fashionable so often that people who follow fashion are compelled to buy a new wardrobe every few years.  Just look at shoes.  A standard  pair of high healed pumps from a few years ago would “date” your outfit now that the industry has come out with these ankle-twisting stacked platform heals.   I will know that the fashion industry takes the environment seriously when I see that the fashion periodicals stop ridiculing “outdated” looks.  They want you to recycle everything but your clothing.

Personally, I like the vintage look, and I still have some clothes from the 80’s and 90’s, and some fur coats that are much older than that.  Fur coats are one of the best examples of recycling and it amazes me to see them so thoroughly condemned.  I wish organizations like PETA would rethink their position.  For example, I have two fur coats from my grandmother.  One is probably from the 40’s and the other from the 70’s.  My sweet grandmother wore those coats for decades.  How many synthetic polyester coats would still be around for 70 years, to still be worn and appreciated decades later by her granddaughter?  Oh, wait – they are still around, but unwearable –  filling landfills…. PETA insists on manmade materials in lieu of leather and furs – so how many animals were killed in the Exxon Valdez disaster?  How many in the BP oil disaster?  Wouldn’t it be better to raise cows humanely for the leather shoes than to supports a system that creates ecological disasters? 

As we have discussed, we raise sheep for their wool as a sustainable alternative to synthetic fibres that are so prevalent in chain retails stores.  Please, we encourage you to seek out sources of natural items – not only are they more breathable for your skin, but they don’t have a deleterious effect on the world. 

 

Shearing Day 2013

Happy Easter!

Thursday we had our sheep shorn, an annual event.  Our front porch is covered with labeled bags of wool, each containing the name of the sheep that provided  it.  This year, we were able to have Rachel Summers of the Crowfoot Farm come out and shear and I have never been as happy before with the professionalism of the shearer! 

Romney Fleece

Romney Fleece

Rachel and her husband, Kevin, run Crowfoot Farm, and I encourage you to go to the link.  They raise quality GMO-free broiler chickens and free-range heritage turkeys.  We had the privilege of being able to visit their farm and we were totally impressed with the way that they raise the animals.  They raise several breeds of endangered heritage breeds and their blog is filled with information on their farm.  The turkeys truly were free-range, and the chickens are in moveable pens so that they are in fresh forage areas.  In addition, Rachel and Kevin go to great lengths to make certain that the feed is GMO-free.  If you are in the area, its worth a trip in order to stock up your freezer.

Rachel learned her shearing skills from a great shearer, and since she is also a spinner, she understands the importance of ending up with a nice fleece.  She left us with no second cuttings.  Second cuttings come from where the shearer passes over the same area twice, and this leaves short pieces of wool that cannot be spun and that tend to leave little nubs or bumps if inadvertently spun into the yarn.  The second cuttings have to be meticulously removed from the fleece, but in this case there are virtually none. 

As a true professional, she cut the fleeces away from each sheep and it fell away in one large fleece.  This makes for easy  “skirting,” a process where we lay the fleece out and remove sections of the wool that are dirty, or that do not yield nice yarn, such as the legs and neck.  By the time a fleece is skirted, only the best parts of it are ready for processing, whether it be for roving, yarn, batts, etc.  The portions that are removed can be used for mulching garden beds or just thrown away.  I have read that these pieces used to be used for insulation, but I seriously doubt that would pass building code these days.

Jacob Sheep

Jacob Sheep

 

As each fleece peels away from the sheep I judge it for the type of yarn that it will make.  Factors that influence this decision include crimp, fiber length, sheen, and fineness.  I have sheep whose fleeces I always designate for the same type of yarn, especially if I have found good results in the past.  Royal, for example, is the source of those shiny skeins of Romney fingerling, and Clarabelle is the source of the buttery soft wool that I blend with Alpaca to make the brown bulky yarn that I can’t keep in stock. 

Clarabelle and her Fleece

Clarabelle and her Fleece

In the last twenty-four hours we have had more baby lambs, including from our largest ewe, Henrietta.  Here is a picture of one of our dorset down ewes with twins she had.  This photo was taken just after she had them and they have still not been completely cleaned off by their mother.

Dorset Down Ewe and Lambs

Dorset Down Ewe and Lambs

 I have also finished another shawl for our store, this time made out of Meduseld’s Romney Fingerling weight yarn.  It is a reversible shawl with a beaded crocheted fringe.  You can find it in our store here.

 

Romney Yarn Shawl

Romney Yarn Shawl

 

 

Permaculture

I have written about how we use the principles of permaculture in running our farm, and thought it might be good to elaborate on it.  It is a relatively new concept, considering its brief period in the long history of agriculture, from the fertile crescent to the present.  Many people I talk with do not know what permaculture is, but fortunately there is growing interest. – there is even a permaculture group on Ravelry :)

Permaculture is a process of getting the different facets of gardening and agriculture to work in unison so that they support each other and enhance the health and outcomes for each system.  Those systems are gardening or food production, livestock, and aquaculture.  Permaculture takes organic gardening to its next step and encourages making decisions based on how to permit each system to function best rather than forcing that system into a situation it would not thrive in.  The greatest example of forcing a system is big agriculture, which grows only one crop in an year under circumstances that compell the farmer to use pesticides and herbicides.  This is “monoculture.”  In monoculture, two, or perhaps three crops migh be rotated in order to try to dimish insects, but overall, the system relies on chemicals and depletes the soil.

In organic gardening emphasis is placed on using organic methods to reduce unwanted insects and to protect beneficial insects such as honey bees.  Organic gardening encourages the improvement of the soil through composting, frequent crop rotation, and avoidance of chemical fertilizers.  It still uses monoculture although under a smaller scale, and due to the better soil structure, the plants tend to be healthier and less prone to insects. 

Organic Garden

Organic Garden

Now take this to its next level.  Permaculture encourages not only crop rotation, but animal rotations as well.  For example, by rotating chickens in an area of the garden, they can clean weeds, remove insects and fertilize.   Instead of being forced to live and scavage off the same area, the chickens can be moved around frequently, do their work to improve the soil while benefitting from the system at the same time.  This, is permaculture.

Permaculture - same garden. Compare tree trunks in background with photo above.

Permaculture – same garden. Compare tree trunks in background with photo above.

It extends to all the aspects of raising food.   Trees, animals, plants and humans all are encouraged in their respective roles in order to improve the overall health of each.  Trees can provide wind breaks and create microclimates for raising more varieties of plants.  The plants can be chosen by the different nutrients that they tend to “fix” in the soil.  Most of the us have heard about beans and legumes such as clover being capable of nitrogen fixing.   Diverse plants can fix all sorts of minerals into the soil. 

You can also use plants to aerate the soil.  We recently had to large black pigs, heirloom type pigs that will forage and produce a healthy, non-GMO meat.  We rotated them through our front pastures, and in one of them they entirely rooted up most of the turf.  Instead of seeing this as a problem, we encouraged it.  They removed most of the grubs without us having to resort to other methods, and by rooting up the surface, we were able to overseed this pasture with better diverse grasses, forbes, and even turnips.  Yes, turnips.  We deliberately sowed in thousands of turnip seeds.  As the sheep and cattle graze they will pull this up by the roots, and we will have succeeded in aerating the soil, effortlessly.  The sheep will benefit from more diverse feed.

Even placing large rocks in the garden can have their purpose.  Mine serve as hose guides, but they also radiate heat to nearby plants at night encouraging their growth.  Sepp Holtzer, one of the permaculture greats, noticed this while very young and deliberately started putting rocks next to his strawberry plants.  Sepp has been using permaculture methods since before it was even called by that name.   Permaculture also makes use of  microclimates around buildings.  Despite being in Ag Zone 6, we are able to grow a very large and productive fig tree on the south side of our house. 

Another method of holding heat in an area is through ponds and other water sources.  Sepp found that water retains more heat than air and that this also benefits the plants.   He is able to grow food for hundreds of people, despite being 1,500 meters above sea level.  No that’s not a typo.  I have added his book to my Amazon store on the right side.  This book also has information on nutrient fixing, plants that can help you identify the existing state of your soil, and advice for reclaiming damaged land.

There are some permaculture “experts” to watch out for.  Some of the groups have as part of their criteria penalizing  people who do not change their mindset or actions, and this is a slippery slope as far as I am concerned.   It’s one thing to encourage people, to educate, but it’s quite another for one group to take a one size fits all approach to life.  Another thing to watch out for are those whose enthusiasm is wholehearted but their recommendations are not.  Our garden suffered a great deal from the faulty recommendations of Toby Hemingway, and now having gone through Eliot Coleman’s books as well as Sepp Holtzer’s, I can see the mistakes that were made. 

For example, Toby recommends multiple layers of mulching and planting in these layers, while Sepp shows how to bury a tree and other composting materials into a berm and cover this with soil, scattering the seeds into the soil.  This difference is huge in its impact.  Toby’s method of planting small plants or seeds on mulch that has not composted means that no nutrients are available to the plant.  The multiple layers prevent aeration of the soil, and finally, as the mulch composts at the top layer, it gives off too much heat, overheating the little plants.  Whereas Sepp’s method plants the seed directly in established soil that can nourish it.  The composting layers beneath provide nutrients to the plants when the plants roots grow long enough to reach that layer.  And the warmth of the composting materials is deep in the soil where it encourages growth instead of overheating the plant at the surface.  These berms also make harvesting very easy – you don’t even have to lean over :)

I also learned last year that the garden will have to be kept more organized.  If you google permaculture pictures, you’ll find that most look disheveled like ours above.  (You’ll also find alot of “conceptual” drawings – lots of people talk about permaculture conceptually, but have little experience in practice.  If you open a permaculture guide and its mostly drawings, move to the next one.)  I find that the sloppyness leads to being unable to find all your vegetables as they ripen, or deal with weeds and insects from all sides. 

The main book on Permaculture is by Bill Mollison, Permaculture a Designer’s Manual, and I was fortunate to be able to borrow a copy since it is out of my budget.  I have placed it in the Amazon store as well, and it is worth the $100.00 price tag for what it will pay back to you in productivity and saved time.  Quite frankly, it is brilliant work.

Raising Healthy Sheep – Care and Worming

 

arthur

 

When raising healthy sheep, the goal is to feed only the sheep and not a batch of nasty moochers looking to literally suck the life and nutrition out of the animals.  These little moochers are the parasites that are a very real part of life on virtually every farm.  Sheep are prone to them, and unfortunately, many parasites have developed resistance to many of the wormers that were once very effective.

These wormers also have another downside  – derived from chemicals, these pesticides are not exactly what we want to give to our darling pets, nor is it something you want to consume if you raise some of the sheep for the table, as we do.   The lables on these commercial wormers provide withdrawl times before you can eat the animal, but we all know that toxins tend to acumulate in the fatty tissue, and how much is really cleansed out of the system? 

For years, we had no parasite problems at all.  We were able to use diatomaceous earth as our sole wormer and fecal counts from the vet came back with no parasites.  Then we brought in a few sheep, and despite worming them upon their arrival, they obviously had a strain of parasite that was resistant to the wormer.  Failure to thrive started appearing, which caused us to look at the flock and our program in a new light. 

Research showed that natural iodine, such as Thorvine Kelp,  added to the diet would help the sheep to fight parasites naturally, but when faced with a persistant problem, it is only a bandage.   We also tried making fresh garlic juice and drenching the sheep, which we had read is also effective.  This was funny during administration time.  We used this with some lambs we were setting aside for butchering, and felt like we were seasoning them ahead of time…

Thank God for my friend Esther.  She is another local farmer raising animals, mostly chickens, but with years of experience raising cattle and other animals.  She is also a superiour gardener and it is always so interesting to talk with her – I always learn something.  Yesterday, I learned something from her yet again, about her system of parasite control.  Having had a resistant problem in her flock, and not willing to use toxins to solve it, she searched for a solution and found Olive Leaf  (olea europaea).  She was able to mix this into her chickens “mash” and within a short period of time her chickens are laying better and the size of the eggs has jumped to jumbo.

Googling Olive Leaf, shows that it has been used for health benefits for both humans and animals – all sorts of them.  According to the articles, horses, cattle, sheep, all can benefit from properties within this bountiful plant, and we have decided to give this a try for the next several months and see what benefits our sheep can derive.  I intend to update this post, and during the worst parasite month – typically July, I will get some fecal counts from our veterinarian. 

Esther also recommended a tincture from Mountain Meadow Herbs called Para-Rid that in addition to having olive leaf, also has wormwood and black walnut hull extract.  Mountain Meadow Herbs has a sale running until tomorrow, and I may explore trying some of this with a few of my sheep.   I will update this post with more information as our experiment unfolds.

Climate Commentary and New Lambs

It may be best to provide the good news first and leave my cranky observations about weather to those who can stomach it :)

Our little darling, Buttercup gave birth this morning to two darling lambs, both snow white.  This is an interesting cross in breeds, as Buttercup is part Jacob and part Shetland, although she has none of the Jacob spotting.  The ram was Max, our purebred Friesian who has such a nice fleece.  It will be interesting to watch how the fleeces on the two newest develop.  Way to go, Buttercup!  You’re a good mother!  If anyone has ideas about names for them, one boy and one girl, please leave a note in comments.

buttercup

 

It was so cold visiting Buttercup and her babies that I had to duck into the Conservatory to warm up.  Our little seedlings are progressing nicely, the Broccoli Raab and Kasumi Cabbage (yum, Kimchi) doing the best so far.  It was also nice to see that one of the avocado trees is in bloom, finally!

seedlings

OK, If you are a firm believer that the planet is on the verge of climactic doom, you may want to skip the following.  Don’t get me wrong, I care about our surroundings as a steward.  Whether we believe in climate warming, climate change, or Climate Gate, we can agree that being responsible and leaving things in even better condition that we found them, if possible, is a mutual goal.   I don’t believe in planetary worship, setting planet Earth on some sort of pedestal with annual homage, but I do belive that God asks us to care for the things that He has provided.

My dissent with the climate warming advocates is that their dire predictions are not bearing out with reality in our own backyard.  Or actually in lots of places.  It is mid-March, and we can see snow in Europe delaying flights, and arctic blasts sweeping across this nation.  This morning was 25 degrees and the frozen ground is covered with a dusting of snow.   A look at the five-day forecast reveals predictions of highs in the forties for several of the next days, dropping to a high of 39 for Monday.

This is not normal, folks.  Please take a moment to look at the chart below provided by City-Data.com.  This is for Charles Town, WV a good bit north of us here.  Please note on it that the average daily high for mid-March is 55.

Average climate in Charles Town, West Virginia

Based on data reported by over 4,000 weather stations

Charles Town, West Virginia average temperatures

Weather.com reported just this week that camel-like animals lived in the arctic http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/arctic-camel-fossils-20130305  and admitted that the planet may have been much warmer than today.  If that is the case, life on earth obviously survived or I wouldn’t be writing this, and you wouldn’t be reading it.  Most people are also familiar with the Medieval Warming Period.  I have read some climate change alarmists make statements that “this was confined to Europe” although in the absence of any evidence about what went on in the rest of the world, I don’t know how they can make this statement.

Just as the sun goes through its cycles, I believe the Earth does as well.  These days it feels like we are getting colder.