Appalachian egg basket

 I went to a basket weaving class last Saturday. I always wondered why it's called basket weaving. I found out. For 3 hours, I was weaving this little egg basket! You'd think something so small wouldn't have taken so long. But it did.

The handle is wisteria, the ribs privet and the rest is kudzu. This was still a little wet when I took these pictures. And I had to wait to snip off all the little loose ends. It's not perfect, but I love it. And I made it myself! If I had thought about it more and not just plowed into it, I would have made the kudzu go the same way. Like use the outside of the vine, not let it get all twisted. You can see how it's light and dark. Some of the ladies had designs where some was light then some was dark. But mine is all willy nilly, just like me. When I make another one, I'll be more careful.

It's just perfect for the 8 eggs my 8 hens lay nearly every day! I don't think it would hold 9 eggs.

It was not a good time to have a basket class, right at the end of winter. Bill said the best time to gather kudzu is in winter. Well, too late now, right? But I can use other materials, like honeysuckle. Which takes dye really good. I have tons of honeysuckle and dye. I will have to boil the vines 1 1/2 hours, then strip the bark. I also have plenty of wisteria and privet too. So there might be some more basket weaving in my future. It really was fun to create something useful from weeds.

 I saw this door in my mom's garage last week. She said we could have it. I've been wanting a new back door ever since we've lived here and this was perfect. It was 1" too wide though, so my husband has been cutting and sanding it to get it to fit. It's still not right yet.

This is the back door. It's horrible! And so narrow too.

I've been planting in the garden already! I don't know if I have ever planted this early. So far I have planted kale, collards, mixed greens, radishes, lettuce, 3 different kinds of onions, beets and dandelions. Yes, I bought dandelion seeds to plant in my garden. I've been picking them all over the garden, but thought it'd be nice to have a dedicated row just for them. And these are a different variety. So we shall see how they do.

And the other day, I put up 2 cattle panels a little more than half way down the driveway, so the sheep and alpacas can mow the tall grass for us. It's a long driveway, but didn't take them too long to eat it down. Just a few days. So I'll probably let them out there once a week and we won't have to mow here!

I don't know what happened, but here's the back door in, but not quite where it fits yet. Still have some work to do so that I can go in and out. But I love it. I'll have to make some curtains though, because the sun comes right in back here and gets really hot.

It's a beautiful Good Friday here. The family is all coming here for Easter dinner Sunday. I hope to go to church, then the Chattanooga market before dinner. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and happy Easter!

Astrid, the sheep herding goat.

Sheep crossing! Going through the new gate to the outback.

                                                          Sugar, saying hello to the babies.

Can you see little Astrid between the tree? I think she thinks she's a sheep. She loves them.

The sheep think she's herding them. It's so funny. She runs, then they run.

Here she is, running around them, keeping them in a pack. Good girl!

Cara's giving her a hard time. Astrid wants her to go back to the sheep. She finally did.

That was fun!  After they do this for awhile, the sheep go their way and the goats go theirs.

Crazy wild Monday!

What a day!

It started with goat checks every 2 hours through the night. And ended at pottery class.

Sunday night, Olga didn't go to the milk room to eat. So I knew something was up. Checked her and there was a little discharge, but not much. And it was gonna be COLD! So I set my alarm for every 2 hours. Got up and went to check on her. Nothing.

So decided to put her up in the back stall. And sat and waited. And waited some more. Went and got the camera, a chair and some knitting. I knit quite a bit on another Etta hat I started Sunday. Then went inside for awhile.

Came back out and saw this. The classic pushing position! Saw a little more goo. It was almost time for kids!

Some more pushing. Then the up and down, pawing the ground, lay down and push some more.

Then finally this! I don't know about you, but I find this amazing. See those little feet? I had just told Olga I hope she has some kids with color. And I saw the dark feet! Too cool! So this went on a little while longer.

I finally could see enough feet and snout that I helped her pull while she pushed. Out came this beautiful little lady! Isn't she so cute?

Got her all cleaned off and out of the way, because Olga was pushing again! Out came this little fella!

So a buck and a doe kid!! And, when Olga got up, she did it so fast, his umbilical cord just snapped right off at his belly. I didn't know it til I was drying him off and saw bright red blood on the towel. I panicked. Then realized it was coming from his belly. I ran inside and grabbed stuff and came back out with arms loaded. I sprayed him down real good, then wrapped him up around his tummy. I called my friend Linda in Ohio and she told me to just keep an eye on it and he might need antibiotic later.

Anyway, what better way to spend a Monday morning? Sitting in a goat stall, waiting on a doe to kid, knitting with a cup of hot tea? So fun.

Then here is the little guy this morning. All chipper and happy to be here! And no wrapping. It's dry and I'm keeping it sprayed with wound spray. He's such a cutie. Looks just like Olga. I named him Sorren, pronounced Surren.

And here they all are this morning. The little girl is Rika. Olga is a good mother. But these kids are also just nursing on one side. I had to take her to the milk room this morning to milk her. Which is not that easy because she has such small teats. Like only 1 finger can get on them.

They both like to get in the feed bowl.

But so far, Olga is doing great. No symptoms like Freya had. I did not give her molasses water after she had the kids. I do believe that's what makes the goats and sheep sick the next day. So all is well now. Olga is eating and drinking water.

So after I knew everything was ok with Olga and the kids, I went out to till more in the garden to get ready to plant dandelions, radishes, lettuce and more kale. Also I need to get beets and onions. so did that. I had to go get my middle grand daughter about 4 to get her to her 1st cello lesson at 5 over on Brainerd Rd.

But before I left I went out to look at the bee hive. Oh my goodness, there were bees all over the place! I mean like thousands of bees, flying and on the front of the hive. Like craziness. I called my friend up the road and no answer. Went back to the house for a few minutes and when I came back, the bees were all acting normal again. I went ahead and called my bee guy who is the president of the local bee club. He told me what to do, switch the bottom box and put it on top and put the smaller box on bottom. He said it would probably be empty. And that yes, they were probably getting ready to swarm.

So I got my stuff together and went out to swap them around. But, when I got all the boxes apart, the bottom box was FULL of bees and honey and huge white larva! Like huge larva!. So called him back and told him what I saw. He said leave it like it was, but put a queen excluder  on the 2nd box, then another box on that. Well, I added a 4th box, just because. And left, because they were pretty pissed by then!

So went to go get Coryn. Had to go up 24 and it was horrible traffic. It's just a little hill, but people just can't seem to get up. They all slow down. Stupid. Then get to Germantown Rd. which takes me to Brainerd Rd, which I have to get on. Well, traffic is so bad, we are barely moving. I finally got to the left turning lane, about a mile from the light. I started seeing smoke coming from my engine. Scared me to death, I thought my car was on fire! So I turned left into some apartment complex, parked, turned off the car, got out and opened the hood. Didn't see flames or lots of smoke. A guy came over and asked what was wrong. He didn't see anything or smell smoke.

Then I looked between the crack of the hood at the windshield, between the wipers and saw a flippin' cigarette! Someone threw their darn cigarette out their window and it hit just perfect below my windshield where I couldn't see it but just the smoke, and I thought my darn engine was on fire.

After I calmed down and got mad, I found a short cut to Coryn's house. Texted her teacher saying we'd probably be late, and took off. We actually got there 6 minutes early! And I tell ya what, Coryn, who's 14 and never ever touched a cello before, could play a few tunes when we left. She's been in band 3 years playing clarinet, so nows music. But she is a natural born cello player!

So got her back home and headed off to Tiftonia to my pottery studio to trim some bowls and cups for awhile. Didn't take long to get there. I always love going there to the pottery studio. It's so fun. So stayed there til 8:30 and headed home.

Checked on Olga and her kids. Sorren had lost the wrap so I checked him and decided to leave it off. All was well there. Went inside, took a shower, knitted a little while watching Castle, then to bed I went.

Just another crazy wild day for me!

Around the farm...

things are a bloomin'! A few weeks ago, the redbuds started flowering. This is my favorite tree.

And the figs too. I was a bit worried about them last night when it was supposed to be down to 32. But the wind blew, thankfully, and no frost.

The blueberry bushes are all pretty loaded with buds too! I hope to get some blueberries this year. Last year the chickens got them all. They are in chicken jail til fall, so no blueberries for them.

The sweet little violets are all over. As well as dandelions, hen bit and false nettle. The honey bees are in flower heaven!

And the elderberry bushes are almost all full of leaves. I love this bush. I still have several bags in the freezer of elderberries from fall. I might use them for some dye. I want to try gathering honeysuckle vines for baskets. They can take dyes and it stays dyed.  And I'd love to try dying some wool too.

These are my 2 lilac bushes. No lilacs yet, but some day. I think it takes several years to get lila blooms? Does anyone know?

And above, the plantain is starting to come up!! I sure need to make some plantain salve soon, for markets.

And, Olga finally had her kids this morning! More on that later. Have a great day, and happy spring y'all!!

Lots of cuteness...

Finished hat and gate.

I finished the Etta hat yesterday. I worked on it a little while at the restaurant with my mom and brother. Then in the car. Then finished it while watching The Middle last night. I want to start on another one right away!

My husband had gotten all the parts and concrete Tuesday to get the gate up. So he went ahead and set the big post in the ground that night so it would be ready to work on the next morning.

We got to it right after breakfast. It's not perfect. I have to lift up on it to get it to latch properly. But that's fine. It works! And it's dry right there! That's the main thing I wanted, to get out of the mud pit. The goats hated walking through that. I had boards laid out, but still had mud to get in. And we still need to get that tall post sawed off.

I was using a hack saw to saw the flat piece of metal that goes through the fence. My husband had just taken a drink of coffee and I looked up at him and said "really?" He laughed so hard, coffee went everywhere! it was so funny, I still laugh. The look on his face was hilarious! But it took forever to get that piece of metal sawed in half.

This is the old gate and the mud pit we had to go through every day. It was not fun at all.

The happy little goat family. Olga and Freya both got to go through the new gate to go to the milk room this morning. SO much nicer! And I cleaned the milk room this morning too! During the winter, when I'm not milking, that room gets piled up with junk, And bales of hay, so hay strings all over. Just a mess in there. So I got it all cleaned and organized and ready for milking now!

If only Olga would have some kids now. I am wondering if she's not pregnant, just really fat. Maybe a false pregnancy? When that happens, do they get really big udders? I don't know. She was bred, and I saw it happen, 5 days after Freya. So what is up with this goat????