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.