Hail and Farewell 2012...

Hail and Farewell 2012, a year who has brought me to my knees in sadness, grief, struggle, betrayal and most of all knowing who is really there for me. The loss of my sister ripped my heart out and I will never be the same for that. The loss of a job who taught me just how horrible people and a corporation can really be. There was so much loss, it is hard to focus on the good things that happened this year. So as I have reflected all day, all there is left to do is to move on from here and leave this year behind, moving forward and hoping that life takes a reprieve from heart break and brings peace to us all...Happy 2013 everyone!

Coil Spun Dreamin'

Now that the holidays are over, it's time to get back to work. I did this before the Holidays and it was still sitting on the wheel.

Unfortunately I got the flu on Christmas morning and have not been myself for a few days. This evening I am feeling like myself again so I pulled this off and put it on my Niddy Noddy to set...

 What is great about Coil Spinning is you can use those yarns that didn't turn out right or some excess you may have as your core.

This is made from Llama, "Babydoll" Wool and Alpaca with pink dyed Corriedale Locks. I call it "Roses in the Darkness", think it may be the topper for some gloves, but not quite sure yet...

A Practice Egg!

Our little chicks from our July rescue have given us their first "practice egg"! I found it in the coop just a little while ago. It's half the size of a normal egg. Usually most chickens will lay their first egg right around 4 months but these little gals are 5 months old. I guess with the cold and late moult they are right on time for their time of year. Tim just made them two very nice nesting boxes made from milk crate idea a friend had forwared. Our other chickens have even started laying more as well!

Our Comminites loss and our Security Team!

As many of you know, Coon Hollow Farm is located in Connecticut, just one town over from the Horrible tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It has affected our Community as well as personally touched us. I have created this post as a way of maybe putting a little smile on every ones face. We pray for the families and people and hope that they can gain strength from each other and their memories of loved ones past. The healing process will be a long one hard one... 

Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy, Safe Holiday Season from Coon Hollow Farm and it's Security Team(LOL) (who you can't get past without a kiss!).

Putting the bees to bed for the Winter...

This weekend we put the bees to bed for the winter with these very cool bottom boards

 Tim made these which we also use as Candy Boards to feed the bees during the winter...

It was a beautiful day this past Saturday and the bees were out enjoying the sun.

However, I had a little help from a new aspiring beekeeper, Rob. He has chosen beekeeping as his Senior Project in High School and is coming over learning the ropes. I hope he becomes inspired to become a good beekeeper, love bees as much as I do and realize their importance on our agriculture as well as the mark they make in our world.

It may be cold, but I am warm inside...

There is nothing better, than sitting by a wood burning stove and knitting a scarf with some beautiful hand spun yarn...warms my soul...we all need to take the time to keep our inner peace fullfilled. No matter how sad I get, or how stressed I am, this takes me to another place, what takes you there?

Crockpot Dying!

I am so exited to share crockpot dying with everyone! All you need is an old crockpot (you can buy them at yard sales, or in my case I got a new one last year and have been using this old one) some fleece or fiber, some vinegar and dye.

 Soak your fiber in hot water and a teaspoon of vinegar for about an hour, oopps I got a little dye on it before hand in this picture!

Start your crockpot up ahead of time while you are waiting for your fiber to soak, add vinegar and your dye and let it get hot on the highest setting, add your fiber and give at least a couple of hours to "cook".

 I am also going to show you how to over dye a darker fiber. I have some locks here in dark gray soaking in vinegar for an hour...

and here is the finished product! On the left the darker locks take on a more burgundy color while the wool on the right took on the Cherry Red dye I was going for with white wool.
I am terribly behind on my post and will post again some techniques I figured out. I was trying to make a long locks scarf and wanted to only half dye the locks and my journey to figure it out was a funny one and turned out to be an easy solution!

A Felted Star Santa Parade

I recently made these little guys for my Fiber Arts Group as holiday gifts. It was an original design I did but I forgot how I made them so I had to go back on my blog to 2009. They were so fun to make with detail even on his back side! I will be listing them on my Etsy shop which you can acsess on my blogs side bar.

Finally! Back on-line!

Finally we are back on-line! After the storm on October 29th that left us without power for 4 days with a tree across the road and minimal damage, we felt blessed compared to what other people suffered. We had a tree almost hit one of our hives only hit the corner hitting it with such force it broke the cinder blocks below like a karate chop but  missed the hive itself by some small miracle!

We lost poor Rose after she re-prolapsed this time with fatal results. I found her after she had passed on Halloween Day. We also lost a favorite of visitors, our old cat "Skank" as well. The farm will not be the same without them :(
My son got a virus in my laptop right after the storm so I have been using his Mac which is not compatible with my camera and now I am using a borrowed E-Book while my laptop is being repaired. So I thought I would start with a post to fill in the blanks.
I have been working on spinning, yarns and some amazing dying techniques. Crockpot dying and oven dying to name a few. Today I am doing section dying in the crockpot. Also top dying which I will explain soon, still trying to perfect this one which is an inspired concept but no info on it...

We're still here!

I apologize for our absent from our blog! First we got a storm on October 29th which knocked our power out for only 4 days this time! We felt fortunate with last years storm that knocked us out for 5 days and 8 days respectively. Then we get our power back and my son got a virus into my laptop!
The laptop is off getting fixed and I am using his Mac which is not compatible to my camera aaarrrggghhh!
So hopefully I will be back this week with pics and stories of the storm damage, the death of our beloved "Rose", some new yarns and CrockPot Dying that I have been doing.
 I hope everyone is doing well and as soon as I can we will get back to regular posts and back to the norm!
All of us at Coon Hollow Farm wish you and your families the very best Thanksgiving!

Preparing for the perfect storm...

Here we go again, a storm of epic proportion bringing damage along the way. The past two days have been preparing, covering the greenhouse...

 Lining the deck with buckets to collect water for flushing the toliet,...

 washing dishes and having water for the animals. We learned a lot with last years storms.

 Speaking of which they were a little ancy today, humming a lot more than usual like they sense something.

Everyone got extra covering...

 the hives got big rocks placed on top to keep the tops from blowing off which could be catastrophic!

I know I am tired but Tim, well it speaks for itself. All of us at Coon Hollow Farm wish everyone that is in the path of this storm a safe end to the storm for you and your family.

A finished "Baby Cocoon"

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In my previous post I shared the handspun "Bobble Yarn" and in this post is the finished project! This was made for my brother-in-law's stepson and wife who just had a baby boy. The top part is made with Kid Mohair "Bobbe Yarn" and the base is handspun Alpaca. I left off the ribbons but if it were for a girl I would have embellished it to the hill with pink ribbons! If anyone wants the pattern for this it is available thru http://www.etsy.com/listing/110235172/pattern-for-baby-cocoon-baby-pouch. Sorry I won this pattern on BlogTalk radio but it is available for purchase for just $5.00! What a great gift and I hope they love it!

Spinning Bobble Yarns

 I recently won a video on BlogTalk Radio on how to make a "Baby Cocoon" out of  "Bobble Yarn"...

 but with everything I do, I want to make it my own so I changed it up a little bit...

Instead of using the kid mohair throughout the whole skein, I ran white Alpaca Fiber between the bobbles to make it softer...

and here is the finished skein, I still have to felt the bobbles, which I can post later. It is a gift for a baby project I am working on. It was fun and was a challenge for my creative side too!

Our newest additions...

I got a call from my friend Mickey that these two chicken girls needed a home. They appear to be Red Crosses...

 They belonged to a man's son who was forgetting to close the coop at night, the others were killed and the son shot and killed the raccoon.
In my opinion it was the son who failed here...

They are a bit underweight with their keels sticking out, no breast meat at all. They look healthy but not so much underneath the feathers...

but what I find most disturbing is the practice of cutting the beak. I am absolutely applaud by this. They are settling in and hopefully will find a place in our flock.

A mad dash to harvest!

Yesterday was spent in a mad dash to harvest the garden because we were getting our first hard frost. Even Tim's Topsy Turvy which netted quite a few tomatoes had to be harvested... 

Tim's Topsy Turvy growing Heirlom Tomatoes




Bush String Beans

 

Harvested Oregano



A late season raspberry

Lemon Verbena

Cinnamon Basil

Sweet Basil



Eggplant



Harvested and labeled Oregano



Hanging to dry Oregano

So the harvest is complete and our growing season  is over but we have a bounty of herbs and canned items to get us through the cold months.