Chickens and "White Lava"

It's been a long cold winter with a lot of snow. The chickens treat it like it is "white lava." Old Henry refuses to walk on the snow which the other chickens have followed suit...

This girl perched on a rock I found funny. They have learned to hop from branch, to bowl to rock to avoid stepping on it. I'm sure it's cold on their feet but they flat out refuse to step in it.

Beyond the branch was snow that had fallen the night before. To the left is the coop and they each flew to the shoveled spot to avoid stepping on the white lava!

The turn out door remains opened, but until that white lava is gone, they have refused to venture out. Once the snow melts and refreezes, it becomes almost comical to watch them slip and slide, not so much when I have to go in and tend them though! 

Making Bird Suet with this and that

After the holidays, our pantries are filled with a bunch of this and that! Instead of throwing it away or waiting for the pantry moths to take hold you need to put it to good use. So what do I do with it? I make bird suet! I pull out what I have like oats...

The unused half packages of nuts...

The different "crumbs"...

I chop down my nuts into small bits...

Go to the butcher at your local grocery store and get some beef suet fat. Put it into a pot and render it by simmering it to melt off all the fat. Pour the fat into a stainless steel bowl while its still hot.

 Toss some birdseed into the bowl...

Add a couple of tablespoons of some natural creamy peanut butter...

Some flour too to get thickness, maybe about a cup...

I recycle my suet cake holders and use them to make molds. These feeders are log jammer feeders and I just can't seem to get the right size plugs for them so I make my own!

And there is some suet! A little this and that will do ya! There is no measuring, just throw in what you can. You want to use gloves to shape it because the fats and peanut butter are hard to wash off your hands. You can also add dried fruits such as cranberries and raisins too!

I make some plugs and mold some suet cakes that I toss into the freezer for when I need them again.

Hang them outside and are already to go!

In minutes I took this picture from the window. If you blow it up you can count at least 7 birds that came in quickly to the front feeder to eat the suet. So there you go! Make your own out of this and that! Don't throw those holiday leftovers away! Make suet! The birds will thank you!

 

Is she or isn't she?

Is she or isn't she? So the question really is, is she laying or isn't she? One way to tell is the redness in the comb and waddle. Her hormones will shift, swell and blood will fill her waddle and comb.  When their combs are bright red, they are laying and sexually mature. 

This chicken is much older and is no longer laying. Her pale comb is a tell tale sign that she has passed her prime and her laying days are behind her now. This old girl who's name is "Lucy" will live out her life here for her service of delicious eggs for all the years.

This girl is also older but still has some eggs in her. You can see her comb is still red and she is laying, just not everyday. 

 This girl is less than a year old and is not laying right now, which is reflected in the color of her comb and small waddles. It's fascinating what you can learn from a chicken just in the color of her color. Spring will bring all the chickens into red, swollen combs. 

Triangle Loom Weaving Adventures

One of my goals (I do not make resolutions) coming into the New Year was getting some Shawls made. I have a lot of time on my hands these days as we continue to push through this virus and shelter in place as much as we can. Being productive is the best way to get through these times. 

I've had this Carol Leigh/Spriggs loom for sometime now and have made many a shawl over the years. This is a 7 foot adjustable loom and can make shawls in many sizes and colors. Carol Leigh and Carl Spriggs are the inventors of this unique process. The loom comes standard with the video, a loker tool and 2 shed sticks. I have the stand that you can order separately and I highly recommend this loom! It is a continuous strand of yarn process. It is fun and easy once you get the process in your brain. The video has patterns, techniques and trouble shooting which is a wealth of information!   

Getting started is easy to follow. I had the DVD in my player going step by step to refresh my brain on how it's done. One problem I found was working with black is quite difficult and a lot of mistakes can be made. I hung a work light over it and often had a small flashlight to help me "see" the weave.

Color changes are easy to do as well. You just have to perfect the process and then it gets easy. I ordered this yarn from Knit Picks, it's a baby alpaca, merino and just a small bit of acrylic to give the shawl some give. 

Getting there! You become completely mesmerized by the process! One strand that goes up to the top, down to a nail on the bottom, across and up to the other side. It's genius! 

Almost finished! Once you get into the smaller areas you really need the loker tool.

Adding the fringe is a personal choice. Here I staggered the black and gray to offset the pattern. I really like a shawl with fringe, it gives it an elegant look.

This shawl only took a week to complete, not working at it constantly but when I had time. Each shawl I have made thereafter has taken me about a week. The worst part is finding a mistake but the video helps you trouble shoot that and has solutions. There is also a lot of videos people have up on line that can help.

Blocking is a must but who has room for a 7 foot shawl? Certainly not me! We had to hop over it a couple of times. It dried well over night and was good to go. 

This was another shawl I did. I found this yarn at a local store. It is a variegated wool and acrylic mix. It was shades of blue and gray. It looked like I made color changes but I didn't. The shawl is heavy and warm. This is a nice shawl that I am super pleased with!

This is what is up next! A black and light blue. I decreased the size of the light blue blocks to give it different dimensions. I actually got up at 5 am this morning and completed it, after quite a few mistakes which I had to pull apart to fix! I am taking some time off of black for a while! Stay tuned to see what the next shawl will be! If you have any questions about the Triangle Loom, just leave one and I'll try my best to answer it. Until then, hope you have a project to work on. I am just working towards the day we can have festivals again! At this rate, I plan on having a lot of inventory!