The last day

PiaChit Chat

rowan3

September is for some the last summer month, but if you look at nature it’s autumn. The air is different, night temperatures drop if not also in daytime, grain harvest is usually done unless it rains too much, berries ripen and flowers wither or make an effort at a second round, not quite as showy as the first.

green

The kale has survived the onslaught of tiny critters I think, my weld is looking miserable and the batch I cooked up yesterday did not give very much colour compared to the small samples I did earlier. So yes, you can drag your feet too long. I haven’t gotten round to my blues either, but the temps are supposed to stay mellow, so I’m still hoping.

I’m thinking whether I want to make myself a hat this year and which fiber to use.

stack

My back is getting back to normal after last weekend’s ordeal, just a bit of tension in my neck, still. Now of course it’s time to haul in the firewood before it gets wet again…. We get a pile delivered every feb-march, stack it to dry outside and then keep it in the shed over winter. (mind you, if we stay in this house I believe the foundation size for said shed, the original farmhouse from the 1840’s, would make a quite ok studio size for me and not too far to go to work in)

skur

I’ve been making fresh yarn sample cards for hanging in the open but not sun for xx months, perhaps a year? And getting the solar samples paired with non-faded yarn, numbered and all sorts of organized, it took me DAYS, and I’m so proud of myself for persevering. Just have to crochet little squares to go in the wash for sampling detergent effects and then I’ll put it all in a binder. 3 years of natural dye experiments.

sample

Next year I’ll do just a few new plant experiments if I can remember which ones have come to mind over the last few months, otherwise I’ll focus on getting as many shades as I can from just a few, lightfast plants and not bother with the fugitive ones.

bisser

The rest of my week has been spent nursing the small brown pony who came down with an abscess in his hind hoof. Treatment for such is hot soapy baths to draw the infection out and clean the wound once it’s popped open. He was quite cooperative about standing with his foot in a bucket as long as treats were forthcoming.

down
Some fade, others just keel over…

Den sidste sommerdagdanish

Selvom september kan give nogen fine, lune dage, så er det alligevel for mig den første efterårsmåned. Luften er anderledes, det føles anderledes indeni, jeg begynder at længes efter at lave vintermad, overveje garnvalg til den hue jeg vil strikke, blomsterne er enten visnet ned eller giver det en sidste krampetrækning med 2. generation lidt mindre farvebomber.

Jeg er endelig nået til at høste min farvevau(-reseda), men desværre er det vist lidt sent, den gryde jeg satte over i går har godt nok ikke meget farve i sig i forhold til tidligere på sæsonen, ja blot for en måned siden. De lover heldigvis lunt vejr, så jeg håber stadig lidt på at jeg kan nå at gøre noget ved mine blå planter, vaid og japansk indigo.

Jeg har brugt ugen pÃ¥ at være rigtig disciplineret og lavet garnkort til min mappe med farveeksempler, solblegede sammen med originale, nummerering af alle fed gennem 3 Ã¥r osv. Hver plante fÃ¥r sin egen side i et ringbind med noter og halløj! Jeg er ellers ikke til den slags administrativt arbejde, sÃ¥ jeg er meget stolt af mig selv. 😉

Min ryg er ved at være i orden efter halmweekenden, blot lidt nakkespændinger tilbage. Nu er vi sÃ¥ kommet til brændestablen, som skal i skuret inden det begynder at øse ned i ugevis, sÃ¥ det trækker fugt til sig igen. Det foregÃ¥r med trillebør 50 m frem og tilbage gennem en smal port, ikke noget med at bare læsse det i traileren og dumpe det foran døren! Brændeskuret er det oprindelige bondehus fra 1840’erne og ved at falde fra hinanden. Jeg gÃ¥r og tænker pÃ¥, hvis vi bliver boende her, at fundamentet vel egentlig har en ok størrelse til et lille atelier….

Og ellers har jeg bare gået og ordnet varme fodbade til den lille brune bisse, som ragede en hovbyld til sig på det ene bagben. Heldigvis var han yderst medgørlig, bare der blev puttet noget i den anden ende samtidig.

hibiscus

Sheep market

PiaChit Chat

Well, not actually with sheep for sale, but about them. I was slightly underwhelmed I must admit, this being my first, but at least I’ve seen it. Just a handful of meat sheep, a handful of stalls with knitware and other crafty stuff, easily browsed in half an hour when you’re on a budget and didn’t think to bring cash anyway.

hyrde

But we did see a sheepdog at work, had locally made lamb sausages with unfiltered apple juice (one of my faves) and sheep milk ice cream for lunch. I ran into my friend Nina who lent me 200 kr. so I could buy some merino top that I fell in love with as well as a couple of pounds of Leicester fleece “pick your own bagful”. He just said “white L.”, but since we do have a breed called Danish L. I’m guessing that’s it. I didn’t stay put for the presentation of that one because the dog show started, so I don’t know if they originate from the Border Leicester or the original Leicester Longwool. (had I bought the fleece first I would have paid more attention of course)

shropshire lamb
shropshire lamb

One of the ideas I came away with was felted postcards, really cute. I forgot to take pix or buy one however, like I forgot I wanted to taste the muffins. 😉

And I learned why wool sheep like the nordic shorttail breeds actually taste better than meat sheep. Meat sheep store their fat in their muscles, the smaller wool sheep around their organs. This means a Spelsau or Gotland sheep has very lean meat with no “zoo taste” to it. You don’t get nearly as much money from the butcher per sheep, which is why the meat sheep exist of course, who can pack on some serious weight in a short time.

Phew. That was a full weekend for sure. You’ll be hearing from me when I resurface to the land of the living. 😉

FÃ¥redage i Hedelanddanish

Så fik jeg også prøvet det. En anelse skuffende måske mht størrelsen af arrangementet, en håndfuld kødfår og to håndfulde boder med strik og lidt andet finurligt, let at gennemgå på en halv times tid når man ikke har overvejet nødvendigheden af at medbringe kontanter. Men jeg rendte da heldigvis ind i en veninde som kunne låne mig 200 kr. så jeg kunne plukke en pose Leicester råuld og lidt merinotops i fristende farver fra Renee Darley. Lidt skulle jeg jo have, når ikke jeg nåede spindedag med indbygget uld-shopping!

En lammepølse med æblemost og fÃ¥remælksis kunne det ogsÃ¥ lige blive til, vi fik set en border collie optræde med sit “team”, og det var sÃ¥ det. Godt det samme, for det var jo ogsÃ¥ halm-weekend, sÃ¥ vi er lidt flade nu.

Jeg så nogen fine filtede postkort som jeg glemte at købe eller fotografere og jeg lærte hvorfor uldfår smager bedre end kødfår. Kødfår lagrer fedtet i musklerne, uldfårene omkring organerne, derfor er kødet både magert og uden smag af zoologisk have.

merino

Winter prep

PiaChit Chat

As well as going to the sheep market this weekend, we also had straw delivered from a neighbour farmer. 300 bales. We don’t have the buildings to store the modern large bales, nor is the road here compatible with having deliveries by truck through the winter. So small bales that go into the loft are necessary to keep horses on the property, even if it’s a lot of work a few times a year. It takes about an hour at breakneck speed to get 100 bales up, tall guy throwing up with a fork, me blue in the face climbing up and down the stack.

Since I now only have the two senior ponies left, I’d prepared an empty stall with pallets for storage as well, in case the delivery rate got a bit overwhelming, also I have more hay in the loft this year because last winter the mice ate into about 20 of my wrapped(fermented) hay bales. Once the plastic is broken on those, it rots in no time.

I stack so that the dry hay is enclosed in straw, this prevents it from moulding, which happens with humid air contact. The straw doesn’t mould for some reason, so it insulates. So it’s a bit of a construction job at the same time.

This year I decided to try with a paper facemask, since I normally have breathing problems after a session like this, a week of lung pain and lots of slime and coughing. It seems to have helped not get much dust inhaled at least, altough of course it does not help with oxygen levels in a closed loft or the dry throat.

And most of this week I’m guessing will be very low key. I want to give the ponies a bath, trim big brown pony’s hind hooves if my back and hands agree and harvest my weld. I can’t seem to find the twine with gloves on, so it’s all barehand, ouch!

Yeah, hammock and library books sounds pretty good in fact…

first load
first load
half way
half way

halm3

Vinterforråddanish

Weekenden stod bl.a. på halmleverance, 300 småballer skulle jeg have, da vi ikke har lagerplads til de store, og vejen herned egner sig ikke til lastbilleverancer i vådt føre. (eller i det hele taget, de kan ikke komme om til stalden)

Det er tre timers hÃ¥rdt arbejde for to personer, en lang til at kaste op og lille mig blÃ¥ i hovedet der piler op og ned af stakken… Jeg havde dog ogsÃ¥ forberedt den tomme boks med paller i bunden, nu jeg kun har de to gamle ponyer tilbage. SÃ¥ nÃ¥r jeg blev lidt overvældet, kunne gemalen traske ind og lægge et par stykker derinde imens.

Jeg havde også lige 100 høballer der skulle jongleres deroppe, sidste år bed musene hul på næsten alle wrapballerne i ly af vinteren, 20 måtte vi smide ud, da de rådner så snart der kommer luft til. Men høballerne holder sig fine uden svampesporer, hvis man pakker dem ind i et lag halm som isolering. Men det er lidt af et puslespil, når pladsen er trang og ballerne vælter ind af lugen.

I Ã¥r forsøgte jeg mig med maske, da jeg ellers fÃ¥r nærmest lungebetændelseslignende tilstande, kraftige smerter, hoste og slim op til en uge efter. Det hjælper ikke pÃ¥ iltmængden, men jeg er faktisk ok (bortset fra træt, øm, skrammede arme og smadrede hænder ;-)  Jeg kan selvfølgelig ikke finde snorene med handsker pÃ¥…)

Så jeg tror det bliver en stille uge, ville gerne have givet ponyerne et tiltrængt bad mens det er lunt, beskæring af baghove på den store brune bisse må vi lige overveje. Faktisk lyder hængekøje og biblioteksbøger også ret besnærende.

Fake it till you make it

PiaChit Chat

grafik004b

Now that nature is ever so slowly making a transition towards autumn – I can’t believe I’m saying slowly, the summer has gone by like a Formula 1 – I find myself getting ready to change my activities too. I’ve been doing a lot more with the garden this year and some clearing away of stuff from the barn and yard; this has basically set back all of my creative pursuits, in fact I didn’t even get started on the ponies yet either (They’ve been on a very long break while I was on sick leave for over a year).

Of course I’ve been plant dyeing all summer, but I see that as a different kind of creative, more like a science project. While I think I would have done quite well in research of some other type (except it didn’t occur to me* until recently, so that’s another botched career 😉 ), I do get fed up with the chemistry bit. I still have stuff I want to do, some is urgent before my woad, weld and indigo get too cold, but it’s not my main focus anymore. No, I am of course talking about all the artsy fartsy craft stuff.

The problem for me is always getting back after a break. I get all restless and frustrated, so angry I could spit, even, that I don’t have time and people are bothering me and if only I lived on a deserted island I could finally get down to creating masterpieces 12 hours a day. What happens if I do get a week on my own? I get headaches or cramps. I zone out and click the interwebs. I get really tired and take naps. I daydream, I read books. Go pull a few thistles. Have coffee to wake up and start up Photoshop and Writer and pull out my inspiration folder and then go click blogs and Ravelry until I’m ready for another nap. I’ve been talking about procrastination several times and after a break it always hits me bad.

It’s not that I haven’t got any ideas I could work on, I just seem to think that – I don’t know what I’m thinking actually, everything just feels sluggish and outside of my grasp somehow. I mentioned 2 months ago about doing chores first and then being too tired for the fun bits, well, that still applies. Except now I seem to be slowing down on both counts. I must be needing a break and I suppose I ought to listen….

So, during the meanwhile, I’d like to figure out what to do to get on another roll. I don’t care if it happens to be spinning, weaving, painting (which I’m leaning towards) or writing, I just want to get cracking. I’ve done all the things I’ve previously suggested, so I need a new trick.

Some people say you should simply pretend to be making art until you are. Or pretend to be some person you admire and then go do what you imagine that person would do. I’m not much of an actress, I can’t even lie properly, but I suppose as long as I’m only imposting in my own head it’ll be alright. Right? (I can’t stand fake happy and chirpy; I’m not grumpy, just not very exalted most of the time) But you know, whenever I do get out my paints and just do something without being “there”, nothing interesting ever happens. I don’t suddenly fall into the flow, from pretending to create to actually doing it, I really do feel like I’m just faking, doing uninspired and completely useless exercises, and by the way the laundry needs to be put out to dry.

Apparently I can’t even fake something properly! And then we all know the next step, don’t we. “It’s no use, it’s not like I’ll ever develop any talent in my lifetime anyway”. “Needing space and quiet before I can create is just an excuse to hide that I can’t do it at all”. “It probably isn’t what I’m meant to be doing”. “Wasting my time, wasting my life”. – “Hey, wait a minute, that’s not the story I wanted to fake!”

Does faking really work for the larger multitude, ie do I just suck at it, or is it simply that pep-talks don’t work for more than 5 minutes on average? Faking is supposed to work without believing I think, which is good, because I suck at faith too. Otoh I have no trouble believing all the dark secrets about myself, the uselessness, unworthiness, ugliness etc. I know I’m not the only one, I just think it’s amazingly impractical that we should be hardwired to support all the negative stuff like that.

My intuition is telling me NOTHING of where I should be going right now. But staying put also doesn’t feel very fantastic. So I keep pushing even though I can tell I’m not doing it the right way. Maybe life’s simply not meant to be fantastic… But I’m not sure I can put up with that for very long. That would in fact, be faking it bigtime, and we already established that I suck at that.

Ok, I’m not even sure where I’m going with this piece. I’ll just press the button and move on now. Have a great weekend all! I’ll either be hauling straw bales or visiting a sheep market.

* strangely enough, since I’ve always been the one to bury myself in piles of books in a quiet corner, taking notes and attempting to suck up any and all data of my chosen subject. Some of my friends even complain that they can’t ask me a simple question on horsefeed for example, because I give them a whole lecture where they just wanted a name. Yes, I would have made an excellent geek, I even have the dress sense to match!