Tag: country life

Elvis is in the building!

PiaCritters

Or, well, he seems to be turning into an Arthur, actually.

So, once in a while life throws temptations at you. I hope this little fella will like it here and become as good a mouse trapper as the rest of the gang (not including Hannibal who thinks raw food is yucky).

Right now the other two boys, Hannibal and Dalton, are pished and jealoux and just plain offended that a little worm like that is trying to take over their bestest nap spot (AKA me). I do hope Dalton can use him to play and sleep with, because he keeps trying to persuade the old geezer, and he’s just not having any of that sort.

Better photos when he’s settled in a bit.

Harvest

PiaFarm Life

I’ve been deadheading Dyer’s Chamomile all summer and drying the flowers – 430 g I have, which is about 1/4 of the original weight. Yes, I did dry 100 g separately, so I could weigh them after!

Today I while checking my apples I saw there were flowers again. So I picked another batch, probably the last. As well as a new batch of weld. I should have enough to play with this winter! I’ve dried all the weld from this summer, as I haven’t had time to play with it.

I also found, deep in the grass of my failed vegetable garden, some of the madder I planted last year. I think I’ll try to dig them up and relocate, but I don’t think I have the patience to wait 3-4 years for dyestuff. I can buy it not that expensively by the kilo, all dried and ready.

Other dry stuff to play with hiding in my drawer is black hollyhock, bark from Rhamnus frangula (Alder Buckthorn?), sumac bark, Cochineal and 100 g of Rathania root (Krameria triandra) and lots of onion peels.

Now all that waits is to see if I get any elderberries to experiment with. Since the privet lost its berries before they even grew (lots of flowers on it in spring). But right now they’re only just going from green to black, so I’ll have to watch out. I hope to be able to make some juice for hot winter drinks as well.

Otherwise I didn’t do much today apart from boiling a skein of sock yarn, that I needed to know how soft it is after dye and wash. Sigh. I just can’t hear the friggin pot simmer even when I’m in the same room. It’s all y’all’s fault ya know. If I didn’t sit here writing at you, I wouldn’t ruin a fortune in wool…. 😉

My new dye bed

PiaChit Chat

See that strip of yellow? Yes, dead grass, and I know some people (you know who you are too) are wrinkling their noses at me, but I need all the help I can get battling grass and weeds at the moment. Sorry….

Right now the ground is like concrete, but once the autumn rains begin, I’m thinking I can dig up that turf, make a nice edge, till the earth and next summer add some better material to plant in and put my dye plants here. Actually I need a place to put my strawberries as well, so I may have a lot of digging to do.

I already have weld, woad and dyer’s chamomile in my not-to-be vegetable garden. I meant it to be, but as hard as it is to battle weeds on a field of clay previously used for grain, it becomes impossible when a ton of thistle seeds are accidentally blown into the place covering it like a BLANKET, no kidding, it just becomes impossible. The mice ruin my new plum trees. So I have a few berry bushes in there, use the space as a tree nursery from time to time and to heck with it.

So my new plant list so far is (yes, I’ve been through “A Dyer’s Garden” for inspiration), it may change before spring:

  • Coreopsis tinctoria – I love how you can get both orange and yellow from this in the same dyebath and how little plant material is needed. Instant gratification!
  • Weld – Reseda luteola
  • Dyer’s Chamomile – Anthemis tinctoria
  • Telekia
  • Japanese indigo?
  • St. John’s Wort – Hypericum perforatum
  • Marjoram – origanum majorana
  • Bronze fennel – Foeniculum vulgare
  • Purple basil
  • Hollyhock?
  • Black eyed susan – Rudbeckia fulgida
  • Marigold – tagetes
  • Comfrey – symphytum

Goldenrod and tansy and purple loosestrife I can find in the forest. Others I already have on various parts of the property (10 acres).

≈ Leave a Comment

Farvebed

Jeg mÃ¥ desværre tage “det gule hakkejern” til hjælp i øjeblikket hvis jeg skal nÃ¥ haveopgaverne, sÃ¥ her har jeg gjort klar til mit forhÃ¥bentlig nye farvebed som jeg vil grave op og klargøre nÃ¥r vi fÃ¥r lidt vand til jorden, den er som beton lige nu. Et udmærket efterÃ¥rsprojekt?

Min køkkenhave, hvor den slags ellers skulle foregÃ¥, blev desværre overblæst med tidselfrø fra grønthøsteren, et tykt tæppe, sÃ¥ nu har jeg opgivet, der bor et par solbærbuske som med nød og næppe kan findes frem hver sommer….

Planteliste:

  • Coreopsis tinctoria – skønhedsøje. Orange og gul fra samme farvebad og masser af krudt i!
  • Anthemis tinctoria – farvegÃ¥seurt
  • Reseda luteola – Vau
  • Telekia – tusindstrÃ¥le
  • Japansk indigo?
  • Symphytum – kulsukker
  • Hypericum perforatum – sankthansurt
  • Havemerian – Origanum majorana
  • Bronzefennikel – Foeniculum vulgare
  • Sort stokrose
  • Rudbeckia fulgida – solhat
  • Tagetes

Garden tour through the seasons

PiaChit Chat

Just a few snapshots from around the place through the 10 years we’ve been here.

Vidste du, at man kan kommentere min blog uden at være wordpress medlem? Bare udfyld navn er nok. Det er så hyggeligt med dialog fremfor monolog!

My new studio

PiaChit Chat

… has huge windows with an amazing view of the countryside and forest, running hot/cold water, a stove for dyeing and no end of large worktables, handy storage solutions, lots of floor space too as well as a reading corner, couch, and of course looks really pretty (although probably messy, knowing herself well). Light, airy and absolutely perfect for my every need.

Never mind what the rest of the house looks like, I’ll only visit it rarely and briefly. 😉 (actually that’s not true, I do have a lot of ideas about what my dream house looks like. And the garden. And the location.)

I don’t think that’s too much to ask, so I am. With colour and doodles and fairy glitter on top.

I need storage space for:

  • yarn and wool
  • paints of various types and brushes
  • all sorts of scraps and doodads for collage
  • tools, scissors, stamps, glues
  • fabric for dyeing, canvases, bookmaking etc.
  • Bigger things like frames, canvas rolls, sewing machine, drum carder etc.

Then I need wall space for:

Not to mention all the ideas I get from the magazine “Studios”. Yes, I torture myself reading such things…. I call it visualization. 😉

This is a 3D image I did years and years ago of the office in our flat. I even had an equal room next door for a studio, but at the time computers was the thing. And myself with the wacom tablet.
1970’s style 😉

In the mean time I guess I have to live with a corner of the kitchen for an office, library and stash, a corner of the guest room (no it’s not big enough for a studio in any which way) for stash and the dining table for crafts. Our kitchen counter is really small and fortunately old and worn, because dye does get spilled… But cooking and dyeing and doing the dishes clash very often.

I’ve perhaps scored a piece of wall currently occupied by my husband’s entertainment center (great big tv). Turn it around, turn the sofa = added bonus we can see the fireplace from the sofa and I get a place to hang canvases. Yes, I’ll splotch the walls, but at the rate that we’re not entertaining dinner guests I honestly don’t care. I live here every single day, and doing is so much more important than showing (off) in my humble opinion.

Organize your space with Studios Magazine - Click Here

 

Did you know that you can comment on my blog by just filling in your name as a non-WP member?