In August of 2017 I made custom metal buttons for Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21) awareness bracelets by drilling two holes in aluminum discs and stamping them.
I then crocheted braided bracelets and used the buttons for the closures.
I connected with a local alpaca farmer and picked up two fleeces that were not spin quality. One was second cuts (not prime fiber) and full of vegetable matter, the other she had washed vigorously and it felted.
I wanted them to run an experiment with mulching around my pumpkins, so I placed the “waste” fiber around the plants, not up against the stems, and watered them down.
Now the waiting and watching. My hope is that the fiber will felt into pads and block weed growth and provide protection from the dirt for any pumpkins that form.
We have an algae problem on one part of our siding on our house. It needs a good scrub, but the snails make interesting paths in the field of green as they eat their way into a food stupor.
Last year my youngest and I assembled and painted a small wood birdhouse. I sprayed a clear coat of UV protection on it and left it in the garage to dry, for a year. The year was not intentional, life got busy, and whenever I would see it in the garage I was on a different mission. Then iNaturalist popped up a message that it is chickadee breeding season and showed a bird house the same size as the one we had in the garage. That was my sign.
I found a length of chain and a spring hook and attached the bird house about 7 feet above the ground at the back side of the yard. I can just barely see the small house from my kitchen table, so now we wait and see if any birds find it acceptable.
Walking through TSC I saw onion sets and grabbed a bag on a whim.
I planted the onions around my pumpkin and cucumber plants. Some of the sets were dry and didn’t seem viable, but others were firm and a couple had some green already at the tip. Six days after planting I noticed a few of the onions were growing.
I’ve tried onions from seed with no luck. I was hoping the squirrels and other critters would leave onions alone, but I found one set excavated. I’m hoping to harvest some green onions when they are young. I don’t have much hope that there will be mature onions this winter.
Critters and Craft 