Throwback Thursday: coop

On By CarynIn Coop

At the beginning of January 2019 my husband was building me the Fort Knox of chicken coops in our meadow beside the house.

Photo description: framing for the coop up at the edge of a meadow

From trail cam footage we knew we had raccoons, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, and skunks in the area, as well as roaming neighborhood cats and dogs, so to keep the future chickens protected, he built a large shed, then later framed out the run area and covered it with hardware cloth (metal mesh). All around this future coop we buried more hardware cloth (not poultry wire, that isn’t strong enough), to prevent animals digging into the coop and runs.

January 2019 was also the month I started this blog. Hard to believe that has been over seven years, rapidly heading to eight.

Growing season 2

On By CarynIn Garden

I planted some turnip seeds at the end of summer to see if I can make use of Texas’ second growing season. The seeds have at least sprouted!

Photo description: turnip seedlings

If the seedlings continue to do well I’ll have to thin them, as turnip seeds are very small and I had trouble distributing them evenly. I’m a little worried that I waited too long, but it has been so blazing hot I was afraid seedlings would just cook in the heat.

Caught my eye

On By CarynIn art

Well done to the person who placed the stickers on this work vehicle.

Photo description: back door of a work van with a Discover, Mastercard, Visa, BBB, and two circular marine stickers
Photo description: same photo but I’ve drawn lines showing how the stickers were lined up

I appreciate a sense of detail. That said, my photo was taken at a stop light with my phone through a dirty windshield. Sigh.

That’s it

On By CarynIn Garden

My pumpkin vines have been merrily growing and spreading all summer. There was a setback in August with the high temperatures, but the vines persisted and continued to send out new trailers, but there has been no other production. No pumpkins. I get the start of a pumpkin, then it goes away.

Photo description: pumpkin leaves with one small globe forming on the vine

I don’t think the patch gets enough sunlight for pumpkins. My basil is happy, there, though.

Different shuttle design

On By CarynIn Craft

The shuttle I designed for my new inkle loom wasn’t working as well as I hoped. In Adobe Illustrator I designed a new one based on a weaving stick that I found digging through my weaving tools. I used my laser cutter to engrave a ruler and decoration and cut it out of 1/8” birch plywood. I then sanded the points and bottom edge to make a bevel so it was easier to slide it through the warp shed.

Photo description: wood shuttle with yarn storage on sandpaper being used to create a bevel on the bottom edge

I finished the shuttle with butcher block conditioner and let it dry overnight.

Photo description: finished shuttle in use on my inkle loom

I think the design needs some more refining. The upper part of the circles that hold the yarn also catch on the warp threads if I’m not careful. The holes are sized the way they are so the shuttle can hang on an inkle loom post when not in use. I’m not sure that functionality is worth the irritation of catching threads.