Requiem for a Katydid

On August 4, 2021 By CarynIn Wildlife

Well, maybe not a requiem – more like an enthusiastic wake. That’s not quite right either. I held the vigil, and the chickens crazed. Hm. Feeding frenzy. There is the phrase. The katydid really didn’t have a chance, clinging to the inside of the hardware cloth of the run. My hens are sharp-eyed surveyors of their enclosure, and most bugs are quickly snapped up and devoured. Grasshoppery things rank the most delectable apparently because it was an all-out war over parts. Thank you for supplementing the hens’ diet, katydid.

Three ply

On August 3, 2021July 29, 2021 By CarynIn Craft

Three colors of alpaca, three ply yarn; seems a natural choice for my continued color combination experiments. I carded the colors separately again, but this time added a little silk to each preparation (as I have read that silk and alpaca complement each other), and then spun the colors individually. Taking the inside end of each tiny yarn ball, I plied them together. This made an interesting visual effect, very bold upclose.

Carrot tops

On August 2, 2021July 29, 2021 By CarynIn Garden

I put some temporary fencing up around my container garden because the tops of my carrots kept disappearing. I suspected rabbits. It was not rabbits. Shortly after the leaves came back, they were gone again, despite the heavy wire guarding them. Maybe grasshoppers are the culprits. I don’t think I will be getting any carrots this year, although they valiantly keep trying to produce leaves. (Yes, I’m growing them in a feed bag, which isn’t very deep, but they are globe carrots, so they don’t need depth. But leaves would be helpful.)

Pretzel rolls

On August 1, 2021July 29, 2021 By CarynIn Bread

Next experiment: trying a pretzel roll recipe using Heritage Wheat Bread Flour Mix from Sunrise Mills. My husband found a recipe here. I knotted the buns by rolling a section into a rope, then doing a simple overhand knot and tucking in the ends. I was apprehensive about boiling the rolls, but it worked just fine! I used a slotted spatula to lift the rolls from the boiling water, rather than tongs. I baked them longer in the oven, to get a deeper color, and I think I would even add a few more minutes because the rolls were still very soft. Yummy though. Oh so yummy.