Little stinker. I put up the sunscreens and Sophie thought she can wiggle into the coop like she did last year (she can walk on the fabric, but not the wire). She forgot that I used 2x4s to block her entrance. So she’ll settle for looking over the edge like a gargoyle.
Oh it has been wet. On our walks in the woods we have seen so many more mushrooms; some we have never spotted before! Like the Urnula (like urn or bowl) in two different colors, no less!
It is amazing what we can see when we stop and look.
The temperatures here in Texas are rising, and it is good to know that the side breeze way in the chicken runs is actually used!
They are also using the dust bath. What I didn’t realize was that the dust bath would need to be replenished frequently. Apparently they can hold quite a bit of dust in their feathers! I make the dust bath with hardwood ash, diatomaceous earth (DE), and sand/dirt from the yard.
I have also put out the foot baths that my chickens love so much, and already their feet are much cleaner! (Our rains have let up some too, so there is a little less mud.) The sunscreens went up the next day to keep the afternoon sun from shining directly on the front of the coop. I don’t think I will do the homemade AC cooler again, but as the temperatures continue to climb, I will add ice jugs to their foot baths. Spoiled chickens? Mine? Maybe.
Happy April 1st. Here is a frog belly.
I’ve moved on to my next color blend: fawn mixed with dark brown. I loaded the fawn color on my carder first, then added the dark brown so the fawn wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the brown. This worked much better. When all the rolags were prepared (I used a large box to hold them this time), I sorted them by shade in three groups. The idea is that if I spin each group, then ply them together, I will still get a gradual color fade in the final yarn. We’ll see.
To keep my colors sorted, I gently folded each group in a dish towel so they stay neat and in order. There is still a fair amount of vegetative matter (VM) in the fiber, even after carding, but I have found that when I spin it is easy to remove most of it by plucking the yarn before I wrap it on the spindle. Some stubborn bits needs to be pulled out, but it is easy to feel and see where they are in the twist.
You would think that with the pandemic I would have more time to spin, but the opposite has been true. The time is being well spent: I’m baking with the kids, we are painting rocks and doing art, playing games, learning states and capitals, reading, and are starting into home schooling. All good things, just different from pre-pandemic. I think being flexible and able to roll with changes is important and I hope I‘m instilling that in my children. “Make hay while the sun shines.”
