I have one pea vine that not only survived whatever killed off (or ate) the other vines, but also survived our heavy frost. And it provided two pods! We of course ate the peas out straight away. They were well received by my offspring. I will try planting more again in the spring.
I have been lucky this week and have been collecting eggs in the coop when a hen was just finishing up laying. I have a high rate of certainty of who laid the egg when I reach under the hen and the egg is still clinging to the feathers! However, my hypothesis on egg color corresponding to the chicken is shot.
Seashell (who is very easily identified because she is the only hen with a black beard) laid two different colored eggs about 27 hours apart. Now here is an interesting part: I have heard both that eggs will darken over the hen’s lifetime, and that eggs start out dark and will lighten over time cyclically with the seasons. So I will keep collecting data and see which category my hens fall into. Or if they have their own category entirely. How interesting.
It is official, spinning is a lifetime “go”. My criteria for lifetime crafts is if I can craft in the car on long trips. I tested spinning and plying on a recent trip and I can spin in the truck! Hurray!
It took a little creative problem solving, and I have to wrap the yarn around the spindle more often, but I can spin and A: not get sick and B:be productive. Nälbinding and crochet are also good car crafts. Knitting not so much; I drop too many stitches when we go over bumps. Wire work makes a mess of tiny bits of wire. Similar problem with carving (not to mention using sharp knives in a moving vehicle is not recommended). Leather work also uses sharp implements. Drawing, reading, embroidery, sewing, and cross stitch make me ill in the car. Yay for spinning!
Here are the results of our current rotating 2 week mealworm harvest.
It is better this time, I had enough to divide it in half and put one half in the fridge for later. However, I think I will be just using cornmeal instead of an oatmeal and cornmeal mix. My strainer that will let the oatmeal pass through also lets mealworms pass through, and the strainer that keeps in the mealworms also keeps in the oatmeal. So, we’ll try omitting the oatmeal.
As it was it was easier to pick the mealworms out of the substrate with my fingers than to use the strainers. Yes, with my fingers. The mealworms aren’t slimy or cold, and only slightly wiggly.
I did find more pupa and transferred them to the pupa drawer, and I cleaned the dead beetles out of the beetle drawer. It is a good thing that some of the mealworms reach pupal stage, since I had about as many dead beetles as freshly emerged beetles. This is certainly an interesting experiment.
So I finally took down the scarecrow and his ghost mantel. Rather than store the whole kit-n-caboodle somewhere inside, I removed the hat and clothes and set the chicken wire frame up in the woods. Not just any old where, but sitting on a branch, waiting for next year. The gray wire is really hard to see in pictures, so I took a video too.
