Well that is surprising. I planted white Iris three years ago, and last year all the blooms were white. This year a purple one has bloomed in the patch! The other plants don’t even have buds yet.
Surprise Iris
Buffalo down
Buffalo down sounds like it comes from buffalo wings, but it is not feathers but the fine hair from the North American Bison. I love the opportunity to work with local fibers (and support local) and was so excited to find a nearby supplier of buffalo down. I grew up eating buffalo; it is a great low fat protein. To be able to use more of the animal is fantastic. The Buffalo Wool Company (thebuffalowoolco.com) uses fiber sheared from the hides of bison being processed for meat. Usually this fiber would be burned off, but they collect it and make hats, gloves, socks, and spinning fiber!
The owner was kind enough to share spinning tips as well. He said to spin “fast and fine” and to hold a small amount in my palm and spin off the pinch. I decided to use the tahkli spindle I made from an old button since it spins very fast and works well for cotton which is also a short fiber. I’m sticking with my spoon as a spindle rest because the handle is convenient.
It took me a bit to understand spinning from the pinch, but once I did, spinning went much smoother. The yarn is fine but fluffy! I spun until the cop wouldn’t stay put on the shaft, then wound it onto a small wool bead that my mom made. This is much easier than starting the ball with yarn! Some of the single is very thin, I was surprised when I didn’t break any of it winding it into a ball. I weighed everything and figured that I spun 6 grams of fiber. I pulled another 6 grams out of the bag to spin another single, then I will ply! I am really enjoying the spinning! The fiber is well prepared — I had no waste! (Yup, three exclamation point punctuated sentences in a row. I’m that excited.)
Back with the flock
Magic had been up and putting weight on her leg, so we decided to let her down with the flock for a bit to get some time out of isolation. She immediately had a dust bath in every usual spot. Such a dusty hen! We observed her for while, but when it was obvious that she could get around well, and wasn’t being picked on (quite the opposite actually), we left her out for awhile. When I went to put the hens up for the night, I really expected her to be on the ground somewhere, but she was up on the roost with her girls! So she stayed out of birdie jail. She is still limping, and I wonder if it will be a permanent limp, but there is no reason to keep her cooped up (haha) if she can get around just fine and isn’t showing signs of disease, especially with our temperatures starting to soar.
Shasta Daisy
When planning our front flower beds, we give our kids the option of choosing a plant. My youngest chooses daisies every time. This year the Shasta Daisy caught her eye. They certainly are pretty!
Summer do
My eldest was concerned that our black dogs were getting overheated in the afternoon sun, so we gave them their summer trim. This is the first trim for Missy, so my eldest sat on the ground with treat bits and I shaved her back. She was a little leery at first, but then was focused on treats and didn’t care about the trimmers. I was shocked. What was more shocking is that with the same cut style we took off the same amount of hair from our 50 pound dog as our 20 pound dog. I knew Missy was keeping Griffin’s coat plucked, but was surprised at how little was left.
