Summer's Hummers

Guarding the perch- There is a hummingbird on this spot nearly all the time!

... and no, I'm not talking about the alpacas and llamas (which DO in fact hum, if you're not familiar with them!) I'm referring to the ruby-throated hummingbirds that have been flitting around our home in increasing numbers and ferocity this summer.  My husband is the bird-whisperer, putting out 4 feeders for them this year.  They are such fun to watch, their territoriality seeming to intensify as summer progresses.

I am LOVING my new camera, a Canon DSLR (the EOS Rebel t2i), and trying to capture the maneuvers of the tiny hummingbirds has been a great challenge as I learn how to adjust the shutter speed, aperture and other settings on my new gadget!  I hope you enjoy these shots, some edited with photoshop, mobile apps, or Instagram....

Male ruby-throated hummingbirds have the characteristic red, and are smaller than females

 Sneak Attack!

 Some perch, some keep flying as they drink

Coming in for a landing

August has been beautiful and even green so far, making up for the brutally hot and dry weather we experienced in late May, June and part of July.  Our kids are happily back in school, and we're already anticipating fall.  I'm going to enjoy the hummers as long as I can, before they head back to Mexico and Central America... such amazing, tiny creatures!  Next time... butterflies!

Modern Nuno Baby Quilt!

Painting by Paul Klee

It still feels strange to say it (since I feel so young and all!), but I'm going to be a grandparent soon! My stepson and his wife are expecting their first child, and I wanted to make something special that they'll hopefully use and keep.  I decided that a quilt-like, lightweight blanket would be fun to make with felt, and I was inspired by the painting above...

First I died some big pieces of silk paj in varying shades of blues and green, along with two huge pieces of hand-dyed silk chiffon that I overlapped slightly before laying on fine merino wool and tussah silk.  I cut and tore the silk paj into 5 x 5" pieces (132 of them, to be exact!), and laid them out so that the colors varied randomly.  I then wet it out and used the tumble-dryer method to felt it, then threw and scrunched it to full it.  The turquoise tussah silk seemed to run forever, but I finally got it to rinse clear!  (Turquoise always runs for a while, and my hands sure showed it!)

Silk pieces laid out on the base of chiffon, merino and tussah silk

Back of finished blanket

Close-up of finished blanket

The final product, a modern nuno baby quilt!  I sewed on a little tag, and tied on one of my sheep cards.  I think they liked it, and I can't wait to see that new little bundle of joy wrapped up in this!

A Long Summer....

I haven't felt much like writing this summer, and I've been pretty busy with the kids, but since I'm tired of looking at that last post I thought I'd at least put up some photos!  These are a little self-serving, they'll be a good reminder to me of some of the past few months...  

I've been a bit tied down, and have especially enjoyed playing around with photography this summer...  there is always a lot of good content here on the farm, and I have gotten addicted to Instagram (you can follow me- I'm Alpacalindy) and various mobile photo apps, so fun!  I recently bought my first DSLR camera, a Canon Rebel 550D 2ti.  I'm loving it, and I hope to improve greatly on the photos I post here!  

I've also done quite a bit of felting, and I plan to share some of recent big projects soon, including a couple of butterfly shawls and a special baby blanket.

Mirian with Plum Pretty at AOBA Nationals in late May- she is available for sale!  (PP, not Mirian!)

We've had a lot of good family time.....

I've gotten some trail riding in despite the horrible heat! It's been fun to have Hoss come along.

We got to meet my new grand-nephew! Robert is practicing to be an uncle soon (and Paul and I are going to be grandparents!)

Nearby horse farms provide great subjects for playing with photo apps!

Jeffrey the lamb is finally off his bottle!

Everybody is growing... kids, lambs, and Hoss who is almost not a pup anymore!

We've had quite a few llama treks, despite the hot weather!  Here, Bob and Leo...

I've been making some big art shawls!

I hope that you have had a good summer, too!  

Blessings

One of the healthier things that I do for myself is to walk regularly around our farm with the dogs.  I am also doing a lot of reading, praying/meditating, listening to inspiring music and other things to try to stay centered.

Today as I left the house with my camera, I noticed again the lovely flowers that I got for Mother's Day and my birthday, as well as a colorful pot of gerbera daisies I have on the steps from my friend Donna, and wildflowers on the fringe of the woods. All made me feel a little lighter.

The woods are so pretty right now that I decided to take a second round on our circular river trail.  I was about halfway through the second time, and looked for a log to sit on for a few minutes of peace.  I took just a few steps off the trail, and my eyes focused on this beautiful sight.....

A tiny, perfect new fawn curled up tight and still, it never even blinked the entire time I photographed it. The other thing that was so amazing is that Hoss never smelled or sensed it, coming within about ten feet on a few occasions (I was ready to grab him!)

I've had a slight smudge on my lens, which shows a bit in these photos but I hope you enjoy them anyway.  Here is a little video that shows the setting of this little 'fairy-fawn a bit better.  I had to wonder just how close momma was, and if she would have done anything if I had decided to touch her baby (which of course I didn't).

The nature that surrounds us here is one of my most beloved blessings, and I have been very consciously counting.  I came across this quote, a twist on the famous poem which quips, "Count your blessings, one by one...."

Count your blessings instead of your crosses

Count your gains instead of your losses

County your joys instead of your woes

Count your friends instead of your foes

Count your smiles instead of your tears

Count your smiles instead of your fears

Count your full years instead of your lean

Count your kind deeds instead of your mean

Count your health instead of your wealth

Count on God instead of yourself

-Author unknown

Life is Beautiful....

We've had some challenges keeping me from blogging lately... nothing I can talk about or share much (which of course makes it all the harder).... I've decided instead to just share photos of the beauty around me for a while, as a way of counting my many blessings.

This old barn....

I am feeling so very content today while I sit with our sheep Shelby, (our daughter's special ewe) and her two new ewe lambs in a stall built by Paul's Dad within this century-old tobacco barn.  When we first decided years ago to convert the old bare-timbered structure for use with animals, "Big Harold" had a specific plan for stalls, and the talent and fortitude to build them from steel-hard oak.  We thrifted the sliding stall doors from an old barn which was about to be torn down at the famous Calumet Farm.  A bit of red paint still holds to the edges of the bars, and I wonder if any Kentucky Derby winners ever peered through them.

Although we have a fancy new expensive metal barn that I love, this morning I'm absorbing the sights, sounds and smells of this steadfast shelter... The chewing of hay, the special lowing of mamma to lambs, rustling of straw, burps and belches of ruminant alpacas and sheep, rooster crowing, robin trilling.  The smell of old wood with the tiniest hint of tobacco, composting manure, sweet feed and earth.  Such a contrast to the noises, sights and smells of a city, and I know that I am extremely fortunate to be where I love to be.

I've been reflecting on all of the creatures we have housed in here in the nearly 25 years since Paul first bought what came to be called Seldom Scene Farm....  Reindeer, rabbits, rheas (yes, really!) and emus and a Tibetan yak...., goat kids, a baby camel, a baby racoon, a wild orphan bunny that was raised by a domestic rabbit with a new litter....llamas and hundreds of alpacas, and lambs and puppies and kittens, and a few nurse mare foals and donkeys.... Chicks and ducklings....and Lord only knows what else (such as Mother Nature's wild children... owls and snakes, mice and swallows and more...)

For the most part, we have turned back to the more pragmatic and traditional in these past years.... what we can use in fiber and what can be eaten, and not so much for sales/profit or for the novelty of it.

We don't really know when this barn was built, but I always try to imagine how suprised the builders would have been to walk in and see some of the creatures that have lived here.... and somehow I know they'd be pretty proud about it!

More Spring Goodness

Morel Mushrooms, by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate

Softly they come

thumbing up from

firm ground

protruding unharmed.

Easily crumbled

and yet

how they shouldered

the leaf and mold

aside, rising

unperturbed,

breathing obscurely,

still as stone.

By the slumping log,

by the dappled aspen,

they grow alone.

A dumb eloquence

seems their trade.

Like hooded monks

in a sacred wood

they say:

Tomorrow we are gone.

I still haven't gotten over just what a beautiful spring it is, and there's no where better than the farm to enjoy it.  I finally have the secret to finding morel mushrooms!   Wanna know?  Look EVERY DAY.  This year I've taken woods walks almost ever day, and I think this was the key to such a great haul.  We enjoyed these over a nice dinner with friends before we watched the NCAA Men's Basketball game the other night (which, ahem, Kentucky won!)

I've just been more tuned to the changing foliage in the woods, never two days the same and always something new to discover.

 These baby ducks are rouens, which we bought from a pond expert- they are supposed to help cut down the algae on our pond, and they'll add to the overall farm environment!  For now, our daughter is having a lot of fun with them, putting them in the koi pond to swim, and leading them around.