The First Ball Of Yarn

ITS A BALL !

The Farmer and The Farmers Wife have been busy spinning.

Finally there is a ball of yarn to show for the work.

The Farmers Only Daughter knitted a bit of the yarn.

Its a bit uneven but its the first attempt.

Spinning Yarn

SPINNING YARN

The Farmer spins yarn

No not spins a yarn he actually spins yarn

After years of not making use of the sheep's wool he has invested in a spinning wheel.

An Ashford E-Spinner

A DIZ was another addition to the fiber arsenal

The rovings that The Farmer made previously were a bit uneven

A house key and later a cardboard piece with a hole punched in it didn't do the trick

This little beauty makes the spinning much easier

With a nice even roving there are less surprises to deal with.

The Farmer And The Farmers Wife took turns taking the machine for a ride

An E-Spinner was chosen to take the feet out of the learning curve

One day, after getting the hang of the hands they will try a treadle machine

All the rovings that The Farmer made were spun up on Saturday morning.

So its back to the wool combs to make more.

The two very nice gentlemen at 

The Fibre Garden

 in Jordan Ontario were very helpful

The machine was ordered and arrived 5 days later

A short lesson on how to spin was given

An invitation to Sundays Spin In was offered as well

Unfortunately its garlic season so 

The Farmer and The Farmers Wife were unable to attend

Another time they will make time

The Farmer And The Farmers Wife agree that this is an addictive little machine

Next post may be on plying yarn in the lazy kate

Wool Combs

Wool Combs

Well The Farmer finally buckled to the pressure to not waste wool.

The sheep must be sheared yearly but The Farmer doesn't use the wool.

Till now that is.

The post master thought for sure The Farmer had become a friend to the birds.

With the shape of this package who could blame him.

Wool Combs from Benjamin Green Studio

Ben is proud enough of his work to sign it.
The Farmer thinks that's a good sign.

Just clamp to the counter and he is ready to comb.

One comb gets placed in the holder.

Fleece gets added

Now comb through with the other comb taking little bits at a time.

When the fibers are transferred to the hand held comb switch it with the one in the holder.

After three or four combings it looks very soft and uniform.

Pulling it bit by bit through a small hole makes a roving ready to spin into yarn.
The Farmer used an old house key for this job.

So there you have it all The Farmer needs now is a spinner.
That will be a future blog.

Ben designed a nice tool.
The dark walnut accents give it a classic look.

Garlic 2013

The Garlic Harvest 2013

First the scapes were ready

So The Farmer and The Farmers Wife picked them.

Most of them went to Churchhill Natural Meats for Scape Pesto Sausage.

It was fantastic!

 Then came the garlic harvest

Many tractor buckets full

 The Roots and Stems were trimmed and the bulbs cleaned

 The Farmer moved the garlic patch this year.

Unfortunately the nutrient level was not high enough.

The product is smaller this year but no disease.

 Laid into bins one lair deep to dry.

This year will only add up to 50 bins.

 

Though The Farmer is a bit disappointed in the size he is happy with the flavour.

Lawn Mowing Alternative

 The Farmer Hates Cutting Grass

Especially when the pasture is short

As you can see the sheep have eaten the pasture down

 No Problem

Step in temporary fence posts

A cable with clamps

Attach one end to the live wire of the electric fence

 Attach the other to the temporary fence

 Voila Nine little lawn mowers

And no gasoline required

The Farmer has plans to move this around to different locations as needed

Coconut Chicken

Coconut Chicken has been on The Farmers mind all week

The Farmers Friend posted the recipe on facebook

The Farmers Friend was announcing that

The Farmers Friends Wife was making the dish for supper

The Farmer has been obsessed ever since

So today he stopped at Pupo's Grocery in Welland

Boneless skinless were on sale this week

A small bag of sweetened coconut

One coffee grinder

Pulse till fine

Add bread crumbs to coconut in a baking dish

Never measure just wing it til you like the mix

 Slice the chicken in strips

 Dredge them in flower

 Flower all of them before the next step

 Now into beaten egg on the way to the bread crumb coconut mix

 Cover them completely with the mixture

 A parchment paper covered cookie sheet will help the cleanup

Convection at 350 f for 1/2 hour then flip

Another 5 to 10 minutes should do the trick

Just enough to get a golden tinge

A bit of hot chili sauce on the side takes the edge off the coconut

Some leftover fish crisp mix came in handy 

There was just a bit of extra chicken

Fish crisp is meant to be fried so these have a bit of powder on them

Not a problem for The Farmers Family

Baked is much healthier

All in all a wonderful recipe

Tasty and moist just the way you would want chicken

Brown Work Socks

Work Socks Anyone

The Farmer has been called back to the factory!

Layoff over.

:-(

Onions and shallots are in

Arugula, peas and radishes seeded

Electric fence installed

And

Enough work socks made

Here are some pics of the latest ones

Please excuse The Farmers dirty pair 

added to the drying new ones just for the pic