Preparing for Spring.

Just placed my seed order for this year. Wonder if I'll have enough room? Wonder if I can keep on task?

CAROUBY DE MAUSSANE PEA (65 days)
EARLY FROSTY PEA
KNIGHT PEA (56 days)
CHIOGGIA BEET (55 days heirloom)
BLOOMSDALE LONG STANDING SPINACH (heirloom)
LARGE PRAGUE CELERIAC (112 days)
REDVENTURE CELERY (95 days)
MARY WASHINGTON ASPARAGUS (heirloom)
CALABRESE BROCCOLI (55 days heirloom)
EARLY SNOWBALL CAULIFLOWER (55 days)
EARLY JERSEY WAKEFIELD CABBAGE (60-75 days)
CUBANELLE PEPPER (65 days)
KING OF NORTH PEPPER
OREGON SPRING TOMATO (68 days)
STUPICE TOMATO (65 days heirloom)
YELLOW PEAR TOMATO (80 days)
BLACK VELVET NASTURTIUM
BREADSEED PINETREE MIX POPPY
CORAL REEF POPPY
FANTASIA MIXTURE SUNFLOWER
JOHNNY JUMP UP VIOLA
MARINE HELIOTROPE PERUVIANUM
PICOTEE COSMOS
ROCOCO MIX PANSY
FINO FLORENCE FENNEL (98-112 days)
DANVERS HALF LONG CARROT (75 days)
NANTES CARROT (72 days heirloom)
BOSTON PICKLING CUCUMBER (heirloom)
LEMON CUCUMBER (65 days heirloom)
HOMEMADE PICKLES CUCUMBER (54 days)
Golden Butter Wax Bean (50 Days)
PROVIDER BEAN (50 days)
ROYAL BURGUNDY BEAN (51 days)
STRINGLESS GREEN POD BEAN (heirloom)
SUGAR BUNS CORN (72 days)
GOURD MIX
SMALL SUGAR PUMPKIN (95 days heirloom)
WINTER LUXURY PIE PUMPKIN
HOWDEN PUMPKIN (105 days)
BLACK ZUCCHINI SUMMER SQUASH (50 days heirloom)
GOLDEN ZEBRA SUMMER SQUASH
WALTHAM BUTTERNUT SQUASH (90 days)

www.superseeds.com

Extending Your Gardening Season

Wipe away those winter blues by planning your spring garden.  Extending your garden season starts in January.  Start prepping your beds for an early planting under a cloche.  I'm planning one bed for lettuce and greens.  Get started by planting your seeds indoors under a light.  Use a warming pad if it is cold.  I have a place out in the barn where I start my seeds, so unheated it needs a little warmth underneath.

Plan out your garden.  Forget about winter and get busy!

In January you can start indoors:

Vegetables:
Leeks and Onions
Artichokes, Cardoon, Endive and Lettuce

Flowers:
Bee Balm
Carnations and Pinks
Dahlia  (from seed)
Geraniums
Lawn Daisy
Petunia
Roman Chamomile
Snapdragon
Viola
Wallflower
Wax Begonia
Yarrow

April Pictures From The Farm

The boys having their morning latte and croissant

Cherry blossoms

Pear blossoms

April full moon

Valley Spinner's Guild April Sale Meeting

Twice a year Valley Spinner's Guild hosts a fiber arts sale.  As a member of VSG, one can sell there fiber related products, so I took the opportunity to introduce my fiber to the members. 

$20 for 4 oz of carded Alpaca 1st.

Valley Spinner's Guild show and tell about completed projects.

Valley Spinner's Guild Fiber Arts Sale

Locker Hooking Class

This weekend I learned Locker Hooking.  It's a form of rug making that can be used with fiber roving or strips of fabric.  With fiber roving the finished product looks and feels like Berber carpeting.  Different designs can range from stripes to animals, flowers and geometric designs.

It was a fun day sitting around with friends from Valley Spinner's Guild learning this new craft.  I chose to make one with a cat design on the sample sized 8x8.  We used wool roving with a hand spun wool yarn to hold the loops.  Afterwards, I was inspired to do more and I definitely want to do a bigger rug or two smaller ones for our bedroom with alpaca roving from our own herd.

Starting materials:  locker hooking tool, yarn, rug backing and roving.

Getting started.

The finished product.

For more information on how to make your own rug:

Road Trip to Alpacapalooza 2013

 

Alpacapalooza 2013--this is just half of it.

This year we decided to check out Alpacapalooza which was hosted in Ridgefield Washington, about 200 miles south of Lake Stevens where we live.  It was well worth the drive, just to get away and see some fine animals in various shades of colors.  They also had a halter show and vendors.  There we picked up some nicer halters than the ones we bought when we first got our alpacas and an alpaca food sample to try on the alpacas.  They seemed to like it a lot after their first confused sniff.  We also got to see a few of our friends who own alpacas which is always a pleasure.

Some adorable baby Suri alpacas.

Spring Has Sprung

Winter has gone and Spring has made it's bold appearance.  The neighborhood is alive with the buzzing of lawn mowers and the fruit trees have started to bloom.

Albert and Shadow's spring coats are getting fluffy and will be ready to cut at the end of May.

One of our dogs, Bo Bo.