We also shared some of the amazing heritage crafts that were being exhibited and freely taught at the October event, Schafer Meadows Fiber Arts Festival. The big treat was meeting a wonderful couple that brought together the very plant previously noted and an amazing useful creation... Have you seen the results of beautifully dyed broom corn, a broom squire, his beautiful assistant, and his amazing 'machine'?
You may have seen our post from September about the unique plants and animals we enjoyed at the Evergreen Street Fair. We stirred your thinking and asked, "Do You Know What This Is?"
We also shared some of the amazing heritage crafts that were being exhibited and freely taught at the October event, Schafer Meadows Fiber Arts Festival. The big treat was meeting a wonderful couple that brought together the very plant previously noted and an amazing useful creation... Have you seen the results of beautifully dyed broom corn, a broom squire, his beautiful assistant, and his amazing 'machine'?
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This beautiful boy has greatly enriched our homestead. He comes from an extremely loving, natural- rearing focused home (Thank you, Miss Alison) and he has amazingly soft, silky (not cottony) and dense fiber! That excellent start on life makes him especially easy to care for...He can consume vast amounts of greens happily, with only positive effects and is always full of energy! He is the first we've found from another home with this vigor and fiber and he confirms why we strive to raise ours the same. It also shows why smaller numbers can mean more attentiveness to care and higher quality fiber. This continues to be a month of affirmations and support to further hone the focus of our homestead and we're pleased to share such a beautiful example! Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29:2 The seeds of pumpkins have long been known to be a natural *vermifuge. Each year we harvest as much as we can from a local farm and use it as a wonderful, dual purpose feed additive for our animals. Just as the flesh and seeds are tasty to us, they are relished by the animals (the rabbits, not so much.) and this huge stock pile that filled our trailer and truck bed has already been consumed. Even the farmer didn't know the benefits of this simple feed, having grown them for commercial use for many years. This is an old practice that has been lost through the years, but it cements the necessity of planting them not only for ourselves, but the animals too. *Vermifuge: n. [L. vermis, a worm, and fugo, to expel.] A medicine or substance that destroys or expels worms from animal bodies; an anthelmintic. American Dictionary of the English Language By Noah Webster 1828 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. Job 40:20 Thanks to 'Lil Miss for this beautiful photo she captured when we visited a sweet friends' long standing homestead. Formerly a dairy farm begun by her parents, with parcels now housing many others; Miss Judy reaps a bounty from her hillside garden watered with the original spring that has quenched her thirst from childhood. The original home, with an addition her family built, is a testament to sound craftsmanship; while her diligent land stewardship enables her to happily share the abundance with others and will serve her needs well into the future! Examples like Miss Judy serve to further affirm our own endeavors while delighting and inspiring our homestead goals. This picture and verse point us back to our Creator, who really deserves the praise: True thanks, awe, and glory belong to the Lord Jesus Christ! We've created a large file size image that can be downloaded and enjoyed on your desktop! Yay! You can see the variables we encountered with our natural dyeing trials we first mentioned here. We used a beautiful Blue Faced Leicester (pronounced "Lester") and a lustrous Bombyx Silk we'd sourced from vendors in the past (Sorry, don't have the info. to share.) . We used vinegar with each of the dye baths, but also included a copper scrub pad as mordant with all but the 'Golden' Lichen batch. The herbs were harvest fresh from our property or the neighbor's (lichens) with no chemicals used in their growth...all except the Tumeric and onion peels - those were from Azure Standard. Our experience only served to challenge our creativity and consider other plants on the property - and others to plant next year. We've been harvesting mosses and other lichens that the winds are bringing down and with further reading we're learning about the color potential of some of the bark and leaves on our property. Reading a biography of George Washington Carver only further stirs our imagination, considering every God-given color around us. If Mr. Carver could create dyes with peanuts, sweet potatoes and clays...we'll certainly enjoy the outcome of our many plant experiments. Another pleasing outcome has been learning the herbal dyes leave a naturally sweet odor in the fiber. Like fresh air after a cleansing rain... I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting system through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune Him in. - George Washington Carver Lil Miss has a couple of beautiful angora crosses she's willing to offer, for an excellent price, to the right homes.
Both females, these ladies are well mannered and offer the softest fiber blend of breeds. If you'd like to learn more, leave a comment below (double check your email address) and we'll get back with you! This Sunday is our much anticipated Harvest of Handcrafts Fall Fiber and Autumn Arts Event! That's right, so many naturally hand made items for you, your family and friends to enjoy. But that's not all! We'll be demonstrating how to spin, crochet, knit and even weave! Our young men will be ripping it up with chainsaw carving and sending sawdust flying with lathe turning! There will be a variety of Angora rabbits to snuggle and several young-ins ready for new homes with fiber loving friends. (Will one be coming home with you?) There is something for everyone, in our quaint, comfortable setting. Come on over and enjoy some relaxing music while you learn a new skill, sip a cup of steaming apple cider while you snuggle a fluffy Angora and relax while you gain encouragement and carefully select quality supplies for your next project! Remember your bushel basket for your free gift.... We want to educate, encourage and support you in every way that we can! As this is held at a private residence, I am not posting the address. Instead, I'm happy to send you the address via email, at your request. We look forward to seeing and sharing with you! ~ The Trickle Creek Mercantile Family If you're looking for a way to learn several heritage skills that engage your mind and offer beautiful results, the Schafer Meadows Fiber Arts Festival is just the event to attend. So many willing hearts and hands eager to guide and teach a number of skills to adults and children alike. 'Lil Miss' created a beautiful pot holder while learning basic quilting; was thrilled to make her own mini shawl on a triangle loom; created a background for a future Glorious Beginnings sign with the wet felting class; took home her own mini back strap loom, and practiced her needle felting too! She didn't participate in all the offerings either, there were paper crafting classes, blending boards for practicing, spinners available for help and support, other needle felting projects, several types of weaving set-ups...it's just a treat! All supplies were provided free of charge and the classes were staged multiple times through the duration of the event. This is the way gatherings should be! This weekend we met so many more wonderful fiber enthusiasts; several just beginning the adventure of raising angoras for their gorgeous, warm fiber. We had some of our angoras with us to share and many were surprised to learn we don't feed them the typical pellets found in the feed store - especially after seeing their fiber quality and robust health. Happy, Healthy, Snuggly Rabbits! Look for all of the Blue highlighted* areas of today's text, they will link you to further areas of study.... Our Prairie Girl Pal, Heather has officially worked her herbal ways in the dye studio and shared some of her early results. The beauty of experimentation with God's creation is evident with the photos she shared. Click on her photo of her naturally dyed wool to see for yourself! This, has been an inspiration at Trickle Creek Studios as well...Currently we are offering several of our new Trickle Creek Naturals Creative Fiber Batts at the Schafer Meadows Fiber Arts Festival. These are naturally beautiful batts that have only been dyed with herbs or plants or are their true colors. They are perfect for anyone who would like to avoid chemicals in their fiber. With the launch we are also giving away *Serene Spinning* music albums! Just as all of the beautiful color variations from nature harmonize perfectly, these offers are designed to do the same. We are blessed to be accepted as participants in our first ever Schafer Meadows Fiber Arts Festival! What began as learning of the festival at OFFF (thanks Jen!), became a call about next years' participation, and ended with consideration for this year! Wow! After careful review by the festival Admins, we are preparing for our first, and their 11th, HUGE Grays Harbor County event! From Friday, October 10th through Sunday the 12th we'll be sharing our fiber related creations and Angora rabbits... The children will be helping with educational demonstrations and each of them are preparing special items to offer that have not been revealed before! If you'd like, bring your spinning wheel and join us, take some free classes, or come to enjoy a HUGE number of creative fiber enthusiasts and their wonderful wares! Friday..... Noon - 5pm Saturday.....10am - 5pm Sunday...... 11am - 4pm FREE ADMISSION **This is a great opportunity to take advantage of our new *Serene Spinning* offer... Every purchase of Trickle Creek Creative Fiber Batts or Angora Fiber Puffs comes with a FREE 'Serene Music' CD created by local vocal talent! You'll have your choice of 3 unique compilations to make your endeavors all the more relaxed and focused... http://www.ghcfairgrounds.com/events/2014/fiberfest-#.VCeBKMlKd1M.facebook Spinzilla 2014 Is On! At 12:01 this morning Spinzilla officially began! What? You didn't know? It was completely new to me, this year...but about a month ago, I ended up on their site, from some 'spinning' internet clicking, and I knew I could use something just like this to motivate myself... What is it? Spinzilla is a world-wide contest, involving spinners of every level, focusing on spending a full week dedicated to committing as many minutes and hours to practicing and developing their spinning skills as possible! There are certainly prizes and great opportunities for fiber deals, but as I am currently swimming in fiber, and I'm more inclined to focus on challenging myself; my biggest motivation is working through my mounds of fiber and still creating enough Trickle Creek Homespun yarns and Creative Batts for others! I don't anticipate winning any awards for amounts spun, but I have set some personal goals for developing my skills in various areas....
Oh, how the ladies love their babies! As a Mom that valued the special bonding time of nursing her children, I remember well how humming was a way to soothe both of us as we rocked or rested during that special time. Our Heavenly Father has made the animals to enjoy that time with their offspring too! Did you know that when pigs nurse, they do a little 'hog humming' for their babies? It's true! It is a treat to experience and see how the Lord perfectly designed these amazing animals in so many ways. They can be trained like dogs, loved to be rubbed like a dog and will even enjoy tug of war with a stick or chase with it! It's hilarious! MOST IMPORTANTLY: they protect their babies!!!!! No one will dare take on a Momma pig! |
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