With a forecast of lows in double digits below zero, I will be feeding hungry wood stoves for the next two days. It’s a good time to render another batch of lard This fat from Turnip Rock Farm was processed at a locker where they don’t grind the fat. I find it renders better if chopped or ground. So today I started chopping. Will finish chopping and start rendering tomorrow
Since Groundhog Day the sun has more and more power. Today, even with wind and cold temperatures, I caught all the animals basking in the sun. The cat, Big Red, chose to sit outside on the south windowsill. The geese chose the end of the walk, and with the snow piles on either side they were mostly out of the wind. Oscar was on the other end of the font walk by the house. He …
Although I have sat at the loom a couple times recently, I wove very little. How could I fill or just live with the empty space of not having Ken making pots while I was weaving? After call from a five year old friend about her pot holder weaving, I decided to give it a go. Since Mardi Gras is about ten days away, I set my pandora for Mardi Gras music – something I …
Each year around Groundhog Day, the sun begins to have strength, and the earth starts to waken. Several cultures have names for this time – Candlemas, St Brigid’s, St Blaze’s, Imbolc, and Groundhog Day. Like the Groundhog we all feel it – plants and animals Most people recognize the times of solstice and equinox. Old cultures also recognize that magic time between – February, May (May Day), August (Assumption, Lughnasa) and Halloween. This is when …
Ken and I always heated with wood. There are advantages and disadvantages like any heat source. Ken used to spend a morning felling trees. Before we had a splitter I would go out with him after lunch and upend each piece that needed splitting and as he split I loaded the trailer. Then we would stack it in the yard. Downstairs there is a culvert queen stove. It takes 24″ wood and will heat the …
