Its been a very busy week on the farm, it feels like so much has happened since my last post. My sister has come to stay for awhile and help get some stuff on my To Do list done. The weather has not been cooperating with us, we have had 100km winds and rain for several days now. On Friday one of the trees near our house split in half and fell 10 feet from our front door, i am very thankful it was not closer. But even though it has been less then nice outside many things continue to flourish: The geese are now larger then our rooster and show no sign of stopping. They have almost eating they way though a 12kg bag of food in 3 1/2 weeks along with a big basket of cut grass everyday. There true feathers are coming now so by the end of the week i hope to be moving them outside into the pen i have yet to finish, but hope to.
Our cat Sadie had her kittens in the barn this week. Two are caramel coloured, and one is black. We moved them into the sun room with the geese once the weather turned nasty and they are nomming away happily on their momma .
I put up a proper clothes line all by myself this week. Its really satisfying to see all the clean diapers lined up in the sun and they smell so good. My home made laundry soap is working great and is something like $.05 per load instead of $.50 for Nature Clean, which I used to buy( i use Nature Clean's stain remover soap bar instead of Zote) There are all kinds of flowers coming up all over the place, the old owners planted a lot of bulbs that are now everywhere. There is a big field of dandelions that i am planing on making into wine in the coming week. I will post more about wine as i do it.

I got creative this week and painted some chairs. i have had them for about a year but was not a fan of the colour (they were forest green). Now they are set up on our deck with with a salvaged teak table so i can see them from the kitchen sink when i do dishes.

10 Chickens

1 Rooster

5 Cats

3 Kittens

6 Geese

3 Humans

Nifty threads

This week i thought i would have a hand at embroidery. I had some plain undershirts of Liam's that i thought would look nice with a little something on the front of them. It took a little bit to get the hang of it, but once i had it it was a lot of fun. I can't wait for it to be warm enough for him to ware.

There off the hook.

I just finished these little boots for Liam. They have a leather bottom and crocheted wool top. I fell in love with a pair very similar at a baby boutique, but they wanted $50 for them. I thought to myself " i can make those". i got the leather at a liquidation store for 23 cents and the wool for $7. The pattern i used is free from Lion Brand but instead of crocheting the soul i cut out a piece of leather in the shape of a soul, punched holes around the outside and started crocheting from the "sides". I really like the way they turned out. I am going to make another pair with sheepskin, but the next size up for the summer.

New clothes for Liam

I just finished some new clothes for Liam this week: a cute crocheted gray wool vest with wooden buttons and cotton lined green wool pants to keep him warm and dry this winter. They look so nice on him. I found the Pattern for the pants Here .
I had to add some extra space around the hips to make room for his cloth diaper but besides that is a really good pattern and I'm going to use it again.
I couldn't find a pattern to make the vest so i had to just guessed but i think it turned out wonderful. I'm planing to felt it sometime this week because its a little big and i think it would look nice.

Holidays

We went to see my parents on their little farm for a few days before Christmas. It was great to see them and be in the country. It was also nice for Liam to spend some time with his grandparents and great grandparents. My mom roasted a Turkey breast with beacon and veggies, and for dessert: maple shortbread. It was so amazing! I could not believe how big her birds are, her last turkey was over 35 lbs. We came back Christmas eve and enjoyed waking up together for Liam's first Christmas. He seems to really like his Waldorf-like doll i made him, he was hugging it for some time.


Reading right now:
Farm City:The Education of an Urban Farmer, by Novella Carpenter