tonight's the night.

well, tonight is finally here. the greatest show in st louis. all my friends getting together to play some music and help me forget my troubles. i am so completely blown away by all the outpouring of support. i'm speechless. or shall i say, type-less.

saw new specialist and had a pulmonary function test. it came back normal. was kinda hoping for asthma. i know it's weird to hope for asthma. but it's better than the alternative. so i'm back to square one. a follow-up PET scan should be next on my calendar. maybe for may or june. to check and see if my spots have grown. so, more waiting.

in the meantime, i've been trying to get back to a normal life. got 3/4 of my garden ready for planting. and actually did plant the strawberries, leeks, and collard greens. might try and get my herbs in the ground today or tomorrow.

we had shearing day on the farm easter weekend. i now have my days and nights cut out for me for the next 6 months. beautiful mohair, pygora, and icelandic wool to wash, card, and spin. promise to have lots of yarn, hats, and accessories available for opening day of tower grove market on may 8th. this is the first year our farm will be participating. look for us, provenance farm. we'll have eggs, fiber products, and will be taking orders for duck and turkey meat available this fall.

herchel & bianka before

bianka, leon & herschel after

bianka's beautiful locks washed and drying

meet márton

meet márton... our first angora kid born 03/01/10. we named the little feller márton which is hungarian for warrior from mars. jason had to sub as "goat mid-wife" as i was in st louis staying with my mom. jason did a great job! unfortunately, márton's mommy, bianka, pulled an "842" and rejected the little bugger. bianka is a maiden. it was her first pregnancy. and she just didn't have a clue. after the birth, she got up and walked away to be with her other goat friends. jason, then confined her and her baby to a kidding pen for a while but no such luck. she just kept butting him away. and the little guy was in danger. the first 24 hours are so important. they need to get colostrom. so jason packed him up and brought him in the house and we have another bottle-baby on our hands. tito heard the news and is a bit jealous.

this time, however, i have the help of "other mother" little bit. who cleaned márton off after the birth. and has been pretending to nurse him ever since. i can't believe it. she's only one year old (and spayed) and is usually a crazy wild child. but all of a sudden she has taken on this massive responsibility with grace and composure. it's utterly bizarre. and so freakin' cute.

little bit cleaning off the "after-birth"

my first time holding him!

márton enjoying the comforts of home (like my favorite wingback reading chair!)

Purple, Pink & Turquoise Baby Hat.

I've been busy spinning and crocheting. Here is my latest creation available on etsy...



Made from 100% mohair hand-carded hand-spun yarn. From our beautiful angora goats, Herschel & Bianka. Just in time for winter!

the simple life

it's been raining forever it seems. i know that seems dramatic. and i know we need the rain. our ponds are full again. and the grass has sprung and will feed the flock until winter. but it's just so muddy and cloudy and cold and i can't help but wonder where summer went???

people always think that i lead a simpler life now. no 9-5 punch-card. no boss. just sunsets and rainbows and butterflies and puppy dogs . but i have to admit, this is about the hardest thing i've ever done. and it's never really "done". there is always something that needs fixed. animals to be fed. shit to be scraped off my boots when i'm in from the fields. it's not glamorous. and there is no one telling me i've done a good job (except my husband for whom i think i would go completely bonkers without).

this simple life is, in fact, pretty darn stressful. i am so immersed in the cycle of life. animals being born. animals dying. or being harvested. it is a constant. i spend so much energy worrying that i forget about those butterflies and puppy dogs and sunsets.

so i'm going to take this post to list a few things that i'm grateful for:

1. homegrown tomatoes
2. my beautiful flock of goats (especially the kids)
3. spinning yarn
4. 1940's tractor my husband fixed
5. learning from mistakes
6. wine!
7. my piano
8. this house (as messy and as unorganized as it is)
9. porkchop getting to run around leash-free
10. last but not least, my husband who has allowed me this 9-5-less freedom!

and now i will leave you with a big raspberry from bianka, my beautiful angora doe!

bonkers!

cherry yarn.

just finished a new skein of yarn today. still experimenting with colors. i used black cherry kool-aid and some red & blue baking sprinkles for this one. mohair compliments of bianka the goat. i can't believe how well her fiber accepts color. so vibrant. and not to mention, oh so soft.



and now for some gratuitous doggie pix...

mole patrol

razor guarding the laundry

lazy annie

shearing day.

saturday was shearing day at the rook farm. herschel, bianka, and patrik all got their summer cuts. things went smoothly. patrik (who had never been sheared - since his kid coat fell out on it's own) didn't care for the fuss. we had to lay him down for the shear. but bonky and hersch did great and stood up the whole time. and i have tons of fiber to keep me busy all year long. next up.... baby snakes!

patrik

bianka

herschel

bernadett, beloved.

it is with great sadness that i am writing these words. bernadett passed away this morning in my arms. she held on. she fought hard. she was so beautiful. i know it's not fair to the other goats, but she was my favorite. she talked to me all the time. and had such personality. she was a selfless mother. and this farm is so empty without her.

sunday, i feared we would lose her. she seemed "gone". she couldn't stand up at all. we had a surprise snow storm come out of nowhere. and i think the temperature change was too much. after the sun came out and melted most of the snow, i carried her out to the field and just sat with her all afternoon. when i thought she was getting close to giving up, i would tell her it was ok. just to close her eyes and go to sleep and that she would be free. she could run and eat bean pods and crackers and bread and butterscotch treats to her heart's content. but everytime i would say this, her eyes would get really big and she'd yell at me. like she was saying, "hey, i'm not dead yet! i just need to rest!" and by the end of the day she was sitting up eating grass, looking at me and proving me wrong.

yesterday was a really good day. the sun was out. it was warm. she spend the entire day in our yard on a blanket having a dandylion and grass picnic. she'd talk to me when i walked by doing my chores. she'd beg for more dandylions or for some clover. i'd scout the field for just the right tasty leaves. and she'd eat 'em up. she even did some grazing her self. she stayed outside until the sun set. and when the sun was down, i brought her in and she had a late night snack and went to sleep.

but this morning she couldn't even sit nor hold up her head. she refused food. so i brought her into the office with me (my computer room) and i talked to her while i had my coffee. i did a few chores. came back and she tried to talk to me. i knelt down and held her head. she said "goodbye."

we can second guess everything. maybe it was the dogs. maybe a parasite. maybe a fatal disease. we have investigated all possiblities. she gets vaccines. preventative medicine. and she received appropriate treatment for her latest conditions. but i truly believe the truth of the matter is that she was an elderly goat. her body was just getting tired. one of the first signs of old age is a goat's inabilty to stand. she had been falling sporadically for months. actually she has had leg troubles since we got her last year. mother nature is both cruel and gracious. she took bernie from us but left us with her angelic daughter, bianka. and we will always grateful for this gift.

bernie smiles

bernie and her bean pod tree

bianka & bernadett

baby goat, baby hat.

my lastest creation.....

now playing on goat tv...

and yes, there are two dogs piled in with the goats.

sorry the picture ain't the greatest. i didn't subscribe to the new fangled digitial transfer. i'm a rebel. and a hippie. and a borderline hermit.

the bianka bernadett guinevere flower pin.

my latest creation is the bianka bernadett guinevere flower pin which was commissioned by a good friend of mine and fellow blogger ann. the center is pure angora rabbit (guinevere), the petals are kid mohair (bianka from her first shear) and the petal tips are made of mohair from the rook farm matriarch, bernadett.

the bianka scarf.

i finally reached the bottom of the fleece bag. all of bianka's beautiful first-shear has been spun into yarn by hand using a drop spindle. it took a long time. and i suppose i rendered about two skeins worth of yarn. i made this first batch super thick. partially because i like chunky yarn, and partially because i was still learning. next time i might try being a little more conservative. would like to spin thin enough to be able to create a two-ply yarn out of it.

next, i employed my almost non-existent crocheting skills. i took my little basket of mohair yarn and crocheted a scarf. it's a bit messy but i like it. it reminds me of bianka: soft, curly, & cherubic with just a touch of clumsy.

bianka in may 08 before her first shear

the bianka scarf

up close

from goat to yarn.

i'm still in the learning stages of transforming lovely locks into mohair wool. it's awkward and foreign and tedious. but it's a tediousness that is strangely appealing to me. i'm not exactly sure how or why it all works, but i will and it does. here's a short sweet synopsis of the process:

first, you must obtain an angora goat....

bianka says, "pick me!"

bianka is a kid (baby goat). she had her first shear or "first clilp" back in may. first clips are more valuable because kid fleece is super fine. after we sheared her, i placed the fleece in a paper bag and stored it in the closet awaiting the next step... washing.

washing can ruin a fleece. if it is done wrong, it will turn to felt. you can't spin felt. you can maybe make christmas ornaments. being my paranoid self, i kept the bag in the closet for months. came up with all sorts of excuses why it wasn't a good time to wash. pregnant donkey. del ray training. hornworms. all were valid distractions but the truth was simple... i didn't trust me. finally got up the nerve with a little help from jason and i washed and dried fleece with success! sorry folks, no felt christmas ornaments this year.

i then proceeded to the next step.... carding. this stage is perhaps the most unatural to me. i bought books, studied articles, watched online videos. just didn't make sense. you take these cute little curly shiny locks and rake them through two metal brushes attached to big heavy wooden paddles. seems like a horrible idea. first time i tried, it looked like crap. but i practiced and got better. and formed a loose section of wool called a rolag.

final step.... spinning. i'm not going to spell it all out. cause i'm an amateur. but somehow you magically attach the rolag to the drop spindle, you hook, and twist and spin and pinch and pray that it all turns out ok. and eventually the spindle gets full and you can either make a skein (those cute little figure-eight-type packages storebought yarn comes in which seems way too complicated for me and is usally made with an instrument called a "niddy noddy" which i can barely type no less say without laughing) or you can roll it into a ball. i chose the ball.

cards, rolags, washed locks, and spindle

ball o'yarn

mineral area farm.

we live smack in the middle of mineral area, an area of missouri known for it's mining towns. so it only seemed appropriate to supplement our animals' pasture diet with some well needed mineral blocks.

no stella! you can't eat the whole thing!

lil'ann loves her salt.

so does bianka!

bonkers & del ray take on modeling.

new products are up at the dallehouse store featuring del ray (the jazz piano playing mini-pin) and bianka (aka bonkers) the vacant but beautiful baby angora goat. tell all your friends, family and animal lovers.

it don't look like much...

but yesterday was a huge milestone. we've been spending the last 9 months cleaning out the barn. the previous farm owners had stockpiled the barn up to the hay loft with layers upon layers of trash. big trash, small trash, heavy trash, nasty trash, rusty trash... you name it. endless junk. and during our first months here, it seemed like an impossible task. we started by cleaning the smaller rooms and stalls. setting up the pig pen, the goat stalls, cleaning out the hospital. and little by little, pile by pile we whittled it down to the dirt floor. yesterday we finally opened up the main room of the barn. our animals are free to go in and out as they like and they have tons of space.

stella's grand entrance

barn opening day appetizers

"there used to be a wall here."

studies show....

8 out of 10 goats love flowered skirts.

milestones.

the lettuce in above pictured salad was grown by me! from seeds! the first clippings were taken from plants today and used as the basis for this delicious salad.

guess who else had first clippings this week? bernadett & bianka. poor things. they look so tiny without fur coats. but they are much cooler and comfortable.

freedom.

today was a milestone at the rook farm. with the cross fence finished and electrified, all animals safely stepped foot on green open pasture. some, for the first time in their whole little lives. goats ate grass. pigs dug in the dirt. chickens did whatever chickens do. and the sun shined for the first time in days, if only for a few hours. it's back to rain now. thunderous rain. and muddy puppies.

daisy

bianka & bernadette

cocoa

chickens

muddy puppy feet