Who knew?
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: Centerfield by John Fogerty on AOL's Summer Daze

That there were so many different kinds of day lillies? Yesterday, we did a lot of gardening. The great news is that our front gardens are nearly finished. They have been a work in progress for nearly 8 years since we moved here. I have two more lavender plants to buy (which I plan to get next Sunday at the Lavender Days festivals in Greenfield), and then it will be complete.

We started out our Father's Day by taking a trip to WalMart, and then heading to Andrew's Greenhouse and buying quite a few perennials. All flowers/veggies were on sale, since they were celebrating their 25th anniversary. So we picked up a hibiscus, some sedum plants, and veggie plants. We came home, and Dale got everything planted while I ran over to Hadley Garden Center, and bought a replacement honeysuckle (mine was hit by winterkill this year), and a jasmine plant. When I came home, we piled into the truck and went up to Deerfield to Pine Nook Day Lilies. The owner has over 160 varieties of day lilies for sale, and will dig them while you wait. We came home with 20 plants. One third of them went into the front flower beds, and the remaining plants went into the back bed, which used to be a rose garden. I dug all the roses up yesterday evening, Dale rototilled the garden, and I set about planting day lilies. Here is the finished garden (well, I don't have my woodchips down yet, but we finished up at 7:30 last night).


Day lilies in the early morning sun

I have some that will come up a ruby red color, others that will be cranberry colored, another that is cream colored with a purple center, and yet others that are various colors of pink and lavender. What I'm hoping I will get is a beautiful garden that is mostly maintenance free (this is why the roses didn't do so well). :) When I get my first day lily blooming, I'll post a picture. Several plants already had buds on them when we bought them.

Good day at the craft fair
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: "Rock Me Tonight" by Billy Squire
Topic: Daily musings
It was a lovely day at the craft fair. By 10:30, when the show is usually packed out, it had a modest crowd (and it wasn't even raining!), easy parking at my former kindergarten-2nd grade teacher's house (she hates thinking about that when ever I see her, ), and the wonderful company of my husband.

My big purchase for the day is the Edmond Johnson painting I was looking for. All of these are originals; no prints from Mr. Johnson. This painting finishes the trio of farm scenes we now have up on our wall in the living room.



My other purchase was 9 bars of soap from this farm Jenness Farm. I actually had the opportunity to try to soap out shortly after I came home. I went outside to feed and water the rabbits, and held one of the does, Mia. That was my first mistake. The second mistake was going over to Lucky's cage, and thinking he was just being affectionate, but instead, he was smelling Mia on me. After I put his food in the food dish, he kicks up his hind legs, and sprays me. This is not pleasant from a buck. So, in the house I go to take a shower (buck pee smells really bad), and unwrapped the coconut soap. It's wonderful! Now I smell like the beach. :)

There was one item that we didn't buy, but I might go back to pick up tomorrow. Dale saw a picture by a local photographer, Patrick Zephyr. Patrick is an amazing photographer, and captures nature in a serene sense. He also holds three weekend seminars each year, which we both want to attend. Anyway, Dale wanted this picture, but after buying the painting, and the soap, he decided against it. I might sneak over to the craft fair tomorrow, and purchase the picture as a Father's Day present for him.

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 6:16 PM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 19 June 2004 7:47 PM EDT

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Weekend plans
Mood:  lucky
Now Playing: The Four Tops
I'm being lazy, and I'm really enjoying it.

I've had two weekends in the past three months where I haven't had any personal commitments to attend to. This is that second weekend. Today, after my husband gets home from work around noon, we are taking our boys up to my parents house, then heading over to the Old Deerfield Craft Fair to shop! Tuesday is my birthday, and I want to buy myself something special. Specifically a painting by Edmund Johnson. Mr. Johnson is a very talented watercolor artist, and I have two of his paintings that have been purchased in the past year. Today, I hope to acquire my third, so that I can finally hang the others up in the living room (I need a group of three to replace the Gene Mattras prints on the walls, which will move down to the family room, where they will fit in better). Then I plan to buy some more Nantucket photos, and eat strawberry shortcake which is a regular item at the fair, and I've only had it one other time. DH and I rarely get time alone together, so I'm looking forward to this outing.

The rest of my weekend will be spent spinning. I'm in the mood to work on my lovely Corriedale that Wooly Knob Fiber Mill processed for me. And maybe, if I'm lucky, the rest of my rovings from them will come in todays mail too. :)

Another early riser
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: 867-5309/Jenny by Tommy Tutone

These 80's songs really bring back a lot of memories for me. My summers as a kid and and until I was 17, were spent down at my grandmother's house in Southern NJ. We (my cousin Ang and I) would spend the majority of our time on the deck of my aunt's pool, which was just across the street from my grandmothers. We'd have our radio blaring out the latest top 20, swim, paint our nails, talk about boys and do all that girl stuff. It was a very good time. :)

I've been up since 3:30 this morning. I saw the sun rise. It looks like it will be a lovely day outside today. That's good. I need a nice sunny day (not too hot) to be outside. The cold has taken it's toll on me, or rather, all the stress in my life basically told me that I needed some rest for the past few days.

The rabbits had a hard time yesterday. It hit 89 degrees, but thankfully, it's 5 degrees cooler in the barn. Still, they were hot. Even Merlot, my new buck who was just sheared a little over 3 weeks ago, curled up against the bowl of water I brought him.

Here is a picture of Mia and two of her three babies. They are so curious now, and have to explore everything the minute I open up the cage door.

I like to sing, but.....
Mood:  a-ok
Yesterday was NOT one of those days.

I'm on our local parade committee. I love being part of this group, even though sometimes it requires a lot of work, like yesterday. We hosted an 8 hour pig roast/benefit dinner; two live bands, lots of food, and we did pretty well. Except, I'm fighting a cold. And in the middle of the first band's set, they start asking for a female to come up and sing with them. Somehow, my friend Ethel starts yelling from the cooking area that I should go up there. Normally, I'd be happy to do this, but I knew that my voice was far from good sounding with this cold lurking. I get pushed up there (and yes, I did try to fight my way off), and forced into singing a Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow song, one that I am not familiar with. Lets just say that I'm really happy that the crowd at that time was probably less than 40 people (more people show up around 4, when the pig is being served, than are there around 3). And a photographer was there for the local paper taking pictures. At least the people in the newspaper (if the picture appears) can't hear me singing. :)

This week at the farm, I will be working in the gardens getting the vegetables planted, and the flower beds done. I've been too busy with work to do this before now, and hate getting things in this late. Especially since I've had my flowers since shortly after Mother's Day, waiting in their small pots to go into the ground. Maybe we'll get lucky, and have a few days of good weather that allow me unlimited planting time.

Hot, hot, hot!
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: "It's Raining Men" by the Weather Girls
This is going to be a short post, since a thunderstorm is threatening.

However, I do have a HUGE reason to celebrate today. I finally finished the last leg of my licensing with the state, and PASSED MY CERTIFICATION EXAM! YEAH! I've been avoiding this exam for years, since I'm exam phobic. But I sucked it up, and passed it at 10:30 this morning.

I will write more later. I'm watching trees bend in very bad ways. The storm is here.

Questions, questions, questions
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Awesome 80's on Radio AOL (now playing
I love it when potential bunny owners ask questions. The more questions they throw at me, the more confident I am that the rabbit will be going to a good home. And I have an open door policy so that if people have questions at any time after they take the rabbit home, I'm there to answer as soon as possible, by e-mail or phone. I have people that call me two years later after taking home the rabbit, which I love. I love knowing how the rabbit is doing, and what type of environment it is in. I try the best I can to answer, and if I don't know it, I will look it up, or refer the owner to a vet if it sounds serious.

So people; ASK the breeder any and all questions you have. They know the habits of the animal. The only dumb question is the one not asked.

For those interested, I will be at Linda's spin-in on June 26th, with some fibers and possibly some bunnies. :)

Up late with a sick 6 year old

Now that I'm up again in the middle of the night with my oldest son, I thought I'd read a bit, and post.

One thing I forgot to mention is that Leslie gave me *a lot* of the angora yarn that is the test yarn for the IAGARB co-op. My job is to knit a shell with it, and wear it, testing it's wearability. Oh, please! Don't make me take skeins and skeins of this yarn, and knit something; no! Not that! ;-)

Actually, this yarn is drop dead gorgeous! It is incredibly soft, and holds stitch definition really well. The ideal tank that I have in mind will have a wide cable running up the center. I think I might wait until I get my "Hot Knits" book before I start on it. There is a stunning top in there, that might be just the thing for this yarn.

Another exciting weekend
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: One Hit Wonders on Radio AOL
Another fantastic weekend. Leslie showed up here on Thursday afternoon, and within an hour we were headed up to the Lord Jeffrey Inn for dinner with other IAGARB members. A small informal meeting, a bottle of wine, and I think that the restaurant personel were glad we were the only ones in that particular room. Lets just say that we started out sweet and quiet, but wound up rather loud and full of laughter (especially over the Cialis commercial immitations). Leave it to bunny people to finally get to bunny sex. :) I also enabled Charlene into getting a gorgeous buck named Shirrazz. Charlene told me that I'm evil. I already know that, after all, I am the Evil Buck Maven, and if I can't enable someone, then there is something seriously wrong.

From Left to Right: Becky, Helen, Caroline, Charlene and Leslie

My new buck is named Merlot, and he's living up to his name. He is full bodied, and strong. This buck has outstanding fur. He was sheared just 10 days before coming here, and he already has over 3/4" of wool (and Leslie shears using electric clippers, which take fur down to the skin!). I can hardly wait to see what he looks like in 3 months!
Friday Leslie and I headed over to Textura Trading to purchase Angelina fibers. I now have 40+ 1 ounce packets of various colors of angelina, plus a 2 ounce cone of cashmere/silk/merino yarn in a stunning color of deep red. I'm doing the happy dance because I now also have a wholesale account with them, and can play with angelina to my hearts content, especially after I order the Duncan carder.
Friday night we headed out to ABC with Deanna and Marcy. I tried one of their samplers, and the beer was delicious! Unfortunately, I had only had few hours of sleep the night before, so I wasn't at my best, but I had a great time anyway.
Saturday Leslie and I worked on the IAGARB newsletter before she left, and then I took the boy's down to Kara's graduation party.
Sunday I rode in a float for N'ton's 350th anniversary parade. I had no idea how much fun it was to be IN a parade (I'm usually on the working end of one), and Northampton's parade was 3 miles long, with 6,000 participants. I arrived home damp and chilled to the bone, but I had a good time anyway.

This week I take my big exam for my job; please wave those dpn's in my direction. I'll need every ounce of good thoughts I can get. :)

Events of the past weekend and the future weekend
Mood:  a-ok

Now that I've had a few hours of sleep (and yes, I'm up at 1 a.m. writing this), I'm feeling better than I was earlier today. Sometimes things just get the better of you.

Cummington this weekend was great! My husband Dale worked really hard the past few weeks making display units for my booth, and it paid off. They are really heavy, and we won't be using them for many fiber fairs that are too far away, but they looked nice. And, my fibers looked nice arranged on them. People seemed to like the dyed rovings best; I sold more Angora/Icelandic than anything else. I guess the Creamsicle roving (orange and pink angora, with white Icelandic) and the blue/green angora with grey/black Icelandic really appealed to people's color sense. I will keep trying to recreate those colors.
Natural rovings didn't sell well at all, even the Cormo/Silk/Angora blend, which is fabulous spun up. When Sara Lamb comes in October, I might take some of my Romney rovings, and play using the dyes to see what happens. Then, if I start getting consistent results, I will dye the rest of it.

I did meet Wren Ross on Sunday. She is incredibly nice, and I enjoyed talking to her and her partner. Nate, my youngest, was excited to meet the lady who sings about the cat and the toilet which is his current favorite song (buy the CD to see what I'm talking about). ;-)

Leslie Samson arrives here tomorrow. We have a small informal IAGARB meeting set up at a local restaurant, with several NE members attending. Then Leslie and I will be going over to Textura Trading on Friday to buy Angelina fibers, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The rest of the time will be devoted to sending out the IAGARB newsletter, which I'm sure members are excited about seeing. I know that Leslie has been working very hard on this issue, and I can't wait to see it myself. One of the perks of being IAGARB's secretary is that I get to preview everything before anyone else. :) It makes up for the abuse I receive if people aren't satisfied with something.

On the bunny front; all litters are doing well here at BCF. Annie's kids are now 10 weeks old I believe, and I gave 2 of them haircuts last week. Already, their fur is growing back in nicely, and expectations on their wool is high.

Ripley's babies are 8 weeks old now. They are eating *a lot* and growing strong. I finally figured out that Comet, the only buck in the crowd, is a sable like his mom. He carries that spotting gene, so he will be going to live in NJ with Norma, who has a soft spot for the little ones who aren't breeding material.

Mia's babies are officially out of the nestbox, and snuggling with her when the cooler weather hits. They are wide eyed about the world around them, and curious, but cautious. The smallest one, who has stolen my heart, is the only one who nashes her teeth when being pet. The other two do not want to be held right now, but that little ones will snuggle in to my hands. I have to come up with a special name for her.

Maybe tomorrow I will post some pictures on the blog.