Garden, Weaving, and...

[helwen]

I picked the black currants today. I think there is half a cup of them. Never having grown them, I wasn't sure how black they needed to get, but I spied one the other day that was wrinkled and drying, so figured that was as good a signal as any. I'll look up a jam or preserve recipe for them, or maybe a sauce sort of thing -- something that will go well with cream :)

The shelling peas in the backyard are still quite short, but are already having peas. I'll be picking the small handful this week, hoping to encourage more growth.

7 out of 9 potatoes that we planted have plants above-ground. One is huge; I haven't been able to keep up with piling dirt and pine needles around it. But we will still have more potatoes than I thought we would. Also, I forgot about a couple of potatoes in the kitchen and found them today. So, I guess I'll plant those where the two that didn't come up were.

The lemon trees are interesting. First I had one, then I had four. Then one of the four disappeared into thin air. Now number 5 seed has decided to join the crowd, so I'm back up to 4....

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Finished up the previous batch on the loom and have started up winding warp for the next batch, which will have a thoroughly stripey warp in white and purple (medium). And, much as I'd like to be done with buying yarn for this year, I'm really happy with the stuff I'm working with right now, and it's all end stuff -- once it's gone, it's gone. sigh. Who'd have thought that once I started weaving, I'd go through the fiber so quickly?

5 scarves done so far, plus an extra bit that I might be able to turn into a small pouch/shoulder bag. Yay!

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fitzw has been making great progress in the upstairs room, removing paint/wallpaper, and patching the walls.

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Oh, and finished staking and tying up all but the two tomato plants in pots. Hm... maybe I'll just let them be viney....

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The rain barrel completely filled up last night. fitzw moved the water over to the extra barrels, as it may rain again tonight. He's also considering checking over the weekend to see if any of the old sap tanks at the farm might be usable for water storage. Since we're using some of the water for clothes washing as well, might be an excellent idea.

No, I haven't tried handwashing again, but I did bring some rain water in and put it in the washer. The last laundry I did though, I just happened to be in the room when it started the 2nd rinse, so instead of just catching one bucket of water, I was able to catch three. That should be plenty for the next laundry load.

We do have a wringer to try out now, compliments of my MIL Marian. Just have to clean it up, check it out, and get it set up on a frame of some sort (has clamps). Then we'll see if a partially-able person can do a wash easily enough to consider doing it regularly.

Comments

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

We do have a wringer to try out now....

hudebnik used a wringer to do his laundry the year he lived in Winnipeg; he says "It was less convenient than a conventional washer, but I thought it was cool in a Retro sorta way...." :-)

[helwen.livejournal.com]

:)

Retro-R-Us!

[earthwomyn06.livejournal.com]

I have rain barrel envy.. we got ours up this weekend..but NO rain!!!! grrr

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when we first put ours up, we had to wait a bit... it was especially annoying because we'd just missed some rain. Then I was beginning to wonder if we were going to get a refill this summer, because I was using it all up and the storms were missing us (although that meant everyone could go to my son Zach's high school graduation, so...). Anyway, rained last night, and I believe there are a few more clouds coming this way. Our rain barrel holds 55 gallons, but a good long rain will fill it right up. Our other "rain barrels" are heavy duty trash cans -- round works _much_ better than square/rectangular. They seem to be stronger, or the shape is more conducive to handling the pressure from the water.

Oh, and we use former kitty litter pails (come with their own lids) to store a bit more, in the bathrooms and by the washing machine. We used to use a clumping clay-based litter, and my husband Lyle, who was raised on a farm, saved them "just in case". Of course we don't use that kind of litter any more :) That was one of the easier switches to make...

What sort of roofing do you have? We had to do research because I was reading about zinc being used in a lot of roofing tiles (to prevent mildew), and I guess too much zinc in the diet isn't good for people. Very common in Oregon and Washington state from what I could tell. Our particular tile comes from a company that uses copper instead, which in dilute amounts isn't a problem for people -- or the plants, from what I can tell.