Tag Archives: New Hampshire

Hello May

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First I just wanted to say, that I am not disappointed about the snow that is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Yes, I know it’s spring, I can’t help it.

I am however worried about these little creatures

Hopefully they will stay nice and warm under the heat lamp.

I would also very much like to get these veggies in the garden

May is here and along with it a birthday (My 35th 😳), Mother’s Day, and well, a weekend that I can compare to Christmas.

Yes folks that’s right, New Hampshire Sheep and Wool! I went alone this year but was specifically told that I was not allowed to bring home any animals…and believe me, there were a few for sale, so I very well could have.

Instead I had to settle for sheep and alpaca cuddles, browsing all the fine wool and yarns, and of course I purchased three fleeces

Cotswold, though I just realized I still have a pound from last year I haven’t even touched (whoops!), Finn which is a new one for me, and then coopworth 😍, I also purchased a new bobbin for my wheel and believe it or not I actually came home with cash.

Yesterday for Mother’s Day was spent shivering under layers and layers of fleece sweaters, though it got up to 57, the sun never came out to say hello. My mother in law and I spent our day working on my walkway

I am not the best gardener, almost all the flowers on my property were planted by the previous owner who won awards for gardens. Thankfully they are almost effortless to maintain. My mother in law use to work at a nursery and is very helpful, helping me get flowers that are low maintenance.

Last week I purchased some beautiful merino and silk roving from Port Fiber over in Portland Maine, every time I go there I make sure to stop in a peruse all of the beautiful fibers Casey has in her shop. (If you are a fan of Taproot, they are less than two minutes down the road)

I was on a mission as soon as I purchased this wool, I knew the exact colors I wanted to dye this wool and holy moly…I’m blown away!

I have to finish the doodle/romney blend I am spinning up for a friend and then I will start spinning this up, I took a short five minute class at the Sheep and Wool Festival and was taught how to spin my yarn just a little thicker, so I have high hopes for this yarn!

Speaking of homespun

The Bandana cowl is finally complete, I need to give it a soak in something (I don’t know what) to soften it up, but I am a happy camper.

Have a great day folks, and for all you snow lovers in Maine and New Hampshire, enjoy!

Another year

Posted in Farming, Gardening by

Yes, I’ve reached my 33rd year of life this week, though I won’t be celebrating it until The NH sheep and wool festival, once again all I asked for was raw fiber and sheep snuggles….and secretly I am far fetching wishing for sheep of my own and a guardian livestock dog to keep the critters safe.

Last weekend we were able to get some planting done


First potatoes


Followed by some of the strawberry plants, more to be planted after the seven days of rain end.


And the indoor veggies made it out into the greenhouse.

While nothing more than planting has been going on this week, I wanted to share a few pictures I was able to capture this week.


We are expecting more babies next week, of course I will be sure to post pictures.

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Smells like spring 

Posted in Fun on the farm, Fun with fiber, Gardening, kids, Sharing is caring! by

All that snow we got is quickly melting away, we have patches of grass in our yard right now, while I know spring won’t be here for another few weeks, and I’m certain we will have a couple more light snow storms, I can’t help but get excited at the thought of starting seeds & the baby critters headed our way! 

The temperatures have been above normal this week, yesterday it was 60 degrees! That’s Mother Nature for you, always keeping you on your toes.

We are on school vacation this week which means we have built snowmen 



We have started the onions


And yesterday we went swimming. 

The downside of vacation is however, the large amounts of traffic, being cut off while driving, and the worst, people throwing beer bottles in my yard. Sadly that is something I came home to yesterday and it breaks my heart. Please, I get that you want to go out joy riding and see where different roads lead (we really need a dead end sign on our road), but please don’t drink while doing it and if it as passanger drinking and not yourself, please have a spare trash bag with you so you aren’t littering.  

The fine in the state of NH is $150 for having an open alcoholic beverage in your car, however the fine for littering is is up to one year in prison and up to $2,000. I personally don’t think either is worth it. So wait till you are at home folks, okay? 

Sorry to be a buzz kill but we work hard to keep our property clean for our children & our animals, the people in my town work hard picking up trash off the side of the roads to keep our town looking nice. Consider this before you so carelessly toss trash out your window. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem


On a happier note, I finished up the alpaca/silk combo I starts spinning last August and have started spinning up the merino/yak/silk wool I purchased 

Isn’t it beautiful, so soft and silky, like a cloud. I am loving it! Once again I purchased this on etsy from StickChick and I highly recommend it (I’m not getting paid to advertise her page, I just really love her product, though I do get paid a small commission if you purchase something from the ads over there ——> )

And with that note, I hope you all have a wonderful day folks!!

Remember, nobody likes a litterbug.                                         Not even these bug eaters right here. 

The waiting game

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We put in an offer on a house in Southern NH!!!!   
(Lovely view from the kitchen, can’t you picture sheep in that field?!)
Unfortunately, another couple has placed an offer on the house, so today (and most likely tomorrow) we wait…It’s been a long time looking at houses and trying to find one for us that fits. Cross your fingers folks, this might be the one!!!
I’ve been getting a lot done in the past week, mainly to de-stress. See folks though I’m 31 years young and eat pretty healthy, I’ve been suffering chest pains and landed in the ER after an abnormal EKG, after blood work and a second EKG coming back normal, the only conclusion people can come up with is anxiety attacks due to stress. So I’ve been trying to de-stress

  
  I made a hat for a friend   

   
 I finished a baby blanket, my very first blanket ever! It’s the C2C blanket!
I’m currently working on a second hat, though after ten rounds of cables last night I realized that I had done the wrong 8 count cable stitch and had to take all the cables out *breath* oh well, I will start over again with a cup of tea and a smile.
Have a great day folks!!

The one where the measuring tapes are missing

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Once upon a time there was a young woman (hey I still get carded), who lived in a house that was large enough to have her own craft room, it was slightly messy (😂) and a little chaotic, but the woman knew where everything was and could find it within five minutes. Alas, it was time to move and the woman packed up her craft room and then moved to a slightly smaller house. The house was lovely but there was no room for a craft room and so while 90% of her craft room went to live in the garage, the other 10% was stretched out between the laundry room, basement, bed room (her entire closet is full of yarn…no joke), dining room, and living room. 

She could spend days searching for items and never find them….items like measuring tapes, she needed one but every.single.one was missing.

While the woman knew she could easily go to the store a buy a new one, the thought of driving almost an hour to get a gosh darn measuring tape got under her skin. 

That woman was me (surprise), did I go to the store and buy a new measuring tape?! Nope, I actually have a plastic lip edge ruler (yeah I looked it up), and used a piece of yarn to help figure out what I was trying to measure…I’m sure some day when I need to go into town (Saturday, dance registration), I will get another (5 more) measuring tape(s).

One day I will have another craft room, not sure when. Sadly the last house we looked at (like many others) was a bust, over 100 acres of land but you could stick a knife up through the beams holding up the basement 😳. That wasn’t caught on the first walk through.
Have a nice day folks!! 

I know why silk yarn is expensive

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It’s because it’s hard to ply 

  
I tried so hard not to waste any of it, but after thirty minutes of struggling, I lost about half a foot (finally untangled the part I cut after I finished plying)

   
 

14 wpi (wraps per inch), and the yardage is not long, about 47 yards. However I had a one oz roving, so the yardage isn’t surprising. 

  
The ears aren’t sewn on, but I swear they are the same size!!! Leif’s hobbes is finally looking like a tiger, and despite my sudden disinterest in anything to do with yarn this week, (it’s cold again, and I don’t want to remove myself from the confines of heavy blankets.), I will continue until this project is complete.

Yesterday we looked at farms, only two stood out, but alas one was in need of a big upgrade for heating issues, so that leaves us with our front runner (for now, looking at a few more next week). So folks of NH, if this fireplace looks familiar  

 

Congratulations, we are seriously considering making you an offer on your beautiful home (also, I saw a gray dear while walking the property, I’ve never before seen a gray deer!). If this your farm is for sale, and this isn’t it, fear not we are still checking out a few other options before we make our final decision. 
Have a nice day folks!!

Easements are killing my dream

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Lets talk about easements folks,  once easements used to be put in place to stop developers from turning farmland into shopping malls and condos. I can get behind that. 

But it seems people are trying to use easements to their own advantage these days. We recently came across an amazing house that came with a conservation easement, I’m all about conserving land and restoring it, however this easement came with rules that I’m just not down with.

  1. Not allowed to drive a tractor on the property that I purchase 
  2. I’m not allowed to repair current or add a new structure. 
  3. The grantor, their heirs, lawyers, and their heirs for years to come, are allowed to build a vacation home with a swimming pool….they can put a swimming pool on land that I am paying for, but if a barn is falling down, well that’s just too bad.

Let me just add, that this house had three hundred acres and we were only allowed to touch 10 of it. I think not.
This last week we fell in love with another house, this one had thirty acres and it seemed to fit perfectly….until our realtor emailed us the land deed

  1. Horses and cattle only
  2. Not allowed to put a trash can out for the garbage man, because it is unsightly 
  3. No cutting down trees for firewood.

Now if we found a farm with an easement that stated “no condos, apartments, or strip malls shall be built, no pesticides, insecticides, or chemicals shall be sprayed” then heck, we are you’re people.
So there you have it folks, if you are selling a farm in New Hampshire and you have a crazy easement on it, good luck to you. If you are trying to sell a farm with a reasonable easement, well chances are, your house is on the list of houses to be viewing next week.

House hunting break

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I’ll tell ya folks, house hunting is only fun when you don’t actually have to move somewhere, but when it actually comes time to buckle down and be seriously, well I think I’d rather take a trip to the dentist…especially my dentist who plays movies while you get your teeth cleaned. Anyway, I’ve gotten myself a bit stressed over house hunting. You don’t want anything to old (well I like older houses, but Toph doesn’t), and a lot of farm houses that come up in searches have titles like ” imagine what you can do one 1 acre of land!!!!”, well I can tell you what I can’t do one 1 acre and that’s have cows, goats, sheep, pigs, & chickens.

When I do find houses that are newer and have the right amount of land for the right price, it’s practically in Canada. Don’t get me wrong Canada, I’d love you guys, I’d love to live near you, but I don’t know if I can handle the amount of snow you guys get up there. I’m just a wimp like that, no hard feelings ok?!

We’re still looking in New Hampshire and Vermont, but I’ve passed the job on to Toph, who likes to tease me and read descriptions of houses out loud and show me pictures, then after say things like “buuuuut it’s five trillion dollars”. Heck at this point, I’m ready to settle down and live in a yurt.

To try and take my mind off of house hunting (somewhat), I’ve started back up on the bartók tunik…actually, I took the sleeve out and started it over again.

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That was about two days worth of knitting, I’ve already started at the arm design. For those of you who haven’t seen the sweater, or need a refresher

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This is the lovely bartók tunik, you can find the pattern right here.

I also wanted to share a delicious recipe I found for buckwheat porridge, I just purchased two lbs of buckwheat (believe it or not, buckwheat is not a grain). I got two have a few bites this morning before Leif stole my bowl

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I didn’t use maple syrup, instead I replaced it with some raw honey

Have a nice night folks!

P.S this my 100th post!!!