It seems that some folks are wondering if we are still here. Rest assured, we are still alive and kicking, albeit with a little more sweat on our brows than normal! It has been an “interesting” summer to say the least. A spring that threatened to be extra dry has transformed into a wet and warm summer. Rain has been a regular occurrence throughout June and July. With it has been a steady stream of warmer than usual temperatures. At least the sunflowers seem happy!
From a farming standpoint, the warmth and moisture has presented us with the ultimate challenge of trying to cut and bale quality hay for the sheep for this winter. We have only miss-guessed once and had newly cut hay heavily rained on. Luckily it was not too much hay. Nonetheless it baled into about 65 bales of nutritionless bedding instead of lush, green hay. We usually need three straight days of dry weather to get the hay cut, cured and baled (although we have managed a few successful two day “windows”). Our greatest problem has been getting Mother Nature to allow us those three straight days with any frequency. We have been cautious and have not had the cut hay rained on too much, but our caution has slowed the entire process down excessively. Some of our caution has also been based upon the fields often being too wet to support our tractors and equipment without leaving significant ruts across the field.
The sheep have had their own challenges with the hay. Their problem has been having too much to eat. The pastures that they grazed just a few days previously begin to regenerate rapidly. As a result, by the time they return to the same pasture it is once again deep, green and lush. This picture perhaps summarizes our “plight”.
The sheep are belly-deep in lush green pasture while just beyond the fence are some of our hay wagons partially full of hay in the main hay field with yet more hay to be cut.
The wet conditions have at least allowed us some time to wander at bit. The water in this picture is not one of the larger puddles in one of the hay fields. It is, however, quite close to us, just down the road a mile or two. It is Lake Michigan, along one of the rockier portions of the shoreline in Whitefish Dunes State Park, our next door neighbor.
Inland in the woods, just a few feet from the shoreline is further testimony to how damp it has been. Everywhere seems to be mushroom heaven.
If we cannot be outside working at least there things to be done with wool. Gretchen’s naturally hand-dyed yarn does eventually find its way into finished products. The warp of the nearly complete shawl is a mix of natural white and gray yarn dyed with mullein leaves, buckthorn berries, and eucalyptus leaves. The weft is undyed white. Of course, it is a given that all the yarn is made from the wool of our sheep.
We continue to slog onward. Perhaps when I get around to returning to the Ewe Turn we may even be done with haying!
In addition we continued with our dye project with the cosmos flowers from the garden. It is truly amazing the lovely yellow color they produce considering the intense red and violet shades of their flowers.
Of late we have been able to visually experience “reds” that one can never expect to reproduce with a natural dye. As I was attempting to bale hay between rain storms last week I noticed what appeared from a distance to be a red survey stake in the 20+ acres of woods just west of our large hay field. I thought it strange that someone would be placing a stake in the woods because: 1) it is our land and no one had contacted me about it, and 2) the woods is a wetland, primarily an semi-open ash and cedar swamp much of the year. I promised that once the hay was baled I would return to investigate this intrusion into our domain. When I returned I discovered 
that the “marking stake” was actually one of many Cardinal-Flowers (Lobelai cardinalis) in bloom. For our area it is a relatively rare flower which blooms in late summer usually along the edge of dry seasonal creeks, one of which borders our woods. I am used to seeing their blooms along the creek, but this was the first time I have seem them in the middle of our woods. Once I slogged my way deeper into the woods I discovered that the flowers appeared to be everywhere where the deepest pool of water stood in early spring. If there ever was a sign of Sensommer, this was it!
The photo shows, from left to right, the first dyeing of pits and peels, undyed white, and the second dyeing of pits and peels. Below the skeins are small balls of avocado dyeing from a year previous, in which we used unfrozen pits and peels. At this point we feel we had better results with our first attempts, perhaps due to the pits and peels not being frozen. For the moment we will have to wait until summer for another try; perhaps another guacamole extravaganza awaits us!
He obviously was not able to migrate south with the rest of his buddies. Despite the extreme cold he has been first at the feeder each morning and last to leave each evening. “Poor Sam Peabody” seems to be a bit relieved with these last few days of warmer temperatures. We continue to wish him well and hope that he makes it into spring.
