Baby Hats and Salsa

Despite being more busy than normal launching our fabulous soap and craft business, Finchwald Homestead, I managed to knit a couple of little baby hats for a shower I missed last week when I had the flu.



I love these little fruit hats.



I modified the strawberry slightly so it would have white seeds rather than green. I think it looks better with the extra color. (Under the hats, you can see some knitting I am blocking for a friend who commissioned me to make a hat and scarf for her daughter. I will blog about it later on the Finchwald Homestead blog.)



And because these little hats are such a quick knit, I thought I'd go ahead and knit a second one, a dewberry. Dewberries grow wild here in southern Alabama and the purple yarn I used from my stash was perfect. The above picture shows good detail, but the color is too light. The actual hat looks more like this:



I added a band of ribbing to the bottom edge of the hat for a slightly different look.

I sure hope the new mom-to-be thinks babies with fruit heads are as cute as I think they are. I suppose it is possible some people wouldn't appreciate a fruit headed baby, though I can hardly imagine.

Meanwhile, my Fall garden has given me plenty of purple peppers and some tomatoes. The bugs always seem to get the tomatoes when they are ripe, so today I fooled them and picked the tomatoes green. I added them to the batch of salsa I mixed up today. I sure hope green tomatoes taste okay in salsa.



I also added some purple peppers (and their more dangerous red incarnation) to the salsa to make it deathly spicy. I love spicy food. After 6 weeks fermenting in my Harsch Crock, I should have some super tasty, healthy and not-for-the-faint-of-heart salsa.

Goodbye Mr. Winter

We've had more winter this year than I can remember for some time. But I finally believe it is over because the bees know. And one of our bee hives swarmed.



In the Spring before the "honey flow," bees sometimes get it into their little heads to swarm. A strong colony will divide itself into two smaller colonies and the Queen and a bunch of bees will leave their hive in search of a new home. Some bees will remain in the old hive and will raise up a new Queen, who must then mate and begin growing up the hive again.

The swarming bees will all of a sudden pour out of the hive entrance in a massive swirl, filling the air with a tornado of bees. They will find a branch or something similar and will congregate into a mass that looks like it hangs down from the branch.



The bees will "hang out" for a limited period of time while they determine where to move the colony. As beekeepers, we have our own ideas about where they should live. In fact, Kurt had a new beehive just about ready. Unfortunately, the bees settled on a fairly high branch and we weren't prepared to recover a swarm that high in the air. Kurt called a beekeeper friend and then raced to collect a swarm grabbing tool - a bucket on a stick. He had to get back before the bees left once and for all.



Our friends came with the bucket. James went after the swarm.



After cutting down some lower branches, James eased the bucket under the swarm. Then he smacked the branch.



The vibration dislodged the cluster of bees. They dropped into the bucket and James closed the lid with the attached string. Kurt and James dropped the bees into a new hive box and if all goes well, we will have five hives of bees instead of the four we had a couple of days ago.

Granted, the bee swarm rearranged our priorities yesterday but we are very excited about the new hive. Gregory quickly reminded everyone he was promised the first swarm of bees so the new bee hive will be Gregory's. He wants to raise honey and sell it to earn money. I hope he prospers with it. Especially since he will have to reimburse us for the equipment first.

I finally finished Asa's sweater and it fits perfectly.



He loved it and I am glad. I loved the lack of fabric bunching in his arm pits. Little people just don't have clothes stores to shop. Everyone should have at least a few clothes that absolutely fit. I am so blessed I was able to give Asa his first custom piece of clothing.



I'm so grateful the Lord gave me that nudge a few months ago, even if the sweater did not get finished until Winter finished too.

Moving!

More than a year ago, over the Fourth of July weekend, we listed our Brewton house for sale and decided to move south, to the Foley area. Believing the Lord would have Kurt take a promotion and move us to Foley, Kurt moved to Fairhope in October or November of 2008. When the economy fell apart, we wondered if we would ever sell our house in Brewton.

A couple of weeks ago we got an offer for our house. It wasn't as much as we'd hoped, but in this economy we were ready to take just about any offer. So we did!

Taking a lower offer on our Brewton home meant finding a home in the higher priced Foley area would be impossible without the Lord. Fortunately, we are not without the Lord. After a week of haggling, we entered into a contract for a house in Foley, 5 miles from where Kurt works. And we got it for the same price for which we sold our Brewton home. Granted, the house needs work, including a revamp of the whole septic system, but we think it is worth it.

Our new house.

We will only have a little more than 3 acres, but we just couldn't afford to get the house with the adjacent parcel (where the septic tank for the house happens to be). However, we believe we can live a moderate homesteading lifestyle with 3 acres and Kurt will be very close to work. That alone will be a tremendous blessing. Our church will be about a half an hour away, but we will be so close to where Kurt works.

In addition to the septic tank issues, we will have to finish the wood stairs and paint.



The house looks like repairs have been ongoing.

There are two master bedrooms, one upstairs and one down. Gregory has been positioning himself to get the upstairs master bedroom and not to share it with his brother.



And. . .



The house technically has 4 bedrooms, but the 3rd and 4th bedrooms look like one normal sized bedroom that someone walled down the middle to form two. No one's furniture will fit in either of these rooms. One solution is to build platform beds, like upper bunks to increase room for dressers and things. The other option is to remove the center wall and turn the house into a 3 bedroom home. I think the latter makes the most sense, but Gabrielle and Michael insist they want the tiny bedrooms. I suspect Gregory of being behind it, but I cannot prove my suspicions.

The upstairs bathroom is lovely.



I don't remember if it has a shower. I'll have to look tomorrow when we have our home inspection.

The downstairs master bedroom and bath is part of the original house and needs a lot of work. And Kurt and I will have to share a closet, which is no fun.



Kurt likes to lay his clothes out in the closet instead of hanging things up and that will simply not work if we have to share.

The area under the stairs is open. I'm trying to figure out how to turn the area into a closet for wool and fabric.



Between the kitchen and the great room is a small room I believe was once a bedroom (before the addition). We will use it as a school room for homeschooling.



I love extra rooms without assigned functions.

The great room is quite nice.



It is quite large and has a beautiful deck in the back.



There are actually 2 sections of deck off the back of the house. The other part extends toward the dining area.



The original dining area is a bit small, but a sun room has been built on the deck which can provide additional dining room space.



The kitchen is a bit small, but not too bad and the kids love the bar.



Fortunately, the counters are in bad shape and will need to be replaced. They are pink and I really don't want to have to live with them.

Outside is a small workshop area.



And across the yard is a chicken coop.



Unfortunately, it turns out we don't own the part of the yard with the chicken coop.

In the meantime, I've done a very little bit of knitting.



I finished my second pair of Rivendell socks and gave them to a lady at church who ended up in the hospital with heart problems.



I love the cuffs on these socks and can see making another pair one of these days.

And despite my complete neglect with everything else going on, the garden continues to provide us with fresh fruit and vegetables.



I added one of our home raised chickens and some mashed potatoes to yesterday's harvest and we had a very nice dinner.



The kids and the adults are excited to be moving, but sad to be leaving so many friends behind.

All Hail Spring

At 4:30 a.m. yesterday, everyone jumped out of bed in terrified response to the jack-hammering golf ball sized hail battering our house. Hail fell in torrential sheets, while frequent lightening flashes showed us glimpses of a foreign, ice filled landscape. I have never seen anything like this hail storm. I prayed the windows and cars would survive the battering ice while the children prayed for the roof. About 15 minutes later, the ice turned to rain and we waited for sunrise to survey the damage.

Kurt left for class as the sun rose early in the morning. Creek water rushed over the small land bridge that forms the only way in or out of our property and no one knew if he would be able to get home later that day. Not much road survived the last wash-over and we didn't know if we would survive this one.

Praise to God's grace and mercy, damage was not as bad as it could have been. Enough road remains for us to get in and out of our property. Garden plants were smashed and trees defoliated, but the house remained sound as did the vehicles. (Except for a traveling crack in my windshield.)



Despite wind and rain throughout the day yesterday, leaves pulled down by the hail cover everything. Once these leaves dry we will need to sweep out the children's trampoline.



After struggling to survive flooding rains over and over this last month, the garlic suffered bravely through yesterday's hail and flooding rain. However, ice flattened much of it.



The onions fared worse.



Much of the sugar cane looked battered.



And torn.



Leaves snapped.



And bent over.



The smashed radishes have begun to rally, though it looks like bugs have started attacking the weakened plants.



The horseradish looks very sad.



Under all of the fallen leaves this bed was once filled with baby spinach.



The banana trees around our house look pathetic with their shredded leaves.



Our apple trees had finally grown to the point of producing abundant blossoms this year. Not many are left and those that are have few petals remaining.



Even the chicken wire covered coop yard sported a leaf covering. The turkeys and chickens are still trying to figure out if the leaves are good for food.



Our meat chickens are growing fast and eating tons of food every day.



The 70 of them also drink about 7 gallons of water each day.



They are already huge for only 4 weeks old.



The turkeys too are big.



Our rare breed chicken has feathered out as expected.



He looks a bit like Elvis.



What do you think?



He looks tiny surrounded by the giant meat birds while waiting his turn at the waterer.



Last week, I gathered the poke weeds for the first time and cooked my first poke salat.



I've never actually cooked greens before and didn't realize how little I had picked. We only had enough to just taste it. My recipe needs work. I don't know if I like poke or not yet. It takes a lot of work cooking it "in 3 waters."



Last week we got a couple deliveries from the power company.



As the power company trims their easements, they shred the plant material and will provide it free of charge for composting. I'm hoping to get a great deal more before Spring turns to Summer.



I cooked one of the turkeys we raised last year for Easter Sunday. After we picked the meat from the bones, I boiled the bones overnight with some onion, celery, garlic and bay for turkey broth. Yesterday, I canned 24 pints.



I love stocking my pantry with home grown and prepared food.

I have done a little knitting during the last couple of weeks.



I finished my Rogue Roses socks.



And I finally started my Rivendell socks. I have loved the Rivendell pattern for a long time and I can't believe it took so long for me to get started. I'm on the second chart and am already thinking I might need to make a second pair.

All in all, we're having a normal, crazy Spring.