Raspberries...

Picked and into the pot within 15 minutes the other day.  Yum.  Raspberries!  I made 2 batches.  16 jars.  That should get everyone through until next jam season.  We supply jam to both children and their significant others.  Next up blueberries.  They appear to be our best crop ever just late because of the terrible spring weather.  Happy weekend!

Black Currant Jam... yum

Black Currant Jam.  Picked the currants and made the jam right away.  The two currant bushes produce exactly enough for one batch of jam which is just the right amount to hoard and enjoy sparingly throughout the year until Black Currant day comes again.  Four jars and a bit.  Vitamin C in a jar.  Lovely!

quilting and binding...and a magic bag

Yesterday I quilted my string quilt.  Then I made the binding, pinned the binding, sewed the binding to the quilt and hand sewed the binding.  Done.  Then I got out the magic bag and warmed it up because this quilt was such a big quilt by the time I finished with the quilting, I was a bit of a wreck.  What a workout!  But it is done and will be ready for the big unveiling tomorrow.

On the sewing front today?  I took it easy.  Husband and I went on a bit of an adventure to get some new chickens.  They are quite lovely.  7 sweet little 2 month old girlies.  More on that later.  The only quilting accomplished today was the choosing of colours for my next Farmer's Wife blocks.  After finishing the string quilt, I can now attest to the fact that you can put a whole mess of colours together in chaotic randomness and it still comes out looking like it was made to be and all on purpose.  With this in mind, I will try to relax when choosing the scraps to make my little blocks because in the end, it will all look like it should.

On the farming front, the raspberries are finally starting to ripen and we will most likely be picking the first batch by Tuesday. While our blueberries are not ready we did notice that farms at a lower elevation have blueberries starting to look blue.  There is hope.  We are easily 2 weeks late this season.  Yoiks. We are currently wealthy in  broccoli and parsley.  Right now it is a competition.  Who will win?  The ability of Husband to keep up with the tabouli making and thus the parsley crop or will the parsley win?  I have my money on the parsley!

And I leave you with a lovely photo of my magic bag.  : ) Happy Sunday!

visitors in the field

We had some lovely visitors today in the field.  Coastal black tailed deer.  2 young males just starting to grow their first antlers.  They stayed all day and had a lovely time in the tall grass, enjoying a drink at the pond now and then.  They are most welcome to come again and stay for awhile.

As for quilting.  I did manage to get all the 8.5" squares cut from blue vintage sheets for my next vintage sheet quilt.  I am going to stick strictly to blues in this one and I think it is going to come together quickly and look altogether smashing!

Have a lovely evening!!!!

On Tuesday...

 One of these eggs is not like the other.  One of these eggs just doesn't belong!

Funny chickens!  Our hens are a little more than 2 years old.  A few of them have been taking a wee bit of a holiday from laying.  There are only 7 of them.  Enough eggs for Husband and I and then an extra dozen for friends or family.  One of the "girls" as Husband calls them, has not been feeling tip top these last few days but man, she is really trying.  Today she gave us the gift of this tiny egg.  And what energy she must have expended to produce this small gem.  Thank you, chicken, thank you!

On the quilting front today, not much today because it was back to work.  The big excitement at school was the report of a black bear in the neighbourhood.  That's always exciting for the students. One look at a playground filled with 415 students and I am sure any bear with half a brain would be running for the hills.  We will be careful but the bear is really more interested in finding garbage cans at people's homes, I fear.

Have a wonderful evening and let's hope that, for all the hockey fans,  the Canuck's do well tonight.

And there are so many birthdays in May, so a big happy birthday to all!  Happy Birthday, Clever Son.  Happy Birthday, Son's Wonderful Girlfriend.  Happy Birthday, Niece.  Happy Birthday, Dear Dad.  Happy Birthday, Grampa!  Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan.  Happy Birthday, Janer!

the girls

The girls having a diva moment

Husband loves his girls.  They are turning 2 next month.  On St. Patrick's Day.  We brought them home from the hatchery in a box.  They made an incredible noise for such little fluff balls.  We had 27 of them and once they grew they produced a lot of eggs.  I was spending a lot of time selling eggs.  Not that it is ever a problem because people always want eggs.  The law of small farm chickens is that egg demand always outstrips supply.  It's just the way it is.  

A while back we decided to scale back the girls to just enough for us with a dozen or so a week extra.  We quickly found a farmer who wanted some more chickens for eggs.  The farmer came by and husband and I were busy stuffing the girls into crates for the short trip across the way and down the hill.  Husband knows his girls and had an idea which ones he wanted to keep.  One of the "give away" girls, a crafty and feisty bird, decided to make a run for the woods.  She totally took me by surprise, squeezed out of the crate and high-tailed it for the woods.  I thought she was a goner.  We have coyotes, and hawks, not to mention BEARS!  Husband wasn't worried.  Through the afternoon, we caught site of her a few times.  And sure enough, when dusk was beginning to fall, out of the woods came chicken little.  Ready to go in for the night and join the rest of her buddies.  Husband opened up the pen and in she ran.  Known as Lucky, she is the seventh hen in our flock.  Lucky number 7.  She works hard to prove her worth.  Sometimes she takes a long time sitting in the nest working away at laying her daily egg.  She adds much to a group of lovely, gifted egg layers who have been known to give us 8 eggs a day.  But husband has also been known to boil them up a pot of warm pasta on a cold and rainy day.  Just a little spoiled they are.  And to let them know how much we do appreciate what they give to us...