Natural Dyeing with Goldenrod

I think it would be so wonderful to get all of the colors we need from nature - and I suspect that we probably could.  Just last night while reading the book I shared in my last post, I came across this - 

"When Ruby and her mother decided to stencil the front-room walls, Seth gathered the elder twigs and chewed their ends for the brushes.  He helped, too, to gather the huckleberries and prepare their rich purple juice into which the brushes were dipped to work the color through the tin stencils onto the plaster."  (from Out of the Saltbox, by Ruth Rasey)

With lots of goldenrod growing all around our homestead, we gathered the flowers

And then using the directions from here, and using Peace Fleece natural yarn, we put the goldenrod in the canning pan and added enough water to cover, then heated to a simmer and left for about one hour.  I left the goldenrod to soak overnight.    The next morning, I drained the flowers out and heated up the dye bath to a simmer again.

Meanwhile, I filled another large stainless steel pan with water and added the alum which is the mordant.  This is used to keep the yarn colorfast.   I then soaked three skeins of yarn in the mordant and then one at a time, added them to the dye and let sit for about an hour.  I probably should have left them to soak in the dye bath over night - as they did come out a little light.

I am trying to decide what to knit with this soft lemon yellow color.   Any suggestions?

Have you done any natural dyeing?  (There has been some  natural dyeing going on at this blog.)

What have you used?

I am thinking that it would be wonderful to plant a dyers garden next spring.  

Warm wishes,

Tonya

Knitting and Reading....

I finished up the Plain Vest with all of the leftover bits of Peace Fleece wool yarns and am happy with the rustic feel.

I have cast on a Christmas gift for a family member - it is called April Showers Scarf and I am using a dk weight yarn in beautiful green shades with size 8 needles.  This pattern does require counting so I anticipate that it will be on the needles for some time as I will probably save it to work on during car rides or quiet nursing times.

So I am having fun looking my through my stash, trying to come up with another simple knit to cast on.

On Monday, I was able to go to a sweet treasure shop and found this book, Out of the Saltbox, The Savour of Old Vermont.  The author writes about a house that was home to one of Vermont's first settlers and then remained in the family for five subsequent generations.  It is nonfiction, based on research, but reads much like a story of simpler (but often much, much more challenging) times.

Looking forward to sharing with Ginny and many others in today's yarn along.

Out My Kitchen Window

Each Monday I thought I would share a photo or two  - from our kitchen window - of a scene I captured while going about my daily work of baking, cooking, and cleaning in the kitchen.

I thought it would be fun to pay attention, to observe the changes of the seasons, and to appreciate the small bits of beauty that surround us.

This one I took at 6:30 am this morning when all the house was quiet.  Mike had just let the goats out and they were enjoying their morning hay.  

If you would like to join in, please leave a link in your comment.

Moments from Last Week

Thomas reading them one of his favorite books, Mr. Elephant's Birthday Party.  He let me know that he would like to have it when he has his own children some day.

Emily is taking a few steps at a time now.

Abraham and Sarah brought this inside for me.

Isaac finished building a dock.  They are having a great time running and jumping off the end into the pond.

Abraham and Sarah harvested the onions for me.

Emmy has been getting lots of rides!

Sunflower Wreath

After the petals fell from our cut sunflower, I noticed how beautiful the remaining sunflower still is and wired it to our grapevine wreath.  When it dries out, it will become a treat for the chickens.

Knitting and Homesteading

I am still working on the Boneyard Shawl - just loving the simplicity.  Now I am wondering when to stop?  How large do I want it?  I am going to keep this one for myself but I would like to start another for someone special for a Christmas gift.

Also, so not to get too bored, after cleaning out a yarn drawer, I found myself with many little left over balls of Peace Fleece and started knitting another Plain Vest in stripes.

As far as reading, I took a book off of our bookshelves to re-read, How to Live on Almost Nothing and Have Plenty by Janet Chadwick (1979) and am really enjoying it this time.  It is neat when you pick up a book you haven't looked at for a couple of years and find all kinds of ideas and tidbits that would work for where you are in life now, but probably didn't when you last read it.  Does that make sense?

Our family has something exciting going on - some plans for the future - and much of the plans involve getting more immersed in the homesteading lifestyle - and to share our skills with others.  I will be sharing our new dreams in the coming months here.

Joining in with Ginny today for the Yarn Along.

Healthier Zucchini Bread

As I work toward eliminated white and brown sugars from my diet and using less for the rest of the family, I did a google search to look for a zucchini bread using maple syrup as an alternative.

I found this one.

I doubled the recipe, and added walnuts to one of the loaves.  

Delicious!  - even husband and child approved.

Outside My Kitchen Windows

Each Monday I thought I would share two photos - one from each of our kitchen windows - of a scene I captured while going about my daily work of baking, cooking, and cleaning in the kitchen.

I thought it would be fun to pay attention, to observe the changes of the seasons, and to appreciate the small bits of beauty that surround us.

If you would like to join in, please leave a link in your comment.

Warm wishes,

Tonya

More Pictures of the Chicken Coop

A reader asked me for more complete pictures of our coop addition.

This is the front view.  Mike built it coming straight off the side wall, using hemlock logs as the frame from our property.

The "barn" structure was here when we moved in - a bit of a ramshackle mess - filled with trash, leaning a bit.  But we have done what we could within our budget and work on balancing what we really "need" versus what we want.  

I am sure many people would have burned it or torn it down but it works for us.

The barn keeps the elements out, the goats in at night, stores our hay and garden tools - we are grateful it was here.

This is the view from the side.  We are using the back portion to store bicycles.

For the windows we bought heavy duty window screen by the yard and then when it get colds, we will be ordering plexi-glass to screw over the screening for the winter.

Warm wishes,

Tonya

Such a full week

There are many moments in my days where I breath out hard and heavy and just pray to God to give me patience, energy, and a loving heart to continue on through all of the hundreds of small details that make up both a mom's day and a small business owner's day.  But remembering all of the beautiful moments that make up our days helps me to keep perspective and to remember that there is so much joy and so much love that does go on each day despite my shortcomings.

With Abraham and Emmy needing a change of pace and with myself trying to do too many things at once, we all needed a change of pace the other morning.  I grabbed a basket, some graham crackers, a jug of water, some knitting and a blanket and said, "Let's go have a morning picnic snack on the other side of the pond."  We found some berries along the way.

Abby, Isaac and friends working on building a dock.

I smile whenever I find one of Abe's drawings.

She is now walking as she pushes the stroller!

The first canning of the season was completed this week - Carrots in Honey and Vinegar, Pungent Green Beans, and Pickles.

Sarah and Abraham love pickles and made quick work of finishing up the ones that were leftover after filling up the jars.

Sarah is now reading and we are having a hard time getting her to stop!  It has taken some patience, some diligence, and some faith that all of her small steps towards breaking the code would finally be victorious. 

Wishing you a beautiful day.

Warm Wishes,

Tonya

Knitting

Joining in again this week with Ginny as knitting and reading are two of my favorite pastimes.  

Inspired by this talented mama, I have been working on the Boneyard shawl.  I love this simple pattern - no counting or keeping track after the first few rows.  I chose a dk weight yarn from Peace Fleece and a larger needle - size 8 - to hopefully give a soft drape to the shawl.

Also, I have started working on this very simple knit doll from the winter edition of Living Crafts for a special someone's first birthday coming up next month.  I am using some beautiful plant dyed yarn from Vermont sheep.

Looking for some good reading suggestions this week.  I have been doing lots of homeschool planning and reading some more of Wendell Berry's essays (which are great!)  - but I am ready for something new and inspiring.

Warm wishes,

Tonya