crowing hen blogs again

23/6/2020

Some thoughts on weavers - and why we can sometimes seem cold to the uninitiated

Can I borrow your toothbrush?
Not A toothbrush. YOUR toothbrush.
The one you use at least twice a day (and hopefully more). I’ll bring it back tonight, or at least by next week... or soon...ish. Soon-ish. I promise. I know it’s your only toothbrush and you don’t have a chance to go out and get another one because it was a super-deluxe toothbrush you spent years of your life finding the perfect one to fit the shape of your mouth. You don’t mind if I borrow it, right?

It may seem like an unusual request and an even odder analogy to weaving. As a new weaver, I had trouble understanding that silence that invaded the room every time someone asked to borrow (or even touch) a weaving tool. Nearly 20 years later, I’m starting to understand what that bated-breath moment was and why weavers can seem incredibly cold on the idea. And yet...

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16/6/2020

How to wash wool!

Washing wool is a lot easier than it seems. The hardest part is finding a place for it to dry as it can take a couple of days, even in the sun. Wool can hold up to 30% of its weight in moisture without feeling damp, so it is essential to make sure it's extra dry before stashing it away.

As much as I love geeking out about this sort of thing, I'm going to keep this tutorial simple. You don't need to know the exact temperature lanolin and sunit melt at nor the .... any of those things. For most of human history, people didn't know all this stuff. But they managed to wash wool anyway, and so can you.

The following is suitable for most fleeces and even alpaca, llama, goat, and bunny fibre. It's good to test if your fibre felts easily. You can find this out by agitating a small handful underwater to see if it sticks together. If it does, be gentler with your fibre than I was with mine or use a method that will reduce the amount of movement within the fibre.

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13/6/2020

Crowing Hen Farm COVID-19 Safety Plan

In compliance with the ORDER OF THE [British Columbian] PROVINCIAL HEALTH OFFICER (Pursuant to Sections, 30, 31, 32 and 39 (3) Public Health Act, S.B.C. 2008) Workplace COVID-19 Safety Plans;

Here are the steps that my company, Crowing Hen Farm, is taking to avoid the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace:

Llama says:
Avoid All Humans!

Avoid all humans.
If one must interact with a human, stay at least 2-meters away from the strange human.
I'm the owner and only worker here. I'm going to keep on working alone. If I need to import extra labour like feeding The Guard Llama, I will source that labour from within my household.
When outside help comes to the farm, like for sheering the sheep, we implement a 6-yard policy: no one is to go within 6-yards of the non-household-human. It is essential to keep the people who care for our animals healthy and not endanger them in any way even if we probably don't have the virus.
I panic bought handsoap, disinfectant, and even hand-sanitizer from a local company made from locally distilled alcohol. And now I have to use it up so I'm doing far more cleaning than I ever wanted to.
I am now ordering our beer online from the local brewery (and if you ever want to purchase some for me, ESB is my favourite! Just say it's for Raven, they know who I am.).
I am no longer doing pickup and drop off orders until further notice. Mail order only.
To that end, I have released Tommy, the Attack Llama and his supporting troops, The Geese, to prevent unscheduled visitors from entering the property.
Reduced trips to the post office to no more than twice a week.
Sanitize my hands before and after being in the post office and after going anywhere humans might go. Who am I kidding? I'm washing my hands every half hour during the day because it gives me some measure of comfort and the illusion that I have control over the situation.

9/6/2020

Making a deposit to your seed bank - defeat the weeds at their own game!

In every handful of soil, sleeps thousands of enemies; The seeds of weeds that, given the slightest moment of inattention, will gleefully smother all your hard work. But what if there was a way to turn your enemies superpower against them?

A weed is just a plant that is growing unrequested. And the thing about weeds is that they are just so good at growing. They outgrow and smother just about any domestic plant. The weeds have the advantage, they have been growing and reproducing in this garden for generations. Through natural selection, the weeds have adapted to thrive in these conditions — clever little fellas.

tomato weed growing among the chard

As the weeds grow and reproduce, they create a seed bank in the soil. This is like a savings account of weed seeds that they can draw upon for future generations. Some seeds will stay dormant for over 100 years, waiting for their moment. No matter how many weeds we kill this year, there are always more seeds in the savings account.

We can fight this seed bank with chickens, chemicals, fire, heat, cold, all sorts of things - but weeds are tricky and have evolved over the years to survive all of these torments. Let's face it, weeds are smarter than us and always will be.

It's time to start playing the weeds' game - And Win!

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2/6/2020

How to ship a carded batt?

I want to know the best way to ship carded wool batts so that the fibres stay lofty and easy to draft. So I did some experiments.

A batt is the result of preparing the fibre on a drum carder. It can be a giant drum carder like they have in a fibre mill, or a tiny one like mine. Not that I mind tiny. To me, it's just the right amount for what I'm doing now and I'm hoping my carding adventures will earn my way towards a bigger, better, bolder machine.

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YOUR CART

Crowing Hen Blog

Some thoughts on weavers - and why we can sometimes seem cold to the uninitiated

How to wash wool!

Crowing Hen Farm COVID-19 Safety Plan

Making a deposit to your seed bank - defeat the weeds at their own game!

How to ship a carded batt?

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