I hope your holidays went well. It was so nice to get together with family and friends and we had over 2' of snow this year for Christmas (dropped over 4 days) and it was gone by New Year's Eve, then yesterday we had another 9" drop in less than 4 hours. Most snow we've had in Walla Walla, WA, since we moved here 6 years ago. Not exactly what we were expecting, but it was beautiful.

I received a beautiful Babe Production Spinning Wheel (http://www.babesfibergarden.com/) from Santa. Now I have two wheels and 2 drop spindles, so I'm all set for the time being. When I teach classes for people with no wheels, then I can have them work on one, while I demonstrate on the other. However, it's always nice if they have their own wheels though, then they can get the feel of their own wheel while I'm there to guide them. What ever works for them, works for me. I wanted a lighter weight wheel than my oak Ashford Traditional wheel so it will be much easier to take it to places to do demonstrations (fairs, festivals, schools, day cares, & other venues)

I had some trouble getting used to the tensioning gizmo that they have on the Babe wheel, but with a phone call to WI to talk with the owner/creator, I believe I have it figured out. I've been spinning like crazy! I went through the 8 oz of wool in such a short time that I could not believe it. There are a few squeaks as it's made out of PVC piping, but for the most part, I'm happy with it.

I was raising sheep for the 4-5 years we lived here, but I've gotten rid of all but two of the last Icelandic ewe lambs (silver grey and white with moorit spots), which I'm keeping for their fiber. Also I have 4 alpacas (a white Suri and a grey, cinnamon and white Huacaya), so will have plenty of fiber that I have from the sheep in the last few years to spin in addition to buying fleeces from various people around the area. I also get fiber from my dwarf Great Pyrenees, Bud, who is white with cream spots. When He blows his coat and as small as he is, I still get about 8-12 ounces of fiber to spin up. I had a beautiful Tortoiseshell (chocolate brown and gold) Persian cat named Miss Lacey who died two years ago and I'll be spinning her fiber into a fiber yarn and make a shawl for myself. Every once in a while, I still see her around the corner...I had her for 13 years, so I guess that's expected.

I will be shearing all my animals (except my dog whom I'll cut off his matts after the winter), and pluck the blown coat from my dog. And because I don't have so many animals to take care of, it means I'll have more time for my gardening, canning, dehydrating, and freezing.

We only have 2.3 acres now, but within 3-5 years we'll be moving to a parcel between 20-40 acres and will build our own home. Right now we have an assortment of gardens and an orchard: herbs, roses (20), raspberries (both June and everbearing), strawberries (June and everbearing), veggies, and my trees: 2 English walnuts, 2 peach, 2 apricots, 1 hazelnut, 1 elderberry, 2 asian pear (we planted 2 years ago last September), 1 male hardy kiwi (the 4 females died so we'll be getting 2 more females this year), and a Bing-type cherry.

When we get our land, we'll have Shagbark Hickory trees, black walnuts, English walnuts, Bing-type & pie cherry trees, asian pears, bosc pears, elderberries, more hardy Kiwis, gooseberries, currants, blueberries, raspberries, and other assorted trees and shrubs. While we're here, I'll try out other shrubs and trees to see how hard they are to care for and keep up. One Green World has a huge assortment of fruit trees from all over the world (http://www.onegreenworld.com/). I get so excited when I look through their catalog or on their website. So many things to try out.

So, as you can see, I'll be busy with my animals, my spinning, my gardens and my orchard, and least, but not least, my husband. I'll also be working on my websites and write to friends and relatives.

So, if you have fun with fiber (spin, felt, knit, crochet, weave or?), animals, gardening, preserving what you grow, and love living in the country, please send me a note...I'd love to hear from you!

Hugz,
Fiber_diva

I'm amazed by how so many people do blogs, post emails on the Web, post comments, etc., but when you look at their profiles, they don't have the city they live in, much less their state, or country. What are they so afraid of? Do they realize just how hard it is to find them, even if someone knows what city they live in? Or even recognize them on the street in their city?

I'm self-employed and home by myself most of the time, but I'd prefer to keep everything out there. If someone is out to get me, they're going to get me regardless of what I try to do to keep that from happening. I won't live in fear that putting my information on the Web is going to make it happen any faster. My time will to go will happen when it's time for me to go...and nothing I can do is going to stop Death from coming for me...not botox injections, not face lifts, not dyeing my hair, not exercising every day, not putting alarms or bars on my house/windows/doors, and certainly not living in fear.

Look at Howard Hughes, living in fear for most of his adult life. He was a very unhappy man. I refuse to live my life in fear, even if I am disabled. I try to live it with joy and happiness, working hard, advertising my products and trying to get ahead and live healthy. This way of living is not for everyone and I'm not condoning you live this way, but don't be so afraid that you put yourself into such a small box that you cannot live before Death comes for you.

I was raped by my stepfather, and before that, raped/molested by my mother. I could have lived in fear of women and men my whole life and not trusted anyone. I can't do that. If you want to live a full and happy life, you have to trust that not everyone is out to get you. It's so sad to see so many people afraid and paranoid about the Web. Yes, there are bad people out there, but when the bad people are in your own home, and horror movies were less scary than your every day life, how do you trust anyone. You just do. You start with counseling to deal with the issues, then you make friends, and eventually, you might even meet the right person for you. It takes time, but it does happen.

So, take that first step and talk with a counselor...and if that counselor is not the right one for you, not all counselors can be trusted either, find a different counselor. You cannot build trust by not taking chances. If you begin a friendship and that friend disappoints you, find another one...eventually, you'll find someone who'll be your friend unconditionally...but no one is perfect either. We all make mistakes and you have to look passed that mistake if it's something you'd do yourself or take that person's childhood into account...if it's something you cannot live with, then tell that person you cannot be their friend. It happens sometimes...but there are friends for you out there. The same with love relationships.

The saying "you've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet your Prince or Princess" is just that...not all of the people you meet will be Mr., Miss, or Ms. Right. You keep on looking if that's what you want. Remember, not everyone has to be involved in a "love" relationships. There's such a thing as being asexual, meaning that you don't want or need sex. That's fine also...you don't need to be put out because you don't have a relationship...not having one and being alone is find also. Each person is different.

So, march to your own drummer, but do it in Happiness and Joy, not in fear, compulsion, or depression. Life is what you make out of it. We all have free will, and we can choose how we life our lives.

Hugs and Happiness, Jet

Norphan may have gotten hit by a car on Saturday evening. We were doing some pruning Sunday morning and touching up some of the trees so the animals couldn't eat them and we got to the cherry and the hazelnut. I'd been calling her, but she didn't come to me like she usually does. I kept calling now and again while we worked, but we saw her curled up on her side. Lance climbed the cattle panel fence and tried to pick her up and she cried (how I imagine a cat would cry), but he picked her up and put her in my arms on the other side of the fence. I brought her inside the garage where we usually put her in for the night, and she curled up into her cat bed. She's been down for a couple days, but today, she actually walked around, but I could tell her back end was sore, but it's all working, so there's no paralysis--thank goodness. The Vet said there were no broken bones, so we're both happy about that. Lance thinks that Norphan is one of the best cats he's ever had or seen. Good disposition and people friendly. I think she's a sweetie pie.

I still have 1 ewe to lamb yet and she could have 1 to 3 lambs, but I've used up all my Scrapies tags and all but two of my registrations numbers. So, I ordered what I needed and they'll be here soon. When they're all finished, I have to fill out the Excel spreadsheet with all the animals' information on it, then email to the State, then the State will mail it to the Vet responsible for the Voluntary Scrapies program in WA State and will come check my flock by observation. Scrapies is a neurological disease, though is contagious, sort of like MS in people. So, they can detect the genetic markers to see if a sheep has the genes for Scrapies, but can't do lab work to check it out to see if they actually have Scrapies. There are quite a few symptoms to watch for, and based on my own observations, I don't see any of the symptoms, but I'm not a Vet either.

Based on testing by the Vet and checking by my shearer, I do know they don't have OPP (Ovine pneumonia) and CL (can't remember the C part-Caseous maybe, but the L is Lymphadema). It's from goats and can be transmitted from goats to sheep.

I've been writing letters to my state legislatures though about the NAIS. My thoughts on this is that the animals are already out, it's too late to close the gates. If they think that they're going to contain the Bird Flu, they are crazy. The flu is a virus that mutates rapidly, and the only way they can contain it is not by registering poultry, but by finding a way to make vaccines that work as rapidly as possible. Because we can get the bird flu from birds in the wild, it's not going to stop it from spreading throughout the bird populations either wild or domesticated. It's like the swine flu...which went from pigs to people...no way to stop it. So, I cannot help but think that the government is still using fear tactics to keep us from Keeping control of our rights. Heck, 9/11 happened in 2001 and the government is still using it to keep control of us and continue to take away our rights. This has got to stop.

Not only that, but large milk and meat producers only have to register they're animals in a group meaning maybe one tag for 1000 animals or more, but those of us who have less than 50 animals will have to register each and every one of them and the cost falls on us to make sure they're registered and accounted for.

Do you know what costs the NAIS is going to entail, not only for the small producer, but for everyone who eats meat, eggs, and dairy products in the U.S.? The costs are going to sky-rocket and there are still people who are ignoring this as if it's going to go away all by itself. And you can forget about Natural or Organic meats because most of the small producers who have free-range animals or poultry won't be able to do it. Every time a chicken, quail, turkey, goose, duck or any other type of poultry goes to someone else's property, you have to report it within 24 hours, for each and every animal: cattle, horses, cows, goats, sheep, alpacas, llamas, dogs, cats, and all poultry. This will be a HUGE headache for small, organic, free-range producers. No longer will people be able to get really organic eggs with the huge orange yolks that taste so much better than the eggs we buy from the larger producers at the grocery store, from hens that are in small cages and never get to run in the sun or eat grass, weeds, bugs, or healthy foods.

And those of you who want to raise and grow your own animals so you don't have antibiotics, growth hormones and other chemicals in the animals and poultry you're growing to eat, you won't be able to afford it if the NAIS goes through. You're lives will be taken up in keeping track of your animals and reporting their movements to the government.

When will you have time to even raise the animals, much less raise your children, and those of you who do, home school them? You'll need to get microchips to tag each animals, in addition to all the other tagging and tattooing you'd need to do. I already do the Scrapies tagging, tattooing for each ear for the Icelandic sheep registration, and registration tagging them as well. It's too much...but I will keep fighting to keep NAIS from happening and will try to keep my animals up as best as I can in all the rest of the ways.

And it's not just the government who's put the NAIS in place... It's the large producers and lobbyists for the meat, poultry and dairy groups. You see, the large producers DO NOT want small producers raising their own meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. It takes money out of their pockets to have people raising their own. They feel they are entitled to get all they can from ALL the population of the United States, so they have the expensive commercials from the Dairy Council, Beef and Pork Industry, Chickens producers, etc., and the expect us to pay for it and now they want to keep us from raising our own animals. It's not right!

Parents should take this opportunity to show their school-aged children how to work within the context of the government. I've talked with other parents about this and they don't want to get involved. I hear this and wonder how they can complain about things like this if they don't do anything to stop it when it is in their power to do so. I wrote the Governors, Senators, the USDA, and both the republican and democratic legislators, and told them that I wanted them to vote NO to NAIS!!!!

The National Animal Identification System is very, very dangerous and will take away more of our rights and freedoms. The NAIS will take away our very basic rights...that of being able to do what we want to on our own land, raising animals and produce without chemicals, herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones or antibiotics or anything else so we can eat healthier than if we bought our meat and produce from the grocery store. The government is taking away too many of our freedoms and rights...We're behaving like domesticated sheep, following the government as if they're right about all this...and we, being so apathetic, are not even fighting to keep our rights. Don't let our freedoms and rights go away without a fight!!!!!

I got some of my plants from the catalog today, so will be planting Hardy Kiwi (1 male, 4 females--fruit is about the size of a large grape without the brown hairy skin), 3 ever bearing red raspberry and 6 ever bearing yellow raspberry and 25 ever bearing strawberries (Quinault), and 4 tulip trees. So, starting tomorrow once I get the animals in the other pastures, I'll be planting my little heart out to get everything in the ground with alpaca manure in each hole to help ensure that the plants will have a good base to grow with, and some compost to keep it loose and healthy. I'm planning on getting some seeds in the ground also, and I've already got 75 ever bearing strawberries (the 3 other kinds than the Quinault) that are already starting to bloom, with netting over them to keep the birds out. My onions (red, yellow, white) are all coming up, as are my red shallots and elephant garlic, so things will be coming up like crazy.

My Apple and Cherry trees are blooming and are so pretty...the apple's pink blossoms and the cherry's whitish/pinkish blossoms are very lovely, but not much smell. Haven't seen many bees out, so I'm thinking about buying some mason bees and a box hive for them to help pollinate them though I might be a bit late.

The rhubarb I planted last year and the year before is all coming up (7 plants of 2 varieties- 3 plants I got from a friend, and 4 Victoria rhubarb I got from Bi-Mart). I also bought 2 Victoria rhubarbs, 4 pot rhubarbs (does anyone know what pot rhubarb actually is?), 3 types of rosemary (Arp, creeping and another), 1 regular sage plants, 1 red pear tomato, 1 Cherokee tomato, also from Bi-Mart. They are a all around plant/seed store along with almost every odd and end of things you need for the house, garden, hunting, fishing, and crafts.

I have a variety of seeds from last year so that I can grow as many plants as I can from seed. I have some mangels (feed beets for animals), pumpkins, squash, spinach, radish, etc. I want as much produce as I can this year, with much of it for storage in the cellar so I don't have to spend as much on groceries for the staples. I have my dehydrator in place to start with the strawberries and raspberries, and will try to make some lamb jerky. I've got my canning jars at the ready so I can make some jams and jellies, maybe some peach and apricot preserves and fruit jams.

If I can find some million bells petunias, I'm going to get 2-4 different colors and keep them going through the winter this year. I can take cuttings and continue to keep the plants growing.

Would you like to learn to garden, do hand crafts, kitchen crafts, and working with animals, in exchange for their labor and some of the meat and/or produce. Send an email to me via the Blog and I will chat with you about it. I teach spinning, knitting, crocheting, dyeing, felting, etc. as well, so we'll have a grand time. I also have paid classes and weekend workshops, so if you're interested, please contact me.

Take care!