The Spinning Guy

Switching to the New Blog

Upper Alpacas — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 02:49:00 +0000

I can't stand it. I've got a new blog just begging me for posts, so I'm switching to the new blog site now.

I've got a post ready and waiting.

Come on over, read along, post a comment (I’ll moderate your first post to limit spam), and we’ll see how this site evolves.

Perfect Present

Upper Alpacas — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 21:51:00 +0000

After we opened our presents, Pam told me I needed to check my computer. I went to the computer and searched the area – behind the computer, behind the monitor, around the desk, etc. Finding nothing, I quickly minimized all my applications looking for something on the desktop. In my greedy haste to find my present, I finally checked my e-mail. I found a message from Pam suggesting that I click HERE.

Thank you Pam. Merry Christmas!

Sometime soon, my blog will move to this new address. Please stay tuned and I'll let you know when I've done enough development to actually make the switch.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Perfect Present

Upper Alpacas — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 21:51:00 +0000

Merry Christmas

Upper Alpacas — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 20:56:00 +0000

What is This Seam?

Upper Alpacas — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 16:39:00 +0000

I have finished the first sock – or at least as much of it as I plan to finish. Once it was discovered that the foot of the sock wouldn't fit Pam's feet, the sock became a practice piece. After I got tired of 2x2 ribbing, it became an ankle sock practice piece.

I have a question about this seam in my short row heel. I don't think it is supposed to be there.

The seam in the short row heel.

The seam happened when I started increasing again after the shortest row, or possibly one row later. Is it normal for short row heels to do this? If so, is there another type of heel because I don't like this seam.

My current suspicion is that I knit a purl row -- or purled a knit row -- at this point to create the seam. Does this make any sense to you more experienced knitters?

Catching Snowflakes on the Tongue

Upper Alpacas — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:39:00 +0000

It's snowing. Del is out in the snow trying to catch snowflakes in his mouth.

(Sorry, no video available.)

This is probably one of those cases where a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a thousand pictures. There is no way I can get video or pictures at the moment and I could type my million words and still not create an accurate picture of what Del is doing.

We're getting a heavy, wet snow backing off the Cascades. Some of the snowflakes are almost two inches across – fluffy snowballs really – and Del is out in the pasture trying to catch them in his mouth.

You've seen people catch snowflakes on their tongue. Some of you have probably seen dogs snap snowflakes from the air. Dell's process is something between the two, and nothing I can really describe. I'll save the rest of my million words and simply say one of my alpacas is exhibiting another fun and cute behavior.

Erudite? Not today!

Upper Alpacas — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 21:40:00 +0000

I am supposed to write erudite, cheery, blogs of how much spinning and knitting I'm getting done. Now that the girls are off the farm, I'm supposed to have so much more time to do all this, but it's not getting done. I'm supposed to have so much less stress, but it doesn't seem that much changed.

(We got more pictures of the girls last week. They're doing very well in Tennessee. The babies are growing so fast.)

There is still this overwhelming mound of fleece in the middle of the living room – a mound I'm supposed to be sorting to figure out what to handspin and what to have millspun. Unfortunately, I still learning about millspinning and I'm not being very decisive and what little decisiveness I have has needed to be undone. Mostly, what I do, is move my bags of fiber from one stack to another in the way in the middle of the living room and complain about how I really need to re-organize myself and start all over again.

We need to sell the boys – sooner rather than later. As much as I love them, I'm getting to the point I'd love to have them off the property. The problem is, finding them a good home. They're my babies and they must go to a good home. I've had a couple inquiries lately about eating alpaca and llama. I've told people that alpacas are too expensive to eat – which is the truth. However, fiber quality alpacas priced at a discount so they sell in a hurry are probably affordable for eating. Percy and sweet, gentle, Donovan will sell as fiber-quality animals. Sindre and Del won't sell for that much more. I'm really worried about my boys. We can't keep them, but I need to find them a home with a handspinner where they (and their fiber) will be loved.

Sooner rather than later.

Then there is the book reduction project. Before we met, Pam and I both established large collections of books. In addition, I was responsible for dividing the book portion of my grandfather's estate, and I inherited a large portion of his hoard. We have something like 15,000 books and we're attempting to reduce to 500 or so. Letting go of books is hard – even books I've never read and I know I'll probably never read. I find the ones from my grandfather's collection hardest to turn loose. He was a grand old man and he read everything.

There has been a little spinning and knitting progress.

Most of the spinning I have been doing is spinning my wheels and spinning in circles re-arranging the piles of fiber in the living room. There is, however, another skein of that black suri I first blogged about on November 22, 2005. The yarn I skeined yesterday has actually been sitting on the bobbin for a couple months. However, the bobbins of singles are getting close to full again, so one day soon, I need that bobbin to ply again.

The need to finish that fleece soon is just another weight on my shoulders as is the knowledge I can't really start any other fiber projects until it's completed ...

I have about two inches of ribbing on my first sock – the ribbing is long enough it's actually starting to behave like ribbing. I measure my progress in needles and I think I'm managing three to five rows per week. My sock is forty-eight stitches around, or twelve stitches per needle. There were evenings last week, when I managed half a needle.

Erudite. Not this week. Bubbly happy about alpacas and fiber? Not this week. I'm feeling just a little overwhelmed.

Pileated Woodpecker !

Upper Alpacas — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 20:45:00 +0000

I wouldn't consider myself a bird freak, but I do enjoy birds, I observe birds, and I keep a (haphazard) list.

One bird that has always been special to me is the Pileated Woodpecker. In some parts of the country, the bird is almost common, but it's always been a special sight for me. When I was a kid on the the farm in Wisconsin, there were only a few Pieated Woodpeckers in the state, but we had a breeding pair on our farm. I was disappointed when a tornado tore down the tree containing their nest -- although the same tornado demolished our house, so at the time, the nest was just one more nice thing ruined by the storm.

Today, when I went out to clean up some fencing, I saw a Pileated Woodpecker on one of our oak trees. For the past week or so, I've been wondering if I've been hearing a Pileated, but the Northern Flicker makes a similar call and the Acorn Woodpecker sometimes sounds similar enough to confuse me. Since we have plenty of the latter species around, I wondered if it was a Pileated, but I basically assumed it was a Flicker.

Today, when I heard the call, I thought Flicker. Then I decided to look anyhow. I saw a flash of red, then a flash of white which flickers don't have, then a huge black body which isn't a flicker.

I watched the bird for several minutes.

It's always nice to see a Pileated Woodpecker.

Attention All Politicians!

Upper Alpacas — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 02:41:00 +0000

(We interrupt sock knitting and fiber sorting progress to bring you this open letter to all politicians currently campaigning in Douglas County, Oregon.)

Attention all politicians. There are two voters in this house. Both of us are on the national telemarketing do not call list. We are on that list for a reason. We don't mind if you call us personally to talk about your positions and your records, but we don't really care to listen to your recordings.

Both of us can read and use the internet. We research our votes carefully. We research your records in places you probably do and don't want us looking.

I work retail and I have this really funky schedule. You see, when I have to be to work at 5:00 AM, I'm up at 3:30 AM which means I'm usually in bed and frequently asleep by 8:00 PM. On those days, your political calls at 8:30 PM are extremely unwelcome.

Other days, I am scheduled to work until 10:00 PM. By the time I get home, take the dog out, and program the coffee maker, it is approaching midnight. Early calls the following morning are once again, extremely unwelcome.

Due to the obscene volume of political calls and the interruptions they cause, we are instituting some new criteria for placing our votes.

We will be keeping score of how many calls are placed to our home during election season and how many recordings are played to us. Each pre-recorded call counts against a candidate. Calls to endorse a candidate or initiative count against both the endorser and the endorsee. Recording calls placed by third parties count against all candidates and initiatives endorsed by that third party. Calls while we are in bed count double. At the end of the campaign, we will total up pre-recorded phone calls and vote for those candidates and initiative campaigns who have called us least.

Our house! Our phone! Our rules! You don't like it? TUFF! Call us live and in person next time.

Sock Progress

Upper Alpacas — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 18:06:00 +0000

Or, the Spinning Guy still exists and he has actual knitting content.

Here is my first sock. There is obvious progress. (Amazing how a photo can be washed out and too dark at the same time. Yes, my digital camera is over ten years old.)

I'm working with cheap Walmart cotton, since I thought that would be a good practice yarn and that a nice, thick, cotton sock would still be useful. After all, it's nice to be able to use practice projects. Since starting this sock, I've read a number of blogs making comments about difficulties knitting cotton.

This cotton is proving difficult to knit at times. The yarn has basically no give to it. If I make a tight stitch, the next row becomes almost impossible. It's a good education for keeping my tension consistent and not tight, but it's been a bit frustrating.

I'm pleased with my progress, but I have this sneaking feeling I'll feel like I'm done after one sock. I can already sense "second sock syndrome" setting in. I find I'm enjoying knitting in the round and knitting with double-pointed needles. I really enjoyed the body of the sock when it's almost zen-like knitting in circles, but so far, I've failed to find any sort of rhythm knitting the ribbing. Any suggestions on minimizing the flailing of elbows as I purl?

Fiber, Fiber, Everywhere

Upper Alpacas — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 22:53:00 +0000

With alpaca care requirements reduced to the four males, I have started to find time for other fiber pursuits. While I have touched the spinning wheel – mostly to move it around, but I did actually spin – in the past week, most of my efforts have focused on inventorying the fiber I have.

Quite literally, I have a room full of fiber. I'm less than halfway through the inventory and I can hardly walk through the living room. The good news, however, is I think I have all the dark fleeces out of the guest bedroom and most of the dark fleeces out of the hobby room. (I can't be sure until I move all the light fleeces.) Most of the dark fleeces are inventoried and I already have forty three pounds of alpaca fiber on the inventory.

Granted, much of this fiber is seconds and thirds – lower grades – and I'll probably use some of it as garden mulch, but the forty three pound figure doesn't include the several pounds already designated for that use.

I'm trying to figure out how to use this fiber. There are several special handspinning quality fleeces I really want to keep and spin for myself. Much of the rest, I think I will have commercially processed. At this time, I have no desire to spin my own alpaca sock yarn, but it sure would be nice to have some available. Once the inventory is completed, I will figure out what I want to have made.

Has anyone ever knit or crocheted with roving? I'm thinking some of the thirds I have might make a nice rug and I'm thinking about working from a slightly twisted roving about an inch in diameter? Thoughts? Suggestions? Experience?

The Bright Side

Upper Alpacas — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 18:00:00 +0000

It's not all tears around here, although they do beckon every time I look at the pasture. I'm not giving up the fiber side of the alpaca business. Although it hasn't happened yet, my plan is to devote some of my increased free time to working with fiber.

One of the real constraints involved in raising alpacas is that as the herd grows, the time spent caring for the herd increases, and the time available for fiber decreases. When we first got alpacas – three girls – I could complete chores in under 30 minutes per day and do a really good job in well under an hour. By the time the girls left, absolute minimum chore time was 45 minutes and that meant no pellets. Average chore time was over an hour per day and doing a good job meant closer to two hours. Routine care like training, trimming toenails, worming, and all the other little things that are easy and quick with three animals become time-consuming chores as the herd increases.

Now that my beautiful girls have a new home in Tennessee, I have more time in my life for fiber. I plan to take advantage of it.

River of Tears

Upper Alpacas — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 00:09:00 +0000

They're gone.

All my beautiful girls are gone. We put them on a truck Wednesday morning.

All my cute cria are gone. I carried them onto the truck to join their mothers.

My sweet Georgia who gives me kisses and her gentle daughter Anna are gone. On the truck with the others.

There are no alpacas in the front pasture.

The girls have a new home in Tennessee.

Some are going to be bred, while others are going to new homes. I expect I'll see some of them again some day. Some I'm scared I'll never see again. If I do see them again, will Emma and Morghan curiously sniff my hat? Will Georgia still give me kisses?

Tears well in my eyes every time I think about it. I feel like my cheeks are a tributary of the North Umpqua.

Some time ago, we decided to get out of the day to day business of raising alpacas. It was a very tough decision to make, and it's proved an even tougher decision to implement. Keeping this blog positive since the decision has been hard -- note how few posts I've made in the past month. At times I have felt almost hypocritical, praising my alpacas while knowing I'm getting out of the business.

Every time I look at the front pasture, tears threaten. When I come home from work and instinctively look for the girls -- they're not there. When I glance at the pasture and see no alpacas, I instinctively check the shed -- and they're not in the shed either. My first reaction is panic. Second is tears.

We don't have human children. Those alpacas are our babies.

Last Wednesday, my babies got on a truck. Today, they're frolicking in a new pasture in Tennessee.

And I'm crying a river of tears.

They Grow So Fast

Upper Alpacas — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 20:14:00 +0000

Edited to add more pictures

We weighed all the girls today. As expected, the adults are running a little heavy. We know about that and we've been working on it. Chloe isn't as much heavy as we expected – thank you Cailin for nursing so much – and the other adults are only about ten pounds heavier than where we want them to be. Ten pounds heading into winter isn't that big a deal.

Theresa wrote:
Wow! Cailin is so big already. Such a beautiful collection of ladies.

Young alpacas grow very fast. We look for ¼ to ½ pound per day weight gain, and often see almost a pound per day among young cria. Another measure of cria health is doubling birth weight in their first thirty days. Cailin was 21 pounds when she was born on June 1, 2006. This morning, she is 71.8 pounds.

Cailin at six days old on June 6, 2006 (from the June 9, 2006 entry).

Cailin from the October 1, 2006 entry.

And this picture taken today shows that Cailin is both large and small at the same time.

Morghan and Emma are also growing rapidly. Morghan weighed 18.8 pounds at birth on September 8. Today she weighed in at 36.8 pounds. Emma weighed 15.4 pounds at birth on September 11 and she's now 27.0 pounds.

I've told a lot of people that cria are never cuter than when they're three days old. By three days, they've dried out and recovered from the stress of birth. They often lose a pound in the first day after birth, so at day three, they're essentially back to birth weight and as small as they'll ever be.

Sure, month-old cria are still very cute. Some of their antics are actually cuter because of the vigor and energy. It's just that they get so big so fast.

ps. In June of 2005, this blog introduced Anna to the world at around 21 pounds.

Anna on July 2, 2005

Today Anna is 151.6 pounds.

They're Cute!

Upper Alpacas — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 01:19:00 +0000

Cailin

Emma with Morghan and Chloe behind her

Emma Up Close with Morghan framed between the ears

Cailin, Chloe and Morghan

Morghan

Morghan

Morghan and Emma

Morghan and Emma

Emma and Morghan

Morghan and the herd

Pictures

Upper Alpacas — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 00:33:00 +0000

Emma with Ipo Nani in the background
Emma
Emma & Ipo
Morghan navigating the herd
Morghan
Morghan and Jubilee

Introducing Upper Alpacas Emma

Upper Alpacas — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 23:47:00 +0000

Ipo Nani delivered our final cria of 2006 this morning – yet another girl. After four male cria to start our alpaca business, we have been blessed with five female cria in a row. I guess all that complaining about starting with four boys has paid off – either that or the statistics that inevitably catch up have caught up with us.

Mother and cria are doing well. Emma is Ipo Nani's first cria and she's done very well for a new mom. The birth was relatively easy and Emma was trying to nurse before she could stand. Ipo has been very attentive and has an excellent nursing instinct. One never knows how an alpaca will handle her first delivery or respond to her first cria. Ipo is proving to be a very good mom and we're quite pleased.

Emma is a sleepy baby and still wobbly on her legs. Morghan was running the pasture her first day. Emma runs about twenty steps. She's been spending most of the day nursing and sleeping. Cria start differently, and within a week, we expect Emma to be racing Morghan across the pasture.

None of our female alpacas are pregnant at the moment. Alpaca gestation is 345 +/- 30 days. It's going to be quite some time before I can once again substitute an impending cria for actual blog content. Cria pictures may entertain for the next month, but sometime soon, I have to get back to the fiber so I have fiber content to blog about.

Introducing Upper Alpacas Morghan

Upper Alpacas — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 01:48:00 +0000

Yesterday morning, I got up and Pam told me to get dressed. I asked why and she said, "Jubilee's having a cria."

Don't ask. It's not that Pam just "knows" these things, she is that good at reading animal behavior.

As we were finishing a rather hurried breakfast, Pam decided it was time to go outside for the cria. I was being my rather frantic and worried self and Pam decided to use me to run errands. First, I was sent for iodine. When I delivered the iodine, a head and two legs were visible and I was immediately sent for towels and a bucket. On my return to deliver the towels and bucket, this is what I saw.

The Herd Greeting Morghan

And here are some pictures from later in the day when Morghan had dried out. As I write this, Morghan is starting to run and play, Cailin is getting excited and starting to play with her.

It's a Girl!

Upper Alpacas — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 17:21:00 +0000

Jubilee had her cria this morning. It's a girl. Sindre is the father making this our first alpaca grandbaby. Fawn with black feet and nose -- not the color expected from this combination. Pictures to follow.

More Pears, More Cria Watch, and Less Sock

Upper Alpacas — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:22:00 +0000

The pears continue to ripen faster than I can process them. I filled the fruit dryer with pears yesterday and I've (almost) managed to fill it again today. In filling the fruit dryer and making a batch of waffle topping, I used up all my washed pears, so a great deal of today's pear effort went into washing more pears. I'm optimistic I'll have the fruit dryer filled by the end of the evening and everything set up to put a few more slices on before I leave for work in the morning. If I'm really productive, I 'll have another pot filled with pears ready to cook into waffle topping.

At the moment, however, I'm tired of cooking and not feeling very productive.

For a while this morning, I thought cria watch was going to be interesting. After deciding she had enough pellets before her bowl was empty, Ipo wandered into the shade, kushed half on her side, and proceeded to utter some of the strangest noises I've ever heard her make. Some of the noises sounded very much like prolonged grunts.

Ipo has always been a very vocal alpaca. I think she probably has the widest vocal range of any of our animals, and certainly she uses a wider noise on a regular basis. Ipo hums a lot and she has a great range of hums from plaintive to trilling to an urgent bleat. She growls at her food dish and while she's eating especially good grass. She grunts from time to time.

Ipo making noises? That's nothing.

Ipo making strange noises? That's not really a big deal.

Ipo making three new noises in two minutes – noises that sound very strained – noises made while she's lying half on her side looking very uncomfortable – all in late pregnancy?

Like I said, I thought for a few minutes cria watch might get intresting. Instead, Ipo straightened up and started chewing her cud.

If you can't guess from the title of this post, I decided to rip the sock back before the heel. The sock was too short and I ~~basically mangled the heel~~ don't think I followed the pattern properly at the heel. I've ripped back before the heel and I'm in the process of lengthening the foot before I attempt the heel again.

Thanks to all those who responded to my posted comments about Socks that Rock. It seems sacrilegious to purchase wool sock yarn when I have so much alpaca to spin, but I think I want to get some STR to get the feel of a really good sock yarn.

More Socks, Pears and Cria Watch

Upper Alpacas — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 18:47:00 +0000

Status here is much like the previous post. Work is wearing me out, pears are taking most of the spinning time, Jubilee is still pregnant, and Ipo is still pregnant.

I think I have made progress on the sock. The heel is ~~turned~~ mangled and I'm back to knitting in the round. I haven't started any ribbing yet. I don't think I did the heel very well and I think the sock is too short for Pam's feet. At this point, I'm trying to decide if I should finish the sock for the experience or if I should rip it back before the heel to add some length to the foot.

If I rip the sock, I have a chance to make a complete and functional pair, but the cheap cotton is already getting that knitted-ripped-and-separating look. If I don't rip the sock, Pam won't be able to wear it, the heel will be permenantly funky, and I'll end up with single sock syndrome.

I haven't decided which is better for the learning experience, but I am leaning toward ripping at this time.

I have managed to dry a few pears -- not nearly as many as I would like. Pam has made some into waffle sauce for the winter. Tomatoes are ripening. Strawberries are still producing. Eggplant is wonderful, and zucchini is starting to taper off. Hopefully, I'll manage two or three more batches of dried pears -- not enough for the winter, but better than nothing. Apples are next if they don't all become windfalls before I get to them.

Socks, Pears, and Cria Watch

Upper Alpacas — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:45:00 +0000

My day job has this very odd work schedule with rotating days off. Once per month, I have a stretch where I work seven days straight. Given I have a fairly physical, outdoor job, I can be exhausted by the end of that seven-day stretch. Yesterday was day seven of seven. Temperatures were in the high 90's. I'm tired.

I have been promising sock pictures. Here is a picture of my sock progress.

Yes, I am actually knitting a sock. The yarn is cheap Walmart cotton. There is no sense learning this many new skills at once using handspun alpaca. I've not knit that much yet, so knitting is still new. I've never knit in the round or with double-pointed needles before, so this is new. I've never knit a sock, mitten or hat before, so that's new. I am now as far as the heel of my knit sock – further than I ever got in my attempts to crochet a sock. Once I'm past the heel, there will be ribbing – another new knitting trick. I'm learning, and believe it or not, I'm enjoying the sock.

The figs are past and the pears are now in full swing.

Today's project – in addition to cleaning up the pastures from a week of neglect and recovering from seven days of lifting landscape blocks – is processing pears. Plans call for 1) washing at least three buckets of pears and putting them out to ripen, 2) slicing enough pears to fill the fruit dryer with dried pears, 3) starting a pot of blackberry-pear waffle syrup and 4) pick at least three more buckets of pears.

We're still on cria watch and hoping the girls hold off for a couple weeks. It's just too hot for new cria right now. Of course, it's also too hot to be pregnant and any of you who have been pregnant during hot weather can probably sympathize with just how Jubilee and Ipo Nani are feeling. They're not comfortable. We're seeing all the normal signs of late pregnancy, but no signs of labor.

Other Garden News

Upper Alpacas — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 14:42:00 +0000

Today's post is a further digression on the garden. Even though there has been fiber progress, the garden and outdoors continues to be my focus.

The main crop of figs has been harvested. There are a lot of small figs on the tree and they may or may not ripen in time to produce a fall crop. This year's summer fig crop was a good crop. Dried figs are stored away for lunches and fig syrup has been stored away for morning waffles.

The pear harvest is starting. Pears are a little tricky, because our pears get mealy if they're allowed to ripen on the tree. Therefore, the pears must be picked and allowed to ripen in the kitchen. We plant to make dried pears for my lunches at work and we also plan to freeze some pear bread. I don't know how many dried pears we'll make since they take a lot of time and effort.

The apple trees are dropping lots of apples. We're trying to figure out if the apples are ripe or if the trees are dropping them due to drought. It looks like the apples will be smaller than usual this year, but we ought to be able to make some apple syrups for those winter waffles.

We've picked two tomatoes so far this year and I'll be checking for more red ones today. Hopefully, we'll have enough red ones at some point to make pasta sauce. We'll eat some pasta sauce fresh and freeze some for winter. I've heard dozens of comments about huge tomato plants and late tomatoes this year and our plants are following the same trend. The plants are spilling out the top of the tomato cages, yet we only have two ripe fruit.

The everbearing strawberries continue to produce ¾ of a bowl every picking. We've eaten a lot fresh, had some over waffles, and made strawberry smoothies on hot days. I'm happy to say our garden is doing well this year even though we've spent less time and effort on it than in previous years.

Oh, and those promised spinning/knitting pictures? They're still promised.

A Huge Thank You Wayward Winds Lavender Farm

Upper Alpacas — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 14:20:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, Wayward Winds Lavender (blog, website) posted a better way to remove lavender florets (buds) from the stems in response to one of my lavender posts. I've been meaning to try that technique for a while and yesterday I finally got the opportunity.

What a difference! Instead of taking 30-60 minutes to process a bag of lavender stalks, I processed my entire supply of ten or twelve bags in under two hours. It's a huge difference and a vastly superior process.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

The process is a little messier than my old method, but I'll trade fifteen extra minutes of clean-up for the huge time savings.

Once again, many thanks to the folks at Wayward Winds Lavender Farm.

Our lavender plants are starting to produce a second crop of flowers this year. I was planning to leave the flowers on the plants because the second bloom is usually not as productive as the first and because I didn't want to take the time to process more lavender. Now I'm considering harvesting more lavender.

Eggplant

Upper Alpacas — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 21:45:00 +0000

Since digressions regarding gardening and cooking are allowed in fiber blogs, today's blog is a digression regarding a gardening success. I grew up with a rather large garden. Today's feature on that garden's website is eggplant. If you go back tomorrow, some other vegetable might be featured. My father has also written a very nice eggplant page on his website with some very pretty pictures.

Pam and I have been growing eggplant since we moved to Oregon. It's always been a disaster. I've been planting one or two plants of my favorite varieties from my childhood. Our yield has been one or two eggplant for the summer – enough for a nice meal, but hardly enough to justify the cost of the plants or the time and energy invested in them.

This year, I decided to try a different variety. The best available variety was a white eggplant. To ensure we got enough yield, I purchased two plants. We have yield. I think this year's eggplant plants have paid for themselves. I'm looking forward to some good meals.

It's time to start picking the eggplant. Supper this evening may well be my variation on my parents' favorite eggplant recipe. I prepare the eggplant per the instructions on their eggplant page. However, I don't fry the eggplant in olive oil. Instead, I mix a couple teaspoons olive oil with the eggplant pulp and cheese and then broil the eggplant in the toaster oven. It keeps the kitchen cooler.

There will be fiber content shortly. The spinning wheel is out and has been used within the past week. And, in astounding development, the sock on the knitting needles is actually starting to look like a sock. Pictures are possible tomorrow.