Turkey Tracks: Winter Turkeys

Turkey Tracks: December 30, 2013

Winter Turkeys

Turkeys are very present in my yard in the winter.

They’ve always been drawn to the tall pines to roost. But, with the coming of the chickens, they started wintering with us. They wait patiently until I discard chicken bedding under the pines alongside the creek. Chickens “bill out” a lot of food into the bedding. And, then, there is the matter of the chicken droppings–which are filled with protein and good bacteria. It’s a fact that most city-dwellers don’t know, but most animals, including man, will eat the feces of other animals. There are, of course, health claims made by men eating cow dung a few times a year…

And with weather like we’ve had recently, I often throw them some sunflower seeds or a bit of chicken scratch feed (corn, barley, etc.).

This band of turkeys is mixed male and female. Altogether there are between 25 and 30. It’s hard to count as they are always moving in and among the trees and up and down the hillside.

I was able to get the video below of the turkeys after some days of them seeing me up close frequently. It’s not the clearest video I took, but it shows a large male starting to display his gorgeous self. He went on to strut around the snow yard for some 20 minutes or so.

I talk to the turkeys as much as I talk to the chickens in the winter. Often, they answer.

Turkey Tracks: God Bless the Generator!

Turkey Tracks: December 27, 2013

God Bless the Generator!

It’s saved me before. But this time it saved me BIG TIME!

It’s one thing to be without power in the summer when it’s warm. It’s quite another to be without power and to have no other heat source, like a fireplace or a wood stove, with temps moving toward the teens.

The ice storm started Monday, December 23rd. And the power went out late afternoon. The Big Girl kicked in without a moment’s hesitation and ran for 24 hours. We got power back in that same late afternoon time frame on Christmas Eve and kept it until 4 a.m. Christmas Day. I know the time because Miss Reynolds Georgia woke me asking to go out, and the power went out just as we were tucking ourselves back into bed. And, again, the generator ran flawlessly until power came back about 9 a.m. Christmas morning.

I had power, but no phone, internet, or tv. Fortunately my cell phone worked and, sometimes, took in email. But, not everyone has my cell number…

I was nervous about the amount of propane the generator was using, and by Christmas Day, my tanks were down to between 40 and 50%. So I’m going to need a fill-up very soon now, and that’s in the works.

I have been such a beneficiary of so many kindnesses during this Christmas Ice Storm. Our neighborhood checked back and forth frequently–“how are you,” “do you need anything,” “are you warm,” “the power trucks are on the hill…” Chris Richmond, just above me on the right, stopped in personally to make sure I was ok. And he and Susan–they own Golden Brook Farm–invited me for Christmas Dinner (which was fun and delicious). I especially enjoyed spending time with the Richmond children.

Mark Anderson of Mark’s Appliance drove all the way up here from Warren to make sure I had enough propane when he couldn’t get me on the house phone. He discovered an outside faucet that was slowly leaking and fixed it. That could have meant an inside burst pipe. And he will make sure that I actually get a propane fill up in the next few days.

The ice is still with us. Here’s a picture I took Christmas Day, and nothing has changed.

When you see the bending of the trees, you understand how the weight of the ice breaks off branches and snaps trees as if they were match sticks.

I tried to take pictures of the glitter when the sun hits the trees coated with ice–it all sparkles like spun sugar. But you can’t get the sun backlighting the ice: the picture comes out too dark. So this picture gives you some idea of how everything, everything outside was and is covered with ice–which, except for the firs which present a darker surface in the sun, is not melting.

It snowed most of yesterday–we got about 5 inches. BUT, I got cable back this morning–and phones and internet. AND today is Friday, so Bonnie Hunter has released her next clue. I just printed it out, but have a quilt on Lucy the long arm and need to finish and bind it before I can work on Clue 5.

I am warm and happy. It’s amazing how much we have come to depend on all of our technology…

December has been really challenging in Maine: two back-to-back snow storms, each with about 2 feet of snow; an ice storm that did major damage–many people will not get power back until some time next week–right at Christmas; and snow all yesterday. What will January and February be like???

Turkey Tracks: Coping with Ice and Quilting Clue No. 4

Turkey Tracks: December 22, 2013

Coping with Ice

And

Quilting Clue No. Four

My sister Susan, down in Virginia Beach, Virginia, loves to follow the weather. But, like me, she grew up with ice storms and has a healthy respect for them.

She called today to make sure I was carrying my cell phone when I went outside in the ice. (I hadn’t been, and that was perhaps foolish). Friend Giovanna McCarthy just wrote me to urge me to carry it when going out to the chickens, too. So I promise to from now on.

BUT, here’s the best protection of all:

With ice cleats on the boots, one doesn’t slide. Or find oneself upside down on the ice.

I used the cleats and took along John’s cane for extra balance on a trip to the garage for chicken feed. Not a single slip. They are really great. No wonder people use them for winter hiking.

I have two pairs of these really good kind with spikes on the bottom–so I put one pair on the LLBean boots and one pair on the chicken-muck-out-the-coop boots that live upstairs by the back door.

I finished Clue Four of the Bonnie Hunter 2013 Mystery Quilt–120 four-patches in orange and green:

So, the pile of finished units is growing. And excitement about how the units will go into the quilt is also growing.

Now I will work on the other quilts I have in progress and wait for next Friday’s Clue Number 5.

Turkey Tracks: Ice!

Turkey Tracks: December 22, 2013

ICE!

This ice storm has been predicted for days now.

And sure enough, I woke this morning to a layer of ice on every surface that would hold it. And the temps are hovering around 32 and slated to dip into the teens over the next few days. Really cold weather means that the ice will hang around until we get a melt.

Here’s a not-so-good picture of ice on the trees:

The trees will bear this much ice without breaking. The danger of power outages will come of the ice gets any thicker. And that’s where the weather reports are unclear as everything depends on exactly where one lives and whether the rain is rain or icy rain. The further west one lives, the more ice. Very far west, there will be snow.

I crept out to the chicken coop this morning–throwing chicken scratch feed in front of me for traction.

The thin layer of ice coating everything is invisible, and it’s deeply treacherous. So I crept along being very careful with each step.

This will be a sewing, blogging, reading day. I roasted a huge chicken last night, so food is already done. This will be a winter day where I will drift from one pleasurable project to another and count my blessings.

And Tom Jackson’s snow crew will come and put grit down on the driveway and the boardwalk to the house when the storm is over.

And thank heavens for the generator. It’s this kind of ice storm I grew up with in the South and that I feared would come to Maine more frequently with a warming planet.

Turkey Tracks: “Earth” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: December 20, 2013

“Earth” Quilt

This picture is not the greatest picture I could have taken of this big, bold-hearted quilt.

It’s hard to get a good overall picture without two people to hold a big one like this aloft somewhere.

I hand-sewed about 2/3s of these blocks this past summer–which are known as Winding Ways or Wheel of Mystery blocks. Then I discovered that they sew really well on the machine as well as the curves are not extreme. It’s easy to cut four layers of fabric with the templates I have (you can order the set online–John Flynn makes one) and with a SMALLER rotary cutter–like the 45mm.

The dark/light blocks form big circles on the quilt–which I really love. And I really love all the geometric shapes that show up as well.

I put in bits of the blue you see–and those bits show up like little polka dots. Or, pools of water scattered across the earth. They sparkle across the quilt top’s surface.

It takes a “deep” stash–many fabrics collected for many years–to make a scrappy quilt like this one.

I pieced the backing–and like the way it came out:

I had the dark brown/teal print in the pile of fabric I used in this quilt. And I cut 10 1/2-inch blocks from other pieces to make rows on the back–an idea which came from Bonnie Hunter’s books. I also put in some random blocks left over from the front of the quilt.

I really like the border–which is vintage Bonnie Hunter:

Here’s another view:

And I quilted overall with a feathery pantograph pattern I’ve used many times now: “Simple Feathers” by Anne Bright. (I love her patterns.)

There is a lot of work, love, healing, and emotion in this quilt–more than most I do. Here’s the label. (The saying came from Bonnie Hunter’s web site quiltville.com.)

This quilt was delivered TODAY to Tara Derr Webb, whose age fits between my two sons. I have known her and loved her and worried with her and rejoiced with her since she was eight or nine years old. Today is the day that Tara is cooking out of “the Farmbar” for the first time in Charleston, SC, where she and her husband Leighton own and operate a developing farm. Tara is also a photographer, and you can see her work and pictures of Deux Peuces Farm (two fleas) and the Spartan trailer that is “the farmbar” on her web site: www.thefarmbar26.com.

Turkey Tracks: Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt: Clue Three Finished

Turkey Tracks: December 20, 2014

Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt

Clue Three Finished

Clue Three was to create these orange and yellow pinwheels and half-square triangles.

Aren’t the pinwheels cute?

I am still chuckling because each measures perfectly, but I did a lot of unsewing. The seam ripper is still hot.

Based on wisdom from the Facebook web site for this quilt, I changed my needle, used the single hold needle plate, and tried to be more consistent with feeding the units through the needle.

So, now, these three sets of units are completed, and I am up-to-date and having fun. AND, learning a lot. Bonnie’s directions for each step are amazingly complete, and I am learning new rulers and basic things like “swirling” seams on the underside to mitigate bulk–a step I had forgotten completely lately.

Clue FOUR came out this morning. Four-patches with orange and green.

That should be simple. But I thought the other units would be simple, too!

Interesting Information AND Turkey Tracks: Making Bone Broths AND What’s In Them

Interesting Information AND Turkey Tracks: December 18, 2013

Making Bone Broths AND What’s In Them

I love it when something is being discussed or a piece of information is sought and “the universe” pops it up for you. That phenomenon is called synchronicity. And it happens in my life all the time.

My post yesterday on dysfunctional gallbladders talked about bone broths for healing–and about that time, the Mercola web site did a posting on bone broths–why they are good for you and how to make them.

Here’s that link:

Bone Broth: One of Your Most Healing Diet Staples.

Then my oldest friend (in length of time, not years) got very sick and landed up in the hospital–pneumonia–and I said “bone broths” to her. She asked next how to make them. So, here is synchronicity working for her.

Mercola discusses chicken bone broth. If you use a whole chicken–take the chicken out after about 30 minutes and strip the meat from the bones and put the bones back into the pot to make the “bone broth.” Use the meat in another recipe. You don’t want to cook the meat to death.

If you want to use beef or lamb bones–and you do–and you can also mix them with poultry–brown them in a hot oven in a shallow pan first. Put all the fat that gets rendered into the soup pot with the browned bones. You can add some savouries–onions, carrots, celery, garlic, etc.–but you can also go plain and add the savouries to your stock when you make soup, etc. Fry them up a bit in fat first. You can pull fat off the top of your chilled stock and use that to sauté.

Remember, you want to cook the bones at least 12 hours. You can leave the pot UNCOVERED on the stove over night and resume cooking the next morning. As long as you heat it for at least 10 minutes, it’s fine.

Turkey Tracks: December Update

Turkey Tracks: December 14, 2014

December Update

Well I have neglected the blog.

I’ve been busy with the Christmas party for the Coastal Quilters and with buying and starting to learn a new MAC computer (!).

I’ve been told for years and years that MACs are great for artists, and I have completely fallen in love with my Apple IPad and IPod Touch. So, when my PC recently threw up the blue screen of death and started screaming at me–necessitating putting it into the car and rushing it down to Archangel Computers, which, fortunately for me, was open–I started rethinking getting a MAC. I personally believe I am due a nice treat for this first Christmas I will be spending alone. And I learned you can turn off a computer by holding down the start button for ten seconds. Another piece of the learning curve…

And then there was the issue of trying to juggle email on four different devices that were not talking to each other. Our local Time Warner carrier has roadrunner, and they have instituted changes that have made it pretty much totally unworkable, clunky, time-consuming, and a general pain in the you know what. So…I’ve also gone to a gmail account.

The PC was, by the way, playing an audio book on CDs. And it was sitting on my ironing board while I was sewing. Who knows what happened…??? Anyway…I had to take the CDs back to the library as I do not have any way to play CDs except for an old CD player in the living room–and I don’t quilt in the living room. I’m not sure I want to pay to download books, but I might. I’m still rethinking this particular problem. The CD players on the market now are either really cheap and have terrible reviews or are really expensive–and I’m not going to spend money on dead technology.

Anyway, I do have an update for you.

I finished the knitted cowl and am more than a little mildly disappointed with it. Oh, it’s big and warm, but I thought the blues and greens would be dominant.

Here is a reminder of what the yarn looked like:

Knitted, the yarn is kind of muddy looking–though it’s growing on me with my brown coat. The pattern is nice and there is a lot of texture:

Here I am in it:

I can now take a picture like this one on the MAC!

And I’m going to need to make a hat that goes with the cowl…

The sauerkraut is ready to give away or store:

Isn’t it gorgeous!

I finished “Clue Two” of Bonnie Hunter’s 2013 Thanksgiving Mystery Quilt: Celtic Solstice. They were chevrons and quite pesky to sew. “Clue Three” came out on Friday, and I finished these units sometime on Thursday. Here they are with “Clue One”–the units that will make stars when assembled.

Here’s another view–a close up:

The Facebook group members are all wondering how these chevrons will be used in the quilt. Here are some patterns, though not all I’ve seen:

Bonnie shows a picture of an intricate tiled floor she took on her trip to Ireland this past summer. Hmmmm.

The new clue came out Friday. They are 2-inch half-square triangles in the yellow and orange. Some are sewn into pinwheels; some are left alone.

I have a pile of “interesting information” to write about–and I promise to get going on that information in these quiet days.

We are expecting a BIG SNOW tonight, and it’s bitter, bitter cold here in Maine.

Turkey Tracks: Lacto-Fermenting Project

Turkey Tracks: December 7, 2013

Lacto-Fermenting Project

I got it into my head that I needed to make a good bit of lacto-fermented foods right away.

Thursday saw me buying a huge bag full of cabbages (red and white), leeks, turnips, rutabegas, and parsnips. I already had a big bag carrots. And the garden is full of kale.

Here’s the spread:

And the kale from the garden. I also brought in handfuls of the last of the sage, which is a bit more winter hardy than the other herbs:

On Friday, I started food processing. I had two projects: to make a new batch of the root veggies I LOVED over the past few months. The first batch was just turnips, carrots, garlic, and sage. This batch would have also parsnips (very sweet) and rutabegas and red onion.

I don’t know how to describe the taste of this turnip mixture. It does not taste like turnip. It does have a bright, fresh taste that is delightful–much as Sandor Ellis Katz promised in his book WILD FERMENTATION.

The second project was some mixtures of cabbage (red and white), leeks, onions when I ran out of leeks, kale, carrot, one had a turnip, more garlic, and sage. I decided to do at least two mixtures of just cabbage, carrot, and caraway seeds–the traditional mixture from NOURISHING TRADITIONS (Sally Fallon Morell and Dr. Mary Enig of The Weston A. Price Foundation) with which I started this journey.

The project went rather well:

There is a gallon of fermented cabbage in the crock. I transferred it to jars this morning. So I have almost 4 gallons of delicious food.

The orange is the root veggie mixture. The cabbage mixtures will turn bright rosy pink in a few days–from the red cabbage effect.

The kitchen was a mess when I was done. (You should have seen the floor.)

But it cleaned up quickly as no grease was involved:

Hint: the jars will be so pretty with a red ribbon and a Christmas Card attached, don’t you think?

Shhhhhh…..

And I’m not giving away the big root veggie jar or the jar with the hinge. They’re for ME!!

Turkey Tracks: Celtic Solstice Quilt Update

Turkey Tracks: December 7, 2013

Celtic Solstice Quilt Update

The first “clue” for Bonnie Hunter’s 2013 mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice, came out November 29th, the day after Thanksgiving. Following “clues” will come out each Friday.

Bonnie Hunter is a scrappy quilter, so if, for instance, one needs “blue” for a task, one gets many shades out of one’s stash.

We were to make 188 (for the 75 x 75-inch quilt–there are many more units for the king-size quilt Bonnie made) block units that will form a star. About half of the blue stars have a scrappy orange background and half have a neutral background. I put four together of each so you can see what will happen eventually. We will obviously be making the center of the star at some point.

I finished these 188 units Friday night.

The new clue came out early Friday morning–and the email traffic on the Facebook group dedicated to this project has been humming. As have sewing machines.

The new block is a chevron of green, yellow, and neutrals. One hundred of them. My patches are almost cut out now… And I’m going straight to the sewing machine after I’m done with the blog.

You should see some of the beautiful blocks, and also different color combos than Bonnie used, people are making.

Inspirational!

If you’re interested in making this quilt, go to quiltville.com, click on the blog button, and in the masthead, click on “Celtic Solstice Mystery.”

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