Felting...

Hum!?! My path to being a fiber artist.
I fall asleep now, thinking of my next project.

Laying the fibers out flat,
debating colors,
moving them around.

Playing with fabrics and fibers, considering choices...



It reminds me of painting, sculpting or even photography.
All art forms that I've amused myself with, since a very young age.

Framing, meshing, mixing media...
I thought the textile art world was new to me, and as I grow into it, I realize it's been a part of me for a long time...


The greatest surprise is after it dries... I can never truly predict what my scarf will look like!


Full info about this scarf can be viewed here

Our angora rabbits

When I first bought our 2 angora bunnies, I thought no way will they live in tiny 2'x2' cages!
So we added onto the barn! Nothing to complicated... Just cut a door through the wall, closed off a small interior part of the barn, added a fence outside, and we used the old siding of our above ground pool as the roof!
Everything I read about raising bunnies mentioned cages, so I went with my instincts on this one...

Yes bunnies are territorial, if they have a tiny territory!

At first my 2 bunnies, having always lived in cages, growled at each other.

Yet having a 9 x 8 foot exterior playing ground, and another 4x 12 foot interior "living quarters", seemed to give them enough space not to care about the others territory.
Within a few days, they seemed at peace with each other and their new home.

The only real important factor is to keep the males separate from the females.

Now with a total of 11 bunnies, we've separated the space in half and the boys are to the left and the girls to the right!

My bunnies are for angora fibers, so I will not be breeding anymore. I have enough for what I need!

In the meantime, they get to live a happy, comfortable life, within a social group and room to roam.

Not a lonely rabbit's lifestyle...

Here's a little video, of our doe feeding her kits.

They only feed for about 2 minutes every 24 hours!
In this video you see the last 52 seconds...

Our barn, made of recycled shipping pallets

Our alpaca herd grew, and we knew that we needed more of a real barn and not just a shack!
Again I got to researching... Finances where low, and winter was well on it's way being already September...
Money and time where an issue!
With the help of a great handy man, who helped us build the floor, and the supporting structure, we got the base down, and the frame up within 2 days! That was the hardest and the most expensive! The rest, the wood covering the structure, is made up of recycled shipping pallets, that I found on a local Quebec classified advertisement site. I was stunned! The whole lot cost 700$ !
This amount of new wood, I was quoted by the local lumber shop, would have cost approximately 5,000$ !!!

YES !!!
This was the kind of savings I was looking for !

My husband ended up working, mostly alone, on this barn the whole month of October... Every free moment was spend, drilling and nailing... The roof was put up within 2 days with the help of one single friend! (Thanks ML) ... The snow arrived 16 hours later... FFFFEWWWW , right on time...

During the month of November, while the snow fell outside, my hubby finished
diligently his project with feeding units and a "hay stand" ...


The alpacas, ever so happy, could come in from the snow ...

The whole thing measures 12 x 36 foot, and has a little chicken coop included...
Using new materials would have cost us at least 6 times the price we ended up paying! And I find the end result, has a much more "country charming style" to it .

Before you, are 2 growing heads of lettuce

The lettuce on the left was bought for 69 cents more and was labeled as being "organic".
The lettuce on the right was just 1.99$ and was just labeled lettuce... Just regular plain lettuce, hum? Really? (It's gotten to the point where we call that regular!)

The fact is, the organic lettuce is growing back and is bushy, and will be crispy and crunchy.
The "plain regular",possibly genetically modified, for sure sprayed with pesticides and herbicides, lettuce is not really growing. As if it lacks something!  You can also notice how the bottom is rotting where as on the organic lettuce the bottom is actually rejuvenating!

Hmm... interesting.

Seen in this perspective, I'm quite satisfied with my mini investment, because for a mere 69 cents more, I'm not getting extra pesticides or extra chemical fertilizers... No... I'm getting a REAL head of lettuce, one mother nature created filled with earthly nutrients, and one that can grow back as many times as I nourish it! What a hand in hand collaboration between man and nature.

DIY ... Fiber tumbler

After countless hours cleaning our fibers for proper preparation ready for carding, I thought ... THIS IS INSANE!
At the rate it was moving along I have enough fibers for a life time !
Something had to change... So I started researching again, this is in fact my favorite thing to do. I came across "fiber tumblers" ... Hummm... The cheapest I found was 950$ plus taxes and shipping...

Ya well, that's out of the question.

I showed all these "tumblers" to Pierre, and with a smiling face kept repeating "YOU CAN MAKE THIS, I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT". After 3 weeks of drawing up "patterns" to follow,
I said: "ok ... This is taking too long, I'm going to the hardware store and making it myself!"

Yes that's the kind of person I am, and I know I'd accomplish it... But the thought of ME being in charge of this project and than getting HIM to help me was enough for him to run to the door! LOL... His own instructions in hand, he left ...

The hole project only took the week-end, our son helped too, and had a blast being the "tool man" and having extra pieces of wood to create something of his own! Some "thing a ma jig" that will eventually have to be stored somewhere, and forgotten ;)

By Monday night I'd made 8 rovings (which took an eternity before), Tuesday another 10 and now I can actually envision having enough rovings to finally get my felting classes going...

And the whole thing cost? 96$ !!!

Ok no motor on it ... Yet ... right now it's still fun for the little guy to make the "BIG WHEEL TURN" !!!

Now we're one step away of a mini fiber mill, and a big huge smile of satisfaction on both our faces ...

And the growth continues ...

Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow ...

This is our test site...

Celery ... is slow growing. We've transplanted one into earth... Just to see.

The lettuce hikes up about an inch a day ... I'm thinking if I keep about 20 water bushes going, and create a rotation, I might just have continuous lettuce for us to eat ... So fresh and crunchy, really no comparison ;)

And well 2 evenings ago, I dared to throw these onion stubs into the compost... Later I found these 4 stubs in this tiny sake cup...

If you'd like to follow the growth of these, and see what comes of it , join us

http://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Jacques/royalpacacom/147358018460

I'd love to hear from you

Have a great day everyone
:)

Growing stubs, celery and lettuce

Now I knew about sticking celery stubs in water and watching 2 celery bushes come out of one! So well "The Mister" had the idea of lettuce stubs! And yes to our happy surprise, within just 2 days we got this ! (First the middle becomes an awesome bright green, and then ...poof... Fresh leaves sprout out ...)

So now my kitchen windowsill will soon be full of fresh lettuce !

What's on your plate!

I've been debating whether or not this will be a craft blog or an "anything" blog... well... I'm about so much more than just crafts...so off it goes...

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I was mildly confused lately about the reasons and the differences between organic meat and dairy versus conventional meat and dairy.
I've heard all sorts of stories about how Canada isn't like the United States , and that there are no growth hormones allowed in Canada ! Ya right … Well I thought... hum... Everyone always says ...check the source... Well what source? Everyone's got their own agenda...

So I went to the SOURCE... Here in Quebec all pesticides, fertilizers, growth hormones and antibiotics are distributed through the agricultural CO-OP.

They already know me there, 'cause I'm buying my grain and feed from them every week ! THE ONE WITHOUT ANTIBIOTICS IN IT !!!

Did you even know that? You can buy grains with it's antibiotic ration already mixed into it!
Disturbing...

After standing at the counter, and talking with the sales person, well exactly the information I was looking for, walked in through the door.

A dairy farmer … and a beef farmer. (One raising cattle for milk and the other for meat)

I start chatting away , and both seem very pleased in communicating with me. They start bragging about how well they're doing with their 800 head ranch (beef) and 450 dairy cows !

They were both extremely proud in stating that if they went “organic” they'd be out of business !

So here's the rundown :

DAIRY COWS : GET ANTIBIOTICS … HOWEVER NO GROWTH HORMONES ALLOWED IN CANADA ! (ok I see were the confusion lies) and of course ALL THE FERTILIZERS AND PESTICIDES IN THEIR PASTURE FEED (ie HAY)

BEEF COWS: GET THE WORKS !!!
GROWTH HORMONES (It's a patch on the ear, from day 1)
ANTIBIOTICS
PESTICIDES AND FERTILIZERS.

Pork and chicken … the same as beef …

Then I asked if they were just held inside or if they got to be out once in a while !!!

OH MY GOD ! You should have seen their faces ! They thought I was crazy even asking this question!

“Ya right, do you know what kind of work one has letting 800 cows outside !!!”

Again, from their perspective, they are doing it the best way !!!

When I mentioned were I get my pork and veal from , they laughed... “Ha ha those guys are small time!”

Yes I have to agree.. The veal farmer only has about 60 heads at any given moment , and has a beautiful pasture for their “beasts” . I see them when I drive by every single day! And they still manage to support their family of 3 children.

The pork farmer has about 100 heads at any given moment and has it's own “butcher shop” and “cold cut counter” right on the farm's site! And also a family operated business, they seem to be doing so well they've just added 3 employees!

Bottom line, the “co-op counter guy” (the one who sells the stuff) as well as farmers have all confirmed what I knew already … Growth hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and fertilizers are used commonly. It isn't a myth, it isn't the organic community trying to get us to pay more... It is totally happening every second of the day ... And then one must wonder... All these chemicals, were do they end up?

Whether we are eating them or not... they end up around us anyway...
In our water and our EARTH !

Eating organic is a lot more than just a “selfish health question” ...


ps: The picture I took visiting a conventional dairy farm, look at the chain... these cows can't even stretch out ! Rows and rows of cows attached to poles, and attached to the milking machines ! Never moving from their places , until they get sick (usually 2-3 years) and so no more milk... so they become the next hamburger...