No matter where you live or what type of lifestyle you are living, it is the time of season to say good bye. Perhaps you are busy putting your flowers to bed, raking leaves, taking in the last swim of the season. For us, we are canning our garden, curing pumpkins, corn, and potatoes for the winter, drying herbs, and choosing what animals we continue to breed and
develop our herd with. As we welcome the full moon tonight on the 28th of September we also close the chapter of our 2023 lambs. We spent the evening sorting and running health checks on all of our sheep. The pickup is attached to the trailer and the lambs that will nourish our home and the home of many other families who chose to invest in our lively hood are loaded and ready to make their journey tomorrow. It is a full filling and yet somber evening for our household. We include our children when we work through our herd. They ask how we choose the lambs, who go and the ones that stay. We answer them honestly. Walking the pasture all summer long with these animals, I know which ones are strong, healthy and fast growing. Come tomorrow when I return home, the pasture will seem empty, but we will be thankful that we have the land to raise them and nourish them during this time period.
This month, Rebecca Hoverson painted the celebration of the Three Sisters Garden. The full moon this month fell in the perfect time period. We are busy harvesting the first of the pumpkins, popping corn for winter snacks and pulling the green beans to save seed for next year. The three plants grown in harmony together. The corn provides trellis for the beans, the beans add nitrogen back into the soil and the pumpkins provide weed control and help hold the moisture into the ground. To tie the artwork and the recipe together, this month we are featuring a Pumpkin Spice Cake. Here on the property we are pulling a few of our ripe New England Pie Pumpkins. They are not your traditional shaped pie pumpkins so the kids were a bit confused, but they look delicious!
For the fiber this month, I decided to run 100% alpaca through the carder. The white and brown are ran at the same time down the belt. They are not blended together so you have the option to split the 2 oz to play with the color or to keep the two colors separate all together. To be honest, I am not a fan of alpaca. It is a quick spin once you get use to the fiber not having a memory retention. But when you utilize it in your knitting or crocheting you must keep in mind that the garment you make with the fiber may keep "growing". This is a fiber that once it grows, there is no soaking and shaping it back to the original size. This month will only contain 2 oz of the dual colored alpaca along with the sheep for the tassel trio. The bags are marked accordingly
Each one of our boxes come complete with the beautiful 4" by 6" art card, recipe printed on the back, the notion listed in the blog along with the fiber described. Please note that the box of September will only have 2 oz of 100% alpaca roving. Here is the link to purchase the box: https://www.twistedoakfarmstead.com/product-page/handspinners-celebration-of-the-full-moon-4