WanderingFoxFarm

Our new chickens arrived the last week in May and a few days later we hatched 3 of our own eggs. Hard to believe that they came out of such a small egg. here they are probably no more than a week old

So cute, but they grow like the weeds in Georgia ( another post sometime soon ) for the first few week we could still spot the three we hatched but they soon caught up. After 2 months we moved them to the tractor coop, where they have continued to grow by leaps and bounds.

Yesterday they were big enough to start to be allowed out for a few hours in the evening, They are so big now it is hard to tell the little chickens from the big chickens.

Isn’t nature a wonderful thing.

What a great weekend! Every few years my spinning guild organizes a crafting event. This year it was in Lyndon House in Athens.  It is a really great venue and the adjoining historic house is a must visit location if you are up in the area.

Traveled up there on Saturday morning ready to start my first class, cotton spinning with Leslie Bronson. Leslie took us through some of the history, resources she uses and items that she has created and then set us up to spin cotton on a spindle. It was very educational but still fun and we all managed to get the knack of it by the end of the class.

After a great lunch and the first day of the raffle where I was lucky enough to win a handmade basket. I moved on to spinning lace with Lois, first she gave us some great tips on adjusting and setting up our machines and then we moved on to the fabulous samples that she had provided. First we started with the superfine merino, then moved on to rose fiber, where we learned to spin from the fold Phew! next cotton, oh my, i am spinning cotton on my wheel now!

We moved on to Alpaca which actually came from one of my boys, Tessaro, and it was great to spin into lace weight  just as I would expect from him. Next we tried Flax and at last I found a fiber that I REALLY do not like 🙂 which was interesting as a number of the ladies really liked it. Last but not least I spun some very slick but shiny Tussah silk.

Off to the hotel to check in and then out to dinner with Linda and Mary Jane. In bed by 9 totally worn out.

Next morning I helped to set up and then went to my first class, gradient dyeing with Gale from Gale’s Art . I partnered with a really nice lady who had driven all the way up from Florida for the event. First Gale went through the resources she uses and some good books on the subject and then we went through what gradient dyeing can mean. I could be shades of, or two colors blended in different amounts across the skeins or just 6 analogous colors.

We then got to pick our chosen method and color palette. Each skein went into a ziplock steamer bag and was microwaved . I brought home some sea breeze dye and some super wash yarn so I have enough to weave with,

Off to lunch again and I won three more raffle prizes, unfortunately I did not win the star prize which was a week in John C. Campbell craft college. If anyone thinks I am very lucky, well yes I am but…. I bought a boatload of raffle tickets and whilst most people put their tickets in the star prize jar, I spread mine around 🙂

Last but not least was a plying class with Lori Helmes, We learnt and practiced Andean, Navajo, 2 ply, chain and turkish knot. More importantly we had some great tips on sampling and how to re- energize the yarn.

 

So apart from getting multiple guests to help with the bees, we also had to contend with a swarm. this happened while Hazel was visiting and she got to see the spectacle of me holding a ladder while Rob climbed the tree and tried to shake them into a bucket.

But we were rewarded with one of the hives producing 12 frames of honey for us. what you have to do is shake off the bees and bring it into the house. Rob then cut off the cops of wax and we put them into a spinner 4 at a time to spin the honey out of the combs.

 

once that part is completed Rob puts the frames back into the hives for the bees to rebuild. and we pour the honey into a filter system to drain out any bits of wax.

We ended up with about 41/2 gallons which we decanted into jars ( well apart from the pint that Rob kept eating)

First lets start with visitors, at Christmas time my two favorite girls came over from the UK. We had a couple of days at the farm and then took a road trip to Disney Orlando. We were very lucky with the weather and soon found out what a dare devil Alana is. Very little interest in the autograph hunts but made it her mission in life to get us on every ride, some were really scary.

After they went back, my daughter sent me these lovely gifts, one to remind me of out trip and the other to celebrate my birthday.

My sister came to visit with Ian and Callum and we had a good time eating hiking and our usual things. Next was my Aunty Hazel who came to visit for a week before going on a great trekking holiday over in Utah. It was lovely to see her and get to spend some real time together. As I was working, Rob was able to take Hazel to see some of the sights we have close by.

Here is a picture of Hazel helping Rob with his bees  

Next was Mike and Julie, Julie is Rob’s cousin and it was wonderful for the two of them to relive childhood memories and share stories about the family. Mike had also led a very interesting life and both were a dream to have as guests, On one of the Sundays we went into Atlanta and visited the art museum. It was a fun day with some great photographic exhibitions. and these amusing chairs at the entrance.

In June Rob was going back to the UK to see his granddaughters and new grandson – he made these great posters to announce the trip.

When my sister found out that I was going to be all alone on the farm she booked a flight out to come help — Yeay Good job too, as the weather was in the high 90’s so the work was very hard. Thanks Kat ! another one that Rob roped in to  helping him with the bees

Mini bus into town to get on the Old Savannah Trolley Bus tour,  spent 90 minutes taking a tour of the Historic District.

Took this picture for my Mum as she loves US fire hydrants. The narrator on the bus was very good and we learnt plenty of interesting facts and figures about the City. At some of the stops we also had character actors come on the bus to add more color to the stories.

 

Because of the twists and turns of the bus, i was not able to take very many pictures as we drove around. Although did get this nice shot of a tree as we were stopped at one of the points on the tour.

When the bus arrived back at the depot we decided to walk back into town – up Broughton Street  where we had lunch in Panera Bread and also saw this great hotel.

Love the wrought iron balcony, then off to Leopolds, supposed to be in the top 5 ice cream pal ours in the US. It was originally opened in 1919 and the ice cream was very good, Mum had a vanilla and I went for the pumpkin spice.

Back via Congress street and popped into Paula Deans shop to see what was going on there, nothing very interesting but it was very busy.

Mini bus back to the hotel for a relax and then out for dinner. Downloaded ” Midnight in the  Garden of Good and Evil” ahead of going to the Bonaventure Cemetery tomorrow.

Night night all

There was a severe weather warning for Georgia today, it was not due to hit the coast until the afternoon so I decided to drive to Savannah in the morning and get there before the storm hit. We made really good time and arrived at Savannah by 10.30. Checked into the hotel and headed off down town.

We were parked out side of Ellis square and our first port of call was City Market. Went into the Candy store and got a free sample it was a little too sweet for me but I am sure we will go back at some point and buy some for Mr Rob.  We walked a little further and found an English bakery so we were able to get a nice cup of tea and a scone.

Off to river street and a healthy walk along the riverside with frequent stops at the various shops along the way.

 

We walked up to Congress street and back to where we started walking through the various squares along the way. There were some lovely old houses and the squares had some stunning trees in them.

We managed to find our way back to the bakery as Mum was fancying one of the sausage rolls and i had a cheese and onion pasty. Back to the car and off to Tybee Island. On the way we had some additional excitement as the bridge that crosses the Atlantic Inter coastal waterway had red lights flashing and we had to stop while the middle was raised to let a ship through. We parked down by the pier walked through the really small shopping area and had a nice walk to the end and back of the pier. The wind was starting to pick up and the waves were looking really good. The birds were having a lot of fun flying on the winds and looking for cast offs from the fishermen.

Given that there was a storm on the way, this post made for interesting reading. Good job there is no hurricane coming  up here anytime soon.

On the way back we called by at the Tybee Lighthouse, it is still a working lighthouse and after taking a few pictures we walked down to the shore again.

We were quite lucky, arrived back at the hotel at 5 and 5 minutes later the rain started and after 10 mins we were getting the winds and lightening strikes. Good job we did not have any plans to go anywhere this evening.

We are going on a tour again tomorrow.

 

Straight after breakfast we drove back towards Waycross on our way to the Okefenokee Swamp Park. The route took us through another state park so the drive as really pleasant.

We booked for the boat ride and the train ride and while we were waiting we looked around the grounds and saw all the exhibition rooms that described the geography and history of the swamps. There are over 700 square miles of swamp land and it is possible to boat down the channels to the ocean ( as long as you know the way )

Mum was really excited to see this little otter busy walking nouns and sunning himself. He later took a dip in a pond and swam around much to the happiness of my Mum. Soon it was time to go get in our flat bottomed boat, the guide was really good and was able to spot the alligators for us as well as all of the flora and fauna.    

 

I spotted a snake dropping from a tree into the water and we stopped to see if the guide could see what it was, pretty glad that I did not actually see it again when we got really close, apart from his head sticking out of the water. The guide also pointed out a carnivorous plant that eats bugs and insects.

We saw plenty of alligators up close from little 2 years olds right up to full grown males that were some 11 foot long. But the guide assured us, that we were safe as long as we stayed in the boat!! 

We stopped near a boardwalk that took us to a lookout tower, I decided to climb it to the top where the guide said we would see for at least 28 miles across the tree tops.

When i climbed back down we then went to see some more alligators and huge spider that was above our heads, he was a golden silk spider, we also saw crab spiders and a small fishing spider.

We saw plenty off these pretty mauve flowers but the guide said they were a real nuisance as they are not indigenous to the area, its Japanese Hyacinth,

The algae was more than normal but the sign on mirror lake still worked 🙂

All too soon our trip came to an end, we went off to the amphitheater to see a presentation on the animals – but as soon as they brought the snakes out, we decided to leave.

Off to get ready for our train trip through the swamp, went very slowly through the glades but there was lot of really useful information that was passed on.

We passed a giant hornets nest and some cultivated bees tun stopped at a small island with an old homestead cottage on it.

The homestead had some of the original old wooded machinery that would have been used on the farm as well as some heritage breed chickens and a small museum dedicated to all the films from the 50’s that were set in the swamp.

All in all a really great day and well worth the trip. When we got back, we walked over to the local restaurant for dinner. Steak and Gorgonzola sauce for Mum and Seafood Arabiata for me.

 

 

 

 

Started the day with waffles for breakfast then off to St Simons Island. The weather is terrific 88 degrees and blue skies. We parked in the pier village then walked along the seafront while waiting for our trolley bus tour at 10.30. It was great to see the pelicans along the pier.

Promptly at 10 the trolley arrived

Trolley tour was very interesting, a tour of the Island and narration about the history and geography of the environment. The tour was about 90 minutes and we were back at the pier just after 12 noon. Lunch at Palmers cafe and a browse around the local shops.

 

In the afternoon we drove over to Jekyll Island and boarded a boat for a dolphin tour. We saw plenty of dolphins, sea birds and groups of people shrimp netting. At one point we even saw the fin and top of a small shark.

We sailed up through one of the channels and then back through to the Atlantic where we were lucky enough to see a fishing boat really busy with trawler nets, much to the excitement of the birds around it looking for lunch.

On the way back we walked around the historic district and saw some of the older houses more of the amazing trees they have around here.

Drove back to the hotel via a Starbucks so we could get a decent cup of tea then an early night to plan for tomorrows adventure.

 

My Mum and Stepfather arrived from the UK last week, just after my friends from New Zealand had gone on their road trip to New Orleans after staying with us for 4 days. Thursday night we had all 6 at the house and we had a fantastic time reminiscing and eating Chinese take away. Friday Mr Rob ran the Kiwi’s back to the airport after a bit of sniffing from me !!

Friday night we went to a Rodeo in Breman and despite a little rain we had a lot of fun, our first proper rodeo, complete with cowboys, horses, steers and bulls.

Saturday morning Mum and I drove down to Perry for the State fair. The 4H kids had a scarecrow competition that was very good.

We had a good look around the craft exhibition, the quality was amazing and I was pleased to see that my friend Linda had won awards for spinning and weaving. Off to the halls to see the dairy and pig exhibits. So good to see a real agricultural show.

There was a genuine wigwam and a guy on stilts dressed as a tree!

By that time Mr Rob and Mike had arrived so we met them at the gate and  sat down to peach cobbler and ice cream, it came highly recommended and we were not disappointed. Carried on looking around the fair and saw some of the horse competitions as well as horse and carriage displays.

On the way back to the car we visited the Georgia Grown exhibit and had a little fun with one of the displays.

We then said goodbye to the boys and set off for the Golden Isles – drove down to Albany across to Waycross, where we had a quick stop at the Chick-fil-A and finally arrived at Brunswick. looking forward to a good day tomorrow.