The Inky Spinnery

Adventures in eraser carving, soft block printing, spinning, knitting and life on our secluded mountain farm.

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Name: Polly
Location: Virginia Mountains, United States

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Chicken Coops For Sale In Michigan


Woo Hoo! Check out these beautiful little chicken coops!

While I'm unable to take orders for chicken coops right now I'm still getting lot's of inquiries from all over the US. Recently I had a nice email from Dan at The Green Chicken Coop up in Michigan. Dan builds a line of lovely hen houses with optional wire runs. If you're up in that neck of the woods and need a nice safe home for your chickens check out The Green Chicken Coop website and give him a call. He is also able to ship them.

I love them Dan!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Louisa Harding Knitting

I saw these two Louisa Harding pattern books on Ebay over the weekend and fell in love with that little bolero. All day Saturday it kept popping into my mind. Filling the horse's water trough and ping! there was that balero, feeding the rabbits, ping! there was that bolero. Then it struck me, it would be a great little project for the grey yarn I'm spinning! So, I bit the bullet and hit that "Buy It Now" button. Wednesday afternoon the books were here! They're both really nice with quite a few sweaters I'd like to knit. So many times I see a pattern I love but when I look at the rest of the collection I find nothing that inspires me to buy the book. Well,these two were worth getting.

The pattern name is BUNDI and it's turning out to be very well written and easy to follow. As you can see I already have quite a good start on it. Got the back and the left side finished in just about 4 hours! The right side is started but I'm going to have to spin up some more yarn to be able to complete it. Might be able to make it to the under arm shaping with what I have left. I hope the edging is as easy to follow. I've never knit a fancy edging before.

Oh, excuse the box of ammo holding the page open. Ken plans to do some turkey hunting.


 
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Monday, March 16, 2009

Snow, Maple Syrup and Chickens

Well here we are finally. I didn't quite know where to begin to update this blog so here's a mish mash of pictures that pretty much cover 2009 so far. We're also in the middle of remodeling the kitchen. We started tiling the floor last August and it's still only half done! We're living in a mess! Half the kitchen is in the dining room and half the dining room is in the living room, and half the living room is up on the landing at the top of the stairs. I'll post more later as it's after midnight and I'm getting tired.

There are eggs in the 'bator

 


Due to hatch on the 21st. The white ones are White Leghorn/RIR cross and the brown ones are from our Freedom Rangers.
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Did a bit of spinning

 
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It's spun from mill end roving that I ordered from Carol at the Sheep Shed Studio

I'll definitely buy from her again. The service was excellent with lightning fast shipping.

Three Days After The Snow...


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It warmed up to 76 degrees F!

Hubby had had a rough few days/nights of fighting fires and rescuing motorists who had slid off the road or flipped their vehicles in the storm.

And then it snowed - a lot!

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It was all just too much for this one chicken. She tipped over the feeder and buried her head in it. When you're overwhelmed with life, stuff your head in a pot!
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This Year's Maple Syrup



Ta Daaa! It took about 20 gallons of sap to make these few jars. Very time consuming, expecially toward the end when you just can't take your eyes off it for a second -if you do it boils over and sets into hard candy all over the stove top. I know because I took my eyes off it! Thank goodness for wonderful husbands who specialize in crisis management. :)
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Here it is with the light shining through it. Gives me goose bumps all over!
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Boiling Sap On The Pioneer Maid

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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Sugaring

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video

I broke down and bought some real spiles to knock into the trees this year instead of making my own. View the little movie to see the sap dripping. I love that sound! Sorry for the yappy dog in the background. That's Brandi. Yap, yap, yap, I'd hooked her to the fence and she wanted to go back in the house.

 
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Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Happy New Year!

I can't believe I let my blog languish for so long! I'm going to try to post more often in 2009.

2008 was such a busy year. We started lots of projects in the house and around the farm. Most of them are still half completed. Maybe this year we'll finish them all!

Pictures to follow.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Chicken Coops For Sale



In England you can buy nice little coops for housing small flocks of birds but you don't see them over here. Building our coop was so much fun I decided to start building some to sell.

The main problem for chicken keepers here is predators. The most common being raccoons and possums. Oh, and black snakes are another bane. So, I'm making my coops as predator proof as possible.

Pictured above is the first one I've made so far. It would be great for someone who has a small yard. It will house 2 to 6 birds and can be pulled around the yard with a lawn tractor to different locations if need be. I also put a 2x2 through the top as there was no way to lift it easily. It's quite heavy! The 2x2 can be removed once the coop is situated. It has two nice sized nest boxes at the back. It just needs the roof on the nest boxes and it'll be finished.

UPDATE:

I really want to thank all the people who have contacted me about the chicken coops. Unfortunately I'm unable to take any more orders at this time. As soon as I'm caught up I'll post pictures of any coops I have available. Gosh I wish I had 10 pairs of hands. I didn't realize just how many people would be interested in my coops.


Please bookmark this page and I'll be sure to post here when I have coops for sale again.

Oh, if you happen to be in Michigan please check out The Green Chicken Coop
Dan has some nice ones for sale.

Thank you all so much.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Chicken T-shirts

While we're on the subject of chickens don't forget to check out these chicken themed T-shirts!

Dirt Road Duds

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of another chicken coop I started working on. It's small and portable and will house 2 to four birds. I was hoping to have it finished this weekend but it's going to rain tomorrow and Monday.