05 June 2010

things a farm girl should know . . .

I keep on forgetting my grandma Lolly didn't grow up on a farm. Sometimes I expect her to know things that a farm girl should know, like how to treat slugs in the garden.

(She told me to stick a rusty nail close to the stem down near the roots of my tomato plants. That's for cutworms, so she was on the right track and I can't find fault with her desire to help.)

No, grandma grew up in town, the daughter of the owner of a small gas station. She and my grandpa farmed a small dairy farm later on, but that she married into, so she can't claim she was a farm girl.

And I don't think she'd want to.


My grandma Lolly is known for her watermelon lipstick, baked chicken and petal pushers. She was my first boss. When I was fifteen she taught me how to count back change to weekend campers at a local RV resort.

My sister and another cousin worked with us and I don't think we'll ever forget grandma Lolly laughing and shouting at us for some of the practical jokes we played on her. (Like fixing things to the ceiling fan and waiting for her to flip the switch and turn it on, or the time we all smeared on her watermelon lipstick and waited for her to notice our movie star lips.)

It took her fifteen minutes.

I'm home for the weekend, so grandma Lolly and grandpa Bob came over for dinner. Grandma Lolly brought one of her signature desserts. Her signature being to never bring the same thing twice. This new recipe was a daring improvisation from Country Woman or some other magazine. A confection of crushed nuts, coconut, pudding and whipped cream.

"Just something new." She told us. "Just something different for once."

Meanwhile the chickens were running around the yard outside the kitchen window. Grandma looked up and suddenly shouted.

"That roaster is attacking that hen. Look at it!"

We looked. No, we had to tell her, what she was seeing was something more along the lines of affection between the roaster and one our egg-laying hens.

"I suppose," grandma Lolly said, "this is a farm after all."

Yes it is, grandma. Yes it is.

P.S. The top image is of a card I illustrated for my cousin Ashley's birthday and the fiber is some yarn I spun last night . . . while I was watching the chickens chase each other across the yard.

The colorway is called Barn Raising, which is appropriate for this farm girl, I think.

03 June 2010

barn notes : lil jenny (not jilly)


Some of you may remember our donkey, Betty Lou. We got her last winter from a friend who basically gave her to us because she needed space in her barn and knew that our farm would be a good place for one of her animals.

Well, Betty Lou has grown on us . . . after a fashion.

Initially, we thought she would be a good addition to our farm because she could serve as a guard donkey for the sheep. But this spring when our lambs were born, she took one look at those cute, wobbly bundles of wool and tried to stomp them to death with her sharp donkey hooves.

That's right, we're lucky my mom, Julie, was in the barn. Because Betty was going after those lambs with blood and brimstone in her eyes. I don't think she had anything against lambs, maybe she'd never seen one before.

Anyway, after that Betty Lou wound up in another cow yard - with the bulls. (And yes, she held her own just fine.)

I think everyone has been so focused on the lambs that we forgot that Betty Lou was expecting herself . . . though no one knew exactly when.

About a week ago my dad went out to check on his cows, he does this a couple times a day, and he saw a strange creature standing behind Betty Lou. A little baby "donkeyette" with short donkey legs and a large donkey head with wide, soulful donkey eyes.

Baby donkeys are the cutest things.

We're lucky Betty is the gentlest of mothers . . . perhaps we'll be able to mix the sheep and the donkeys soon. We're naming the baby donkey Jenny, after my twin sister. I was supposed to be able to name her, and after I heard Jenny was promoting Jenny, I tried to push for Jilly.

I didn't have any luck, though.

01 June 2010

knitting in appropriate places

It's finally summer vacation for me and that means I'm spending a lot more time with my knitting needles. I've finished a few projects and started some new ones. Some people might find it strange that I knit all summer long.

Perhaps to the general public knitting seems like a winter or fall "sport" not something one would choose to do during the summer. Wool and 90 degree weather are not exactly compatible - and we've already weathered some pretty hot days here in Minnesota.

A few weeks ago I had a funny conversation with my boyfriend, Garrett. (His summer sport is volleyball. On a side note, I like to play with him . . . but there's always this fear in the back of my mind that I might sprain or jamb a finger and that would interfere with the knitting, you know.)

Anyway back to our conversation. He said he was going to play volleyball and I said "great, I'll come with. I'll sit and watch, try to soak up some sun . . . and I'll bring my knitting."

I was pretty excited about this. Not only would I be entertained by the sport and my project, but there was also the prospect of a cold beer and some tacos after my fingers were worn out.

Garrett seemed to find the idea of a young woman knitting beside a sand volleyball court on a hot summer day sorta funny. Now, ladies, he has so many other wonderful facets to his personality that I didn't tell him off or leave in a huff, trailing a spill of brightly colored yarn. I brought my knitting bag with us to the volleyball game and did some thinking along the way.

My thoughts were about people who knit. Here are my reflections: if you happen to enter a room with a lot of people and find one person, say a women, knitting chances are she's making something beautiful and has an entertaining story to tell about the project or its recipient.

Chances are she's educated and successful in some way - and I don't just mean she makes a lot of money or has a college degree, success is measured on so many levels. She's probably happy or at least happy with the project she's working on if it's going well.

My point is: if I walk into a room with a lot of people and I see someone with a bag of yarn and knitting needles, I'm very likely to gravitate toward them and start up a conversation. "What are you making? What's the stitch pattern? Who are you making it for?" Yadda yadda yadda. And before you know it, you've made a connection and you've learned something new.

I'm not going to worry any more about knitting in appropriate places, I'm just going to bring my knitting and dig in.

The images in this post are of a current project. The pattern is a simple four row repeat of a feather and fan stitch, the fiber is a variety of hand spun, hand painted and store bought yarns.

21 May 2010

it's all natural


left to right: tan roving, chocolate brown roving

This past spring my mother and I worked really hard dying over some of our creamy white top. We came up with vibrant color combinations and gave our creations inspiring names like Mermaids in the Basement (after a poem by Emily Dickinson), One Red Hen (after one of our crazy red hens) and Spring Fling (after all of the colors we were seeing in our woods.)

But at Shepherd's Harvest this year, none of those colorways seemed to sell. Everyone was after the CVM romeldale natural colored top and skirted, but unwashed fleeces. Crosby Hill Farm sold out of our skirted fleeces, but we still have a few pounds left of the top that we colored so prettily.

I'm not complaining. I guess that leaves more for me to spin this summer. I'm planning on making some pretty crazy socks.

left to right: white top, 80% wool 20% mohair chocolate brown top, and gray top

And looking at these beautiful bundles of fiber now, I halfway wonder what we were thinking when we dyed over some of it. I can imagine how these earthy tones will look spun up and knit into cables or seed stitches.

This is what you can expect out of the fiber of our lambs. They come in many shades and tones.

19 May 2010

spring lambs for sale


Crosby Hill Farm has been around for awhile, but we've only been in the business (or should I say lifestyle) of raising sheep for the past three years. These last two years my mom has been growing her flock, but this year we're ready to sell some of our stock of registered CVM romeldale sheep.

To the right of this post, in the handy selection panel, you'll find a link to all of the photos of the lambs that we have up for sale this season, a selection of ewe and ram lambs with a variety of natural colors to their fleeces. Also to the right, is a link to the National CVM Conservatory's website, of which Crosby Hill Farm is a member under the web address tendrilandtwine.com.


In this post I'm sharing a few of my favorite pictures of our lambs.

Those of you who follow this blog know that I'm Jillian. I try to post an entry every few weeks and I live in the city. It's my mother, Julie, and my dad, Wayne, who raise the sheep on the farm that I grew up on miles north of the city here in Minnesota. I try to get home as often as possible to visit my folks and also take some fresh produce in the form of eggs, fiber, veggies and meat back to the city.

Please feel free to contact us here at the blog's email address tendrilandtwine@gmail.com if you have questions about our breeding stock or fiber. More likely than not it will be my mother, Julie, who answers your inquiries.


There's nothing like a small flock of friendly lambs to change your perspective on life.

The world, through a sheep's eyes, can be a very enjoyable place . . . if its a sunny day and there's a large grass pasture in sight!

03 May 2010

this year's lambs

It's unusual for us to capture one of our lambs in a pretty pose--they're usually tossing their tails and running away.

But here Capri and Gem are, mugging for the camera.

This year's lambs are racing up and down the barnyard at Crosby Hill farm and we're very pleased with their fleeces--we can already imagine next winter's sweaters.

01 May 2010

shepherd's harvest goodies


barn raising CVM romeldale painted top 40z

My mom and I are getting excited for Shepherd's Harvest Festival this year. It's coming up next weekend at the fairgrounds on Lake Elmo, near Stillwater, MN. All winter long we've been dying fiber--both wool and mohair. My mom also has a luxurious wool/mohair blend that has been washed and combed and made into top.

morning glory CVM romeldale painted top 4oz

Please stop by the Crosby Hill Farm booth, as well as the Winterwind Farm booth--we are happy to be collaborating with Sandy again this year. It should be a great time.

hillbilly harvest CVM romeldale painted top 4oz

The images in this post are a preview of the painted and naturally colored top we will have available for sale at the festival. CVM romeldale wool is known for its next-to-the-skin softness. We hope we can share some of our wonderful wool with you.


prairie mix CVM romeldale painted top 4oz

In another post I'll preview our dyed and naturally colored mohair as well as our naturally colored wool that we've had made into top. We will also have skirted, unwashed wool available for purchase at the festival. Please inquire at our booth, we'll be happy to set you up!

zinnia CVM romeldale painted top 4oz
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...