Can Do

The Rogue Valley is a generous when it comes to farmer's market bounty. Fruits and veggies of all stripes abound from April to November and this year I'll be saving a little of that summer in a jar and learning to can. The glass electric cooktop we chose 16 years ago was a poor choice for canning and not my favorite but neither one of us wanted to bring in liquid gas for just a cooktop. A couple of years ago Ball came out with an electric water bath canner and I waited a bit longer to see the reviews come in and got one first hand locally too. No time like the present.



The canner came this past Wednesday and I picked up a hefty assortment of Strawberries, Tay, Blue and Marion berries and one little pint container of Raspberries. Those may end up as nibblers. The weather is cool and I'm thinking a perfect day for our first foray into an age old art. With luck I won't poison friends and family.

We've had our share of visitors this past week. Miss Raccoon has been feasting at the buffet under the bird feeders. This was taken about 8:00p.m. Monday night. Her usual arrival time.



 The birds throw a good amount of the seed around and with her sensitive little fingers she sifts through the shells for the fat rich intact seeds. I didn't get a picture but Raccoon and Fox happily share the seed. They were side by side, a whisker apart, searching peacefully. There is a lesson in that.

The fox retrieves the eggs nightly.

egg 1

egg 2

 One evening I saw the pair out together and I'm betting the youngsters were out also on the forests edge waiting for the evening hunting foray to begin in earnest.

Weaving came to halt last week, a little progress was done on the linen and hemp warp, but not much.
We did get two apple trees planted and caged from deer.  These two are Pink Lady.



 If they take well I'll try putting in a few more and maybe a pear or two.

In the sewing salon a few easy quick makes made it out. The patterned portion of this cute tank was a sale fabric from the winter.



There was only a bit over a yard so I paired it with a lightweight natural linen I had in the scrap box and did a cute shirt tail type hem.

The white linen crop top is all leftover fabric using the top portion only of the Peplone pattern.



 I added pockets but I'm not sure they are worth the effort for future short versions.

Lastly is the beautiful black and white border print I picked up on Etsy. I used a TNT crossover tunic pattern and spent a lot of time carefully cutting it out to maximize the pattern.





 I'm very pleased with it. The cotton fabric is such a beautiful weight and weave, smooth and light, almost like a lawn but not quite. This print is made by Art Gallery Fabrics.

I need to get new pics of the gardens for next post. The weather should be darn near perfect this weekend and I want to spend a bit of time just kicking back and enjoying it, time for some fresh air spinning I think.

Parting shot: When you look over your shoulder, I'll be there.