Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The Three Little Piggies - Week 4

Not a lot new to report on the piggy front. Not even new pics. Yes, sirs and madames, I'm precisely that lame.

Not to digress too much, but it has been a rather full week - goat sales, chicken murders and three big birthdays in a 48-hour period have kept me on my toes, ergo no porky paparazzi shots this week.

We will start milking the goats later this week or early next, so the milk will be joining the mix just as the bulk organic grains that we've been feeding them will be wrapping up. The piggies have been enjoying their soybean/sorghum/corn/cracked wheat porridge, but from here on out, I anticipate that the bulk of their meals will be baked goods and goat milk, with a few kitchen scraps and garden gleanings tossed in as they are available. Luckily these three don't seem to be too picky about their chow, so long as it doesn't contain bananas. Who knew?

I'm going to have to do a little research on estimating/guesstimating pig weight, since I have no earthly idea how much these three have grown in the past month. Does anyone have any suggestions here? Do I use a weight tape? Does the breed matter? I could fill a book with what I don't know. :-\

Anyhoo - the three little piggies seem happy and healthy, and thus far we're still really enjoying having them. Now, when the weather finally heats up and the odeur de cochon becomes wind-borne.... well, I guess we'll cross that funky bridge when we come to it.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Craft-a-palooza!

With the much anticipated return of energy and mobility, following my knee replacement, came a big fat wave of crafting inspiration.

Being a very visually oriented person, I'm a major Pinterest junkie. Right now, it's all bent forks and blue mason jars over there and I'm digging it!

People have found uses for mason jars that never even crossed my mind - pendant lights, hand soap pumps, sconces - you name it. And all this time I though they were just for canning and for hosting my uber-grande ghetto macchiato.


32-ounces of Mmm, Mmm Good. :)

I, like everybody else, it seems, really like the old, bluish and greenish mason jars of my Grandma's era, which are quite a bit harder to come by. I priced a few at some local antique malls....GAH! $19 for a single pint jar. Has the world gone mad?!

So, I was super stoked when I saw/heard that Ball Mason was putting out a 100th anniversary edition of their blue jars. They are still a little hard to come by, but amazon carries them presently. I predict that once my fellow crafty folk get wind of these babies, they will fly right outta there, so, if you're so inclined, get some while the getting is still good!




So I did what any crafty hoarder would do, and ordered four cases of them. I have some pretty grand plans for these lovelies. If they turn out at all decent, I'll post pics and I *may* do a giveaway as well. Stay tuned!

Aside from Mason jar mania, I'm pretty excited to try one of these bent fork projects -



I bought some random, el cheapo, non-silver forks from Goodwill to work with in an attempt to hone my skillz a little before destroying serviceable silverware. We'll see how that pans out...

I'm just so, SO glad to have a shred of my former creative, happy energy back, following all of this downtime and pharmaceutical fog. Dare I say I feel somewhat optimistic and.... generally happy today?

Brace yourselves, people of Etsy/Pinterest/the interwebs - Mama's got a new camera and she's feeling mighty crafty. Yarn/jar/fork explosion forthcoming....