Winter Fireflies, Sunshine and Life on the Farm

And just like that, it's spring. The birds we so recently watched soaring south are soaring north. The maple sap is running or finishing up. Frogs and salamanders moved to the vernal pools in the first warm rains and I hear the frog songs as I type. Winter Fireflies are basking on the warmed south side of trees and we are savoring every last delicious minute of the season of rebirth.

Ellychnia corrusca are pretty fascinating fireflies. You must read about them; they will make your life richer if you know them and it sure makes for a fun end of winter scavenger hunt. So far we've seen them on 10 species of trees at Mohican State Park/Forest: black oak, white oak, pignut hickory, sugar maple, black cherry, red elm, red oak, American beech, tulip tree, Pinus sp.

The raccoons and deer are moving about, I assume, grateful for the retreat of the deep snow that blanketed the Earth for quite some time this winter. We loved watching the fluffy white stuff fall and we loved watching it melt and smell the thawing earth. 

A Gray Catbird spent the winter here up until the day before the last big snow storm when the food ran out. Poor timing isn't it? You know what that means....yep, planting more, more, more!

I'm spending time putting thoughts on paper and then the computer and Steve made me a repurposed table to handle my chaos. I love it. Garage sale legs and an old bulb crate we used for winter produce came together just right. There is so much stuff already in existence, isn't there? A little creativity is all that's needed...

Our little Oreo (aka Wuk) helps me on occasion...

and celebrated with me on my first deer shed. 

Steve and I handled cat chaos with cat gates and now we can breathe again and the oppressed cat (Minnie Pearl) eats and drinks without fear. Can you hear the long exhale? It's been rouuuuggghhhhhh.

Bird houses didn't work well here so we finally threw the towel in and that's also a great, great relief. (Sometimes, we just have to quit fighting a path that isn't changing or improving.) We will continue, as always, to promote snags and natural tree holes.

Woodland sedges are reunited with our little woodland and it made us so happy to have our hands back in the soil, to enrich a beat up fence row and to accept the generosity of these plants to grow.

Thanks to some coordination with a neighbor of ours, the road trash is picked up on our stretch for the time being. This is what Steve and I picked in a couple of hours! Hmmm. 

The dove covey makes us smile every single time. Flighty birds, they are and we get it. They've spent a large portion of this winter here and we are going to miss them when we stop feeding the birds this spring, but we need the birds to disperse for their own health. We also feel conflicted about the bird seed bags (see above). What do you all do with them?

Richard Louv put into words what we feel when we are in the magic of the planet. That's who we are. The rest of it, who knows what that is. That's not our essence and what a gift to know it.

Soundtrack:

MILCK - Quiet

Joseph - White Flag

New Home Treadle Sewing Machine

About 10 years or so ago my Grandma Eileen, my mom's mom, passed along her mother's treadle sewing machine to me (Jennifer).  Can you imagine my excitement?  At the time, I loved the beauty of such a functional item and of course, the history...the connection to my Grandmother and Great Grandmother who both sewed on this machine.

Recently I decided that I too wanted to sew on this machine so I purchased a drive belt and had ultra handy Steve help me install it this past weekend.  After a bit of practice treadling (which I knew I would love from spinning yarn), I found the shuttle, threaded the bobbin, threaded the machine and started sewing.  The sewing is so smooth and so fun!

My Great Grandmother's and Grandmother's organization is evident by all the pieces still present!  Original needles with the New Home stamp are in wooden needle tubes.

4 bobbins and an assortment of screwdrivers, keys, etc. were in the same little drawer as the needles.  I didn't even know this drawer existed till my Gram came for a visit and opened it!

All of the instructions and attachments were in a drawer along with the warranty certificate, which dates at 1906.

You can make out the date in the middle of the doodle.  I wonder who did this?  Some member of my family  no doubt.  Maybe my Mom or one of my aunts and uncles?  It makes me smile thinking about it.

The sewing machine is on the south wall of the craft room so it gets lots of light.  Look closely and you will see Alvin enjoying the sun.  He blends in to all that whiteness!

Here's a closeup of the happy boy...

Bounder found herself a sun patch too.

Happiness all around.  Thank you Gram for giving me such an amazing piece of our history!

Trash to Treasure

We've found many treasures amongst the trash here at Milkweed Meadows and we will occasionally post some of these finds.  One such find was these mugs!

We liked the coffee cups immediately for their color and shape....

then we turned them over and realized they are handmade here in the United States!

What a great find!  They've quickly moved to some of our favorite mugs for coffee/tea time.

Antique store finds

It's going to be 80 degrees in Carlsbad today! We are so excited about that. Well, Steve's cold finally & completely overwhelmed my immune system last week, but we are both now on the mend. Yay! There is lots to catch up on this week now, but I am looking forward to tasking. It's funny how sickness changes your perspective.

Here's a look at some of our recent antique store finds:



A number of years back a friend of my mom's gave me boxes and boxes of mason jars from her mother. We use a number of them right now, but most of them are in storage till we are settled some where. I really love these jars (as do many people) and found a few cool ones this weekend. I started searching around to find information about these jars and learned that two of them we have are from the Ball early days. Maybe 1900-1910. One of those I picked out of the boxes of jars gifted to me. I wonder what else is in there!


Steve's mom collects fruit and vegetable wall pockets so it's a family game to find them. Her kitchen walls are pretty well filled with them so it's hard to find any she does not have. We think we have a good chance with the strawberry and pear.

I'm always looking for fun knitting/spinning/weaving/etc. finds, but usually see more sewing goods than anything else. This past weekend I found a box with some double pointed knitting needles and these little bits of embroidery thread. The thread is 100% wool, brightly colored and cheaply priced making it an interesting and useful find for me.

A few antiques & handcrafted items...

We've accumulated a few useful/cool items in our house lately. Here's a glimpse...

Yet more great Carlsbad antique shop finds. Clockwise from bottom: Apple/Caterpillar Wall-Hanging string dispenser; Windmill Cracker Jar (for Steve's sister's collection); Clear glass leftover container; Red glass leftover container:

Old crock storing potatoes and apples...

Old rice bin for yarn! You have to see this thing to see how cool it is...

Glasses... I think we bought all of these for just a few dollars and they are from a time when many things were made in the U.S.!


We also bought a couple of cute items from our friend in Portland Oregon. Northwest Nature Nut blogs here and sells cute stuff on Etsy here. Check out these adorable little bird pins Michele drew on Shrinky Dink:

See those fun coasters on our table? Those are handstitched by Michele on eco-felt from recycled pop bottles. Love them!

Finally, one big cat taking advantage of the sunshine.

Hope ya'll enjoyed a fantastic weekend.

Quite a Haul of Antiques

Advantages of small town life? You can hit all the antiques shops in a morning! Carlsbad has a number of excellent antique shops but it was not until this weekend that we finally checked out a store that ended up being a gold mine. Here's Jennifer excitedly unbagging the finds:


Here are just a few (some must be kept secret as they are gifts). Some are not truly antiques - just bargains for the kitchen. Other things such as the potato masher, mixer and little cookie jar have been around awhile. The weathered wooden "bucket" is actually the remains of an ice cream maker. The woven wool rug was quite a beautiful find too. All in all, a great morning of antique-ing and everything was a bargain!:

Man Pots a.k.a. Cracker Jars

Steve's sister, Theresa, collects Man Pots or antique cracker jars. The term Man Pot came about long before I became part of the family, but from what I've gathered Theresa's first jar had a face of a man on it and there it began. She now has many, many of these jars and the family is always on the lookout for more for her...especially if you can find a good deal. We found an awesome Man Pot this weekend at an antique store here in Carlsbad with a price tag of $15. Steve was on it quick as lightening! The pot is beautiful with a Mexican color flair.

Old stuff is so cool. I found an old pair of hand carders this weekend that I need to look into to see if they might just work for my burgeoning fiber passion. Steve is always checking out the old tools. The quality is really astounding. As much fun as we have at antique stores and the like I am usually always at a moment or two filled with a "why is this stuff going by the wayside?" thought. Why can Steve only buy a junk plastic clamp in town at a big box store for his woodworking? I know the answer, but you know...

Dye Plant Book

Keeping with the thrift and antique store theme, check out this book given to my crafty friend Alicia! This book is so cool especially if you are interested in using plants to make dyes for use on fiber or just for historical purposes. Even though this book focuses on the Rocky Mountain area, many plants covered will be found across the country.

After an introduction to dyeing with plants and Anne Bliss' method the book is packed with over 100 different plant descriptions. Below chicory is showcased with a drawing, description of the plant and different mordants used to set the dye and the colors that resulted. Historical uses for the plant are also often listed making this a true gem of a book.


Another example...
Here you can see a map illustrating the range of plants covered, but I think all of us across N. America & even Europe (since many of these are introduced plants from our ancestors) would find many plants in this book in our local areas.


I took this up to the fiber mill where I volunteer and Jamie, one of the owners, purchased a copy off of Amazon. I think there are a three more listed if you are interested. I found one too - on ebay! With shipping mine totaled about $4.oo (not sure about the condition of mine), Jamie's $14.00 (great condition).

Exciting!