Dryer Balls

Well, I have been very busy and even productive... I just havent written about it all on here. I think it is time to get this going again. I was encouraged this last year by a dear friend of mine, Laura Pinnick, to make dryer balls to sell at the farmers market.

So I looked up some you tube videos and read some posts from other fiber artists and decided to try it myself. It took a little work and lots of soap and water to figure it all out but I now have a system that works pretty well.











They are adorable since I also needle felted on some cute smiling sheep faces. I gave my daughter some to try out for me and sold a few sets. Then had a couple stores asking for them so I have them selling in three stores as well. Now this is not how I will get rich (That is another story!) but it is a great way to use some wool and make a little money to pay for hay for the sheep.














I had to learn why the dryer balls were so valuable and then educate people. Of course some people show up so thankful they found some locally but lots of people have not heard what all a dryer ball or three in a load of laundry can do. Clothes get filled with static because of too much dryness. (Talk about over simplification!) But the dryer balls, being wool, hold that moisture from the clothes that keeps them from getting all staticky (There must not be a real spelling for this word.) It will also shorten your dryer time and make you smile when the smiling sheep are found among the laundry.

I used my square to take payments everywhere I went markets, meetings and even on the farm when people came to buy chickens and eggs! So I made an online store where people anywhere could buy the dryer balls and I can just ship them anywhere in the U.S.

https://squareup.com/market/sundew-acres

 My friends Becky and Lynx opened a fiber shop and asked me to put some pieces up for sale. Several more pieces have sold.

September Aquaponics Update

First year of attempting aquaponics. The tank is

 4 feet deep 3 feet wide and 24 feet long. There are two grow beds Lots of room for expansion. 

We hope to keep it going till the end of October

 and restart it when it thaws out around March. 

Grow little squash grow!

 

Purple basil is happy in the upper bed.

 

 Yummy duck weed!

 The fish love it! I scoop out handfuls

 from the floating rafts and feed them,

 the raft keeps it safe 

from being eaten completely gone.

 

We are setting up this immersion heater as a heat exchanger. The tank water is piped through a garden hose that is submersed into the very hot water in the 55 gal drum. It returns to the tank warming the fishy water. This keeps the fish happy and they eat better. We will be moving the stove set up inside the greenhouse as soon as we get a couple more lengths of stove pipe.

So far it is a great experiment in growing food. We have lots of plans of expanding and ways to keep the water warmer than the expensive electric on-demand heater that we first tried.

Landscape Fiber Painting

One of my unfinished Fiber Paintings. This is wool from my sheep.

 

Here is the one I got third place at the Alaska State Fair.

 

And one I sold at the Farmer's Market!

 

 I have several more I will add as I get pictures available. I love painting with wool!

Aquaponics temperature

Yes! The water temp is up to 72 degrees! It is 44 degrees outside and 65 in the cabin.  Cant wait till we can get the whole stove inside the greenhouse. Maybe today!

Rainy Alaskan Day

I have been sitting here listening to the rain dancing on the tin roof watching as it drips off and accumulates into the flowing stream that leads to great puddles for the rain loving ducks.

It will clear for a bit and give me hope and then beat heavy again this time with a gust of wind.
Those plans I had for today ... are drenched!

Yesterday I used all kinds of muscles, mostly glutes, to pick strawberries for the farmers market. At least the strawberries are safe on my table as opposed to getting waterlogged in the field!

Last time I was at the market in the rain the table were soaked and the berries and our art work. Plus... I was freezing. It is 50 degrees now and I have a fire going in the cabin.

People are at the fair anyway although some will still attend the market looking for vegies and probably my strawberries and eggs. Maybe next week the weather will be better. It will be the last market of the year.

I will just plan some home school for the children, process some currants and create some more art pieces.