Bluebirds and Sunflowers

Hello Colorful Friends!

How are you? I hope March is treating you well. Here at the farm, lambs are continuing to arrive. As our lambing season continues, it is the yearling ewes who begin to deliver. As you can imagine, first time mamas are sometimes confused with what just happened. Most of them have innate instincts that help them know that they have to lick the fluids off the baby thus stimulating the new life to breathe. Generally, we leave the mother to do her thing but sometimes the ewe has no interest in her baby and things go south. It is all a part of sheep farming that after 30 something years becomes the normal cycle of our year here. We are up to over 150 lambs so things are chaotic as you can imagine. I was lucky to arrive just after this lamb was born.

As the sun has been returning, I can feel spring coming. There is more birdsong outside each morning which is such a pleasant surprise. I love spring birdsong. From my studio windows, I can see all kinds of flittering about as the birds look for seeds from last years’ flowers. I don’t cut my plants back in the fall. I leave everything to decompose during the winter and the bonus is that I get to watch the birds harvest the seeds and berries until it’s time to begin the garden again.

The other morning as I was pulling on the same two sweaters that I pile on every day, I saw some birds in the ancient maple tree. They looked a bit different than the normal winter birds that are usually just outside. As one flew to the dogwood close to the window, I was jazzed to see that the birds were bluebirds. I never see them close to the house so they helped to begin my day with a good vibe. Later that day, I went down to my studio and continued my bird themed pottery that I wrote about in my last newsletter.

I must say, I’ve been in a bit of bird frenzy in the studio. Last fall I made several big and small platters and I’ve been painting my way through them. I can’t stop looking at birds on Instagram. I follow several bird hashtags and those sweet little creatures are always popping up adding color to my day.

This bird platter combines a bluebird with one of my favorite flowers to grow - sunflowers. When it is fired, the colors will brighten up. Every piece is always a surprise and that’s what keeps me painting and making.

Speaking of sunflowers, I ordered my sunflower seeds the other day. I want to mention this here because I know many of you have been inspired by my Instagram photos and my blog over the years to plant your own sunflowers. With the Pandemic, gardening has grown exponentially in popularity. Seed companies are overwhelmed with orders. In other words, you had better get your seed orders in. I get most of my sunflower seeds from Sunflower Selections. Minimum order is $15 and the smallest package is 100 seeds so you will have plenty to share with friends. Check them out here. Here are some photos from my garden from years past. I thought I would share them with you to give you hope for what is to come later this year. Here is a Sunflower Planting Guide I wrote back in 2016.

Sunflowers have been a staple in our lives for many, many years. When Julia was small, The Farmer planted a huge plot of sunflowers on Leyden Road in Greenfield. I harvested them daily and set them out on a haywagon for sale. Although we no longer do that, I continue to grow and be inspired by sunflowers. I paint them on pottery, crewel embroider them onto pillows, design surface patterns for fabric design, and knit, crochet and felt them. Here’s an old photo of a yarn-bomb at the sunflower field.

I wrote a knitting pattern for sunflowers and zinnias that is available as a PDF on my website here or on Ravelry here. There are all kinds of fun projects you can use the felted sunflowers on —- potholders, scarves, pillows, totebags, and tea cozies to name a few. The pattern shown below gives you all kinds of ideas.

I’ll end today’s newsletter with some links I’ve been enjoying……

• I wrote a Book Review on my blog about Frances Palmer’s new book Life in the Studio. I’ve admired Frances’ pottery for years.

• I’m enjoying this newish (pandemic inspired) podcast from Margo Tantau called Windowsill Chats. I met Margo many years ago at an event in Minneapolis. She was a dynamo working for Hallmark Cards at the time. I’m really enjoying listening to her talk with her varied guests.

• On the cooking front, this minestrone from Ina Garten was a huge hit. We are on our second batch as soup season is still going here at our farm.

• I am reading James Rebanks’ English Pastoral and enjoying it.

• I have made several batches of this ginger syrup this winter. I add it to seltzer and tea. It’s such a treat. When it warms up, I’m going to try to GROW some ginger using root from the grocery store as seen on this blog.

• Here is a short video by the maker of Bernie’s famous mittens.

• The talented farmers at Floret have a new dahlia book coming up. Check it out here.

• A vacation here would be unbelievable. A bit out of my range but I love perusing their House of Hackney website for the beautiful fabrics and home accessories. You can purchase some of their wallpaper at Anthropologie.

• I’m still seaming together crochet hexies for my fourth crochet hexagon blanket (directions on my blog here). Do you know Attic 24? Her crochet blankets are gorgeous. Do you know Janie Crow? Her nature themed crochet blankets and pillows are to die for too.

• Have you heard of “wintering”? This post on Brainpickings explores the spiritual process of resilience and renewal. Things to think about as we move towards spring in the northern hemisphere.

I hope you are healthy and warm and anticipating spring and perhaps a return to more normal times as the year progresses. It has been a year of challenge for the entire world. I feel so fortunate that I have had people I love to spend this unforgettable time with. I hope there have been some bright spots in the Pandemic for you. How have you gotten through it? What has brought you joy? If you have time and feel like sharing them, leave them in the Comments Section by responding below (rather than sending me an email). That way, other readers can read what you are sharing and perhaps respond to you. It will help me to respond on the same thread too as opposed to trying to respond to individual emails.

Thank you for reading til the end.

Yours in color and creativity,

p.s. Order gou