Mid March News from the Farm

Lambs, Pottery, Crochet, and Craving Color

Hello Colorful Friends:

We’ve made it to mid-March — Yippee! Here in western Massachusetts, the sap is running and our neighbors are making gallons of maple syrup. With sap season comes mud season. They coincide naturally because it’s all about water rising and falling at this time of year. It surely is not the most picturesque time. There is no escaping mud for humans, dogs, cats and sheep and lambs. Luckily mud season also means that spring is not far off.

The daffodils are poking through the brown earth and so many different kinds of birdsong are in the air. This morning I heard the frogs croaking at a vernal pool. 

The other day, one of my newsletter readers asked me to check that she was still on my newsletter list. She was and I had to apologize to her that I had not written a newsletter since the holidays. Frankly, I was exhausted and had not much to say that I thought anyone would find interesting. I’ve spent the past couple months hibernating and recharging. It seems to happen in the dark winter days. Maybe you have too? I would love to hear what you have been up to this winter. I have not been idle if a bit quiet. Read on …….

First off, it has been lambing season here at Leyden Glen Farm. We had our first lamb right at the New Year. The lamb count is 220 at the moment with more to come. It was fast and furious during February with ten or more lambs being born some days. The lambs are still coming but at a much slower pace. The yearlings (last year’s female lambs) are lambing now. Lambing is the term sheep farmers use for birthing season. There is also calving season (cows) and kidding season (goats). I’ve posted lots of lamb photos on my Instagram account and on our Leyden Glen Farm Instagram account. You can also follow me on my Facebook account Kristin Nicholas Designs where all the IG photos cross-post. Below is one of my favorites. The lambs sometimes sleep in a big pile in the middle of the barn. It seems like the mamas are always working around the clock. Their job is to stay healthy so that they can feed their lambs and keep themselves going. By the time the lambs are weaned which is usually in May, the mamas will need a break for sure.

I signed up to do my third 100 Day Project. I started in mid February and find that these projects give me a reason to keep making and stay motivated. My friend Amy introduced me to this project concept. Her project is polymer clay and you can follow her on Instagram here. People do all kinds of 100 Day Projects - from knitting, drawing, crochet, cooking and on and on. The concept is to do something creative each day for 100 days and post your work to social media (or not).

This year, like in past years, my 100 Day project has been ceramics. I post work in progress and finished work to my Instagram account and my Facebook account. I have missed a few days due to a trip to visit my mom but I don’t worry about letting life get in the way. This winter, I have been painting still lives of flowers in vases on large and small platters that I made last summer. Creating these colorful paintings has helped me survive a winter devoid of color in the landscape. The photo below shows one of the shelves in my electric kiln that I recently unloaded. I’ll be adding many of these platters to my website soon.

During the winter/early spring evenings, I’ve been working on my latest Crocheted Hexagon Blanket. I’m on my fifth blanket - all using the really easy to make crocheted hexagon shape. I have finished one each winter since 2018. I hope to finish this one before summer comes. I love making these hexagons because each one is a tiny experiment with color. You would think that I would move on and make a different design but NOOOO. I’m happy with this one and because I have literally made over 1000 hexies, I can make them in my sleep. I guess I have become a crazy crochet lady. There are worse things I could become, I suppose. You can find the free pattern for the Hexagon Crochet Blanket over on my blog HERE. The finished blankets remind me of Millefiori - the Italian glass technique. You can watch a video about that here. 

Have you noticed the growing trend for Visible Mending? It has been around awhile (I illustrated this mending book back in 2012) but now it is all over Instagram and there have been many, many books published on mending. Perhaps it is the pandemic that made Visible Mending more mainstream or maybe the desire to recycle and repurpose. Whatever it is that made the trend happen, I’m there with it. Did you know I sell Crewel Wool Thread that is perfect for visible mending fine gauge wool and cashmere sweaters? Check out the various color packs I have over on my website HERE if you have a sweater that needs a little mending love. (My header photo at the opening of this email shows other projects I have made with the Crewel Wool. Some are included in my book Colorful Stitchery and in my Craftsy Class Stitch It with Wool.)

Here are this issue’s Links I’m Loving…….

• I love this incredibly colorful, graphic quilt by Marla Varner. On her blog, she writes about the project which she did during the first year of the pandemic. What a gorgeous piece.

• In the feel good department, this retired gentleman from the UK has built homes for 60,000 birds who are in danger of disappearing.

• As a ceramic artist, there are many potters who I look to for inspiration. One of them is Mary Rose Young who lives in the Forest of Dean near the Welsh border. Many, many years ago, I saw an article in Metropolitan Home Magazine (anyone remember that one?) featuring her colorful home and ceramics. She is still at it and you can watch a video about her here. 

• I read a lot of newsletters. I just discovered that my iPhone will read them to me via an accessibility option called Spoken Content. It’s a big timesaver because I can cook or wash the dishes and my phone reads interesting articles to me. It took me a couple tries to get it to work but now I’ve got it. Watch a video here to learn how here.

• I have been enjoying an afternoon Chai Tea frequently this winter. I buy this brand from a Vermont maker at the Brattleboro Food Coop but you can find it online. They also make a version that is chai spices only that you can add your own black tea. Delicious and so warming. Here’s a video of a street vendor in India making chai. It’s a little long so just watch the first half. That rock! How many chais has it made?

• I’m reading a biography of Josiah Wedgwood called The Radical Potter. I do not have any Wedgwood but am finding the book so interesting. Hard to believe how precise potters could be back in the 1700’s. This film on the British Pathe YouTube Channel was interesting to watch.

• I’ve been a fan of Jacques Pepin for a long time especially after reading The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen. I always knew that he was a painter along with being a chef and author. He is working on a new book due out next fall called Jacques Pépin, Art of the Chicken: A Master Chef’s Stories and Recipes of the Humble Bird. Looking forward to it. Follow him on Instagram and/or Facebook where he shares cooking videos.

• I’ve just made this recipe for French Onion Braised Lamb Shanks with Barley and Greens from the NYTimes. It was delicious and there is leftovers for tomorrow.

That’s it for today. I hope you have had a good winter. Drop me a note to tell me what you have made. You can either respond to this email or leave a comment using the buttons below.

Colorfully yours,

Kristin Nicholas