Cabin Crafted

Blog

  • Wild life mini disasters

    One of the downsides of living on a rural farm is the wildlife seem to become less wild in the daily presence of humans.

    When our children were young and we lived in a coastal surburban area, we would travel to the mountains for a weekend vacation hoping to see deer and an occasional bear. Loved watching the chipmunks scurry under the stone stairs of the cabin. Seeing raccoons, sometimes with a brood in tow peeking over the stone retaining walls along the Parkway.

    Well, they all live here and are much less wary of humans than it seemed they were when we were actively trying to see them. The deer barely look up from eating when we drive down the gravel driveway. The chipmunks dig holes in the deck plants. Food scraps left in the compost pile disappears overnight. And the deer come right up on the patio to eat the sunflower volunteers under the bird feeder, knock over the flower pots on the deck steps looking for something on which to graze. The perenniel sunflowers and daylilies don’t stand a chance. They are planted right up against the house and I haven’t had daylily blooms in years. I don’t think to take before photos of the tipped over pots with potting soil spilled out on the steps. The one this morning is a huge pot up two steps that was sown with wildflower seed and was full of young plants a few inches tall. It has been righted, as much soil and seedlings as could be salvaged scraped up and as of this morning, those pots now have tomato cages with plastic mesh inside to discourage such behavior. The daylily bed has panels of old bent rusty fencing tunneled over the garage side bed to try to get a few blooms this year. It is discouraging to put in the work of planting and caring for beds and pots to have them destroyed within feet of where we live.

    The orchard is their feast, it is across the other side of the vegetable garden seen in the above photo. They are welcome to feasting in the orchard, there is too much fruit for us anyway. The vegetable garden has 4 foot fence with a solar charged electric wire around the top, so the deer stay out of it, but the rabbits flourish. Hopefully with the unused part mowed back, they will be less bold. To get in the garden, they have to go through the chicken tunnel except on the house side. That fence is in very poor shape, so perhaps that side should be refenced with rabbit fencing to block their ingress, however the gate still leaves bunny sized holes around it.

    We love seeing the wildlife that share our farm, but they have 30 acres of grass and woodlands in which to graze. Leave my flowers alone.

  • A slight respite

    Today dawned with a few clouds and a delightful 54 degrees f. The high today only aimed at 74. As I was up early, my garden jeans, an oversized worn out tee shirt, and garden boots were my early attire. The line trimmer fully charged and a pair of garden gloves were grabbed, and off to tackle the vegetable garden so it didn’t keep me in a funk. The paths were trimmed to bare earth where possible, the blueberry bed trimmed, some taller lambs quarters and amaranth pulled, the rest cut as close to the earth as the trimmer would cut. The burn barrel was going to be moved out of the way, but it has burned and rusted through the bottom, so the remaining ash in the bottom will have to be shovelled into big garbage bags and taken with the remains of the barrel to the dump. Maybe, once empty, it can be moved somewhere to continue using the vented sides on a bare spot until it totally gives up.

    After the work with the trimmer, a hoe and hand weeding got most of the beds back in order. And some of the peppers were in better shape than I thought yesterday. After cleaning up and putting the battery for the line trimmer back on the charger, we left to do our daily walk and some errands. The nursery did not have any Jalapenos, but did have Anaheims, so we purchased a small flat of 4 plants. The big box hardware store did have nice potted Jalapenos in 6 inch pots, so two of them were purchased and the bird netting to cover and protect the grapes from the deer. They got all the leaves and grapes last year, this year I want them and plan on winning this battle.

    Once back home, the garden clothes were put back on and the recharged line trimmer was used to beat down the stickweed about to overtake our mailbox and the grass around the culverts that we can’t get with the mower. A few other areas need trimming, but the battery only lasts about 30 minutes. Once it was back on the charger, the peppers we purchased were added to the garden. The two Jalapenos replaced two that were in the worst condition and the 4 Anaheims planted under the trellis that the peas are on. As the peas aren’t doing much, they will be pulled before the peppers need the vertical space. The rest of the hand weeding was done, and though the garden hasn’t proved very successful so far, it least I’m not still intimidated by the tasks that were needed and accomplished on this mild day.

    Tomorrow, we are forcast for another mild day, so maybe some fence work, hanging the netting over the grapes, and putting up a bunny barrier around the peppers can happen in the early part of the day.

    When the weather cooperates, it is a pleasure to get outdoors and work. Once it gets above 85, I don’t want to be outside, and have to force myself to get the daily walk in for my health.

  • The farm and a lack of energy/motivation

    It is hot! Mid July hot. The garden this year is a total disaster. Something has eaten all of the corn shoots that were about 6 inches tall, the peas blew over and it got too hot too soon for them to produce. All of the peppers, hot and sweet have been eaten to a stub and the weeds are winning. Every ripening blueberry is damaged. When the rain comes, it comes in torrents with wind. The Smartweed, Cheesehead weed, and Creeping Charlie may soon be a solid mat.

    I am hoping for green beans and tomatoes. We will check the nursery tomorrow for larger pepper plants and put mesh collars around them or a chicken wire fence inside the raised bed and hope that we get some peppers.

    At this rate, my best option is to try to mow back the paths and try to weed the beds with anything growing in them. Maybe next year, pull all the metal raised beds, lay a thick layer of corregated cardboard, reset and refill the beds and add one or two more. And move the fence in to make a much smaller garden with rabbit fencing around it or around the inside edge of each raised bed, and just mow the upper part. The asparagus bed needs to be reworked anyway and reseting the garden will allow some crowns to be moved.

    The pumpkins and gourds were planted out today as small plants, but there isn’t much hope for their success.

    The deer are decimating the flower beds. We see them right up almost to the porch and rabbits by the dozens this year. A chipmunk or two are living in the rocks around the deck area and come up on the deck to dig into the pots of flowers growing there.

    What used to be a pleasure, is now a chore. The herbs on the deck are doing well, even sharing them with the Black Swallowtail larvae that feasted there for a few days.

    And the young hens are very generous now, providing many dozen a week. Daughter’s family gets their share, a dozen travelled to eldest son’s for our weekend, I am eating my share and there are still too many. A neighbor or someone at spinning may soon benefit from some if I can get my hands on a few cardboard cartons.


    That is three day’s worth from our weekend away. Being young, the eggs are still on the small side and still getting a few with double yolks.

    We are currently sitting under a severe thunderstorm watch. The one on Friday evening caused ruts in our driveway and the gravel state road off which we live. We need a couple of dry days for our hay man to come mow and bale the hay. And a couple of cooler days for me to try to regain some order to the garden.

  • Olio – May 31, 2026

    Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

    The month is drawing to a close. It has been a good month, with a trip to see youngest son and family, a month long spinning challenge, a very heavy work day with local grandson making headway on cleaning up parts of the property, walks and wildlife, seeing more production from the pullets, some social time, some living history, and not enough gardening.

    We often see snakes, turtles, or today, a lizard on the paved trail. The morning was cool enough that it was warming on the dark pavement, and yet delightful for a brisk walk.

    We saw our first fawn of the season this week, crossing our gravel road into the woods. Tiny little one that quickly tucked itself between Mom’s back legs as we were approaching.

    Yesterday on my way to an annual spring spin in at a friend’s house, I saw another with it’s Mom in route, then yet another on our gravel road on my way home. The spin in is always enjoyable, the weather was a delight and the potluck ended up mostly salads, many Mediterrean in flavor. A good friend who I see only at this event and at an Arts and Fiber retreat once a year as she and her husband live a state away, gifted me a tiny spindle made by my favorite spindle maker, Ed Jenkins. Most of my spindles are on the smaller size, but this one is really tiny. Seen next to a US quarter for reference. Much to my surprise, it spins for an amazingly long time once a little fiber is added.

    For the spinning challenge, all done on Jenkin’s spindles, I spun 165 g of wool. Other spinning was done during the month on other types of spindles, some at living history groups at the museum, some on my own at home as I work toward enough to finish the other 3/4 of the blanket in progress. So in total, I probably spun about half a pound of wool this month. And I started lessons for one of my friends and fellow living history re-enactors. This month, I won’t participate in the challenge and there are no scheduled groups other than the weekly session with the local spinning group. I will likely meet up with my friend again for another lesson for her.

    The garden is growing, the raised beds are doing well and have been weeded a couple of times, but I never did get the rest of the garden set for corn and pumpkins, nor have I gotten the blueberry bed weeded. We did get almost a week of rain toward the end of the month.

    The pullets, I think are now all laying. The most I have gotten on any one day was today and there were 7 eggs (9 pullets). The Marans that I didn’t think had started, have given me 4 eggs in the past couple days and two of them today, so I know they are both laying. As I don’t know for sure what color the Mystic Onyx breed lays. The web says light brown and there are 3 Buff Orpingtons that also lay light brown. I did get 3 light brown eggs in the mix today, so at least 3 of the 5 light brown layers are providing.

    As they get the hang of production, we sometimes get an oddball one. This one on the left when cracked open, had 3+ yolks. The one on the right is a normal sized pullet egg.

    I have gotten doubles before, especially when they are young and soon after starting to lay again after molt, but three is a record for here.

    After our walk, a few quick stops, we managed to get the yard mowed, partly edged, and the fence around the young oak planted on our pup’s grave reinforced. It is now time to let the day fade, spin a little more, or maybe knit a few rows, and look forward to a new month beginning tomorrow with new adventures.

  • Flora and fauna

    It has been wet! For 5 days it has rained off and on, sometimes heavy enough to cause damage to the unpaved road leading to our driveway which is also unpaved. We have walked laps of the mall for 3 of those days, caught breaks in the rain for the other two to get our daily walk in. Today, we drove to a nearby town that has a riverwalk path along the New River and across the road beside a creek that feeds into the river. When we stopped for lunch, it began to rain and it appeared that our venture over to one of those paths was going to be thwarted. By the time we finished lunch, it had stopped and each carrying an umbrella just in case, we were able to get our walk in.

    It was a day of flora and fauna. The first was White Jelly fungus, seen on a very wet, rotting log. This is a fungus that was unfamiliar to me.

    We chose the creekside trail today as it is more wooded, and spotted this Swallowtail caterpillar munching on a trailside shrub. The eye pattern on the top is fascinating.

    On the return trip, a groundhog was grazing the mowed area near the picnic shelter on the edge of the creek.

    As we crossed back to the river side to continue adding a few more steps, there was a large patch of Virginia Dayflower in bloom.

    For summer camp at the museum, I will be teaching spindle spinning and herbal medicine and we will be making salves from a few of the native plants that the Native Americans and frontier folk used for healing. Sticking with several that are safe for children. One that is commonly still used is Broadleaf Plantain and a great example was by the fence on the side of the trail.

    Back home, a coop check on the young birds that have since Mother’s Day been providing a couple of eggs each day as more develop, there were 5 today. Unless the Marans I got are not the ones to lay chocolate brown eggs, they still are not providing,

    The pullet eggs are still small, but the supply is increasing.

    We have more thunderstorms over the next few days with it moving back to summer time temperatures, but the rain chance is decreasing a bit each day. The rain though inconvenient for gardening and daily walks is much needed. We have been in near drought conditions for a couple of years. Most of the rain has been slow enough to sink in and not just run off, except for a few times of torrents that create the gullies in the road and driveway.

  • Strong as a bull

    The grandson (19 years old) drove over this morning and for the next 1.75 hours, we worked. I had brought the trailer down from the barn to the garden area and tried to get a headstart before he arrived by starting to back the long screws out of the rotting garden box. That box was 17′ long and 4′ wide. Many of the screws just stripped instead of backing out. To also expedite our destruction, I drove the tractor down from the barn and shifted the broken rubble from the destroyed chicken tractor that has sat under one of the apple trees with several years of grass growing up through it.

    The wooden box was behind the black bed with the tomatoes in it. Once he arrived, he took the sledge hammer to it and broke the long sides off of the short sides and our day began. The short sides were loaded in the trailer, the long one brought over to the house where they could be cut in thirds with the circular saw, then they also were loaded. The trailer was then relocated closer to the rubble pile and we “Tetris” fit about a dozen cedar posts we had cut from young trees on the farm and stripped of branched to make up the base for the chicken tractor when we realized it could be breached and 9 chicks killed. The base was raised off the ground on large rocks, the cedar posts anchored together, a thick layer of soil on top, then the chicken tractor lifted on top and all spaces of potential access filled with large rocks. This worked for a while, then a strong windstorm toppled it and as the chicken tractor was made primarily of reclaimed wood, it was destroyed. The rocks were removed, the cedar posts stacked under the tree, and the plan to try to remove the hardware cloth. The task overwhelmed me each time I decided to tackle it and the grass started growing up through the mesh. It made mowing that area quite difficult and though it got weed whacked occassionally, it was an unsightly mess.

    We filled the trailer to the top with rotting wood, hardware cloth, and the metal top panels, lashed it down tight and drove it to the “convenience center,” where the dumpsters and dump trailers are placed for us to take our garbage, trash, and recyclables. We managed to get it done before the temperature got unbearable. It eventually reached 89 f today.

    The teen was well paid, fed lunch, and sent home. Daughter texted later and said I had worn the teen out. Wore his grandmom out as well.

    We waited until after dinner, when the thermometer dropped to 85 to go take our walk. Tommorrow is a repeat as far as the weather, but no heavy work is planned. The area where the box was removed and to the left of it still needs cleaning up to plant the three sisters mounds, hoping to get popcorn, some dried beans, gourds and pie pumpkins out of that otherwide unused part of the garden. And the area where the rubble was removed needs to be raked to make sure we didn’t leave any boards with staples, nails, or screws that might puncture a foot or mower tire. It will cool back down in a few days and those tasks can be tackled.

  • How does your garden grow

    Yesterday was a perfect day and the last Living History class group of the spring. They were a delightful group of about 50 second graders, well behaved, engaged, and even had some great questions. Summer time is hot to wear all of the frontier woman’s clothing, but I do miss doing the groups during the summer. Fall will bring fourth and sixth graders, and more of the surrounding counties are taking advantage of the offering of history as it applies to their SOL objectives.

    Today the temperature begins an uptick to a few days of mid summer type weather with it reaching near or achieving 90 f before it returns to normal spingtime. It seemed like a good day to take the next step in garden planting for the season. After our usual Saturday morning breakfast out, Farmer’s Market purchases, and walk along the Huckleberry Trail, a pointed hoe and packets of seeds were carried out to the garden. The green beans were planted, the peppers staked, and a box that wasn’t in the vegetable plan this year, planted with mixed sunflowers and tithonia, and the adjacent area with Sweet Annie and Calendula. Since they were newly planted and no rain forcast for a few days, the sprinkler is on it now.

    The blueberries need weeding, some paths week whacked and the three sister’s garden started. I also want some flax seed for the row of the flower box that isn’t planted yet.

    The box with the flower seed in it is deteriorating and will removed at the end of the season, probably replaced with another metal box next spring. The very long one to the left of the peppers, peas, and newly planted beans if rotted so badly that it has become dangerous and local grandson is going to come over and help me cut it up, remove it from the garden and haul it to the dump. Under one of the apple trees is the remnant of a small chicken tractor that blew over about 4 or 5 years ago and he is also going to help finish deconstructing that to haul away so that mowing near the apple trees and chicken coop and pen is easier. Sure is nice having older teens/young adults that are willing to work for tuition money (or to just help grandmom out, but will be paid.)

  • Home Routine

    Last weekend we travelled across the state to visit our younger son, his wife, and the grandkiddos. We got to see their little homestead and their business location that we hadn’t seen since they relocated to the larger spaces.

    We also had the opportunity to see their second oldest daughter perform with the Virginia Children’s Choir in a Saturday afternoon concert.

    The trip was fun, though the traffic in the region we lived in until 20 years ago is crazy.

    After sharing breakfast with them at their home, we headed back to the mountains in time to visit with and go out to dinner with daughter and her family for Mother’s Day for the two of us. I came home with flowers from those two families and a very generous donation in my honor to the New River Conservancy Organization from eldest son’s family.

    We got home tired, but happy.

    It rained yesterday morning, and we realized that the grass was going to become impossible to mow if we didn’t get it done, but it didn’t dry off enough yesterday to make that happen. After today’s walk and errands, working together, we got the lawn and orchard cut back to a managable level, but ran out of weed trimmer line, so that didn’t get finished. Tomorrow is cooler and rainy again, but we can at least stop and purchase the line so that part of the job can be completed once it dries out again.

    May’s Jenkins spindle challenge is a fun competition to see which style spindles (divided into two randon groups) can spin the most in a month. I finished up some fiber I had been working on with my newest spindle and some fiber I want to use to knit the second quadrant of a queen sized blanket with my smallest spindle, and now finishing that fiber with my lightest spindle.

    Today’s mail brought some black Shetland wool that will be the borders of the remaining three quadrants of the blanket. Black Shetland was used on the first quadrant.

    The pots seeded with mixed flowers are sprouted and growing nicely, the peas, spinach, and lettuce in the garden also. The tomatoes and peppers that were transplanted just before we left seem to be thriving as well. Spring is definitely here even with with 50’s daytime temps off and on and upper 40’s nighttime temps. Over the weekend, three of the pullets layed their first egg. I think one more may have layed a wind egg (an egg with no shell) as there was a yolky sticky spot in a nesting box. Soon we will have daily egg supply again, and enough to take to daughter’s house each week.

    There is only one more grade level group coming to the museum. This Friday, we will again host 2nd graders, then schools in this region will adjourn on May 29 for the summer. I will miss that opportunity during the summer.

    Have a safe week.

  • An Educator

    This is teacher appeciation week. Thank a teacher for the impact they had on you or your child. For 43 years, I was an educator, retiring when I could begin to collect Social Security. For a few years after retirement, the only teaching I did was helping a local summer camp, teaching some spinning, weaving, and salve making. Then a friend who had been volunteering at a local museum couldn’t fulfill a day they needed a spinner and I connected with a volunteer activity that allowed me to demonstrate in a Colonial historical context, fiber arts. The program director at that museum moved to a different location, a little farther from our farm, but still under an hour to get there and I followed her, volunteering at events, and as she developed a program and relationship with the area school districts, as a teaching volunteer.

    Generally, I am in a 1769 log, 10 by 10 foot cabin that houses a great wheel and a barn loom.

    We have classes from second grade, fourth grade, and sixth grade that visit the museum at different times of the year. In my usual role, I am teaching about fiber production, processing, and clothing on the frontier. The village was chartered in 1810, so still very early in our country’s history, and through a period where trade was virtually stopped due to the Revolutionary War, and limited after the war due to the distance from the coastal trade ports.

    Today, a very rainy day, we had about 60 second graders visiting. And a different hat as one of our volunteers was unavailable, I was in the old separate kitchen talking about household life and how different it was then compared to what the kids experience today. The limitation of types of food, as most of what we eat now is imported or hybridized versions of what a local in western Virginia would have had available as well as the difficulty of storage, cooking on a fireplace, the soap making, candle making, fiber growth and processing, and how it was mostly a cashless society with bartering the most common form of trade.

    I may be a very senior citizen, but teaching is still in my blood and I love the volunteer opportunity that is there for me. I hope to be able to continue doing this for many more years.

  • Time to grow

    The tomatoes and peppers have moved out to the deck during the day, watered and brought back in to the floor in front of the south facing doors for the evenings. The herbs started in the Aerogarden, except for the basil were transplanted into a large pot on the back deck a few days ago with a cover ready if needed at night, but it hasn’t been necessary. The future weather forcast for here looks stable with a couple of rainy days, so this evening, the tomatoes were pruned of all of their lower leaves, only the top pair left and planted on their sides next to the A-frame trellis purchased last year. They are deep enough to create strong new roots along the buried stem and if necessary in the next few nights, small enough to cover with medium sized terra cotta pots or gallon jars. The 8 pepper plants, 4 hot, 4 not were planted in another bed and the sides of that bed are high enough that it can be covered with plastic if necessary. All of that was watered in well along with a soaking of the bed with peas, lettuce, and spinach. Tomorrow is to be a rainy day which will help.

    Also the end of last week, 3 large pots were sown with mixed flower seed. Tonight, I rescued my False Indigo from the mountain mint, planted it in a half barrel half buried in a ring in the back of the house that helps us locate the septic cleanout door. Around the half barrel, more mixed flower seed was planted, then all of the deck and back yard pots given a good soak.

    A few Christmases ago, a friend gave me a wax covered Amaryllis bulb that sprouted a gorgeous stalk of vivid red trumpet shaped flowers. When the flowers were spent, the wax was removed and the bulb planted in a pot and it grew leaves. Each summer it goes outdoors, each autumn it comes back in and when the leaves die back, it goes dormant. The following year, the blooms were about a month later, last year another month later, this year it waited until the very end of April to grace us with 4 lovely blooms and leaves already.

    On a recent walk, we found a native Flame Azalea. It wasn’t very large, but the golden blooms are so pretty tucked in the edge of the woods.

    Recently, the hummingbirds have been at the feeder regularly and an Eastern Phoebe keep landing on the back of the porch swing on the covered front porch, then flying off toward the protected breezeway and upon investigation, found this nest.

    Her chicks have hatched as she is now in and out constantly feeding the brood. It is too high for me to peek in and see how many. Once they fledge, the nest will be hosed down and the logs scrubbed off to prevent rot. At least one of the birdhouses in the vegetable garden is hosting Bluebirds. They were most unhappy with me working in the garden this evening, so work was done as quickly as possible to get away and leave them alone. I could peek there to see how many babies, but didn’t.

    The beans probably won’t go in the ground for another week or so and toward the end of May, the popcorn, gourds, and pumpkins, but that end of the garden needs some work first. The asparagus are amazing at how quickly they go from barely breaking the soil until almost too big to eat. I have to admit to having to compost a few as they didn’t get cut until the tops started opening. Fortunately, daughter’s family likes them as does a friend I see every week or two and they have definitely been my green vegetable of choice for a couple of weeks.

    The mountains are now green almost to the top and fully leafed at our elevation about halfway down. It is such a pretty time of the year here.