We have started something new! Handspinners Celebration of Full Moons have already
started shipping out. What does this new item entail? Well, each month I will be curating a box focused around the full moon of that month. Each box will contain 4 oz of roving, a notion that I have curated, a food recipe to help celebrate the full moon and a printed copy of a one of kind art piece that Rebecca Hoverson has hand painted for this project. By this time next year we will have celebrated 13 moons and months of fiber, art, and community.
The first box in our Handspinners Celebration of Full Moons begins with the Flower Moon. This full moon falls on May 5th and happens to be a total lunar eclipse. What does it mean to be a total lunar eclipse? A lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the moon to be darkened. Through out the year we will come upon a few different types of full moons and did you know that even though there are only 12 months out of the year, we still have 13 full moons?
May celebrates the fertility and growth that is about to start all around us. This moon is known as the Flower Moon, Milk Moon, Corn Planting Moon and Hare Moon. This is the month when our animals have birthed their young and we are in the gardens and fields planting the crops to sustain us in the coming winter months. The fields are lush grass for the cows, sheep and goats to produce nutritious milk for their young and traditionally, it was the month that many farm families would start consuming fresh dairy once again. For this months recipe we are going to celebrate the fresh greens of a salad that is one of the first crops to harvest and top it with a creamy dressing that represents the coming of freshening dairy animals.
Creamy Salad Dressing
Jessica Prentice
1/4 c creme fraiche
1 egg yolk
1/4 c olive oil
1/2 tsp white wine or apple cider vinegar
A generous pinch of salt
Plenty of ground pepper
In a large bowl, whisk the creme fraiche into the egg yolk, and then whisk in the olive oil.
Add the vinegar, salt and pepper.
Put the cleaned lettuce leaves (or greener for salad) directly into the bowl and toss before
serving.
* You can add 1/4 c of Blue Cheese Crumble to this recipe as well. I also
like to return to the garden and start to gently prune some of the
herbs that have returned from last year. This recipe can take on
many different hats for your needs.
Rebecca Hoverson has been a sister to me since we were in high school. She grew up attending a rural school while I spent our grade school years attending the town school. Once we entered high school in our small rural Montana town, we just clicked. It's hard to believe that 18 years have passed since that beginning. I am grateful to be sharing this journey over the next year with her. Rebecca will be creating each month based on different cultural meanings behind the moons. Some months will have common themes to them while others, she has dove deep into the meanings and made that connection to create the pieces. These are all hand painted each month. I then take them into the local printing agency and they turn them into the wonderful post cards that arrive in the boxes. I personally will be creating a small photo album with them so I can see the front art and the recipe on the back.
Drumroll please.... The fiber, the whole reason that you are here right?!? This month I am featuring Columbia wool with pops of merino through out it. The colors remind me of one of the first flowers that we see in the Spring, Lilac. The gentle hues of purple and light touches of blue. The Columbia was shared with us from Get Bentz Farm. I brought it home to start tackling the job of learning how to wash wool with our hard water. This roving still has a light touch of lanolin. I found it to be helpful to help grab the Merino while spinning. The finished product is going to have a lot of spring to it. After I spun up my sample skein I found my sport weight had turned into a worsted weight. It is a quick spin, I spun up 4 oz of this fiber just to see how it would turn out and I loved it.
The notion this month will be stitch markers. I had found a lovely metal bouquet of flowers and then matched it from there. This stitch marker will fit up to a size 9 needle. Now, the two butterfly markers have been finished with a clip. I have never made this style and I thought I would give it a try. They would be great to clip onto your yarn where you need to remember a row or a special stitch.
I hope you enjoy this box and I am looking forward to curating the next box!
- Cerissa
What's Happening on the Farm
We have finally finished lambing. The barn has been mucked out and now the sheep spend the bulk of the day on the back pasture while we wait for the grass to grow. Of course the weather has been cold, rainy and some spots snow. We have three little lambs that receive the supplemental feedings. One of them is a triplet that seems to be falling behind, so we just took a proactive step to help him out. The other two were singles that the mothers seem to be struggling. We have ewes loosing body conditions, so we had to add a meal in the day of grain to help add some nutrients back into their diet. The hay has been lacking due to the drought this past year. Unfortunately, a lot of the Shepards are seeing this issue. We will continue to keep pushing forward with hoping for Spring to show up and be grateful for the moisture we have received. We have started planting out our high tunnel for the season. The tomato plants went in a week ago and soon we will be dropping seeds in the ground that have a short growing season. The machines have been running in preparation for the Shepards Harvest Festival on Mother's Day weekend. We have also opened the link on our website to start taking in custom orders from fiber artists and Shepards. Lots of activity in the works!
Comments