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We’re hosting artist Cheryl Toh‘s GET WAXY Encaustic Painting Workshop next weekend (Nov. 4-7, Thursday – Sunday). The workshop page for the class syllabus, details, and registration information.

Personalized instruction, encaustic supplies, tools and equipment, room & board at the Harveyville Project are included in the workshop fees.

This workshop is an excellent opportunity to discover new techniques and applications with wax. Artists working in most any medium (drawing, painting, mixed media, fiber, clay, sculpture, etc) benefit from the exploratory, hands-on nature of this workshop. Beginning participants as well as those who have experience working in the medium, gain skills and techniques from the personalized instruction.

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The following weekend brings Hello Yarn’s Adrian Bizilia back to Harveyville for our first-ever Mitten School! All the details & registration info are here.

With the help of the handsome & talented David of Southern Cross Fibre, Adrian’s been busy selecting colorways for Mitten School. We’ll be using gorgeous, squooshy Quince & Company Lark (territorial wool) for the mittens and Tern (wool/silk) for the lining. Yum, yum!

Join us for a special new workshop this winter. Hello Yarn’s Adrian Bizilia, she of the marvelous mittens, will be leading knitting workshop! Yippee!

Details & registration here!

I’ve noticed a two things over the last couple weeks: 1) Eggs are still down, even though the temperature has really dropped (they often quit laying for a spell when it’s hot); and 2) Bridgette has been bolting off every morning when I let them out. When I was really late last week, she practically beat the door down.

I figured they were picking on her. Back when Bridgette was recovering from her dog attack, the other girls would peck her like crazy. Obviously her tail never grew back after the dog chomped it off, so she’s the odd girl out, and I worry that the other chickens are bitchy to her.

But today, I watched her rush off and discovered her making a beeline under the hay tarp. That’s this summer’s hay, still stacked in the driveway and covered with a tarp. It’s there because the snazzy new hay shelter was still under construction when the pasture was hayed. My plan was to turn the tarp into the sides of the shelter (it’s just an open structure with a tin roof), but the best laid plans….

So when she disappeared under the tarp, I followed her and discovered this:

A secret nest with a huge cache of eggs! Luckily, it’s been cool, so there were no exploded rotten eggs. But there were nearly a dozen from Bridgette (the green ones), and another handful from Inara, who has also been laying in the nest box. There’s no way of knowing which are oldest and which are fresher, so the chickens will be getting all of them over the next week or so, mixed in with their kitchen scraps.

Yes, chickens will eat eggs. This often astonishes people, but it’s true. They love them (they’re delicious!). In fact, in some flocks, you get trouble with hens breaking open their own eggs to eat them. We’ve never had that problem, but you’re always warned about it in the chicken books. I think as long as you break them open outside of the nest, there’s no worry. With these eggs, since some are nearly two weeks old, I’ll probably crack them open and nuke them before feeding them to the girls, to be on the safe side. (BTW, fresh eggs don’t spoil immediately at room temperature–you could keep them out on your counter for a few weeks if you wanted with no ill effects–but Bridgette may have been brooding over them, they have probably been at much higher than room temperatures).

I blocked off her entrance to the tarp and moved a couple of the clutch (and her) to the real nest box, but she seemed none too enthused about using it, and ended up laying today’s egg in the middle of the path, scurrying back to the tarp repeatedly (and being repeatedly relocated by me).

After encountering interviews with both Chuck Close and Oliver Sacks twice this week, I sought out a quiz on face blindness (prosopagnosia). Here are two quizzes, one with celebrities, one with anonymous computer-generated faces. Although I knew I wasn’t remotely face blind, I was surprised to score 100% on the celebrity quiz & 97% on the other one–I usually think of myself as crap at remembering people. But that’s not entirely true. I’m constantly recognizing people, but I can never remember context or names (though typically I have a sense of whether or not I like them). So I guess my memory’s spotty, but my actual face recognition is good.

I remember watching a Chuck Close documentary years ago, but somehow, I didn’t remember that he was face blind (which seems an obvious takeaway, given his art).

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

This is a workshop the Topeka Public Library hosts each year. I hope to attend next year.

Thanks to Bonnie for sharing these pictues!

Busy day today! First I got to visit with the noxious weeds rep from the county. She dropped by to spray the (thankfully) teenie patch of sericea lespedeza. She gave the rest of the pasture a once-over and confirmed the growth was limited to one little area. It’s well away from the sheep and smack in the middle of the flattest part of the pasture, so I’m not concerned about contamination or runoff. And although it’s a weed that’s supposed to be a natural dewormer, it’s also pretty much the kudzu of the prairie from what I hear, so best to nip it in the bud!

Then I got to observe a Kansas Arts Commission panel for a grant I applied for–very interesting and useful. I got respectable marks, but with the limited funds and big cutbacks to KAC funding, I’m not overly optimistic, alas. It was also really cool to see what other people are working on–I wish I had been able to sit in on more of the reviews.

Then I rushed back to get ready for a visit from a troop of Earth Scouts. They’re a co-ed scouting organization with an emphasis on the environment, diversity, peace and community. I like that the groups mix boys and girls. I don’t know if it’s true for all Earth Scouts, but this group included a wide range of ages as well.

A group of nine kids–from toddlers to I’m guessing about 8 or 9?–and their parents came out to meet our sheep, learn about wool, dye yarn, and help me spin. First they met the sheep, then all of the children dyed their own mini skeins of yarn with a combination of Kool-aid and food coloring. While we microwaved the yarn to set the dye, they tried washing a little raw fleece, then everyone took a turn helping card a batt. When the batt was finished, I gave a little spinning demo on the wheel, then all the kids took turns treadling while I drafted behind them. It was fun and the kids did a great job and seemed genuinely engaged in all the activities. Some of the older kids even tried drop spindling. They’ll be using the yarn they created to weave their own belts, which will be used to hold all the badges they’ll earn.

I’m hoping to get some pictures from the parents–especially of the team spinning!

I recently borrowed a copy of the 1970 Sheepman’s Production Handbook from our extension agent, and I liked it so well, I ordered my own copy. My used copy came with several 70s pamphlets from the Montana cooperative & extension service. Speaking of Extension, I’m officially in the Master Gardener program, and I am psyched! At our orientation, I learned all about how Extension came about. It’s very cool! You should totally take advantage of your extension, America! It’s awesome! (Hint: you don’t need to be rural. You can find out what’s eating your tomatoes or making your ivy wilt or when to plant squash.) If you don’t know about it, google your state or county and the word extension.

Here’s one of my favorite pictures. Naturally, he’s smoking. Nothing like a smoke to take the edge off when you’re lambing!

Remember when life was still like Mad Men, when everyone smoked, all the time? I remember when I smoked all the time, and now it seems impossibly alien. And dude, I am not that old. Okay, yeah, I’m kind of old.

Dammit.