Spring At Last

Backyard Poultry

The Other Side of the Fence

Ever seen one chicken on both sides of a wire fence? No, I did not cut a larger hole in the wire, or touch any of the chickens. And yes, despite all that wonderful grass I described in my last post, the spoiled hens soon grew bored and began to look for snacks elsewhere. Peeper had a competitive advantage from the start since it had a naturally very small comb. This allowed easy passage through holes in the wire which would otherwise cut or trap a regular hen's taller comb. Dandelions seemed to be the first choice food once Peeper successfully had its head and neck outside to freedom. And I never even knew chickens like dandelions!

Enjoying the Sunshine

Acorn seems much happier outdoors than stuck in the coop. Or is that a bit of a mischievous look yet I see in those eyes?

Spring Grass

Backyard Poultry

Back to Grass at Last!

However, nothing can match the rich green grass of spring. Do you think the chickens were happier in their spacious house with specially-bought and prepared collard greens or out here in the elements eating self-producing weeds? Well, I'm not the one who asked for winter! Anyway, you can see that our hodge-podge collection of runs survived the winter and were ready to put to use on the field again. We discovered one time-saving change to make at this point: we used only one of the runs to take the hens back to their coop at night rather than dragging all three back every day . . . hummm, why did that take so long to figure out?

Indoor Treats

Backyard Poultry

Swingin' Greens

You may remember my last series of posts, detailing the boredom that chickens can experience through a long northern winter indoors. Well, I'm happy to say, the little chicken family we've been watching has almost made it through their first winter. But even when March temperatures have melted the snow outdoors, green grass can be hard to find. Cut greens from the grocery store make a good substitute. I hung them just above the hens' heads to encourage a little exercises. Chickens readily jump to get a good bite to eat - see an entertaining movie of spinning cabbages and chickens right here!

Of course, hens also love many other non-grain treats; I've already featured several such as corn, garden extras, cabbage, and even bananas.

The Grass Is Always Greener . . .

Even the most luxurious feast of greens doesn't seem to convince my adventurous Araucana chicken Acorn from trying to escape while the coop door's open!

Fall Pear Tart

Gluten-Free Gourmet

Pear Delight

For many country people, the coming of autumn means syrupy fruit pies, steaming apple tarts, and chewy zucchini bread. For the conscientious eater, all of these wonderful treats translate into two sad things: gluten and sugar. Not good. But I have good news: you can enjoy these fall foods without the bad ingredients! Here is a wonderful pear dessert, best with those fresh pears picked from the backyard tree or bought at the farmer's market. Non-gluten oat and rice flour and nutritious honey replace the sugar and wheat. You may notice how small portions the recipe makes. That's intentional: my family of five would split this dessert in order to reduce the sugar intake even more. Less, more often, is the best way to go when you're watching your carbs.

Heating Pears

 To make the pear sauce layer in this delicious dessert, combine in a small saucepan:

2 ripe pears, chopped                                       2 T. cubed butter

3 T. raw honey                              1/8 t. each cinnamon & cloves

Simmer, covered, on low heat for 20 minutes til soft. Uncover and continue to simmer until most of the liquid is gone. This will take 5-20 minutes, depending on how juicy your pears are. Once finished, pour the pears into the bottom of a greased 7x9 glass dish.

The topping is just as easy. Cut 3 T. of softened butter into 1/2 c. sifted oat-rice flour. Add 1 T. of cream and enough water to make a spreadable batter. Gently layer the topping over the pears. Bake in a 350 oven for 10-15 minutes, or until topping is lightly browned. Serve immediately. This warm, fruity dessert is best topped with vanilla ice cream. 

Finished Bracelet

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Bracelet

 To finish up the bracelet, simply repeat the steps in my last post on the opposite end of the wire. The only difficulty with this one is that the crimp bead has to be right up against the first bead on the bracelet. It's not quite so easy to feed the beads onto the loose wire after you squeeze the crimp bead. Instead, you have to feed the wire through about three or four beads on the bracelet. Then cut it off as close as you can and do your best to stuff it under the next bead. It not always easy, but it usually works itself in eventually. And there you have it - a beautiful handmade bracelet! The one above I made for my mother. I was really pleased with it, and I think she was too!

Crimping Pliers

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Beading Pliers

The final step is squeezing that crimp bead tight in order to hold the two pieces of wire in place, capturing the fastener in the loop. To accomplish this you use a special pair of beading pliers. You can find them in the beading section of a craft store as well. They have blunt ends that work perfectly for the job. Use your fingers to push the crimp bead tight up against the fastener loop (see the picture below). Then gently squeeze the crimp bead flat. Be careful - you can break the bead in two with too much pressure (I know from experience). Just tug on the loose ends of wire after you're done and that will tell you if it's tight enough.

Crimping Bead with Pliers

Crimp Bead

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Crimp Bead and Fastener on Bracelet Wire

Once you pick your choice of fasteners, you're ready to attach them to the bracelet. You can put one of the two on before stringing the bracelet, or do both afterward. It's up to you. The process is a bit tricky though. It involves one more component: a TINY oblong bead called a crimp bead. You can buy these little beads in packages but they often come with the fasteners as well.

To set it up, thread the crimp bead onto the wire on one end of your bracelet. Then thread the wire through the little loop on the fastener. Now here's the tricky part: thread the end of the wire back through the crimp bead again. You should get something like I have in the photo above. Hang on; we're almost there!

Fasteners

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Bracelet Ends

Well, I admit, there is one thing I forgot in my last set of posts. Once strung, how are you going to keep all your beautiful beads from sliding right back off that wire? These lovely fasteners are the answer. In each set above, the loop goes on one end of the bracelet and the stick on the other. They're very easy both to attach to the wire and to do up when you go to wear the bracelet. You can find as many styles of fasteners as you can beads. I like to try to match them a bit to the bracelet: if I use gold, silver, or copper beads in the bracelet, of course I use the same color fastener. The heart-shaped ones give it a new twist as well.

Stringing Beads

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Putting Beads on Wire

It's time to get back to our handmade bracelets! My last set of posts explained all the materials we need, and we're ready to get started stringing. It's as easy as it looks. Just cut a length of wire at least twice as long as you want the finished bracelet (it doesn't have to be at all exact, just be generous). Make sure you have all the beads arranged in the pattern you like - it's much easier to change them now than once they're on the string. The bead palette works great for getting the arrangement down. I'll discuss different pattern schemes in a bit.

Bracelet Lengths

You may be wondering, how do I know how long to make the bracelet? To start, it really depends on your wrist size and how loose you like the bracelet. You can measure your wrist with a sewing measuring tape or piece of string. If you want it tight, add at least 1/2-1" in order to fasten the bracelet. If you want it loose, just experiment with different lenghts. Another option is to measure a bracelet you already like. As you can see in the photo, most bracelets range from 6-8."

Golden Days

Artist's Gallery

Golden Days in Mud Valley

And now for one last Holmes County painting before we move on. Above is the picture all finished. There's a reason I don't have a series of step photos like usual: I completed this in one sitting, using a very fast and bold technique. Starting with the greens and blues in the background, I proceeded to slap in dark and light browns for the tree trunks. Once all that was dry, I used fan and scrubby brushes to dab in the red and yellow leaves, both trees and ground. An interesting point is that I used pure white to create the light spots and highlights. I like how the texture and detail came out, but I'm not really happy with the color combination. I did like the name pun I came up with though: Golden Days in Mud Valley. Tell me what you think!

Walking Home 3

Artist's Gallery

Painting Complete

And here is my complete painting, framed and ready-to-hang. How do you like my people? I told you I was not good at painting figures! From my limited experience acquired since, I believe the proportions are a bit off, more like children than the adults I imagined. However, they look cute and happy and seem to fit in alright - what more can I ask? The tree added an interesting touch in the front compared to my previous painting, The Way Home, which I did from this same spot. I like the warm, glowing qualities about the picture - I think Walking Home came out quite satisfactorily.

Walking Home 2

Artist's Gallery

Stage 2

The trees have come alive in the next stage of this scenic painting. I was liberal with the brilliant yellow and red hues of paint. They contrast nicely with the rich greens of the grass. Note that I did not change the color of the grass strips along side the road at all from my last post. However, their appearance has really mellowed with the addition of the yellows on either side. It's a trick on the eyes.

I love painting roads for some reason. The shades of tar weathered with all kinds of traffic tires, and in this case, buggy wheels as well. Notice the long shadows in the foreground? I guess I had not yet learned, always paint a tree before its shadow!

Walking Home 1

Artist's Gallery

Sketched In

And now we're back to another regular painting I did from that same road in Mud Valley. In fact, you can see a couple similar paintings I've featured here; check out the reference photo here. Only this painting is a little different - it replaces the buggy with a couple figures. I'm not too good with painting people, so we'll see how it comes out!

I started out with the pencil sketch above, using a ruler to make sure everything was to scale with the photo. I don't usually take pictures of my sketches, so this is a unique shot! If you look closely, you may also notice that I added the foreground tree at the right.

Stage One: Background

The first step was painting the background. A brilliant autumn sky and multi-colored forest are backdrop to one of those quaint white barns...yes, one of my favorite subjects. Both the nature of fall and the afternoon sun color the grass green hues golden yellow. If I may note one issue here, the background colors are really way too brilliant and bold for being so far away in the picture. We'll see how that pans out in the painting.

The Milkman

Artist's Gallery

Milk Cart Candle Holder

The other candle holder I painted was a bit more complicated. I found the milk cart scene on a postcard and adapted it to the long, narrow space of the wall-hung holder. I then wanted to add some more color, so I painted large yellow ornamental flowers around the top and bottom, leading them back into the picture by gradually shrinking them. I'm really pleased with how this one came out.

Repurposed Art Show Flier

Both of my paintings were featured in the promotional poster that the art gallery published! Can you spot them above? I had both the pieces for sale, but neither one caught a buyer's eye. Well, I suppose they'll make good Christmas gifts.

Candle Holder

Artist's Gallery

Autumn Farm

Let's finish up our stay in Holmes County, Ohio with a couple more paintings from Amish country. As I mentioned before, I have already done too many of these Amish artworks, and more are coming. I suppose it's because this is one of my favorite subjects to paint. Anyway, our local gallery recently had a "repurposed art" show, and I was looking for something to contribute. What better way to repurpose old candle holders from the thrift store than to turn them into artwork? The piece above, only about 5" high, proved a very nice surface for a simple barn and buggy scene. Now I need advice: should I put a (small) candle in the holder, and if so, what color should it be?