“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” ~Buddha
Posts Tagged ‘fiber’
Fire
Posted in Enchantment, Fifth Grade, Handmade, Inspiration, Nature, Seasons, Spiritual, Storytelling, Third Grade, tagged buddha, felting, fiber, fire, homeschool, needle felting, spiral, sun, waldorf, waldorf 5th grade, waldorf fifth grade, waldorf homeschool, Waldorf winter, Winter, wool, wool roving on January 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »
King Arthur!
Posted in Circle Time, Farm and Home, Handwork, Kindy, tagged buck, circle, circle time, fiber, french angora, french angora buck, rabbit, rabbit verse, verse, waldorf fiber, waldorf homeschool, waldorf verse on October 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Meet King Arthur! He is our newest member of the family. Arthur is a four month old buck. For pickup, it took us about 2 hours to get to our destination in Southern Indiana, from where we live in Central Kentucky. I didn’t remember it took that long, but it is a very beautiful drive. When we arranged the meeting we had planned on taking home a FAB torte, but the farmer brought this guy along. He was two months older than the torte, and noticeably larger. We could definitely tell he was a boy too. Being new at raising rabbits (as an adult) has been very educating. I helped my grandfather when I was little with standard rex rabbits, but as an adult it’s all new to me again. A year and a half ago we purchased a FAB, but it turned out to be a doe! Just this week we got the pedigree changed. King Arthur is a calm and sweet guy. I was a little worried about getting a boy, but the farmer convinced me this guys mother was his smartest and well behaved. I do love his white fiber. It is kind of matted up, but we will shear it soon. We will try to capture more of our journey as we go along. Until then, here’s a little verse.
Rabbit twitched his twitchety ears on a twinkling autumn day,
He could hear the North Wind whistle and he scampered off to say:
Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, we must all get fat and furry,
Not a moment to be lost, I can hear bold Jackie Frost.
Groundhog sniffed her sniffety nose on a snappy autumn day
She could smell the winter coming, and she waddled off to say:
Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, we must all get fat and furry,
Not a moment to be lost, I can smell bold Jackie Frost.
Squirrel shivered a shivery shiver on a shiv’ry autumn day
He could feel the North Wind’s fingers, and he scurried off to say:
Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, we must all get fat and furry,
Not a moment to be lost, I can feel bold Jackie Frost.
Black Bear blinked her blinkety eyes on a blust’ry autumn day
She could see the snow clouds gather, and she lumbered off to say:
Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, we must all get fat and furry,
Not a moment to be lost, I can see bold Jackie Frost.
French Angora Rabbits
Posted in Farm and Home, Handwork, Nature, Seasons, tagged buck, carding, doe, farmer, fiber, french angora, french angora rabbit, hobby farmer, rabbit, spinning on October 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Good day!
It’s Thursday, aka Thors Day. Thursday always feels warrior-like to me, as if we must fight our way to Friday. All my boys slept in, so for that I am happy. It gave me some time being awake, in silence. Since the sun has been waking up later, I can see how our sons are following nature. Imitating. And because of our schedule, they are going to sleep earlier as well.
Fall has been an exciting harvest. We are harvesting with our small family-owned business. Tomorrow night is the reception for our Functional Design show in Louisville. Here’s a link for more details. http://www.la-fs.com
Today I must stay Present. I must honor my way through what is Now. The animals are all fed. Our new puppy is fitting in Quite nicely. She’s a joy really. Ayla the Elder seems roused a bit more from her boring and sad life, since Kiva passed. Our French Angora (FA) doe is in her hutch, that is more like a condo. She has the life. One side is all straw bedding. There are two water bottles. One has a heating element for winter. We feed her hay, pellets, sunflower seeds, banana peels, lettuce, some other varieties of fruit. Her color is gray with black ears. Below is a picture of her the day after we got her, from a reputable FA farmer.
She’s much longer now and the boys call her Guinevere “Gracie.” As often as possible we take her up to the round pen to run and hop and get some fresh air. This past year we have learned a lot about his particular breed of rabbit, known for its fiber. We collect it as it falls out, but also we gently clip her at the beginning of summer. It seems about every 90 days her fiber cycles out. Even though she has plenty of straw bedding, and the hutch is closed in, I leave her fiber alone during the coldest months. Here are a couple external links about the history of the French Angora Rabbit.
Today we are going to meet the same farmer and look over two bucks. We do not have any bucks or males on the property, except in the human form. It will be an interesting discovery having a FA buck here. I only want to come away with one today, and I really prefer a doe. The first time we bought a FA it was supposed to be a buck, but turns out it was a doe. She is very gentle. I hear if they don’t breed or aren’t fixed, they can be grouchy. So far things have been fine.
I’ll post a picture of our new FA soon.
Nurturing Spirit 