How Green Was My Valley

I drove over to Mim's today to get eggs. They only live three miles from us, but the south end of the valley is higher and has a higher water table. I thought the wild iris were too pretty not to share. Their house in high up on the right (you have to click for big) - that's their road and it's a bear in the winter. It's mid-70s right now and I'd love for it to stay that way.

Balsam root is also blooming at their end of the valley. I find it a little difficult to distinguish from Mule Ear - the difference is in the leaves and it's not as common. You can see it coloring whole areas of the hillside. The sheep love it so there's none in their pasture.
Mim noticed that this Lacewing Wyandotte was broody, sitting on golf balls meant to urge the hens to lay eggs - you can see an orange one inside the crate. She decided to see if she would accept these eight Araucana pullets and she has, so one of the days I'm going to open my carton of eggs and find some blue ones!
We were looking at this little guy, born a week ago. Will be grow up to be shaela? She's been hoping for some interesting color and is trying to introduce into in her flock. She has shaela in Limerick, one of her ewes, but so far she's not sharing.

This is the latest addition to her flock, born just this morning. It's the first time her guard dogs have been present at a birthing and they were perfect. She's thrilled as she sees her flock and dogs develop - she blogged about it here. I cheat and enjoy it through her.
I saw on Facebook that Birdsong said she was experi-
menting with rhubarb mordant so I went to her web page and read the whole report and I'm adding the link here. Mim and I were looking at her rhubarb today and plan to use it during our natural dye day in July. I'm excited to try it. We'll use propane burners outdoors so won't have the stink that Birdsong commented on.

Birdsong is one of those people I met through our blogs about five years and has become a real flesh-and-blood friend. I know they say blogs are going away, but if and when they do, they will have left me a whole lot richer.
I'm spinning with our dye day as my goal. This is Ollie from last year and now I'm spinning Mickey, a light oatmeal, and then I'll spin pure white Robby. I figure that with three values of fleece, I'll get three hues from every dye pot.

In answer to Cindy's question, the Nevada Bar is rosemary, sage and a hint of mint. It's meant for dry skin but I think it does smell like a Nevada. The name was originally a pun on the attorneys' test since we were working proximal to the law library, but that's gotten lost with time.