yarn spinner: Getting their goat...

Here's my newest piece on the CBC:
Getting their goat: Manitoba Hydro could save money, energy with grazing animals

Other good news:
--My friends in Houston, mentioned in the last post, are ok. Their home didn't flood and they are helping others whose homes have flooded. I expect everyone in that area of the US will have some hair-raising stories to tell the rest of us. (Perhaps more people will catch on to climate change now? That it is a real thing?!)

--We picked some apples locally..but there weren't a lot this year because we had some bad caterpillar problems in the spring that ate many apple trees' blossoms and leaves. Thank you, Aurora Pizzeria, for letting us raid the unpicked apple trees in your patio garden!)

Yesterday, we drove out to Plum Ridge Farm, which is near Teulon, Manitoba. (about 20 minutes from Gimli) We came home with a lot of apples, plums, and cucumbers. To give you an idea of how much? Well, I've canned 14 pints of pickles (dills and bread & butter) today, about 9 lbs of cukes, but there is still maybe more than 5 lbs left. We gave away two large bags of apples this morning, some crab apples last night and we still have so many that there is no room in the fridge for it all! We've made some apple chips and applesauce already. Chutney, frozen apple slices, and jams will happen too, I hope.

--Putting up food means there is more "fast food" off the shelf when it's cold this winter. It's easy to make apple crumble, applesauce or pie when the apples are washed, cut up, and ready to go from the freezer.

--It's been hard to do any canning at all with two little boys home, but they will be starting Grade 1 at a new school on Wednesday. Whew! Very exciting stuff, but also, I know some guys are sort of nervous, too. (I get that--I never slept before the first day of school either!)

--In an odd twist, I am not teaching at the Manitoba Fibre Festival this year. I'd been scheduled to do one workshop, but not enough students signed up. (too many spinning classes scheduled at once, perhaps?) Anyhow, it ends up being a relief, because the Professor (aka, the twins' dad) is going to be away that week, so now I can just hang out with my guys. I love teaching, don't get me wrong, but sometimes things just work out to make things easier, and I cannot complain about that! Hopefully there will be other times to teach in the future...down the road.

Our air has been a bit smoky from fires burning in Northern Manitoba, and today, we've dodged a few thunderstorms, but we're all remarkably busy and cheerful, considering. I will miss the warmth of summer but I'm also ready for little boys to be in school again. :)

It's also a little brisk...is it time to make and wear knits again soon?