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September 30, 2007
Does mohair (goat) felt?
The answer awaits sourcing 100% mohair yarn for the experiment.
Meanwhile, for your viewing pleasure, the attire of today's "modern" male angora goat:
"I'm pretty silly looking..."
Posted by Sue at 11:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Does alpaca yarn felt?
Yep.
Swatch before felting (above): Roughly eight-inch square of floppy knit.
Swatch after felting (below): solid, silky, pettable and just five inches.
Much nicer than wool felt, and hypoallergenic (no lanolin). Sweet.
Posted by Sue at 01:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 27, 2007
Fiasco Farm says
Posted by Sue at 10:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 26, 2007
Green Tomato Problema:
Our friend, Martha, says:
Green Tomato and Leek Frittata
and ...
Fried Green Tomatoes, Southern Style (with Japanese breadcrumbs!?)
Posted by Sue at 10:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Green Tomatoes
With the plants killed by frost, we had plenty of green tomatoes to pick-- more than all the ripe ones we've gotten so far this year! The bad news is, local wisdom says you can't can tomatoes froma frost-killed plant. The good news is, left on their own, most of them will ripen up and become quite edible.
Meanwhile, anybody have any ideas for cooking green tomatoes, since my canned green tomato chutney is out?
Posted by DJSueellen at 07:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Summer is officially over: Last night we had a killing frost. All the summer crops are dead: cucumbers (shown), squash, tomatoes, peppers. All that remains are broccoli, onions, and cauliflower-- the latter still hasn't flowered.
It's sad to see the summer growing season end. No more fresh vegetables until next June! (After you've grown your own, what they sell in stores can no longer be considered "fresh.")
Posted by DJSueellen at 07:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 25, 2007
It Came From the Back of the 'Fridge
Posted by Sue at 12:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 24, 2007
Let them knit cake.
Posted by Sue at 01:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 23, 2007
Don't Cry!
Posted by Sue at 10:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 22, 2007
Navajo-type Angora
The origins of the pygora goat were inspired by the Navajo-type angora goat:
Katharine Jorgenson began the Pygora breed in Oregon in 1978. Inspired by the colored, curly goats she saw on the Navajo Indian reservation in 1967, Katharine purchased a registered Angora doe to breed to a Pygmy buck. She wanted an animal that would produce fine fiber for hand spinning.
The Navajo-type is a colored goat with '"more open, grease-free fleeces and a wavy character (versus curly character of a registered white)."
My research so far indicates that goat fleece requires a lot of washing to get rid of grease ... clearly grease-free fleece would be an advantage in processing.
Posted by Sue at 11:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 21, 2007
More on goats
The Pygora goat is a cross between the pygmy and angora goats, whose ancestry is no more than 75% pygmy or 75% angora. It produces fleece like mohair or cashmere, the ewes up to a liter of millk a day, and is friendly so makes a good pet. Cute, too.
I looked into the economics of the Angora goat -- an agricultural economist in 1993 ascertained that by being frugal a farmer could realize a profit of about $50-$55 per Angora goat per year. This includes all the costs of farming the Angora goat -- pasture, equipment, feed, medicines, etc. -- and includes profits from fleece, culling, and stud fees.
Angoras are not bred for milking -- they produce only fleece -- and they don't fetch much when sold for meat, since Americans aren't used to eating "chevron." Even with COL increases -- even if one could tap into an enthusiastic hand-spinning market -- Angora goats aren't a lucrative bunch, are they? More of a side hobby.
I'm wondering if the Pygora is a more solvent route for a farmer?
Posted by Sue at 11:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 18, 2007
Angora Goats
Friendly looking, but our property's probably not zoned for livestock. Since Bob has another nasty rash coming on, I'd be glad to break the rules if goats in fact will eat poison ivy.
Angoras provide abundant fleece that may or may not felt easily, depending on who's providing the information. The Angora Goat Breeder's Association: "watch out when processing!" Mohair yarn producers: "Wash in hot water and tumble dry.!" Suellen, I'll have to experiment.
Childhood memory: my Mother using her 50's-modern stainless steel stove to demonstrate that mohair does not burn easily compared to other fibers.
Would I prefer carding oily fleece, hand-spinning until my fingers blister and my lungs are full of fibers, to auditing until I drop?
Yes, perhaps I would.
Posted by Sue at 11:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack