Playing in dirt and prepping for winter-

It is most definitely Fall!  It has finally started to cool off, and it feels like it is time to begin chores to ready ourselves for the winter.  In our area, we hope the winter will bring more rain than usual, hopefully with a little help from El Nino.  That means weatherproofing, planting, etc.

Our friends at Vicarious Ranch have been in need of help to prepare for the rains, and I have been happy to help.  It has been a great deal of fun to play in the dirt, see all the farm animals, and learn more about the workings of farm life.  My part in the project involved fertilizing and mulching each tree, and then spreading compost down the rows between the trees. Then Mike came in with the tractor to till up the very hard earth and mix in the compost so they can plant peas as a cover crop.  I learned much about fruiting trees, as well as some of the timing involved in planting in our area. 

I am a helper!

At Vicarious Ranch, they are conserving water as much as is possible.  By mulching, water as allowed better absorption into the soil with less evaporation.  The cover crop will be watered by the rains and what the trees don't use.  And in turn, these peas will replace much needed nitrogen into the soil and can also be used as food for people and their animals.  Like these wooly pigs!  I couldn't help taking some pictures of the piglets...

Here at Fiberton, we are taking all the cues and pointers we can from our friends at Vicarious.  It has been inspiring to see what they are working on (as well as getting actual experience) and I am hoping to get our few beds readied for the winter and add a few more.  I would love to plant more of the greens that both myself and the rabbits love for the winter, and use this winter as an opportunity to learn our local growing season better.  

Speaking of the rabbits, this week Penny and Rory got their 3 month trims.  Look at this before and after!

Super fluffy Penny! 

Ok...so not a great haircut, but look how much smaller she looks!

This is a typical 'after grooming' scene.  I'm a bunny barber!

Sadly, Penny has taken a bit ill.  One of the things that angora rabbits can get is fur block or wool block.  Her trim was much needed not only to get the fiber off her for us to spin, but also because as it gets longer, the fur gets harder for them to pass and clogs their digestive tract.  Today I am starting her on some higher powered enzymes that can be found in papaya (papain) and pineapple (bromelain).  I usually give them some pineapple juice in their water to help maintain their digestive health, but Penny is at a point where eating and drinking are difficult for her, so we will be going with a strong enzymatic supplement mixed into a nutritional drink (the suggestion we have read about is using Ensure) and feeding it to her with a dropper, and keeping her on hay and greens.  Hopefully we will have her out of the woods asap.  More on her status soon!

What are you doing to prepare for winter?

Ash

After ZappCon Update-

We had a blast at ZappCon! Being that this was our first con to sell at, I wasn't sure what to expect.  But it was a blast!  We met tons of great people, got to see the funny and talented band, The Doubleclicks, had great food and drinks and sold some of our goods!

Here are a few shots from our weekend...

Ric at day one of the booth

View from our booth into the vendor hall. 

The Doubleclicks during their awesome performance.

After hours party with great beer at Tioga Sequoia Brewery
(not pictured is the awesome food-truck food from Meltdown Bistro.)

And a blurry pic of me on day 2.

End of day spontaneous dance party.

Being DJ'ed by Batman and Batman

We also met some of the other vendors...all of which are crazy talented!  I wish I could have bought a little something from all of them, but alas, we were only able to get a few things.

Our spoils! Our Doubleclicks coloring and activity book and sticker, an original signed comic of Tomorrow, a postcard with original artwork by Felicia Ann, 3 mini comics of Flaccid Badger by Cat Ferris and other random goodies!

I also got that cute little guy in the middle, called a Sickling by Yosiell Lorenzo.

We also promised our new email list folks to a giveaway!  The prize is this travel sized hook/needle/artist organizing roll...

And the winner is....according to the random number generator....drumroll....Brooke P!  Yay!

I had so much fun with this giveaway, that we will be doing these more often.  So stay tuned for more soon!

And thanks again to all the Zappers we met, and to the great staff who put on this well organized event.  We are already looking forward to next year!

Ash

Almost time for Fiberton to get our geek on!

It is almost here!  We have admittedly been a bit M.I.A. lately, and it is all because we are getting ready for this weekend, when we go to our very first gaming, comic and pop culture convention - Zapp Con! This is not just a first for having a table at a convention, it will also be the first time we leave the animals over night alone...not just one night but two!  So needless to say, I have been a bit on the anxious side.  But we are also really excited, as it will also be a ton of fun.

Some of our prep has included:

Dying wool for the hubby's needle felting...

I am in love with these colors!

As seen here....

To make items like these...

Attempting to ply yarn with the kitties 'help' before it gets dyed....

This is how you do it, right?

 Creating pages for a project and custom order idea book...

Creating milefore beads for stitch markers.... 

Before baking...

Like these...

I was pretty excited about these! I need some of these for myself I think!

And some of my hubby's pixel or 8-bit art like these bows...

8-bit bow tie

And 8-bit hair bow

Whew!  We still have plenty to do to prep (like cleaning the house...ugg...) but it is coming along quite nicely!  We will share pics of the con and other updates next week for sure!

Talk to you soon-

Ash