Hobby Horse

How to make a hobby horse:
materials :
A stick or dowel of decent strength and about 1/2 inch in diameter.
Fabric
thread
yarn of good strength
buttons for an older child or safety eyes for a younger one. You can also use fabric paint or a sharpie marker for a young child.
Glue - Tacky or stronger

Cut a 'sock head' shape, and also cut reversed - 2 pieces. Give the 'sock head' a good long neck - you will need this for the glue and yarn ties to hold it on.

Sew inside-out placing yarn into seams to form hairlines. To form the hair wrap the yarn around your hand or a short span between two dresser knobs over and over until it is a thick wad. Spread it out and place it centerline along the seam so half of the loops are inside and half of them are outside. Sew them into the seam and we will trim the outside loops later.

If making unicorn shape, sew and stuff a triangle of yellow or orange fabric for the horn and place that in the seam, otherwise just put yarn all the way up and down from forelock to about 4 inches above the neck bottom. If you are using safety eyes, mark and place them now.

Turn right-side out and stuff head with stuffing to within 4 inches of the bottom.
As you are stuffing it make sure to keep a hole in the center bottom of the stuffing - Coat the dowel end with glue and place it up into the hole. Keep stuffing and adding some glue right around the dowel until you are four inches from the bottom of the sock head. Set head carefully aside to allow some of that glue to set.

Take this time to cut and sew a pair of oblong ears. It is your choice how you attach them to the head. I sewed the horn down a little more onto the head once it was stuffed and then attached ears to either side of it folding the corners of the sewn ear pieces together to make 'folded' ears. I inserted a piece of plastic canvas into each ear to give it stability, but you can stuff them or put cardboard in them - this is not a washable toy. If you are using buttons, mark and sew them on now.

Get a needle and thread and sew a -.-.-.-.- pattern around the end of the stuffed area of the sock head and pull the thread like a drawstring to pull the head tightly to the bottom. Add more glue along the dowel between this sewing and the bottom of the sock head. Fold the bottom edge of the sock head under and start to wrap yarn around the glued fabric while the glue is still wet. Criss-cross and tie the yarn around each side each time as you wrap up and down, forming a full wrap from below the sock head fabric up as close to the bottom of the stitching as possible. Pull the yarn very tight as you do this and wipe away excess glue. Let dry for several hours to make sure the glue has set.

Make sure the head is well seated with a _slight_ tug, and then set aside to dry.

Expect this toy to get dirty, and don't expect to put it through the washing machine!

Biscuits

There was an old children's cookbook that was in my mom's spice cabinet when I was a kid. I keep trying to find the same recipe of what I made then - and think this is pretty close.

10-15 minutes at 450 degrees. Start the oven early - so it gets to the hot temp. Mix 2 cups of flour into a bowl with 1 tsp salt and 3 tsps of baking powder. Mix that up well and break out the lumps. Put 1/3 cup of margarine (or butter, or oil - all make them taste different) in a separate bowl and mix in 3/4 cup of milk for cut or rolled biscuits OR 1 cup of milk for 'drop' biscuits which are crunchier. You can melt the butter beforehand if it is hard - so it mixes well with the milk, but if so put the milk from the measuring cup into the butter just before you put the wet and dry together - so the milk is not affected by the hot butter. Put the wet and dry together and mix until the proper consistency. If making rolled biscuits roll it out on a floured work surface and cut with a cutter - roll the last ones and smash flat at the edge of the pan. Place on pan with 1 inch spacing between each other - as they will expand. If making drop - mix up, grease a cookie sheet and drop them by the spoonful onto the sheet. Put pan in oven and bake until the tips of the top form a golden brown color - cut one open and see if they are done all the way inside.

Good with more butter and black raspberry jelly on top - my favorite :)

I need to find the right egg noodle recipe too - someday I'll need to pass them down and it is hard since I 'lost' all of those cards that I was given so many years ago and have to go hunting now and trial and error.

Beans and okra

Shackamaxon beans holding on


Okra


Tennessee Greasy beans
pulled down the cornstalks entirely and I had to drive poles to support them this morning before work

I was taught the other day the process they used to use here for planting and harvesting peanuts, and almost identical materials to make a haystack as well. A pole driven in the ground with four boards 'wrapped' around the base like box flaps on a cardboard box, all four holding the next one's end off the ground, then the boards can be jacked up off the ground further by putting stones underneath the boards. For peanuts the boards can stay on the ground and be covered with dirt until the peanuts are growing, then to harvest them put a bar in the ground to pick up the boards and all of the peanuts will come up as well. Mr. Harold said that goats, especially dairy goats, really love the hay or forage that comes from the peanuts that would otherwise be wasted. That is more of a reason to try to grow them next year.

Do monkeys live on other planets

Esme asked me lots of questions this morning - which boiled down to do monkeys live on other planets and if we could go there and 'check' on the Moon and other planets because she liked monkeys. I tried to explain that Earth was a planet (which she has agreed to before) and it was the only place we knew there were monkeys. However, she disagreed with me, because planets are in the sky - and how can Earth be a planet, because it has 'the' sky. She was going to have Grandma clarify all of this for - because she 'didn't like my story' about Earth being a planet. **oh the things we answer at 7:30 in the morning!**

In other words, her language is progressing quite a bit even though she only goes to the class once a week and not even always that. And she is watching more and more on TV at Grandma's as well - and picking up on their language use.

We are really seeing much more into her brain and having to adjust ourselves for the 'full speed ahead' that is coming. And she still won't be eligible for Kindergarten until November 2013.

Okra and other harvest

a pod of okra, peppers, black eyed peas shelled out green and yellow tomatoes


A cob from the west field has a strange thing going on... it is not a mold or bug problem? I gave this cob to the goat and will check another one in another week.

Kernel Red Streak is what I think it is. It is caused by a mosaic virus and/or a mite feeding on some area of the corn while it is developing. However, it is only considered a 'cosmetic blemish' changing the colors of the kernels, and can still be dried (shucked, to get rid of any mites that might be there) and used as animal feed.

Harvest

Morning harvest. There are other things becoming ready but they are not quite there yet. The okra is flowering and putting on pods - that is impressive considering all the rest of the row died and this is one plant. The eggplant has flowers and fruit everywhere it looks like it might actually fall over. German queen tomato is still trying to ripen... fighting blight at the same time. Sweet corn planted the other week is coming up, beans too - sorghum in the west field and in the main garden has both germinated. I am wondering where to dig for winter crops - it will probably be where the yellow tomatoes are now, that is where the soil is best for it. Do I want to give them up? I didn't even plant them this year - they came on their own from last year's planting. But as you can see - they are what is still making the grade (and the soup pot) lately...

Esme was very good yesterday. I have work today and she is still asleep. I spent some time yesterday watching 'Frontier House' episodes and between that and other families on YourGardenShow pulling in and preserving huge harvests I feel like my little corner is not 'intense' at all... I'm just dabbling here and there and getting up at 7 in the morning to wander leisurely around picking tomatoes instead of walking for water and milking the cow and cutting hay for winter. However - I was eyeing my sunflower stalks and thinking if that was the case - those would be coming down right now and being stuck in the rafters of the garage for silage for winter!