Great Slipcover Class & Whirlwind Mother's Day Weekend

When I schedule the classes here at Windmill Farm, I always ask myself "is it a class that I would want to attend"?  I have always loved the casual and comfortable style of slipcovered furniture.  I must say that I have moved past my old love of roses and floral fabrics on furniture long ago.  I now use more color on my walls; more interesting use of pictures, paintings, objects to have the star attraction in a room.  Most of my living room furniture is slipcovered in white or neutral.  I love it because with animals; grand kids and general usage, I just throw them into the laundry and out they come all fresh and clean.

So when I asked myself, would I want to attend a class that teaches you how to do basic slipcovering?  You bet, yes, sign me up.

The Upholster/Slipcover class taught by professional upholsterer Caroll Reece was a huge success.  She taught the class what are the differences between the two furniture coverings; showed us how we can add/change a look of an item by the use of the many varied styles and types of edging/trims.  She taught us about threads and needle sizes; how to make piping; where to purchase fabrics; and gave us charts on how to figure amounts of fabric to purchase for different furiture items.  Caroll then brought out an ottoman, plain vinyl top and she had made 2 different styles of slipcovers.  Then she showed us how to construct a slipcover from the top to the bottom.  It seemed so possible that we all could make these covers using Caroll's instruction and information given to us in a folder that she provided.  Great class and enjoyed by all those that attended.  We are planning on scheduling another class in the fall to cover some of the same basic information, but to make covers for dining room chairs and cushions.  If interested, email me and I will put you on the list to be notified when we set up the date.  Thank you Caroll for a great class!!

 

Caroll Reece's number is 530-743-5329 in case you need any upholstery or slipcover work done.
MOTHER'S DAY:
We had the class on Saturday morning and in the afternoon, the family and extended family started to arrive for the Mother's Day weekend.  What a lovely day it was having the grand kids play in the yard and ride their electric jeep and gator all around the farm.  It was a little warm but there was a nice breeze; Chris BBQ a tri tip and made fresh vegetables; a Caesar salad; we had sliced tomatoes with lemon juice and basil and mozzarella cheese; we even had fresh berry pie for desert.  Celli and grand kids stayed an extra day over to Monday so we were able to spend some really fun time laughing and seeing the kids go every 10 minutes to check on getting eggs from the chickens.  I received two wonderful Mother's Day gifts, besides having my family around me.  I got another Endless Summer Hydrangea and Katie gave me a bag of LADYBUGS for my garden.  Collin and Carli helped open up the bag and put them all on my rose and hydrangea bushes in the evening after the planted were sprayed with water.  Carli didn't like it very much as a few got into her hair, but we were able to rescue them and they flew off on to bush.

I hope you all had a great weekend.  Next week, the pressure is on, we will be starting our CSA baskets for delivery.  Do you belong to a local farm that grows vegetables or fruits?  There is a great site: http://www.localharvest.org/ that lists all the farms, CSA, special produce, all sorts of information wherever you live in the US.  Check it out.  There is also a great site www.upickyourown.org site that also lists all the farms within your zip code that allows people to come and pick your own produce.  Great family fun.
Until next time-keep watering, keep up pulling weeds and enjoy your gardens.

Making Your Own Umbrella Cover



As you have seen, I try to have at least one class a month here at Windmill Farm.  Teaching life skills or having my friends and professionals come and teach these classes are a wonderful experience.  I started out having a few farm spa events, then a dear friend suggested having other types of classes.  I started teaching canning classes and from then on, it has exploded into about 1-2 classes every month.

But I like taking classes too, I think we are never too old to learn a new skill or improve upon the skills we may have already. 

Recently, Triad Plus had a class on how to cover an outside patio umbrella.  It seemed simple enough, but because the fabric is normally an outdoor/Sunbrella fabric; very expensive and difficult to sew on, I wanted to learn first before I bought it.  The class was great so I made my purchase and home I went to make my own umbrella.

I cut up one panel off the old umbrella, added 1" (1/2" around each side and bottom).

 

You flip it over to maximize the usage of the fabric. So short size is cut from last large end.  Only problem is that you have to make sure that the pattern of the fabrics look like they match or line up.

After cutting out the number of triangles you need to start sewing them all together(count the number on your old umbrella or from the supports on your umbrella frame).  Mine had 6 pieces.  This will create your smaller round opening at the top.

After I sewed the 6 triangles together, I wanted to make sure it fit before I hemmed up all around the bottom raw edges and the top edge.  I clipped it on the frame using folder clips.

It fit fairly tightly, could have been a bit bigger.  Then I sewed under 1/4" all around the larger ends and around the circle.  Next came making the little pocketed you sew to the inside to keep the metal frame in place.  I forgot to take a photo of that.  I cut out the old one from my old umbrella and cut 6 of them.  They were basically a square that you fold over to make a triangle, flap in the sides of triangle and the center point and make a small square.  Sounds easy but it wasn't.  Turned out this part was the hardest and took the longest time.  Then you sew this pocket on to the tip of each point of the triangles.  Unfortunately, for most people, you do not have an upholstery machine.  I do and even then, it struggled to go thru so many layers.  You have the 2 layers from the folded over edge of the umbrella, you have 4 layers of the folded over pockets and you then sew all 6 layers at the corners.  There is a larger circle you cut and place over the hole at the top and then there is a 3rd circle on top of that,, all those go on top of umbrella, like a cap,  you make a slit and the top ball of the umbrella goes thru that hole to hold it down.  I hand stitched the circles where each frame sits.
The finished umbrella, felt pretty good about completing it.  This is what I learned:

1.  Pick a fabric that is bold.  As you can see from this photo, even though I thought the fabric was bright and bold and had lots of colors, outside it looked fairly light.  And you look up at the umbrella from the bottom on the underside of the fabric, so it was pretty washed out colors.

2.  After it was all sewed and finished, the finished edges started to fray so I now have these small string hanging around edge, it was not fraying when I sewed it.  I should have allowed extra yardage to fold over finished edge twice.

3.  I spent $75 on fabric. Took about 3 hours from beginning to end.

4.  Frank and I went to Target the other day and they had 6' umbrella, beautiful bright colors on sale WITH THE UMBRELLA CRANK FRAME for $60.00.

Moral of story, it may not be worth it to cover your old one, just purchase a new one.



 

Strawberry Season-Baking Class a Success-Upholstery.Slipcover Class Coming Up Next

Hello again from Windmill Farm-

I picked strawberries until my back was too sore and then the next day picked more.  I just didn't have time to do any jam so I cleaned them all up and put them ready to go in the freezer.

The baking bread class here at the farm was so wonderful, you missed something if you didn't attend. Jackie Whitnack made us home made Quick Biscuits. She had baked a batch just before the class started and then made one in front of the class while it was cooking. When ready, I had fresh honey, butter and my own pomegranate jelly put up last year from our own pomegranates; ready to spread on the hot rolls right from the oven, yum yum. Then she made yeast breads, yeast rolls and quick Irish bread. She just took the mystery out about yeast and made it all look easy and fun to make for your family. We were all so full after tasting all those hot breads. I wanted to especially thank Katie F.  She has been a member of our CSA farm since the first year we started.  And she has attended almost every single class, spa, event we have had at our farm.  She is such an adorable young woman and we feel so blessed to have her as a friend and supporter of all that we do here at the farm.  Melissa A. is another wonderful young woman who is an avid attender and supporter of Windmill Farm activities.  If I don't see or hear from all of our farm "friends" either by email or Facebook I miss them.

 

Still openings in the next classes-Upholster/Slipcover class May 11th 10-12:30pm. And the Discover How to Do Genealogy class May 15th - 5:30-7:30pm.  Call me if interested.

I wanted to thank a lovely lady who works at the Butte County Health Department who was very helpful in my process to obtain the Cottage Bill Food Permit.  So I picked her a lovely bouquet of hydrangeas and peonies + some other things blooming.  Wrapped the container with burlap and delivered it.  Some people just take the time to be so helpful.

 

 

Tractor Supply has teamed up with Jonsered to be the exclusive retailer of their branded products within the United States. Jonsered invented chainsaws and is one of the world¿s most respected brands of power equipment, with a range of products for both professionals and occasional users.  I went to the store the other day and had so much fun browsing around in the feed section and the garden section.  They still have bulbs and seeds available and some great gardening tools.  Check them out!!!

We are getting anxious to start our CSA season.  My members are so super.  Cherries are showing red, turnips and beets are getting big; lettuce is looking great.  Won't be long soon before we start.

Until next time, thank you for coming back to our little farm blog.

 

Roses Peonies and Snow Ball Plants Are Spectacular!!

ROSES:  Half of my life,  I thought roses were for old ladies, why is that?  I didn't like the smell, thought they were lots of work and you would get all cut up when you pick them.  It wasn't until we lived in Nevada City and I was creating my own landscaping and cut flower gardens, did I re-visit my notion about roses.  I liked antiques and many of my friends lived in historic houses in downtown Nevada City and Grass Valley.  With old houses, they had old fashioned gardens with lots of roses and they convinced me they weren't that much work and worth it anyways.  As I smelled the smells in their gardens and saw the varied beauty of roses

AND saw the fabulous cut arrangements my friends had I became a believer.  So started my life with roses in my yards.  When we moved to Gridley, there were only 1-2 roses so each occasion such as birthdays or anniversaries, I added roses to the landscaping.  One year, Rite Aid was having a big close out sale of their plants and most were roses, so I filled my car up with the plants.  Each year since, especially in the spring, they just give back more than they take in efforts to keep them trimmed, fertilized, aphid clean.  Frank and I recently stood in front of our huge Cecile Brunner rose and marveled at the wonderful sweet smell and magic of all the blooms that (actually I planted next to where we keep the garbage cans) you can not even see the picket fence where its' life began in a one gallon can.  From the road looking into our place it is as large as a tree with thousands of buds and blooms.  I feel you  just can't have too many roses in a yard.

PEONIES:  Just take a large cabbage rose and double the size and now you have a peony blossom.  Again, my love of peonies started in my friend's yards.  One friend had a 1870 Victorian house and all around the foundation were these gorgeous peonies.  Problem with them is that you don't know they are even there until the leaves start unraveling; then these buds start; then the ants come; then the spectacular blooms; then the blooms all fall from their own weight or late spring rains. 

 But don't be discouraged.  There are support wires that you can put in the center of the plants; the ants are part of the plant life.  Peonies give off so much nectar, the ants are naturally drawn to them.  Peonies have few predators or diseases so very easy to grow.  Because ants are so protective of their food sources, they do get aggressive whenever any other pest wants to also enjoy the sweet nectar.  Ants do not harm or hurt the plants so just let nature do what it does pest, left alone.  You will get some ants on your counter when you cut and bring the blossoms into the house.  I read the other day that peony farms cut the blossoms when they are just buds and ship to the flower markets or florists.  I always thought I would love to raise roses and peonies as a farmer, instead of fruits and vegetables but because of the cost per each peony, it would take me many years to get a good stock going.  You can divide the bulbs, oh did you know peonies are bulbs?  Yes they are and can be divided like iris.  That is how I got hooked, my friend divided up the peonies in that yard that she believes had been there for over 100 years and when I left our house in Nevada City, I had many, many clusters of the most fabulous blossoms you have ever seen!!!  I have a few now but you can never have too many.

I think I would die if I should ever get a huge bouquet of peonies like the one above!!!  Heavenly!!!

SNOWBALL BUSH:  This is another shrub every garden needs to have in it.  It looks like a nothing kind of green shrub, sometimes a little wild and gangly until it starts to show their beauty.  I gave a dogwood tree and a snowball bush to my mother-in-law when she moved to Nevada City after retiring from Bay Area.  It always bugged me because I had the same two items in my yard and planted them several years before I gave them to her.  Well her snowball bush got to be the biggest and most spectacular (only word I can keep describing the beauty) when it bloomed.  The secret was that it was planted near the septic tank and near a hose bib that leaked so it just kept growing and growing.  The dogwood tree was a pink one and bloomed next to it and the combination was a like having a natural arrangement.  I don't have a photo of it but it looking like this.

 

Add these three very special plants in your yard and you will never be sorry.  Oh, and did I mention I love hydrageas too!!!

Happy Gardening from Windmill Farm.

 

Great Classes Coming Up & Tractor Supply Chick Day Ends April 21st

My hands are constantly caked with dirt from digging and planting seeds and vegetable plants.  Although some plants in the garden are still small, on the whole it is starting to look like a real proper garden!!!  My friend Mary sent me this picture and thought I would find it fun and inspiring, which it did.  Think I will be using more burlap this summer in my floral arrangements.

I forgot to mention some exciting classes coming up here at Windmill Farm. 

 

Learn To Not Be Afraid of Yeast-Learn the Basics of Making Yeast Breads and Quick Hand Made Rolls - April 27, 2013 1pm - 3pm.  Jackie Whitnack will be teaching this class. We will be making yeast breads, start to finish; learn to make up home made "Quick" rolls; you will learn about all the different types of flours so you can make the breads/rolls per your specific likes or health needs.  Snacks provided; handouts; instruction.  $25.  Space is limited so please call or email me to sign up.

 

Beginning Slipcover and Upholstery Class - May 11, 2013 10:00 am - 12:30pm.  Caroll Reece, Owner of Upholstery/Slipcover business will be teaching the class.  You will learn about how to figure yardage for projects; learn all about piping and construction; about trims; demo and hands on making piping and she will show you how to make a slipcover for a footstool doing it two ways.  Snacks; handouts; instruction provided.  $25.  Space is limited so please call or email me to sign up.

 

 

Discover Your Genealogy Class -Learn How to Find Out About Your Family and Start Your Own Family Tree - May 15, 2013  5:30pm - 8:30pm.  Linda Goebel will be teaching this class and has many years of experience.  You will learn the basics of how to get started, if you have done some, she will take you to the next level.  She will teach you how to navigate through Ancestry.com and also other sites; teach tips about take the mystery about looking.  Snacks; handouts; instruction provided here at Windmill Farm.  $25.  Space is limited so please call or email me to sign up.

 

Learn How to Make Your Own Market Bag Using Recycled Feed Sacks.  In early June I will be providing a class on making those Farmer's Market bags using feed sacks.  I know I have talked about it forever but now that the market season is about to begin, good time to do it and it is really fun to do and each one is unique.

 

One other update.  Tractor Supply is having their final Chick Day April 21st.  Check it out as they are still having some special deals on chick starting supplies; they have some really great chicken coops already made, you just need to assemble and can still order your baby chicks.  Tractor Supply also has some great books and magazines on raising chickens that I still buy even though I am a pretty veteran chicken farmer.  I love reading about anything to do with chickens!!!

 

Having our farm has really blessed Frank and I with meeting some wonderful people that we would probably never meet without having it.  Yesterday, a lovely lady contacted me about signing up for the baking class and came over to pay and fill out the form.  We became kindred spirits and a wonderful and interesting person.  And her husband came along and he had so much in common with Frank, they sat out back on the patio and chatted away and we chatted away in the kitchen!!!   Funny thing is that she lives a very short distance away from us and she had never known about our classes, or our CSA farm.  She also signed up and became a Windmill Farm Member!!!  I am so pleased to have met her and her husband and know we will become great friends.

 

Back to digging and dirty hands.  Have a great weekend -going to be hot so wear sun screen and a hat.

Vegetable and Flower Planting and What is a Fence Stile?

I have been MIA-missing in action writing,but you could find me in the back property planting, planting and planting.  I started all my herbs and vegetables in the greenhouse just waiting for the right time to introduce them to the real world of the Windmill Farm soil.  I planted 5 flats of several varieties of tomatoes; 5 flats of different varieties of peppers, egg plant, parsley, sage, basil, and lots more.

We had rain, wind, cool weather, but then a straight stretch of warm weather was predicted, so out went my little plant babies.  I have been on my knees or leaning over for days and have had my share of aches.  Yesterday I recruited Frank to plant out all the cucumbers and squash so they are in the ground with a nice dose of water to perk them up. I was actually getting a little worried about not planting early enough, I was sure tempted.  My good friends who have a vegetable farm planted in the middle of March with the aid of using plastic that they put up and down over them depending on the weather.  I waited as I had previously had several negative experiences here in Gridley by planting too early.  We do get our spring early and this year our spring was beautiful and mild -yet I resisted.  And then boom!!!  The driving rain came down for days and the March winds blew and blew strong gales for several days in a row.  My friends lost many plants, mine were warm and cozy and out of the wind in my greenhouse.

Disadvantage is my friends will have their vegetables (that make it through the rough weather) several weeks early and in farming, that is a very beneficial place to be, you get your products out to sell sooner and prices are better early in the season.

This year I am adding a larger space for my country flower cutting gardens.  If my plan works, it will be not only beautiful but allow me to offer a much greater range of flower arrangements for special orders; maybe even Farmer's Market flower sales and CSA bouquets for my members.  We shall see how it goes, I will post some photos later as they start to grow.

Fence Stiles  I recently saw some photos of an open range that was crossed fenced for cattle.  In the photo was this interesting ladder that went up and over it for the rancher to cross over from one pasture to the next. The ladders are called "stiles".  A stile is a structure which provides people a passage through or over a fence or boundary via steps, ladders or narrow gaps. Stiles are often built in rural areas or along footpaths to allow access to an adjacent field or area separated by a fence, wall or hedge. Unlike a gate, there is no chance of forgetting to close it, and should the stile break, the fence remains intact (livestock cannot escape). Depending on your location, you may see some, other places you never see them.  I am originally from Rhode Island where people have rock walls as their dividers between  pastures, gardens or neighbors.  The rock walls weren't terribly tall yet great for keeping animals in/out yet difficult to get over from one side to the other.  Almost every place in Rhode Island had some kind of stile/rocks made into steps to get over the walls.

We had a house in Northern California, in a town called Manton.  When we purchased it, all the borders were covered with years and years worth of blackberries.  When we started to clear the property, we found the property was bordered on 3 sides with the most beautiful and very, very old stone walls.  And in the back, there was a fence stile but it was made by placing rocks out from the wall to create stepping stones over it!  At one time, the old homestead had 100s of acres and the previous family owners raised dairy cows.  The walls had several openings with old wooden gates to move the cows from one pasture to the next, but if you didn't want to worry about opening and closing gates, you could just climb over the rock walls using the fence stile.

If you travel to the areas where grapes are grown, you may see some stiles there.

 And of course, in Europe, they are everyplace across their rock walls.

Well, I must get back to my planting so my wonderful CSA members and customers will have lots of vegetables to enjoy this season.
Until next time-just when you think you have seen EVERYTHING-

Sweat Pea is April Flower Month

How can one flower have so much aroma ?  I purchased some Sweat Pea flowers a few days ago as my sweet peas are not ready yet and the whole kitchen and dining room have the most amazing smell.  I wish my birthday flower was a Sweat Pea, mine is March-the Daffodil or Narcissus.  Yes, I like the Paper White Narcissus bulb if that counts as my birthday flower.  But the Sweat Pea flower itself is like paper and the colors can be a wide arrange of muted pastels to dark purples and pinks. When they grow, they do look like a snow pea bush and then they get these blossoms and even the blossoms can have little legs that cling to their stand or screen, whatever is being used to support them.  So fragile and delicate looking but they actually are very hardy plants and flowers. 

To keep them blooming as long as possible, it is better to keep clipping the flowers so it produces more buds.  They will flower and flower until the weather starts to get hot actually the same as the  snow pea plants.

I wish this blog could have a scratch and sniff box so you can enjoy the fragrance as much as I am.

It is interesting because you plant the seeds for Sweat Peas in November.  They can go through the winter and start growing their plants in February and March.  Not all regions can do it but many more than you think.  There is a Gardeners World BBC program where Monty did an experiment (at least it was done in England) where he planted the seeds in November, March, and June to see if it mattered when you actually planted them.  Of course their weather is so much milder than mine but his conclusion was that nature knows best.  The plant did do much better and produced more flowers when planted in November.

You normally do not see Sweat Peas flowers for sale at the grocery stores or even in florist shops.  They have to be special ordered.  But at least in Northern California, most of the local strawberry growers also grow flowers for their Farmer's Markets and road side strawberry stands and they grow Sweat Peas. 

Treat yourself to the sweetest smell ever, buy a bunch at your local Farmer's Market or roadside stand.  Or next fall, buy a package and stick them in the ground around an arbor or trellis, you will be greatly rewarded.  And for those that are having an April Birthday-Happy Sweet Pea Month!!