I have been having computer problems and have lost a lot of files.  I am kind of in a state of shock as I don’t know where to start to get things back the way they were (if that is even possible). 

I’m trying to be cool about it, but when I think of all I lost, I shudder and get sick to my stomach. 

Leigh

Last week a group from the Hill Country Master Gardeners got together and taught a class on pressure canning and boiling water bath processing.  Since I knew absolutely nothing about these methods of preserving food, I learned a lot!

Here is one big hint that I was taught:  YOU CAN COOK IN YOUR PRESSURE CANNER BUT YOU CAN’T CAN IN A PRESSURE COOKER.  So, if you are about to pursue canning some vegetables from your garden, the best tool to have is a pressure canner since you can cook and can in it. 

A few other hints:
     Read canning instructions and be sure to use the correct processing time.

     Select sound, firm-ripe fresh food.

     Wash all foods thoroughly

    It is very important to process food the length of time suggested in the time tables given with your pressure canner.

First we did potatoes….. in the pressure canner.

We peeled and cut the potatoes into smaller pieces.

Keep the peeled and cut potatoes in water as they will turn brown.  Put the pieces in clean sterilized jars for processing.  Add water to jar.

I think we added salt in this step?  Or was it sugar.  Oh bother, I can’t remember.  If you know, please help a girl out!

Putting the seals and bands on the jars.  The seals are prepared by placing them in a pan and pouring boiling water over them.  Don’t boil them, just let them stay in the water until ready to use.  The screw bands must be clean and in good condition, but they do not require scalding.

All tidy and placed in the pressure canner. 

Coming out of the pressure canner.  It’s VERY hot.  This little contraption – a Grip-Tite Jar Lifter for removing the jars from the HOT water is a must.

The finished product.  Ready to be put up.  Tomorrows post will be on boiling water bath method of processing, if I remember…..

A new twist on the beautiful Kansas Sunflower!

We were on the front page of the Kerrville Daily Times last Monday.  It was exciting and we really enjoyed our interview with the reporter and photographer. 

I have previously been coached by others about marketing alpacas.  One thing that was mentioned was sending out press releases to local newspapers.  I have done this “trick” two or three times and almost every time we have been able to get something in the newspaper about our ranch. 

If you are looking for some free advertising you might try it.

Here is how I did it -  I send the following by email as an attachment along with a couple of pictures to choose from.

**Press Release**

Hill Country Alpacas

Medina, TX 78055

Hill Country Alpacas in Medina, TX is thrilled to announce the birth of their newest cria.  A cria is a baby alpaca.  This little girl was born on May 9, 2009 just in time for Mother’s Day.  The dam is Nirvana’s Sari, a color champion daughter of Dom Lucilio.  The sire is Escondidos Makulu, a multi color champion son of the recently deceased El Nino.

Alpacas are a fleece bearing animal native to South America.  Alpacas were imported into the United States in 1984 and have been increasing significantly in number in the last few years.  Raising alpacas can be a rewarding and much slower paced lifestyle, perfect for living in the hill country!

Hill Country’s Brazoria, Zori for short, is a beautiful chocolate brown color and already has a lot of presence.  She came in at a whopping 19.6 pounds – average size is about 15 pounds.  Look for Zori in halter competitions in the future.  She is spectacular!

Hill Country Alpacas can be reached by calling 830-589-7750.

We offer alpaca sales, mentoring, boarding, raw fleece and various alpaca products.  We are open by appointment and give ranch tours.

Contact:  Leigh and Chuck Thomas

The picture in each paper was done in black and white (color would’ve been better, but can’t really complain).  And the article that I wrote was written word for word in one paper and rearranged a bit in the other local paper.  But, it was FREE.

Well said!

A Judeo-Christian Nation

Just saying something isn’t true or didn’t happen doesn’t make it fact.  Shame on those of us who know the truth and let others re-write history!

There are two pictures of each animal.  They have all three recently been on our property.  I think one is a genetic anomaly and the other two I think are mix breeds.  What do you think?

June 11 – click here.  I think they all might be the same thing.  Strange but true…

I have done some research and I think this one is a Fallow Deer.

Squash plants!

Bell Peppers!

Cherry Tomatoes!

Pumpkin!

The Fruits of my Harvest!

Not finished, but on it’s way….  felted alpaca hat.  All I need to do is finish the edge and finish the embellishments – that’s the fun part, but also the part where I have to be “in the mood”.

So I started weaving on my Flip Loom….stayed at Old Oaks Ranch for part of the day then brought my loom home to finish.

It’s so much fun.  Right now I have the loom on our dining room table.  That’s the neat thing about this loom – it’s so transportable and you can put it wherever you want to.

It’s a little wavy, but hopefully that will get better as I weave more.

I did use 100% alpaca as the warping thread.  I am very happy with the way this first attempt at weaving has turned out.  Now to get it off the loom.

Yesterday my friend Suzanne and I got away from our usual daily schedules and headed over to Old Oaks Ranch Fiber Studio to learn how to weave. 

My sweet Dad recently bought me the rigid heddle Flip Loom by Schacht, so I took it along.  It is a nice, fairly simple loom and it is portable.  That’s the main reason I wanted it. 

So Suzanne and I and another student sat down at a table and began to learn.  The first thing we did was figure out how many wraps per inch we would get from our particular yarn we were going to use.  We did this by tightly wrapping our yarn around a ruler and seeing how many times we could wrap that yarn tightly in a one inch space.  Once we get that calculation we divide it in half and that number gives us our E. P. I. (ends per inch), for the warp.   (Is any of this making sense to you?  I know, me neither – I’m still learning)!!!

This is my rigid heddle Flip Loom

We did a whole bunch of other calculations that led us to deciding how many warp ends were needed to thread through the reeds on the loom.  My number came to 112 total warp ends for a 60″ x 9″ scarf.  Cool.

Then we did some calculations for the length of our warp yarns.  Mine came to a total warp length of 102″.  So I cut a suide string (a very bright pink) so that I could use a warping board thing to measure out my warping yarn.

This is a picture of the contraption that I used to measure my warp yarn.

After this was done the yarn was taken off , we learned some more about the parts of a loom, how to find the center of the heddle to keep our piece in the middle of the loom, and proceeded to thread our looms.

My warping yarns all orderly and tied strategically so that I can warp my loom effortlessly!

My loom threaded with warp and bundled in groups of 10.

From the other direction.  The opposite end all wrapped tightly around the front of the loom for stabilization when gathering the groups of 10.

The ends are tied to the apron bars in the front and back of the loom.

There will be more posting tomorrow when the weaving really begins!