ORDER ONLY: Honey and Socks
Sep. 25th, 2008 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alt_mollyWe have had a stroke of luck, although I feel guilty saying that because it is due to someone else's misfortune. Our elderly neighbour Annie Simmons died a month ago, and her husband Avery is going east to live with his daughter, so they are breaking up their old household. Avery asked if I would like to take his beehives! They have six, which will mean a fair bit of work, but heavens! Honey, and beeswax, perhaps even enough to sell, for profit. Or we could pass along some of the largess along to Moddey Dhoo Sanctuary. It would mean being able to avoid the sugar tax, and having beeswax candles instead of those smoking smelly tallow dips. I was surprised that Avery didn't want to transport the hives to his daughter's home, but he feels he is too old to keep up with it, and I think losing Annie has made him lose his heart somewhat. He just wants to hand them over entirely. He is even giving me all the equipment for free! And the bees will help pollinate the orchard, which means our apple and pear yield should be much higher next year.
He also gave me all of Annie's old sweaters so that I could rip them up and use the yarn. Some is too worn to use for much, but quite a bit of it is very good. The girls and I have been using the wool and cotton to knit socks. A few were even fine enough to use for baby socks. I haven't told the girls that a bunch are going to Sanctuary, of course; they think they're knitting them for the poor muggle children in the camps (and indeed, some of them will go for that purpose). The girls just learned to turn a heel this month, and they are extremely proud of their work. They manage it much more slowly than me, of course, because they can't use magic, but still, they've each contributed a pair of socks each week to the box where we've been collecting them. Luna even took hers and dyed them all purple! She's been studying natural dyes and so she used bilberries with alum. 'It's good practise, I suppose,' she said, 'for when we start taking potions.'
Another neighbour is willing to trade fleece from one of her sheep for goat's milk. I may have to get another goat. Thank Merlin that people are willing to barter. Ginny is trying to learn drop-spindle spinning, so that we can hand spin some more of our own yarn. And Luna is happily researching other plants, etc., that she can use to create other natural dyes. Alice, be prepared to get future socks in a rainbow array of colors!
Oh, and Alice, I'm also sending along a little instructional booklet about sketching for young Master Colin Creevey. Those little illustrative sketches he did of Peel Castle you sent along with your last report to Minerva caught our attention quite wonderfully. I think he has quite an artistic eye, and it might help him keep the boredom at bay this winter. Hopefully, Minerva can send him some parchment for practise.
We have also been experimenting with soap making, again trying to avoid the tax. Ginny grumbled about this a fair amount (what a nasty, smelly business soap-making is!) and said we might as well be living a hundred and fifty years ago, when each household had to manufacture everything they need instead of buying it. She has a point.
I assigned each of the girls to write an essay about a short story, anyone they liked that they could pick. Minerva, I'm sending you the one Luna did. It really surprised me. She wrote about a short story with the rather strange name 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas' by an author I'd never heard of before, someone named Ursula K. LeGuin. It may give you a little hope for the next generation. I have no idea where in Merlin's name she finds these strange works of fiction, but that's just the way Luna is. (I suppose, come to think of it, it's not surprising, considering all the strange books Xenophilius collects.)
I'm off to make a pie for Arthur. He needs something to comfort him, poor man, when he comes home after those abominable days at the office.
He also gave me all of Annie's old sweaters so that I could rip them up and use the yarn. Some is too worn to use for much, but quite a bit of it is very good. The girls and I have been using the wool and cotton to knit socks. A few were even fine enough to use for baby socks. I haven't told the girls that a bunch are going to Sanctuary, of course; they think they're knitting them for the poor muggle children in the camps (and indeed, some of them will go for that purpose). The girls just learned to turn a heel this month, and they are extremely proud of their work. They manage it much more slowly than me, of course, because they can't use magic, but still, they've each contributed a pair of socks each week to the box where we've been collecting them. Luna even took hers and dyed them all purple! She's been studying natural dyes and so she used bilberries with alum. 'It's good practise, I suppose,' she said, 'for when we start taking potions.'
Another neighbour is willing to trade fleece from one of her sheep for goat's milk. I may have to get another goat. Thank Merlin that people are willing to barter. Ginny is trying to learn drop-spindle spinning, so that we can hand spin some more of our own yarn. And Luna is happily researching other plants, etc., that she can use to create other natural dyes. Alice, be prepared to get future socks in a rainbow array of colors!
Oh, and Alice, I'm also sending along a little instructional booklet about sketching for young Master Colin Creevey. Those little illustrative sketches he did of Peel Castle you sent along with your last report to Minerva caught our attention quite wonderfully. I think he has quite an artistic eye, and it might help him keep the boredom at bay this winter. Hopefully, Minerva can send him some parchment for practise.
We have also been experimenting with soap making, again trying to avoid the tax. Ginny grumbled about this a fair amount (what a nasty, smelly business soap-making is!) and said we might as well be living a hundred and fifty years ago, when each household had to manufacture everything they need instead of buying it. She has a point.
I assigned each of the girls to write an essay about a short story, anyone they liked that they could pick. Minerva, I'm sending you the one Luna did. It really surprised me. She wrote about a short story with the rather strange name 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas' by an author I'd never heard of before, someone named Ursula K. LeGuin. It may give you a little hope for the next generation. I have no idea where in Merlin's name she finds these strange works of fiction, but that's just the way Luna is. (I suppose, come to think of it, it's not surprising, considering all the strange books Xenophilius collects.)
I'm off to make a pie for Arthur. He needs something to comfort him, poor man, when he comes home after those abominable days at the office.
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Date: 2008-09-26 02:04 am (UTC)