My Favourite Weed

Day 293: You've probably heard it said that a weed is just a wildflower nobody wants, and while that may hold true for things like dandelions and tansy, sometimes a weed worms its way into your heart despite your best efforts to eradicate it. That's the relationship I have with Cichorium intybus, also known as Chickory or Wild Succory. It is an introduced species, having been brought to North America from Europe, and is seen commonly on waste land where its sturdy roots demonstrate their ability penetrate hard-packed soils with an enviable determination. The stems and foliage are tough and wiry and not particularly attractive, but when it flowers, it paints vacant lots and roadsides with a beautiful, sky-blue brush you cannot help but admire. It is only moderately invasive, unlike the Centaurea complex which would take over the world given half a chance, a factor which (forgive me) I feel tips the balance to the favour of its aesthetic appeal. It's my favourite weed.

Traditional Red

Day 292: Well, I am rapidly coming to the end of this weaving project. I'm already into the fifth of six towels, having woven two of its eight motifs yesterday. The day before, I completed four motifs, the limiting factor being how long my bum shoulders can hold out. That said, this is my favourite summer-and-winter draft. I love working on it, so now I am having to ration myself with respect to how much I do each day in order to spread it out while waiting for an order of heavier thread to arrive. I want to use a 3/2 cotton for the pattern floats in my next project (a coverlet). The traditional colours for summer-and-winter are blue or red on a white/cream/natural ground. That's not to say you can't use other colours. In fact, the first two of these towels are green. I tend to lean toward the cooler shades in my weaving, and although I do find this red very striking, it wouldn't be my first choice for my own kitchen. The upcoming coverlet, destined to be an entry in next year's Washington State Fair, will be blue.

Waiting For Waxwings

Day 291: Many plants and animals and undergoing phenologic shifts due to the changing climate, and because some are drifting toward earlier seasons and others to later ones, this can be critical. We are seeing wildflower blooms before the arrival of species-specific pollinators, with the consequence that the wildflower species do not set seed and the pollinators go hungry if they cannot adapt to other food sources (and many are not biologically equipped to do so). Another glaring example of radical phenologic divergence is taking place right in my own yard. For the last several years, the fruits on my Sitka Mountain-ash (Sorbus sitchensis) have been ripening earlier and earlier. Now almost a month ahead of its original period, the fruit is colouring while the Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) are still far to the north where food is plentiful. At the same time, the Waxwings have been arriving here later and later, and last year, the berries had already begun to fall from the Mountain-ash before they showed up in late October. This native tree is one of their primary food sources during the autumn migration. If the berries are gone when the Waxwings arrive, many will not survive their southward journey. In the long term, this may lead to a change in the Waxwings' range, extending it northward and reducing it to the south. However, the operative word in the last sentence is "may." If the Waxwings and Sitka Mountain-ash fail to perform in parallel, one or both may not survive as species.

Summer-and-Winter Blues

Day 290: Yesterday was one of Those Days. The mind tends to wander while performing the mechanics of weaving, and I was lost in planning my next project, of which you will read more momentarily. I had nearly reached the end of the solid motif when something caught my eye. Immediately after the fourth or fifth coloured throw in the block, there were two white tabby threads crossing the same warps near the selvedge. "Dammit!" I said. "Mistake!" Fixing it would mean 10-15 minutes of back-picking, but in my opinion and practice, mistakes are not to be tolerated. With much further profane language, I set about unweaving my morning's work. When I reached the offending throw, I was surprised when the shuttle came entirely free from the cloth, the thread end dangling. Then I realized that my "mistake" had not been a mistake at all. Rather, it was where I had joined a new thread and the wefts overlapped. The fact that it was at the selvedge should have clued me in, but I had been wool-gathering. I had to laugh at myself even though I spouted a new geyser of profanity at that moment. After all, I had once made a sampler for my husband showing "The Faceter's Cuss-Code." One of the lines read, "Fixed a mistake that wasn't a mistake." Now back on track, I am halfway through the fourth towel, and the last to be worked in blue. Next up: red.

For my next project, I will be doing something I've never done before: weaving an item with the specific purpose of putting it in the Puyallup Fair next year. I will be using the same draft (it's a favourite), but expanded and with a colour change in the warp to accommodate joining three panels for a coverlet. The coloured pattern thread will be heavier, 3/2 against an 8/2 tabby. It will require 22 feet of warp, only six feet longer than what is on the loom presently. Given that I've only been working on these towels for two weeks and am almost two-thirds of the way done, the coverlet should only take a month or so to make. It won't be ready for this year's Fair, but I have plenty of time to get it done for next year.

Apprentice Pruners

Day 289: My regular pruner brought two apprentices with her this morning, and immediately the three of them set to work. They bypassed the raspberries in favour of the kiwi vine tendrils on the outside of the chicken-wire fence, but I do believe I have my work cut out for me from now until harvest time. I'd been wondering why the water level in the bird bath kept dropping overnight. In fact, I even checked to see if the glass was cracked. Now I understand. The Berry Pen is fenced, and almost everything in it is caged by tomato towers, not so much for support as for a cervid deterrent. There's not much room to land if one of these critters was of a mind to jump the fence, and they're smart enough to realize it. Likewise, the raspberries are protected by chicken wire except where the vines poke through the holes (and for the most part, I train them to stay within the confines). Still, it looks like it's time to stock up on appropriately-sized rocks for my slingshot. I did not sign a contract with Bambi and Co. for pruning services.

UAP

Day 288: UAPs (Unidentified Aerial/Anomalous Phenomena) seem to be taking over the news these days, as if we didn't need something else to worry about. People are seizing on snatches of rhetoric, building them into vast coverups and conspiracy theories without giving any thought to what the words might actually mean. Let's take "non-human biologics" for an example. If you're old enough to remember when our exploration of space began, you might remember Laika, the Russian dog sent up in the second Sputnik. Laika died in space and her satellite disintegrated upon re-entry into the atmosphere, but had it come back to Earth, "non-human biologics" would have been found in the capsule. "Non-human biologics" does not mean "alien bodies." Some people have testified to seeing things which were "very disturbing" in connection with UAPs/UFOs. As a young person in the dawning Space Era, I found images of monkeys with electrodes fitted to their exposed brains to be very disturbing. Today, of course, we have more consideration for the living beings on which we conduct scientific experiments, or at least that's what we are led to believe by our government. However, other governments may not embrace the same ethic. Were I to see a monkey strapped into a space capsule, pinioned by its arms and legs, wired up to monitors and medical equipment, I would find it very disturbing indeed. "Disturbing" does not necessarily correlate with "alien." As for whether or not we've been visited by Greys or ET's cousins, I will say this: although I am a firm believer in the statistical probability of there being myriads of other life forms in the Universe, I can hardly believe they'd bother with humans. We're just not all that special, unless perhaps as a renewable food source.

Refrigerator Pickles

Day 287: Got veg? Let's make refrigerator pickles! I don't know how I've lived all these years without coming across this simple way to pickle almost any vegetable without canning or a lengthy period of soaking in brine. Refrigerator pickles are quick to make, and quick to be gobbled up. They can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks, but trust me, they won't last that long.

You'll need a couple of clean quart jars with lids for this recipe. They don't need to be sterilized. And of course you'll need veg. You can use cauliflower, cucumber, onion, carrots, broccoli, peppers...just about any firm vegetable. Cut or break them into bite-sized pieces. Cucumbers and carrots should be cut into slices no more than 1/4" thick.

First make the brine and allow it to cool to room temp. For this, combine
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp mustard seed    
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp kosher salt
a few red chili flakes if desired

Bring the brine to a boil, then remove it from the stove and allow it to cool. Meanwhile, pack the raw veg into the jars. Fit them in fairly snugly, but don't press them down too hard. When the brine is cool, pour it over the veg, being sure that they're completely covered. Put the lids on the jars, stick them in the fridge and...hard part here!...wait 3-4 days before eating them. Feel free to change up the spices to suit your own tastes. If you'd like to make smaller or larger batches, just reduce or increase the amount of brine, keeping the proportions the same.