Honeycombs

Here's what a morning of homeschool sometimes looks like. Jake was alternating between his dreaded math homework and seeing how fast he could reassemble the anatomy toy his cousin Fred just gave him. (He wasn't interested in getting out his anatomy coloring book and reading up on what those various organs do-believe me, I tried.) Meanwhile, as part of my recent efforts to reduce the clutter in our house (a Sisyphean task if ever there was one), I decided to take on the huge box of honeycomb frames that have been sitting on our counter for quite some time.

I cut and packaged about 25 squares in greaseproof paper, and slapped on the labels I made a while back for Henry's jars of honey (more of which will be coming soon). Honeycombs are very handy to have around for last minute birthday or hostess gifts. I put the excess wax in a scrap bucket I keep for that purpose, and once I have enough to bother with, I'll boil and clean and separate it to use for lip balm and various other things. They're all so time consuming, these homestead-y projects we find ourselves doing from time to time. With each new similar endeavor I marvel more and more at the amount of time and effort my great grandparents' generation had to put into getting things done. For instance, to get yourself a new sweater back then you would have to: shear a sheep, wash the wool, card the wool, spin the wool knit the wool into a sweater vs. today: order a sweater online and wear it the next day. It's crazy-crazy, when I think about it. 

For a variety of reasons I may or may not someday explain, we've decided that Jake will start back at school again in the fall. I don't know how people who home educate their kids do anything else (like write blog posts, for instance), but some do. This is the last week of school for my other boys, so soon we'll all be home, harvesting honey, staying up late, and driving each other crazy. Believe it or not, I'm ready. 

Birds, Real and Imagined

With the spring come the birds. Right now birds are nesting and laying their eggs all over the countryside, though I rarely take the time to seek them out. These blackbird's eggs (above) happen to be in a nest right outside of my studio, so it was dumb luck rather than good detective work that led me to them.

Still, I do take an interest in identifying local birds (sort of), and have been leafing through this old book of Henry's to see what I might spy while I'm out on a walk in the woods. I have learned to recognize a few of them by sight. I can't identify many by their call, apart from the onomatopoeiac cuckoo, whose call really does signify spring, or the cooing mourning dove.

I also recognize, of course, the hoot of the owl, which we can often hear at bedtime when our windows are open. I love this picture of a barn owl, which I'm using as a reference for a bird making project I'm in the middle of.

I recently bought a copy of "The Artful Bird" by Abigail Glassenberg, who also the authors the excellent blog While She Naps, which is about soft toy making and also how to run a creative business. I've since made a few birds, pictured below. 

Here is the first wren I made, which is the first project from Abby's book. It took me quite a long time to make-maybe six or seven hours. But the second one, below, took a good hour less than the first. I didn't quilt the wings like she suggests; if I had it would've added on close to another hour. 

This is my Liberty print wren. I love her. 

Here is the owl I'm working on. I haven't even clocked the hours I've spent working on this thing so far, but I'm guessing I'm into double digits already. I got stuck on a step early on in the process, and contacted Abby begging for help. She was super accommodating and encouraging and helped me work out my problem via email.

Above are the embroidered eyes for the owl, which I worked on yesterday while sitting in on the Greek Mythology class Jake is taking in Oxford.

Because I have so little free time these days (home education is not for the lady of leisure-or maybe it is and I'm just doing it totally the wrong way), I generally don't want to work on craft projects that take a long time, because I worry I'll never finish them. But bird making is feeling very satisfying right now, so I'll stick with it as long as it stays that way.

By the way, I'm Instagramming in earnest lately, so if you want to see more photos of this Cotswold spring or birds in the making, you can follow me @leslieastor

Scenes From A Cotswold Spring

Oilseed rape flowers are peaking right now. In America this crop is called canola. 

Blackthorn blossoms mixed into the hedgerows.

Fields of wheat. In July they'll be golden.

Not sure who lives in here-a badger or a warren full of rabbits?

Bluebells and Greater Stitchwort.

Bluebells are carpeting the woods right now. 

 I love this humble yet elegant cow parsley.

It looks particularly striking along the hedgerows, with blackthorn blossoms and dramatic English clouds in the sky.

More Piglets!

What better way to follow up on my last post about our little piglets growing up than to introduce you to these TEN new baby pigs, who were born last month while we were away on a ski holiday in France. We had no idea these piglets were even coming, and their arrival was met with squeals of adoration from the kids (okay, and me, too). They were born to Kitty and James' sow and boar that live in our field, so lucky for us we don't have to find homes for them. Phew!

They grow very fast, these little sweeties, and they're luckier than their friends next door to be growing up in the sunshine of the field (the winter piglets were semi-sheltered in a barn at Kitty's). They also get plenty of shade if they need it, since we extended the pig pens into the woods behind the field. This lets the pigs root up all sort of other goodies, like acorns in the fall.  

Here you can see them with both their mom and dad, and also next to the teenage piglets, which gives you an idea of their true size. 

Not sure what we're going to do with all of these babies-we finally managed to find homes for six of the first litter of piglets. Anyone want a Gloucester Old Spot?