Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!

I know it has been a while since I posted but I wanted to wish all of our readers and customers a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

School has been keeping me very busy but I am now yet another semester finished.  I am trying to work on some of my projects that have been neglected from school studies and I hope to have completed at least some of my projects over Christmas break. 

The rabbits are doing well as well as the other barnyard creatures.  I have not been able to breed lately but Barb has been active with her Lionheads.  Looking forward to seeing how they do on the show table this upcoming season. 

With Christmas right around the corner we have been busy with holiday baking and "comfying" up the barns for the animals.  We have been experiencing colder weather and ice storms, with some people in our town without power (thankfully we were not affected).  Hopefully the weather will relax soon and the ice will diminish. 

Hope everyone has safe travels and enjoys the Christmas season! 

Lionhead Breeding Program

With the wonderful news of Lionheads becoming an official ARBA recognized breed, we have been planning our fall/winter breeding program to focus more on the new fully-recognized colors, ruby eyed white and tort.  We will continue to breed chocolates, shadeds, and blue eyed whites, which have COVs with the ARBA.

There are many little Lionheads in the nesting boxes right now and they are looking very promising.  Milky Way X Hoppin' John - 2 REWs, 1 black, 1 chocolate, and 1 lilac.  Rain Dance X Le Petit Prince - 1 REW, 1 siamese sable, and 1 seal.  Cocoa X Royal Blue -1 REW.  Francesca Rose X Royal Blue - 3 REWs and 1 chocolate.

We also have two Lionheads available for sale.  One is a beautiful show quality REW junior buck out of Milky Way to Midnight Blizzard - $50.  The other is a sweet little lilac junior doe for $30 out of Peppercorn to Midnight Blizzard.  Lilac doesn't currently have a COV, so it is not showable, but she would do very well in a chocolate, black, or tort breeding program. 

We also have a sweet pet Dutch doe available for adoption.  She has a wonderful personality and is litter box trained. 

Winter is fast-approaching and the air is getting sharp already.  Thankfully, we can continue to breed our does throughout the season and everyone can stay warm indoors.  

Have a great week!  
www.blossomacresrabbitry.webs.com

Natural Dyeing with Goldenrod

Every year, the start of September is marked by beautiful fields of goldenrod in bloom.  I have always wanted to try natural dyeing with this lovely plant, and finally came around to trying it.

I plucked the flower heads off the many stems that bordered our field, selecting for the flowers that were in full bloom. 

 

They were all emptied into a large 8-quart pot and filled to the top with water.  I gently simmered them for over an hour, while they slowly released their color. Do not boil the flowers, or they will lose their lovely gold color and become brown.  

Meanwhile, two ounces of baby Huacaya Alpaca roving were put in another pot and covered with water, along with 1 cup of white vinegar, and a tablespoon of salt. It is important to pre-soak the fiber before dyeing, especially alpaca, for the greatest color intensity.   

After an hour of gently simmering, the flower heads were removed and the lovely golden dye was exposed.

   

The roving and its water contents were added to the dye pot and gently simmered for 30 minutes.  The entire pot was then taken off the stove top and set to cool until the contents were room temperature.  This can be done over-night, as it takes a long time for it to cool.    

Once cool, the fiber was rinsed out well and then set to dry in the sun. 

Finally, the roving was spun into yarn on a drop spindle and is ready to knit!

Have a great week!

www.blossomacresrabbitry.webs.com