My farm birthday!

This blog post would be more appropriate in my other blog (read on to see why), but this will do!

My birthday started out as an ordinary harvest Monday- bunching celery, washing potatoes, packing the truck, etc. Group lunch, same as always. 

I headed back to the kitchen, and then Elsa came up to me saying that Sus needed me to come to the office to tell me something about market. After seeing all my fellow apprentices not-so-sneakily walk across the field, I knew something was up. But I was still so surprised when the back door of the office magically opened and I stepped inside to an empty room with THIS cake on the table:

Everyone sang happy birthday, and then we demolished the cake (FOR LUNCH!!!). 

Angel food cake and marshmellowy icing, made by Elsa!

Then a had a fun day at the downtown market, selling lots o veggies. When I got back to the farm later,  I didn't go to my cabin right away. I went there right before we went out to the local bar, and this is what I found!

Streamers made out of moose poop and fallen leaves
Paper snowflakes
Hanging flowers
Carved turnip faces

It was a wonderful surprise, and it makes it hard to leave my lil' cabin.

To top off my birthday, the northern lights were out for about half an hour that night-- a record for us. I still barely believe they really exist, which makes it more impossible to describe. But guys, HOLY SHIT they are SO BEAUTIFUL! Like fall on the ground beautiful. And not fall as in- leaves that are all on the ground right now and not on the trees.
Anyway, I had a grrrrreat birthday with my farm family!

And to take advantage of the currently (dare I say it?) fast internet, some of my favorite flowers:

Yarrow!

Rudbeckia

Scabiosa

Jumping on the headband wagon

 This group of apprentices is a crafty bunch. Knitting, woodcarving, sketching, sewing, felting, spinning, dyeing. Since we spend so much time living on top of each other, once one of us picks up something, the rest usually follow pretty soon. Right now I'm finally knitting myself a headband. All of the other apprentices gals have had one for a couple months, but I was late on the headband wagon.

My favorite craft is felting.

This may or may not be because it is by far the easiest learning curve. It just involves rolling some fleece and poking it with a barbed needle. Pretty much instant gratification-- I made a rotund pumpkin in about twenty minutes. Next I'm working on little elf/pixie people. They are adorable, let me tell you. It's amazing how much detail you can put on using just one tool.

Our kitchen table is covered in various projects. Right now across from me, Nellie is starting a knitting project with the yarn she dyed herself, and Chris is working on knitting his hat. A wooden whale is on my right, Stephanie's crocheted bikini is on the table next to Nellie's fingerless gloves, a greasy rag from oiling finished wooden spoon is at the far end, and the centerpiece is the foam block for felting.

Craft-o-mania!!!