My Eventful February Winter Week!

I still see the picture on my blog before it opens to my French script that I love but it may be our computer connection with HughesNet. It is slower than I am used too from Alabama where we had high speed.

When I go outside in the morning, even at 40 degrees, I have to have my coffee outside and listen to the crows at first because the dogs scare the birds away for a bit but they soon return and I can hear the flutter of their wings!  I just love it!

I got some Bird and Blooms magazines from the library checked out and I read through them  getting ideas for spring plantings.

There are also lots of ideas for birdhouses and one is made from an old straw hat. It says to put a foam plate behind it for the back and cut a hole in the straw for the opening. It may only last a year but good cheap housing for all the many birds around me. Of course, they probably have their own nests in the trees. We will see!

  I have 5 bluebird houses out and was thinking of painting a couple of them blue just for the fun of it.  I see them all along the fence posts of farms around here so I expect to see many this spring!  We always had them in our birdhouses in Alabama!

I have been busy this week;  on Monday I took a Shitake mushroom class where we learned how to grow them on preferably oak logs. I brought a few and some to share but my logs were smaller than the ones the Brasstown Community Center provided so I also got one from them with a small donation. The class was only $10 and my husband insisted I take it because of all the mushroom hunting and photo taking I do of them all around me here.  The article in the newspaper said they are always full classes so I registered early.

It was an experience, as I had no idea how growing mushrooms was done. You drill holes in the logs and implant the spores, then cover with wax, we used cheese wax and I had it all over me. I should have worn gloves and will if I ever do it again.  I believe we have the perfect growing conditions here and I will watch and just see what happens. Now, they are just lying in the woods to grow the spores.

Here are my three logs placed in the woods behind our home. 

 See the waxed spore holes below

Who knows, maybe I could be a commercial grower one of the years as it take 600 logs to make money and I have no idea how to handle a saw. Hee hee!  But, they can be stacked on 1/4 acre and you just have to watch and make sure they get water.

I also went to the Tri-State Gem and Mineral Club meeting Tuesday where they shared Dolomite Stone and I had no idea it was so beautiful. We all also took amethyst  if we had any for show and tell. I took the piece that was given to me at my Grandmother's funeral. I did not want to go into the room where she lay as I wanted to remember her as I last saw her and many folks thought I was in worse shape than I really was but everyone respected my decision.  But, a friend of my Mother's gave me a piece of amethyst to put of my forehead if I had trouble sleeping!  I swear, true story!  I cherish this amethyst and it is the stone for February.

The jewelry demonstration was to make spinner rings. I should have taken a photo, so unusual for me not too,  but the lady (Cathy Morris)  that showed us how to do it teaches at the William Holland School of Lapidary in Young Harris, Ga.  This is very close to where I live and you take week long classes and live at the school. I can take my "Daisy" camper if I wish but I can never afford the classes  I am sure.  Maybe I will win a lesson through the club through winning points through contributions to club doings!

I get a point for attending, show and tell, field trips, hosting treats at meetings, etc.  So far, I have missed two meetings as I joined in November, 2011 and this was my second meeting to attend.

Anyway, the rest of the week I need to be spending on my craft room and crafting, if I can stay away from the cold front porch. I live there I do believe!

I just bundle up and listen to the forest. I have deceided  I am a " Spirit of the Forest" as I subtitled my blog. It just feels like home and peace. I was looking for some stones the other day to put under where our water faucet attaches to the house

(they installed it after we moved in) I could not believe there was not one already. It runs to the well where we get our water so it is natural well water.

Here are also a photo of some wild turkeys I saw in a field eating the other day when I was out on the nearby roads.

I found a Mountain Laurel grove where many branches had broken in the wind or the deer movement and brought many home. Many people here make unique structures with them like pergolas, garden fences, etc. It is a curvy branch and the flowers this spring will be like heaven. I first saw the mountain laurel when we were here pet-sitting and took many photos. I believe it is the most beautiful flower I have ever seen. I will be selling this print in my" ByLightOfMoon" Handmade Etsy shop!

I sold a pine knot on Etsy yesterday and it was the biggest one I have. I found it would cost $15.00 to ship so I deleted it and refunded the money paid at just $4.50. What was I thinking?  What a huge mistake on my part!  Well, she sent me a conversation was it still for sale, so I re-listed it and we will just wait and see.  It weights almost 4 lbs. But, I do have many smaller ones I will list that are beautiful with the moss and lichens and just the wood patterns are fabulous in a terrarium or just on the porch. 

 Pine Knots

I also found out over the weekend I had won a giveaway on Dawn's blog," The Feathered Nest"! I can't wait for it to arrive. I already have a special place in mind for it as it is a wall hanging and we are very short on wall space, BUT, it is so special to me that she made it!  I love her blog and followed here posting and life she shares with us. It is made with lace and here ephemera, just like I love!  It was her 5 year blog anniversary and she always has so many comments I never dreamed of winning. I am over the top with JOY! 

 This is the fabulous wall hanging I won!  

This next set of photos I cannot believe I am going to share with you but here I go! I have a start that says Believe and I do Believe I will get my craft room cleaned up. Right now, it looks like an episode of Hoarders but I have finally gone through all my crafting boxes and unloaded them everywhere. Now, to place everything  where I can work with it and hopefully make some sales to help out AND give myself my creative spirit something to do that finally with me a finished product.  I do believe that I will have to go even more vertical as our attic is only 900 sq ft as our house is. The whole area will be my crafting room and storage for some of our clothes we have that will not fit in our bedroom closet and will probably never wear but I have lost some weight and can fit in more clothes that I used to wear. We are very casual here so I don't get dressed up to often.  This house is very short on closets, not even a linen closet anywhere, but we do have a pantry room.