Wild Willow and Alpaca Fiber Basket

I finished this basket today from willow collected along side the road and the alpaca fiber I handspun a few weeks ago.

(details of the fiber and willow adorned with a snowflake)

Grateful

Today I am grateful...

grateful for the twists and turns of life that have brought me to where I am today,

grateful for family and friends in my life who care, 

grateful for a steady job that provides a livable wage 

and brings comfort and help to others, 

grateful that I serve a God of mercy and love, 

grateful for a world full of beauty and goodness, 

and grateful for you, my dear readers--

your comments and emails always make my day!

*******

As a thank you to my readers, I recently wove a basket from Dutch iris and willow growing in my garden, which I will be giving away to one lucky reader. Check back on Monday to enter the giveaway for this basket!

If you haven't checked out Dandelion Haven's Facebook page, you might want to do that now, because if you are a Facebook fan, you will be able to get two chances to win this basket. (Just wanted to show my appreciation for my faithful Facebook fans--you guys are best!) Click this link to go over there and look around. If you like what you see there, you are welcome to like the page--I post new photos (and some favorites from the archives) over there every day.  

Also on Monday, a whole bunch of my favorite bloggers will be hosting their own giveaways, each one giving away some of their favorite things. There will be lots of great stuff you can win, and I will be posting the links for that as well--so don't forget to check back on Monday for the links! You won't regret it--there will be all kinds of fun stuff:  books, lots of gift cards, a hand crafted quilted table runner for the holidays, hand crafted soap, an adorable handbag and more. Trust me, you won't want to miss this! 

Happy Thanksgiving today to my readers in the United States--and again a big thank you to all my readers everywhere. You are all appreciated!

Willow Basket Giveaway!

I am giving away a simple rustic willow basket woven from my very first harvest of English basket willow,  just to say thank you to my faithful readers.

The handle is made out wild grapevine.

This would be the perfect basket to bring in a harvest of salad greens, flowers and herbs, or lighter vegetables, from the garden. Or of course, you can just set it on a shelf to look pretty!

It was woven from freshly cut willow--

If you look closely, you can see the green buds still on the willows in this photo taken right after the basket was woven...

(If you are interested in growing your own willow, check out Dunbar Gardens, which is where most of my willow came from.)

To enter the giveway, simply leave a comment. I do need a way to contact you if you are winner.

 (Please note that if you have word verification turned on on your blog, I am not able at this time to leave a comment. If you have word verification turned on, please make sure there is another way I can contact you!)

Giveaway will end Friday, 4/20/12 at midnight.

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you all for entering. The lucky winner is a friend and faithful facebook follower--Cathy!

Gray Dogwood Baskets

This basket is woven from hand spun wool and gray dogwood twigs and has a wild grapevine handle. I boiled the twigs to make them pliable enough for weaving.  Grey dogwood is an invasive shrub that we are working on eliminating from our property.

I made these tiny baskets from the leftover twigs. I'm thinking they might make it on to my nature themed Christmas tree later this month...

Linked to Farm Girl Friday.

Wild Crafted Cattail Basket

So I started this basket last December. I got it half way done, then set it aside for months and months. Yesterday I finally picked it up and completed it in a couple of hours. One of my goals for this coming year is to not let months and months go by without creating anything. Yesterday I gathered grapevine and gray dogwood twigs to start another basket. Hopefully it won't take me 11 months to post a photo of the finished basket!

This basket is woven of twisted wild cattail reeds and hand spun wool with a wild grapevine handle.

Wishing every a happy Thanksgiving! I will be back to the blogging world on Friday.

Wild Crafted Basket and Garlic Give Away!

Welcome to Dandelion Haven's first blog give away!

I'm giving away four bulbs each of three of the garlic varieties I grew this year. They are organically grown and you can either plant them in your garden this fall or enjoy them in cooking through the fall and winter. I planted my garlic this weekend, but it can be planted up until a few weeks before the ground freezes. Many people routinely plant their garlic in October. For complete garlic growing instructions, see my post, Almost Time to Plant Garlic.

Kettle River Giant is an artichoke soft neck that can grow quite large.  It is a long time heirloom garlic grown in the Pacific Northwest. It does well in cold winters. The wrappers are a beige-white with pink overtones. Being a soft neck, it stores well. It has a medium heat and a rich taste. Averages 12 cloves per bulb.



Kettle River Giant

Killarny Red is a rocambole type that is rare and difficult for gardeners to find. The cloves are exceptionally large, and the loose skins on Killarney Red makes it easy to peel. It has a wonderfully deep, full-bodied flavor. It is the garlic to grow for perfectly curled garlic scapes.

. 

Killarny Red

German Extra Hardy is a porcelain type garlic.  It has large bulbs with 4-5 large cloves in each bulb. The outside skin is very white and the skin covering the cloves is dark red. It is a very winter hardy, vigorous-growing garlic with long roots, which gives it the ability to winter over without heaving out  of the ground.

German Extra Hardy

I'm also giving away a basket I wove from wild grapevines growing on our property. This is a smaller version of the gathering basket I wove back in July. Because it is woven from wild vines it has many small imperfections due to the irregularities in the vines, but that is part of the charm of a wild crafted basket.

So here is how to enter the give away:

If you are one of my regular readers simply leave a comment.

If you are new here, please follow Dandelion Haven and leave me comment letting me know that you did. You have the three options that are in the upper right hand corner of the home page--follow with google friend connect, subscribe using your favorite reader, or follow by e-mail.

To be entered twice link this post on Facebook or on your own blog. Just let me know in a comment that you did.

If you are one of my lucky readers who already lives on a garlic farm (or otherwise already grow your own garlic) you can still enter to win just the basket. If you don't need the garlic, please let me know in your comment. If someone wins just the basket, I will draw a second name for the garlic.

And finally, for my faithful readers in Europe and other continents, you can enter to win the basket. (I don't want to have to jump through hoops to send live plant material overseas.) If one of my overseas readers wins the basket, I will draw a second name for for the garlic.

When you enter, please make sure there is a way I can contact you if you win!

This give away ends Monday, 9/19/11 at 11:59 pm, EDT. 

"Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good."

 - Alice May Brock

Linked to Farm Girl Friday.
Linked to Homestead Revival's Barn Hop.

This Giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Heidi for winning both the garlic and basket!

Gathering Basket

 When we moved two years ago, I gave away most of my handmade basket collection. (It was bulky and somewhat fragile, making it hard to pack--so I ended up giving many of the baskets to a local charity to sell at their annual fundraising craft fair.)

I was sorely missing having a wide shallow basket for harvesting my delicate crops such as squash blossoms and dill flowers this past weekend, so I went out to our woods, pulled down a bunch of wild grape vines, and wove myself a gathering basket. It may not be the most perfect basket I have ever made, but it is sturdy and durable and does the job it was made for!

Planting English basket willows

I'm taking a few vacation days this week and next to get some fall work done. One of my brothers is visiting until Monday and I plan on putting him to work. Already yesterday afternoon we finished a task that I have been working on all summer--getting my 45 English basket willows into the ground.

I planted them in a row along the edge of the vegetable garden. My plan in the spring is to take cuttings from these willows and double my planting. By the spring of 2012, I should have enough shoots to start working with. I'm looking forward to experimenting with fences and living willow structures, as well as finally have a source of willow in my backyard for baskets.

I bought seven different varieties--each variety has a different characteristic--some have thick strong shoots that are perfect for weaving  fences, some are ideal for living willow structures, and some have the thin long shoots that are idea for baskets. Plus we have a nice range of  the colors,  from bright yellow to orangy red, and dark green to smokey blue.

I bought foot long cuttings for $1.50 each this spring and potted them up in moist potting soil. This photo was taken April 11 the day I potted them up.

Varieties are:
Blue streak
Basfordiana Farndon
Green Dicks
Golden
Noir de Villaines
Polish Purple
Brittany Greens

Last spring Trina from All That is Good, sent me a some cuttings from her English basket willows.  I potted them up, then we decided to move before I got them in the ground at our old home. Amazingly they survived a summer of extreme neglect as we prepared for a move that happened far quicker than anyone even dreamed it would (the pots dried out multiple times and willows looked like they were dried to a crisp on more than one occasion.) But with an occasional good soaking most of them survived and they took off this spring when I finally got them in the ground.

From Bush to Basket

Wild Willow Basket

Made with hand spun wool, wild willow collected from the roadside, and a grapevine that was growing in our woods. (I need to make these a little more often...this is my first basket in almost two years.)

Basket Willows

Trina from All That is Good sent me some cuttings from her English basket willows a week or two ago. I meant to get them potted up right away and set outside. Instead I put put them in a glass of water on the kitchen windowsill and told myself I would get to them later.
Today the day I finally got to them. They rooted and leafed out quickly. I potted them up milk jugs containers with potting soil. Since we are leaving for 10 days, I am a little nervous about putting them outside while we are gone. I think I am going to put the jugs in a roasting pan partially filled with water so they don't dry out and put it in the kitchen window.

I am looking forward to making baskets with real basket willow next spring! I've wild crafted baskets for years. Here are a few samples...

Weeping willow, cattail, and grapevine:

Grape vine:

Cattail and grapevine:

Weeping willow: