I made a saddle for each of my 20+ y.o. nieces (3)...two actually ride the other will probably hang it on the wall or whatever.
All the ladies in my family(9 of them) are getting new hand-carved leather purses.
Every branch of the family will get a parcel of Handmade cheeses,cold cuts,proscuitto d`Parma and whatever from the garden or forest including some dried wild mushrooms that I gathered while hunting.
I made the wife a 22 Kt yellow gold ring with a setting of opals,rubies and diamonds that I shaped or faceted and polished myself.
The ladies are getting a new coop with a scrounged a/c window unit for when it gets 105+ in August. Evaporative chiller fan only dropped temp six degrees this past summer when daytime temps were 108+. Not quite cool enough for the ladies.
Black Walnuts. Where I grew up near Elkins,WV,we would lay out the nuts in their green husks on the concrete driveway and place a sheet of plywood on top of them...then back up the truck and/or the tractor a couple few times...slip on the neoprene gloves and scoop up the shucked nuts. Use the husks to make wood stain. The shucked nuts have to be 'cured' for a few weeks by placing them between two window screens propped between two sawhorses or some other such. Just make sure the keep dry and in the sun...rain,snow and dark will bring on the worms. The screens keep away the squirrels and chippies. Then when the nuts are dry crack them out of their shells with a hammer and use a steel nut pick to get out the nut meats. They're a pain but no nut tastes like a black walnut...it's worth the effort!
All the ladies in my family(9 of them) are getting new hand-carved leather purses.
Every branch of the family will get a parcel of Handmade cheeses,cold cuts,proscuitto d`Parma and whatever from the garden or forest including some dried wild mushrooms that I gathered while hunting.
I made the wife a 22 Kt yellow gold ring with a setting of opals,rubies and diamonds that I shaped or faceted and polished myself.
The ladies are getting a new coop with a scrounged a/c window unit for when it gets 105+ in August. Evaporative chiller fan only dropped temp six degrees this past summer when daytime temps were 108+. Not quite cool enough for the ladies.
Black Walnuts. Where I grew up near Elkins,WV,we would lay out the nuts in their green husks on the concrete driveway and place a sheet of plywood on top of them...then back up the truck and/or the tractor a couple few times...slip on the neoprene gloves and scoop up the shucked nuts. Use the husks to make wood stain. The shucked nuts have to be 'cured' for a few weeks by placing them between two window screens propped between two sawhorses or some other such. Just make sure the keep dry and in the sun...rain,snow and dark will bring on the worms. The screens keep away the squirrels and chippies. Then when the nuts are dry crack them out of their shells with a hammer and use a steel nut pick to get out the nut meats. They're a pain but no nut tastes like a black walnut...it's worth the effort!
