Labor Day at Giant Cricket Farm

Labor Day morning was spent checking out Colleen's fabulous goats - the source of some exquisite and very soft mohair!

I love the sign at the entrance to her farm - it's hand-painted and it's even purple! Giant Cricket Farm is a wonderful "hide-away" from the hustle and bustle of the DC area. The farm and the house are surrounded by a lovely grove of trees...and the ride out to the farm was very relaxing.

I took the grand tour - checking out the "girls" and the "boys".


















Colleen with Joy and the goats (left).....and a couple of the "girls" stretching up to partake of low hanging branches (right). There are very few trees with any leaves below shoulder height as the goats and the deer dine frequently on the low branches. It's a good thing there's plenty of trees for "everyone"!


I managed to work in some cuddle time with her adorable Mastiff, Joy. She's such a sweetheart! She loves to herd the goats...it's real cute to watch. She's definitely a "gentle giant".



I even got a tour of her garden as well...and was the beneficiary of some produce: hot peppers(salsa here I come!), a purple Heirloom tomato that I used in a sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella salad and a large red tomato that I used for BLTs! Mmmmm! The most intriguing "produce" was the fruit of the Pawpaw tree. It tastes a little bit like banana. The skin is yellow when ripe and green when not ripe - just like a banana. If you want to find out more about the Pawpaw, there's a brief history about it here.

I think this particular fruit was just barely ripe. I could taste the "hint of banana" and found it to be a somewhat interesting fruit. DH was totally unimpressed and gave a big thumbs down. I thought the seeds (which are huge) were really fascinating. They prevent you from slicing the fruit lengthwise!








Colleen had just received her latest shipment of mohair back from the processors. Of course I indulged! Yeah, yeah....I know....I'm on a yarn and fiber diet. But hey, this is a "once in a lifetime" opportunity to purchase some custom dyed mohair in delicious color ways! (White with red streaks, "Bite Your Eyes Out Purple" - although my camera only picked up the blue color....it's truly a bright purple, Mahogany with natural and dyed colors, and some luscious purple mixed with natural colors.