Sunny Winter Day

It was a gorgeous day on Sunday (pre-snowstorm!), the two horses Tess and Diva were so warm from the sun their fur was almost to hot to touch! The sheep were happy to be outside all day, although they might have been even a bit too warm with that deep woolly fleece! The average staple length so far this winter seems to be about 4-5 inches, perfect since the fiber mill's machines cannot process yarn with fiber over 6-7 inches!

Britta

I must introduce Britta. She is a Great Pyrenees that we got as a guard dog for the sheep. Of course with our luck she was terrified of the sheep as a pup and although will now come to the pasture and wait patiently for us (outside the pasture) she does not do much guarding per say for the woolly beasts. She does however guard the farm overall and is possibly the best dog in the world with young children. Although she loves coming inside and laying with her head almost wedged underneath the wood stove, she is also quite happy outside and especially on a high perch, like our large round bales or this massive iceberg-like mound of snow in our front yard.

Ahh January

Greetings! A new year! The last few mornings have been so beautiful with thick hoar frost on all the trees, and even the sheep! Those silly sheep LOVE this time of year, they have thick woolly coats, which must make laying in the snow quite enjoyable since they are cushioned AND insulated! The girls in the above picture are a couple of our merino's Magnolia and Betsy. I have been put on the list at the local fiber mill already, even though the sheep haven't been sheared! Fiber mills get very busy in the spring with all the shearing going on and most are already behind unfortunately. I'm hoping by being on the list now our fiber will be processed around late May for a mid-June, early July ship date.

For now the farm is quite and the sheep are lazy. But come March life will be quite busy around here with lambs coming in early March and shearing in late March... not to mention a new baby due mid-March in the big ol' farm house as well!

Wonderful fall days

The sheep and llama Zinnia have been moved over to a new pasture! They are very pastoral in the green of the new field with the yellowing corn field as a back drop. The apples have been ripening and canning applesauce has taken precedence over house cleaning.

We have been "cleaning house" though with our sheep, our dear BFL ram (Giddeon) has found a new home near Fennimore. He produced many nice lambs this year, but since Border Leicesters seem to be faster growing and hardier we have decided to go with them and keep a few other breeds and crossbreds for fleece.

I must be crazy!

So a friend asked if I would help her clear out her fleeces... So of course I hung up the phone saying I would consider the offer already knowing that of course I would say "yes". Now that I have purchased and picked up all these beautiful Border Leicester fleeces (23 in all), I am wondering what was I thinking! They are all beautiful and many will go to the mill and be made into clouds for the shop and for the spinning classes.

Any interest in raw fleece out there? Stop by the shop and take a look at them!

Lambers

Lambers meeting Britta the guard dog and Mittens the mistress of the house.

Twinkle's Lambing

A nose and hooves! Perfect presentation!

This was an amazing experience that Twinkle (one of our original Merino ewes) was kind enough to let me be part of and document. She seemed to be comforted by my presence, although a bit timid she has always liked being pampered and cared for. How sweet she lambed the same day as her daughter Tilly.