BLACK SHEEP GATHERING!

Yes, We'll be there! Please stop by the sheep barn to say hello! We'll be there with 12 of our little darlings to show. So if we're not by the pens with the sheep, we're probably in the show ring. Hope to see you there. :-)

The Day is Almost Here!

Tomorrow, April 13, we will host several farms for the Wonderful Woollies Fleece Sale! This is our third annual event & we are looking forward to seeing many of our old & new friends. We have some new farms participating, so here’s the complete list: Carol Boswell Camelot Ranch Alpacas; Dawn Deshmane CVM/Romeldale; Karen Washington Felicity Fibers/Alpaca; Joanne Martinis Windy Hill Farm Gotlands; Jeff & Niki Kuklenski JNK Llamas; Kathy Green Ferndale Fibers, various crosses & fiber; Rocky Long Little Orchard Farm CVM/Romeldale; John Park Marietta Shetlands; Nancy Giordano Nancy’s Farm, various crosses, fiber & fun batts; Patty Yager alpaca; Rhonda Wreggelsworth River Ranch Angora goats; Doug & Yvonne Madsen Spinners Eden Farm CVM/Romeldale; Allen Berry Spindle Smith carved spindles & tools; Brigget LeClair Wake Robin Farm, Icelandic. As you can see, we have a lot of variety this year - hopefully something to please everybody. I know I love to experiment with fleece from different breeds of sheep. Each has it’s unique place & best purpose in the fiber world. Here's one of our fleeces: As for our farm, we are happy that we got all our fiber back from the processors in time for the sale. A Great Big Thank You to both Creekside Fiber Mill in Lebanon OR, and Fantasy Fibers in Canby OR for their excellent work! We highly recommend both. We have roving from both mills, and some beautiful mill-spun yarn from Creekside available this year. And as a special treat, Spinners Eden collaborated with JNK llamas to create two gorgeous roving blends. One is a combination of our Athena, with JNK’s Sirmione - a great pairing. The other is a CVM/llama/silk blend that is to die for. I had some moorit yarn spun, and wondered how it would do in the dyepot, so I tried some bright primary colors. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome, using Jacquard Acid Dyes in Brilliant Blue and Fire Red, and Dharma Trading’s Acid Dye in Brilliant Yellow. The thing I like about using acid dyes is that the only mordant needed is vinegar. That’s the acid. Not scary at all. :-) Using acid dyes does require some heat. I did the blue yarn in an old Goodwill crock pot that I use only for dyeing, & left it in for a couple of hours to cook, and a couple of hours to cool. (If I had wanted a more uniform color, I would have used a bigger pot with more room for the yarn to move around.) Back to the fiber sale, we will open at 10 a.m. Early birds pay double. Just kidding. Address is 5740 Mertz Rd., Bellingham WA. We are 1.1 mile east of Hannegan Road on Axton. It’s a straight shot east from downtown Ferndale, & if you get to Shuksan Golf Course, you’ve gone three blocks too far. :-) Hope to see you!

2013 - The Year of the Ram

We had three sets of triplets and two sets of twins this year (one stillborn). That’s ten rams & two ewes. Yes, it’s one of thooooose years again. The last time we had a year like this was 2007, the year Blossom was born. She was the *only* ewe out of that year’s crop of lambs. One of the rams is a runt - seriously. For our breed, a three pound lamb is tiny. Other flock members are double to quadruple his birth weight. Little “Tyrion’s” body temperature dropped severely (92.8) after birth so I brought him into the house & put him in a sink of warm water to bring it up. He had a few pretty significant ups & downs through his first few hours, but he made it through, and is now strong, healthy & back in the barn with his siblings. He still gets bottles of lamb milk replacer three times a day, but he is learning to be a sheep out with the flock. Although we miss having him in the house, charging around like a little version of the cartoon Roadrunner in his oversized diapers & onesie, I’m glad he’s able to be out there.

The two keys to getting these little ones off to a good start are colostrum (the “real” stuff from mommy), and keeping body temperature in a normal range (101.5 - 103). That meant going out to the barn & milking Tyrion’s mom, Contessa, and making sure he got that through his first few days. And of course, the colostrum doesn’t digest well if the body temperature is too low. So those are both critical ingredients to having a good outcome. We were especially lucky in that Tyrion had no other complicating factors - no infection or respiratory problems. He’s a little miracle, up to 7.5 lbs now at two+ weeks of age.

Waiting. . .

Lambs are due any day now. We’ve been saying that since just after Christmas. The barn is ready, with lambing jugs (stalls for the ewe & lambs’ first couple of days) in place, veterinary supplies updated (just in case assistance with birth is needed), a pile of clean towels to dry off newborn lambs, and warming lamps in place. The pregnant ewes have been sheared, immunizations updated, pedicures done, and the ones that want (particularly Helena) get back rubs whenever they want. They all look to be in good condition, well-nourished but not too heavy (which can cause difficulties with birth). So we’re looking forward to some healthy lambs very soon. At this point, the barn is very peaceful, with the girls up & around during the daytime, and tucked into ample amounts of fresh straw bedding at night. I’ll post photos as soon as something happens. Think pink!