WONDERFUL WOOLLIES 2014

IT’S ALMOST HERE! Yes, friends! Our annual Fiber & Fleece sale, WONDERFUL WOOLLIES will be this coming Saturday, April 12, 2014, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. I hope you will be able to come. We have a great variety of fleeces & related products. Here is a complete list of participants: Dawn Deshmane’s CVM/Romeldale crosses - fiber Felicity Fibers, Karen Washington’s flock of alpacas - fiber Windy Hill Farm, Joanne Martinis’s Gotland crosses - fiber & spectacular pelts JNK Llamas, Niki Kuklenski’s llama fleeces & fiber (including blends) Ferndale Fibers, Kathy Green’s sheep fiber & roving Little Orchard Farm, Rocky Long’s CVM/Romeldale fleeces, roving & combed top Marietta Shetlands, John Park’s Shetlands, fleeces & roving Nancy’s Farm, Nancy Giordano’s crosses - fiber & batts River Ranch Angora goats - Rhonda Wreggelsworth’s mohair fiber Spindle Smith - Allen Berry’s hand-carved spindles, needles, hooks & other delights (Allen says he has some new specialties - I can hardly wait to see!) Tina’s Treasures - Tina Thomsen-Park’s hand made yarn Spinners Eden Farm - CVM/Romeldale fleeces, roving, yarn, & blended batts We are planning to have demonstrations on carding, combing & spinning, and please bring your questions about our wonderful fiber animals, washing/processing fleece, whatever! We will do our very best to help you with your fiber-related questions. And if you’re considering adding fleece beasties to your family, this is a wonderful place to connect and talk directly to yarn farmers. And for your viewing pleasure. . . LAMBS! We had nine ewes & two rams born this year. All are beautiful, healthy & full of personality. Here are DRIVING DIRECTIONS: From Interstate 5, take exit #255 (Sunset/Mt Baker Hwy) and go east. Drive about a mile to the intersection at WOBURN/HANNEGAN. Turn NORTH (left) onto HANNEGAN. Continue a few miles, go past the Smith Rd. traffic light to the next intersection & turn EAST (right) onto AXTON Rd. Drive 1.1 mile & you’ll see Mertz Rd. Turn left onto MERTZ & we’re the first barn on the right. If you get to Shuksan Golf Course, you’ve gone about three blocks too far, so turn around & drive back. If you get lost, phone 360 770 6044 for directions. Looking forward to seeing you!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

For those of us who are shepherds, this is like Christmas. We are having lambs. After last summer, carefully choosing which seven of our precious ewes to breed, and to which rams (two champions), making sure all are happy together, then watching nutritional status throughout five months of gestation, the little ones are beginning to arrive. This is the most exhausting time of year, what with frequent barn checks and births occurring at all hours (frequently very early mornings). I really like to be present for the births. So this is the time of year that I’m most likely to put cat food in the coffee grinder instead of beans, or brush my teeth with hand cream. But with occasional naps, fueled by sufficient amounts of coffee or breakfast tea and Scottish oat cakes, we manage to get through it. And it’s a joy to see the new little ones & make sure they get off to a good start.

Bliss surprised us a little early with Jerome, a stunningly handsome CVM ram, white with caramel markings. Bliss is a wonderful, happy mother & I enjoyed watching her with her babies last time. She is mostly white. I call her my “fleece machine”. Year after year she produces large, dense, long, fine-to-medium wool. And all this in a truly sweet & friendly sheep. If Jerome has her wool quality and his father, Abraham’s body structure, he will be a good candidate for showing, and may serve as another “stud muffin” eventually.

Isabelle had twins - a black ram & white/brown ewe, and Thisbe delivered stunning triplets, all ewes - Ziva, Abby & Barrett. These are her first lambs, and although she was apprehensive at first, she’s doing a beautiful job of keeping them all warm & well-fed. They are in the lambing jug this morning, but should join the rest of the flock this afternoon.