A Smile

As I returned to the house after morning chores today, I realized that I once again came in with a smile on my face & warmth in my heart. Trite, I know. It’s an impossible thing to comprehend, probably, if you’ve never made a connection with sheep, but they are the sweetest beasties one could imagine. Well, mine are, anyway. (Okay, not always the rams. . . they can have an attitude & it’s wise to keep eyes open. But even our rams are pretty mellow.)

We sent four of our ewe lambs off to start a new farm - Isabelle, Josephine, Kathleen & Nadia. I do miss those little ladies. All were born here last February. All four have *spectacular* first fleeces which I will probably never have a chance to spin. But knowing that they went to a good young shepherd helps to make up for the loss.


The young lady who started her very first flock with these girls was well-prepared. She is in FFA, has read & studied the books, and came twice a week for *many* weeks to work with the girls. That says a lot to me. She worked on halter-training (or, as we call it, “fancy pageant walking”), so the girls will be ready to show next summer. She helped with hoof trims, something that needs to be done every few months with this breed. She learned about nutrition & general health. Her family was supportive in building a small barn and getting fences in order before bringing the girls home. This is just the kind of situation that we hope for, for our lambs’ new homes. Nevertheless we miss those little faces. We still have three little ewe lambs from last year, Mary (white), Olive (gray) & Bianca (a white Corriedale).

For ram lambs, we will be keeping Ulric & William, two of Elmer’s boys. If you recall, Elmer was our National Champion Ram in 2009, at Estes Park, Colorado. He also won Best Fleece at Nationals that year. We sadly lost Elmer last winter, but we are so happy to have his little ones. One of them has already been out as “Traveling Stud Muffin” to another farm. I can hardly wait to see his offspring.

Our new lambs will be born in March this year. Lambing is like Christmas. One of the reasons is that we never know what we’re going to get, in color or sex. We had one year of 7 rams/1 ewe (Blossom), which prompted considering a ceremonial estrogen dance around the barn before breeding the following year, but we never got around to it. Then we had a couple of years with more balanced gender outcomes. As for colors, Romeldales are all one color (well, maybe a star on the head). CVMs are badger-faced, multicolored sheep. But they’re basically the same breed. Blossom (black) had white twins. Amity (black) had triplets - a white/gray CVM & two moorit (brown) Romeldales. Christiane (black/white CVM) had two duplicates of herself. It’s all good. We gave the breeding ewes a stunning black/white CVM ram last fall - Esteban El Guapo, from California. So it’ll be fun to see his little ones.

Mayvember

I really shouldn't complain. Seriously, other parts of the country are completely under water. But up here in the Pacific Northwest, we have had one day of joyous springy sunshine followed by a week of gray, cold, dismal drizzle, outright downpours, and everything in between. Repeatedly. We had snow in April, for Pete's sake. I never knew the definition of “graupel” before. I thought that was Rubeus Hagrid's brother, in the Harry Potter books. But we've had that, too, and FYI, it's soft hail.

Our pasture is extremely soggy, which is holding up start of our new perimeter fence. And my tomato plants? Well, I just hope they don't just freeze their little pieces off. My stepdad used to say that we needed to wait until we had 55 degrees before putting out tomato plants. I went ahead, and now, in addition to the weather concerns, I am wondering if chickens like to eat tomato plants. We could be doomed.

The chickens have begun laying eggs again. We have a few different breeds. The Auracanas give us blue/green eggs. The Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps, Barred Rock & Gold-laced Wyandotte give us various browns. The little one? No clue who that came from. If it had been white, I'd have suspected pigeon. We still have four homing pigeons. Hard to get rid of those little buggers.

On a happier note, all our precious little lambs are weaned. They went to a pasture within view of their mommies, and all spent the first day calling to each other. (My apologies to all our neighbors for a rather noisy Easter.) Things settled down quickly after that first day. The lambs were under the tender loving care of their Uncles Raoul & Little Guy, both wethers. They have been apart from mommies long enough now for milk to dry up, and now, the little ewe lambs have moved back to the ewes' barn. The ram lambs are now with their daddies & the wethers in Barn #2. The boys all got acquainted without mishap. It's always a concern with rams, but in this breed of sheep, even the rams are pretty mellow.

A Great Big Thank You!

To everybody who participated in or came to shop at our First Ever Annual Wonderful Woolies Fiber Sale! We are grateful to all the other farms that participated:
Allegre Alpacas Alpaca
Ferndale Fibers Romney X, Border Leicester X
Humble Home Goat Farm Angora goat (Mohair)
Thistle Dew Studio Alpaca
Marietta Shetlands Shetland
JNK Llamas Llama, including Suri llama
Nancy's Farm Blue Face Leicester X, Shetland
Little Orchard Farm CVM/Romeldale
Wake Robin Farm Icelandic

It's fun for spinners to be able to work with a variety of fibers, and together we were able to offer a nice variety of raw & washed fleeces, processed wool & handspun yarn. We were happy to have a day without rain, & although the weather was pretty chilly, the atmosphere was warm & friendly. Thank you, everybody that put on warm mittens, hats, & wool socks, to venture out to the farm!

Wonderful Woolies Fleece Sale 2011, or Nearly Naked Sheep

The sheep have all been sheared now, and are sporting their new spring coats. It's always a nice feeling for them to get all that wool off. Most are very patient with the process, and even though it puts them in some awkward positions for short periods of time, it's even more challenging for the shearer, who shears several sheep over several hours. Thank God for ibuprofen & Therma-Care Heat Wraps!


Also, Great Big Thanks to Dori and Lea for their most excellent help on shearing day! You both helped make the day run smoothly and efficiently. :-) We are all very grateful.

People often ask why we coat our sheep. I submit this photo of our yearling, Glenda, and it should answer your questions. All our sheep are very enthusiastic about the organic hay that we get from Sumas (near the Canadian border), but she seems to find particular joy in adorning herself with hay garlands. Soon the grass will begin growing, though, and the flock will enjoy the fresh pasture even more. As fleeces become longer and longer, the sheep will need larger coats. I think we go through about four or five coat sizes on the adults, in the course of a year. In the long run, though, coating makes for easier fiber processing and less fleece waste because of VM. Below Glenda's picture is one of her fleece, which is on its way to Florida.



We will be hosting the Wonderful Woolies Fleece & Fiber Sale on Saturday, April 16, 2011, 10 a.m. til 4 p.m. We are particularly pleased that several other farms have agreed to participate, too. We will have several breeds represented besides our CVM/Romeldale, including Romney X, Shetland, Icelandic, Angora goat (mohair), alpaca & llama, both Huacaya & Suri. We will have raw and processed fleeces. Of course, the sheep will be here to visit our guests as well.

Early Mornings & Late Nights

The icy January & February middle-of-the-night labor checks are over. The early morning scramble for warm, ragged lambing towels from the dryer are done. All our lambs are on the ground and doing very well. We have 14 little ones romping around, eight ewes & six little rams. Helena outdid herself with quadruplets this year – all black, two boys & two girls. All together, that's 10 lambs in three years for her. It's no wonder her fleece is turning gray, poor dear. She is such a trouper. I am doing my best to keep poking food into her. She's making a lot of milk for those babies.


There's nothing quite like the exuberance of these little guys. Why stand still, when one can jump straight up in the air? (I don't recall putting Mexican jumping beans in their feed.) Why lie down on the ground when it's much warmer on top of mommy? What does grass taste like? Who is that lady that keeps bringing hay? If I run really fast can I get to the far end of the field before my siblings? Where's my mommy? Their curiosity is unending. Some are more friendly than others, and I'm finding that their dispositions are often a reflection of their mommies'.

We have lots more color variation this year, clearly the result of choosing a different ram for the girls. Last year, we had Brutus from Colorado, a stunning black stud muffin, who gave us stunning black sheep. Lots of them. This year, Elmer (our champion moorit - brown) and Eugene from Oregon, a black & white badger-faced CVM, did their work and produced a great variety of colors. And the markings – OMG. Such cuteness!


Two of the little lambs are bottle babies – one of Helena's, and one of Amity's. Sometimes a third will join in. That means mixing jugs of lamb milk replacer & taking warm bottles out to feed several times a day. Those frosty early morning & late night feedings are most wonderful beginnings & ends to the day. I can't imagine a more peaceful place to be. Late at night when most everybody is sleeping, the little ones determinedly climb up to the hay feeder for their bottles, which are emptied within a few minutes. Then they tuck back in with their flock. I top off the hay feeders, just in case somebody needs a midnight snack, and head back to the house & a warm bed. What a perfect place to be!

The Pre-Christmas Flurry of Knitting

It's this time of year that I am busily working on Christmas gifts. Last year I didn't finish until May. I hope to avoid that this year, so am choosing to do smallish projects for some special friends. We have the most wonderful people that are part of the large-animal veterinary practice that takes care of our sheep. Doug & I have taken our beasties in to the clinic for several visits, and many of the doctors have come to the farm to help in emergencies. So I am busily spinning yarn from our flock's fleeces. There will be hats from Bacchus, our ram who passed on following an injury, mitts from Arlyss, who had a vaginal prolapse before lambing, and mitts from Blossom, who had pneumonia as a newborn, nearly two years ago. All together, I believe we have seen seven veterinarians in the last year.


As you can imagine, it takes the sheep about a year to grow a fleece, and then after that, processing (washing & carding) can take awhile, too. So here I am. Fortunately, spinning well-prepared fiber which is free of debris (like bits of hay) & neps (second cuts that cause little snarls) goes pretty quickly. I don't mind having a good excuse to spend time at my wheel. The knitting has gone well, for the most part. . . except this afternoon, when I hit a little snag. As I worked on a hat, I thought it might be helpful to be able to try it on for fit. So I went to a two-needle circular method of knitting, and somehow, wound up with this little mess. I will be able to sort it out. I just needed to take a break, have a bite of dinner & regroup.

I did complete a little gift for a dear friend, who is expecting her first grandchild in January. Given Debbie's fondness for ducks, I made this little pattern from Knitty.com. We had dinner together on Friday night & I gave her the gift, and asked her to open it before she passed it on to her daughter-in-law. I'm so glad I did. As we enjoyed the evening's festivities after dinner – a walk up the street to take in the annual Figgy Pudding Caroling Contest in downtown Seattle, the bag vanished. It must have happened in the crowd. She doesn't recall setting it down anywhere. . . and I have a photo of her with it. . . so I am guessing that somebody snagged it along the way. I do wish I could have seen the person's face when they opened it. Given the size, they may have expected jewelry or some other small treasure.




Back to my knitting. . . After I finish the Christmas gifts, I will do another pair of duck booties.

Stormy Day

On days like today (temps in the 20s, 45 mph sustained winds with 60 mph gusts, wind chill factor 8 degrees) I have so many things to be thankful for. The sheep are healthy & we have plenty of food stocked up for winter. The hay loft is full. We just bought another ton of alfalfa pellets & they're stacked in barn #1. We have running water, even during freezing weather, to both barns. The prevailing winds are coming from the northeast. That's where most of the really bad storms come from. The animals' doors to the stalls in barn #1 (ewes and wethers) are on the south side of the barn, as is the loafing (covered) area. The rams' loafing area is also on the south side of barn #2. So all are well-fed, with adequate water, and all can easily take shelter from the cold & wind. And they will be safe from pretty much anything, save the occasional neighbor's trampoline which has ended up in our pasture, in pieces.

That leaves me and the dog & the cat in the house, warm and safe. Doug is on call tonight, at work until 8 a.m. tomorrow. So far we have power, and all have been fed. Aside from Shaela's anxiety-provoked panting, and Angus' desire to pee outside & not in his cat box, but reluctance to go outside to take care of business, and inability to comprehend that I, the Supreme Being, am unable to change the weather if he were to exit via a different door, we are doing well. The barbecue has blown down the back stairs, but since it is already on the ground, it won't fall down now, so I'm leaving it there. I've turned off the gas supply to it, and at least now I know I don't have to worry about it hurling itself through the back door.

I think I'll spend the night spinning. Cup of tea. And early to bed. Maybe it'll be over when I wake up.

Summer!

Summer has been a blur. A fun blur, but nevertheless. . .

It all started with preparations for Black Sheep Gathering, which takes place every year in Eugene, Oregon. The sheep need to be in good form for the show, which means a bit of grooming (not too much, though, as they prefer a natural appearance. . . no lip gloss). And it is really helpful to practice what Doug & I now call “Fancy Pageant Walking” so that the beasties are prepared for what they need to do in the show ring. Getting them adjusted to walking on a lead is easier with some, and harder with others (envision very large, fluffy Mexican jumping beans, or, alternately, unresponsive lead weights with legs splayed, flat on the ground). Fortunately, the sheep we chose to show this year were pretty cooperative.


I was determined to finish knitting a shawl for the show, which was made from handspun fiber from my ram, Elmer. Elmer was sheared in March, and BSG was in June. I washed his beautiful brown lamb fleece (which, by the way, won “Best Fleece” at the National CVM/Romeldale show last year, while he was still in the process of growing it), and hand-carded it into tiny little rolags, and spun it into a fine two-ply yarn. I used “Wings of Fantasy” pattern, which kept my interest through the entire project. I had just the right blue/green/lavender matte beads in my stash, to add a bit of interest. So this project went as smoothly as any project possibly could, and I'd have to say it was a success. (Tied for first place at the Spinner's Lead, which is a fashion show with the beasties from which fiber came, in tow.) In the photo, I'm on the left with Elmer, BFF Janice, wearing Anemarie shawl is with Anemarie's son, Malcolm in the middle, and Cindy, from Cindy's Treasures on the right with Tessa.

We were very happy to find a wonderful new ram for our farm at Black Sheep Gathering. He is from Custom Colored Critters in Prineville, Oregon, which has some exceptional beasties. “Eugene” just joined us last weekend, and he will bring some new genetics to our flock. The ewes can hardly wait to meet him.


I was delighted to be able to attend a silk workshop in Port Ludlow, Washington, in July. There were only 45 slots, & I really lucked out to get registered before it filled. It was presented by “Knot Hysteria” and teachers were Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (knitting - “Yarn Harlot”), Judith MacKenzie (spinning goddess, in my book), and Tina from Blue Moon Fiber Arts (dyeing). Really, could a person want a better group of teachers? I was beyond joy to be able to go. The only disappointment was that I got sick. It was worst on the last day of classes & I missed the afternoon of Judith's spinning class. I learned so much about handling silk in its various forms, though, from cocoon, to making hankies, to spinning, dyeing & knitting with it. A little helpful hint – a paste made of olive oil + sugar, rubbed into hands and then washed off, keeps silk from snagging on fingers.

The next weekend was our nephew's wedding, in Yakima. So we had another short road trip, which took us by Mount Rainier. Beautiful, isn't it? (In Washington State, we don't consider them actual “mountains” unless they are covered with snow most of the year and/or erupt periodically.) The wedding was great fun, and the happy bride & groom, who seem to be made for each other, were off to start their new life together in Oregon.



August took us to San Diego to visit Doug's folks. Most of the year they are in Yuma AZ, but they retreat to San Diego for a short break from the hotter-than-hell Yuma summers. That means that we get to go to the San Diego Botannical Gardens, or the Sand Diego Zoo or the Wild Animal Park, and Black Sheep Yarn in Encinitas. We spent some time at the beach, too.


So we are home now, looking forward to Oregon Flock & Fiber in September. And the ewes are beginning to show keen interest in the rams, so the fun will be starting soon. At this point, they are gazing longingly beyond the adjacent pasture. We learned our lesson from some broken fences last year, and have them at greater distance now. By mid-September, though, the fun will begin and we will be hoping for some pretty, healthy lambs come next February.