sheep dreams

Way to go girls!

2012-05-22T17:27:00.002-04:00

Well, hello there. Yes, we really are still here, even though it has been mighty quiet on the blog front. The weeks leading up to the 2012 Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival were packed with preparations that left me unable to focus on much else. I'm not the most organized person in the world, but I tried really hard to not procrastinate this year. I think I may have improved on my past record, but still have a long way to go. A couple of big accomplishments this year - the trailer was loaded and ready to roll before noon on set-up day - the bottle babies (Matthew and Marilla**) had been bathed the day before and were sparkling white and clean - Luna and Birdie got a quick spray off with the hose the day before to spiff them up just a little and best of all, I did not put my iPhone through the wash cycle in the washing machine. Yes, that actually did happen two years ago.

Saturday at the festival was action packed. There were good crowds of happy yarn and fiber buyers all day. Luckily for me, my sweet grand-daughter, Jordan, came for the weekend to help me because it would not have been pretty if I'd tried to hold it together on my own. Sunday was much, much slower, but it gave me more time to chat with people coming through. I love the fact that so many said they read the blog and have been enjoying the lamb-cam. (Sometimes I wonder if anyone is out there, so it's good to know.)

Wondering why the title to this post? Because my girls did me proud in the fleece competition. I only entered four natural colored fleeces, PeeGee, Teeny, Olive and 901. The girls brought home two blue ribbons, two red ribbons and my special little Olive won the championship ribbon. It was especially nice that the judge came to me afterwards to ask about Olive's breeding and tell me what a beautiful fleece she had produced. To make it even sweeter, with the exception of 901, they are all bottle babies. (My grand-daughter has made me feel guilty that 901 doesn't have a name, so if you've got ideas please send them this way!)

( Would it kill ya to give me a name?)

This week it's back to real life on the farm. There's much to do to make up for slacking off on farm chores while preparing for the festival. I only have two more fleeces to go before all the sheep and alpaca fleeces for 2012 will be washed and the garden needs attention a.s.a.p. So, onward ......

** I know I said this was to be a "Downton Abbey" year for names, but DA didn't have any brother and sister names for me to use, so these two got "Anne of Green Gables" names. I don't think they mind.

mother's day

2012-05-14T15:48:00.003-04:00

I found this video in a round-about way. I found it very touching and beautifully filmed.

Susan Anderson posted this video of Alabama Channin not long ago and after watching it, I discovered the etsy video library about craftspeople. There are so many interesting stories there.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day and felt loved and appreciated by your children. I know I did.

Mornings

2012-05-07T16:35:00.000-04:00

Being just above the Kentucky river, we often have mornings that look like this. The fog rolls up from the river, sweeps over us and dissipates quickly. I often think of the Carl Sandburg poem, "The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on". The cat image is such a perfect metaphor for the way fog moves across our farm. I love looking out and seeing everything softened and blurred by the mist.

I'm not much of an early riser. Unless I've awakened before daylight and can't get back to sleep, I rarely see the sun coming up. I sometimes think I'd like to be a morning person. People I know who get up early do seem to accomplish a lot more than I do. The problem is, I'm a night person. If I'm reading a book or knitting (or surfing the black hole known as Pinterest), I can lose several hours before I know it and then it's 1:00 am or later. I don't know if it's even possible to change my internal clock at my age. Even as a child, I would read under the covers with a flashlight, so that my parents wouldn't know I was still awake. I can't take naps either, unless I'm sick and then I can sleep all night and all day, sometimes even a whole weekend. How I envy people who can "power nap". My husband is one of those and my friend Teresa can do the same. Fifteen minutes and they're good as new! It seems impossible to me.

My favorite flowers have been blooming in abundance this year, or at least they were before the thunderstorms we experienced early Saturday morning. I'm glad I got this picture earlier in the week, because the rain and wind wreaked havoc on the peony beds and they're beaten down now. I think I've mentioned before that these peonies have been transplanted so many times, it's a wonder they grow so well. They came from Mike's grandmother's farm, so they are especially meaningful.

This week, I may not be rising before sunrise, but I'll be up and working pretty early because there are on-going preparations for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival, preparing eight bottles a day for the bottle babies, trying to get more of the garden planted, and mowing, mowing and more mowing. What's going on at your place?

Some gratuitous lamb shots

2012-05-03T12:00:00.000-04:00

The lambs are growing so quickly now. Their play-times get more rambunctious and personalities begin to show. No surprise, Gabby's two boys are very self-confident and seem to be the ring leaders for all kinds of ~~trouble~~ activity. They're the first to jump on the hay bales and to try getting into the ewes feed bunks. The famous Graham Lamb is their uncle (he and Grabby are twins), so I'm thinking there is something "special" in their genes.

This pretty girl is one of only two single lambs we had born this spring. We had four sets of triplets, two singles and the rest were all twins. Out of twelve ewes, that makes for an over 200% lambing average. That's a pretty good average since I'm not raising Finn sheep or some other breed that routinely have small litters. One of my favorite things to do is go into the pen at night and just sit down and wait for the lambs to decide whether I'm a friend or foe. I'm not sure how many more years I'll want (or be physically able) to keep having lambs. It makes me sad to think of a spring-time with no bouncing lambs to watch. The really hard part comes in a few months when I have to start deciding which lambs stay and which lambs go.

(another set of twins - boy with the tag in the left ear and girl with the tag in the right ear)

Holly always has a favorite ewe that she likes to hang out with. I've never figured out how she chooses which one it will be, though it nearly always is one of the black sheep. One really good thing that I've observed this spring is that Aslan, who came to live here last fall, has been terrific with the lambs. Though he's five years old, he'd never been on a farm where there were lambs being born and I wondered how he might react. He's learned to slow down and hang back a little a feeding time, so that all the lambs come into the barn before him.

The sheep are sleeping away most of the daylight hours because it is so dang hot! Who ever heard of mid to upper 80's at the beginning of May? Makes me worried about what kind of temperatures we will be having in July. The sheep are already asking for the fans to be set up. Those of you watching the lamb-cam might have noticed that I'm not shutting everyone in the barn at night. I've been leaving the gate open to the outside, so they can go out where it is cooler. They are in a very secure field and Aslan is in with them, so I'm not worried about predators.

Our last planning committee meeting for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival is this afternoon. It seems nearly impossible that it's just a little over two weeks away now. I've been in the dye pots for several weeks now and have finally finished dyeing all of the yarn from our sheep/alpaca blend yarn. If you come (and I hope you do), please stop by my booth in the Livestock Pavilion and say hello. We have a wonderful line-up of workshops and vendors, so there will be plenty of pretty things to buy and lots of interesting things to do. I hope to meet many of you there.

Yearly rewards

2012-04-27T11:50:00.001-04:00

Several weeks back, the shearers were here and all of those lovely fleeces the girls and I have spent the last year working on were harvested. Those fleeces are one of my rewards for all the work I put into shepherding. Well, okay, the girls did most of the work, but, I did put some effort into helping them stay as clean as possible ..... you know, given that they live in a barn and all that. Overall, I was very pleased with how healthy they looked, but the best part was seeing what my just now yearling girls produced. Oh, my! I love their fleeces! You may remember that last year the famous Henry (half Wensleydale/half Cotswold ram) was the father of all but one of the ewe lambs I kept to put back into the brood ewe flock. Henry did a fabulous job of putting beautiful fleeces on the girls. I can hardly wait to spin them. I need to select some competition fleeces and then start washing others in preparation for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival, so I'm not allowing myself to do more than wash a few samples right now. The locks pictured below are from Birdie and I can hardly keep from carrying it around with me all the time, just so I can admire it. It is so lustrous and so soft, it reminds me a lot of kid mohair. I know it's going to take dye beautifully and spin into some pretty, pretty yarn. My hope is that 'The Mister' (our rent-a-ram), who was Wensleydale, has given me fleeces similar to this on the lambs born this year.

One of the reasons I still love raising sheep (after lo these many years) is the fun of breeding for improvement. Way back, when I was raising purebreds and showing in competitions, there was a different kind of thought process because that was not necessarily breeding for what I liked best, but more what a show judge would be looking for. Believe me, as in most competitive endeavors, show standards can be totally different from 'living in the real world' standards. Now that I'm breeding strictly for healthy animals and beautiful fleeces, every year brings surprises. Last year when I selected Birdie to become a bottle baby and be a companion to Luna, I had no idea she would turn out to be such a sweetie and produce a gorgeous fleece. If I'm completely honest, she was a little difficult in the beginning and I wasn't sure I was even going to like her personality. She's turned out to be a charmer and, even now, would follow me around all day if she could. And, as much as I love Luna, she does have a strong sense of entitlement (and I can't imagine how she came by it) that allows her to think she can do certain things that are un-sheep-like on occasion. (Such as helping herself to Aslan's dog food!)

Well, it's on into the weekend. The grass is growing, growing, growing and there are plants in the greenhouse that need to be put in the ground right now. It's that time of year when I feel perpetually behind on every aspect of my life. I hope all of you find a little bit of time to enjoy your weekend and I hope to see you back here next week, with lots of gratuitous lamb pictures!

It was fine

2012-04-20T15:59:00.000-04:00

Shearing day for the alpacas and llamas went as near perfect as possible. The weather was great and everyone behaved admirably. I penned all my alpaca boys the night before and put Strawberry and Pippi in the big pen with the Easter mom and lambs. It's always amazing to me how gentle and curious the llamas are with the tiny lambs. They move slowly and carefully, sniff around some and seem to enjoy watching the lamb antics. I've mentioned here before that Strawberry has even served as part of the exercise equipment by allowing the babies to climb up on her back (when she's lying down) and jump off. Pippi is not quite ready for that. She stands up if the lambs begin climbing on her.

Anyway, as I was saying, I had no problems. I loaded Strawberry, Pippi and one of the alpaca boys into the trailer first and the rest loaded themselves. All I had to do was get in and remove their lead ropes and away we went. At Lindy's, I was able to back right up to the barn door, put them in a stall and let them be worked through the gates until it was their turn. The shearers were a study in speed and efficiency, all the while treating the animals with care. They have a tag-team system where they shear two animals at once, on mats across from each other. Each shearer has a specific task; one shearing the 'blanket' (that's the prime part of the fleece), others doing head, neck, tail and legs. They also trimmed feet and I was able to give each animal a shot of Ivomec (de-wormer), all while they were safely restrained. After seeing how the professionals get the job done, I cannot imagine what it would be like to try shearing an alpaca or llama while they were standing up.

When I went through my camera, I was amazed to see that all I had taken were two short movie clips. I could have sworn I took more.

Guess what's next on my to-do list? Have a great weekend everyone!

All lambs, all the time

2012-04-17T23:32:00.000-04:00

(Easter babies - how they sleep)

That's pretty much the story of my day to day life right now. Twenty seven lambs, out of twelve ewes is a paltry sum when I consider that my friend, Kathy, has had 150 lambs born in the last two weeks. Oh, but mine do seem to fill my days. Right now I'm bottle feeding 5 lambs, 3 of them 4 times a day and 2 of them 5 times a day. Yes, that's right .... twenty two bottles. I'm well on my way to dishpan hands! The ewe that lambed on Easter has been struggling to gain her strength and her lambs were just not getting enough milk, so they are getting bottles. Two other triplets from separate ewes are also getting bottles. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I love raising bottle babies because they are so much fun and so easy to manage as they mature. (Remember Luna and Birdie from last year? They are still lovely and sweet girls.) They've become ambassadors for the farm because they are perfectly comfortable being social with humans. (Oh yeah, they are the two that were so good, they got to visit with Santa Claus!)

The good news is that help is on the way with bottle duty. A lovely young woman, Hannah, is coming to get three of the bottle babies this week. She has purchased lambs from me before and is building her own fiber flock, so these babies will be going to a wonderful home. I do become attached to these little ones that I visit with so many times a day. Five bottle babies are too many to have out and following me around, but two ..... well, that is much more likely.

The ewe flock spends nearly all their time eating. They are especially ravenous now, partly because they're providing milk for growing lambs (and partly because everything around here loves to eat). If you are still watching the lamb-cam, you can see how the lambs are getting bigger and bolder in their play when they come in for the night. The straw bales are like jungle-gyms (are those things even still called that?), providing endless hours of jumping and climbing pleasure! And when they're worn out from all that play, the bales make a handy napping spot.

Tomorrow is shearing day for the alpacas. It's a little stressful for me because I'm always afraid something will go wrong. It never has, but still I worry. I'll be loading my seven alpaca fiber boys and two llama girls into the trailer for the ride to Seldom Scene farm. My friend, Lindy, has scheduled a team of professional shearers, who travel all over the United States in the springtime, to shear all of her alpacas and is gracious enough to allow me to bring my small herd. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to take a few pictures and post a little about our day. Wish me luck!

Friday on the farm

2012-04-13T17:48:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of moms and babies out enjoying the warm air and green grass today. Lambs are like all babies; they love to play and explore, then suddenly it's naptime.

We only have one more girl left to lamb and then we'll be through for Spring 2012. Hopefully, she'll be delivering this weekend. I'm thinking she may be carrying our final set of triplets!

Keep an eye on the lamb-cam ..... you just never know when something will happen. (At the very least, you'll see lots of lambs jumping on and off the straw bales!)

Easter miracle

2012-04-10T13:36:00.000-04:00

*(Olive and one of her twins)*

Every year for Easter, the family comes out to the farm for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Every year I think about skipping the Easter egg thing, but no matter how old they get, they still want to have it. Traditions are part of what makes a family get-together special and I like to think I'm providing memories that will be with my grandchildren long after I'm dead and gone. It was suggested that maybe next year we would do a switch and let the kids hide the eggs and the adults be the ones to go hunting. The kids loved the sound of that, so it just may happen.

This year got off to an unusual start because when everyone arrived, Mike and I were in the barn, dealing with a breech birth. My grandchildren got a real education (and some of the adults in the group, also!). The ewe could not have given birth without intervention. After the second lamb was born, Mike palpated the ewe and found nothing else, so we cleaned everyone up, moved them to a mothering-up pen and I managed to get dinner on the table, only two hours late. The kids had their egg hunt and we had begun to take our annual family pictures on the big rock in the side yard when, Jared, my eleven year old grandson, came running from the barn to tell us that the ewe we had thought was finished four hours ago, now had another lamb hanging out of her!! As we all ran back to the barn, what was going through my mind, besides pity for the ewe, was that I really didn't want the grandchildren to see me pull a dead lamb out of that ewe, but everyone was determined to watch the whole scene unfold. Sure enough, there was the head and one leg. Not good. I had to push the lamb's head back in and find the other leg, then pull the lamb out. Now here's the miracle part. The lamb was alive! Within minutes, she was trying to get up and find her way to her first meal. At this point, there was some risk that the ewe would reject her. After all, she already had two healthy babies, who were cleaned up, well fed and sleeping contentedly. But, she immediately started cleaning the lamb and 'talking' to her. So, what seemed like a sure disaster (and possibly scarring experience for the onlookers) turned out to be an Easter memory that everyone (with the exception of the Parker, who is only three) will remember a long, long time! Ah, life on the farm.....never a dull moment.

It's been a strange year with birthing times all over the place and several malpresentations. I go through different stages during lambing season. At the beginning, I'm very anxious to just get things started, around the middle I'm thinking it will never end and by the end, I'm wondering if, at my age, I should still be doing this! But, oh those babies! How could I not have some babies in the spring?

So, I think lots of people have seen some live births on the lamb-cam in the last few days. We are down to having only two ewes left to lamb (yay!) and they should go within the next few days. After that, it will be lamb races and games of lamb-on-the-straw-bale, for your viewing pleasure.

**Remember my baby, Olive? Well, she had her first lambs this year. She had twins, a boy and a girl. I wondered what sort of mothering instincts she might have, since I raised her on a bottle and she's just a little spoiled. I needn't have worried. She's doing a wonderful job. I had to laugh this morning because when I took some bottles in to supplement the triplets born on Easter, Olive tried to take one of them! That girl remembers when she had it really good!

Here we go.....

2012-04-02T20:46:00.000-04:00

(the boys-just a few minutes old)

Ah well, we've finally begun. Apparently Gabby had not read the manual where it states "No Middle of the Night Births" because I woke up around 2:30 am Sunday morning with the feeling that I should check the lamb-cam. Sure enough, back in the corner I could barely see a ewe turning around and around, but basically staying in one spot. Which might or might not have meant anything, but the giveaway was that all the rest of the ewes were standing on the other side of the pen, staring at her. Usually when one is in labor, the rest step away and give her some space. By the time I got dressed and walked to the barn, Gabby had moved herself right in front of the lamb-cam and the rest of the ewes had gone to the side of the pen where she had been earlier.

(the boys are 18 hours old in the video)

I don't like to intervene, unless it's looking like things aren't progressing normally, so I went about preparing a mothering-up pen. Most of the time, I leave putting bedding down and filling hay feeders, hanging heat lamps, if needed, to the last minute so that I am busy, but close at hand. I don't believe Gabby ever did lay down, but instead pushed out first one big boy and then another, while standing up. She's a very good mother and started right in cleaning them up. These two boys may get the award for being the liveliest newborns I have ever seen. The first was up on his feet very quickly and within just a few minutes, was hopping around, with the second one right behind. All in all, it was a picture perfect delivery. I managed to get back in bed around 5:00 am and slept until around 9:30 am, so I got off pretty easy with that one.

(the girl and her suspicious mother)

I had two more ewes marked on the calendar that could be due today and just a few hours ago one of them delivered a strapping big girl. I did help pull this one out because the ewe had been pushing for so long, I was worried that the lamb would be stressed. In fact, when I got her out, she was covered with meconium (the yellowish stain you see in the picture), which is thought to be a sign of distress during delivery. Not to worry, she's up and aggressively nursing. I left them in the big pen for several hours because I was hoping some of you might get to see the lamb taking her first steps, but now they are also in a mothering-up pen for the next few days. The first few days are important for bonding and time away from the main flock will allow the lambs to get strong enough and savvy enough to stick close to mom for a while. One funny thing about this ewe is that she's very vocal. I had made a note on last years lambing records that she was a loud mouth (but a good mother) and she's living up to her reputation right now! Be glad the lamb-cam does not have audio!

Still waiting

2012-03-29T16:52:00.000-04:00

(Crabapple and Redbud)

Those of you checking out the lamb-cam will know, there is nothing happening here, except there are twelve really, really pregnant ewes who hardly do anything but lay around the barn. Every morning I go into their pen and open the gate for them to go out to graze on the lush green grass we already have growing. Every morning they just lie there looking at me like 'Are you joking? You want us to get up and walk?' Poor girls, they are ready to get on with the show, but the lambs are taking their time.

(Lilacs!)

To be exact though, yesterday was the first possible day for Gabby to lamb and she will be the first one to go because when we brought the ram here, he was in a pen inside the barn for several days by himself. Then, because I felt sorry for him (and also to prevent him from trying a jail-break), I gave him Gabby for company. Though I hadn't yet put the marking harness on him, it's obvious he bred her right away. The first ewes that were marked, after he went into the flock, are due this weekend. Lambs, like human babies, come when they are ready. I usually have a pretty good idea that a birthing will be happening within a short time when I can see that the ewe has hollowed out in front of her hip bones (as opposed to looking rounded out). This means the lamb(s) are dropping down to get into birthing position. The best position is front feet forward, head down between them (picture a diver going into the water). Sometimes, things get turned around, especially when there are twins or triplets in there, and someone tries to come out backwards (not good) or head first and one or two legs back (not good, either). Those usually require intervention from me. Gloves on and hand inserted to try to sort out which leg belongs to which lamb and is that a back leg or a front leg? Many years ago, when I began keeping sheep, that was pretty scary, but like anything else, a little positive experience gives confidence. Of course, I'm planning on all the ewes getting all that sorted out beforehand and it would be even better if I can come into the barn and find lambs up, dry and nursing! That's my plan and I'm sticking to it!

(Heavenly smelling Viburnum)

Elsewhere on the farm, the bees are buzzing, trees and bushes are blooming and it seems like a wonderful day for lambs to be born. I'm thinking positive thoughts.

The Lamb-cam returns!

2012-03-27T17:12:00.000-04:00

It's "Lambing Season". Yes, with quotation marks and capital letters! Less than a week to go before our Gabby should pop out at least a couple of lambs to get things started and, if my record keeping is correct, the rest should follow in pretty quick succession. If you've checked out the Lamb-cam in the evenings, you can see that the girls are quite large now. This is the time when I start feeling guilty about breeding them. Even though it was a long (long) time ago, I can still remember how much effort it took to do anything at the end of pregnancy.

The bred ewes have been moved to a small field that adjoins the barn. From this point on, they will spend their nights inside the barn, under the watchful eye of the lamb-cam. Yes, after nearly a week of finding out, once again, that I have the computer IQ of a sheep, the lamb-cam is finally up and running again. I have to say, Heather, at MareStare, has a remarkable amount of patience with someone as handicapped as I am, when it comes to computer technology.

So, for the next little bit, you may not see much on the lamb-cam but what appears to be beached whales lying in the straw. Then again, you may end up seeing the miracle of birth. Stay tuned!

Chick days

2012-03-19T14:18:00.000-04:00

Yes, chick days have arrived here at Tanglewood Farm. I've been looking forward to getting some new chicks this spring, due to the advanced age of some of our hens and the fact that three of them met an untimely demise recently. Metzger's is a small country store not too far from the farm (which means less than 50 miles, if you live where I live). My friend, Lindy, told me she bought some chicks there last spring. In the past, I've shared an order with a friend and ordered from Murray McMurray because their minimum order is 25 chicks, which is a lot more chickens than I need. After calling to see what breeds they would have and then doing a little research, I settled on three breeds that I've never had before. They are all brown egg layers and are purported to be calm, quiet and sturdy breeds. I ended up with three Speckled Sussex, three Dark Brahmas, and two Silver-laced Wyandottes. Baby chicks have to be one of the cutest babies on the farm (but, not cuter than lambs, of course). Though we are having crazy warm weather right now, it would normally still be in the 50's, which is too cold for chicks this young to survive without a mama to shelter them. So, at this moment they have taken over one side of the big stainless steel sink in the dye room. It's a well known fact that chickens are not known for their compassion, so acclimating them into the flock will be a little tricky. Looking at the photos I took this morning, I discovered that some of them are already sporting tiny wing feathers! When they start flying out of the sink ... well, let's just say I might have to make other arrangements!

So, as I already mentioned, we are having crazy warm weather. Crazy, like 80's. In March! Over the weekend, I mowed the house and studio yards. The last time I mowed was in December. Does anyone else see the unfairness in this situation?

Inspiration

2012-03-13T23:46:00.000-04:00

I recently saw this on Heather's blog, Beauty that Moves and am completely enthralled with it. I think I've watched it several times, every day. I don't even know how to describe the feelings I have when I watch it ..... maybe a yearning for the grace, wisdom and discipline that Maia embodies.

My friend Maia from julia warr on Vimeo.

Abundance

2012-03-09T17:44:00.000-05:00

( this is how our week started )

Yesterday I drove up to Ohio Valley Natural Fibers to pick up yarn they had spun for me. (Of course, I had to make the obligatory visit to Ikea while I was that close.) It was a miserable day. It poured rain all day and I got soaked every time I got in and out of the car .... not to mention how nerve-wracking it was to be on the interstate in heavy rain with all those tractor trailer trucks. Today, it's a brand new scene, just very soggy under foot. The sun is shining brightly and I'm feeling the urge to get the dye pots out. The Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival is not that far off and I need to get myself in gear to actually have some things to sell.

The abundance I'm referring to is that pile of yarn. That's almost 24 pounds of yarn just waiting for me to do something. You know you're a fiber junkie if, after driving in the rain all day, as soon as you get home you wash a sample skein, put it on the heat vent to dry and knit a swatch immediately ! This batch of yarn is another sheep wool/alpaca blend and is a combination of white and black fleeces to create a beautiful gray heather. Most of this will go into the dye pots, as soon as I can decide on colors.

( and this is how it ends )

The shearers are supposed to come next week and then the task of sorting, weighing and washing fleeces will start. Lambing begins in a little less than three weeks! You'd think after all these years, I would not find that exciting, but I still do. I can hardly wait to see what the Wensleydale ram crossed with my ewes will produce in the way of fleeces. You can expect that the Lamb-cam will be back on line in about two weeks and even that is exciting to me! I love being able to spy on the sheep when they don't know I'm watching. It has felt a little like I've been in hibernation since the end of the holidays, but soon, very soon, a lot will be happening around here.

No joke ....

2012-03-02T00:39:00.000-05:00

You thought I must be joking when I said I had more finished projects, right? It's for real. I'm on a roll and hope I can summon the focus to keep going. I would be completely mortified if anyone knew how many projects I have abandoned so I could cast on for something new. I'm going to conquer my secret project stash this year ..... or else I'm going to frog a bunch of stuff and quit feeling guilty !

This little hat is knit with Malabrigo Twist and the pattern is one that came free with the yarn at ReBelle in Lexington. The yarn is so soft and squishy to knit with and I love how the subtle movement of color appears. It was pure pleasure to knit this. I think this is another one that will go into the Christmas box.

This one is strictly for me, though I may not get to wear it in this year of no winter. It's the 'Annabel' sweater designed by Carrie Bostick Hoge. Lots of people have knit this sweater and you can look at many versions on Ravelry. I am so loving this sweater. I want to cast on for another right now, but I promised myself I would finish up some already on the needles projects before starting another. This is an easy-peasy pattern. I spun the yarn from some of my own wool/alpaca blend roving that was prepared by Ohio Valley Natural Fibers, from last years shearing. It happens that this sweater is more like a jacket. It might be a little too heavy to wear indoors for any length of time. That's a good reason to cast on for another one, in a lighter weight yarn ... right? I added length to the sleeves, rather than the 3/4 sleeves the pattern calls for and worked a single crochet edging all around to firm up the edges. The fact that I am anxious to cast on for another shows how much I like this design. I highly recommend it.

Wednesday was an unbelievably stormy day here. Starting around 2:30 am, we had thunder, lightning and heavy rain rolling through, almost hourly. Luckily, we were not hit by any tornadoes. Thursday was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky, but we've already been warned that today will likely be a repeat of Wednesday.

Happenings in the barn have taken a turn for the better. Luna seems to be on the mend and we've had no more chicken casualties. The chicken killer is still out there and ignoring my trap, so I don't feel confident in saying it's completely over.

If you're in the Lexington area and looking for something interesting to do this weekend, Kentucky Crafted: The Market 2012 is being held downtown in the Civic Center on Saturday and Sunday. There will be a group of us doing demonstrations and promoting the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival to be held in May. Take a minute to come by, introduce yourself and say hi.

In the air

2012-02-28T15:18:00.000-05:00

No matter that the calendar still says February. Spring is most definitely in the air here in central Kentucky. It's not just a renegade daffodil here and there that's blooming. There are a host of them up and glowing in the sunshine. I just keep picking them and bringing them inside to enjoy because the worrier in me is afraid that one morning we'll wake up to all the accumulated winter weather we've missed this year. Today the sun is shining, the birds are singing and, I swear, the grass is starting to grow. The best sign of all ? I heard the peepers last night for the first time !

The bees are getting a treat today... leftover honey frames from last fall.

This stuff is the bane of my existence. It's all over the garden beds.

It was a rough weekend around here. Some varmint got into the chicken house and killed two big chickens and partially ate them. Saturday night, I set a Hava-heart trap inside the chicken house and left the chickens loose in the barn, thinking they might have a better chance of escaping the murderer. One of the banty hens made the mistake of settling into a hay feeder used for the lambing pens and got picked off. I'm really mad now, but am at a loss as to how to catch the thing. I'm thinking it might be a mink or weasel because it seems to be much smarter than the average stray possum we've had to trap. As if that wasn't enough, my little Luna has been feeling poorly. She's had an elevated temperature for several days now. This morning, I'm finally seeing some improvement from the antibiotics and Banamine. In the meantime, I've allowed her to do something I'm certain I'll regret later. For a few days the only thing she was really enthusiastic about eating was Aslan's dry dog food and I let her clean up what he left in his bowl. Aslan and Luna seem to have a special friendship. If I don't fasten the gate to keep her out of the pen where he is fed, he will step aside and let her have the whole bowl. He doesn't let any of the other sheep get away with that.

Here's another sign that spring is in the air. Poor Junior ! Remember that song from ' Urban Cowboy ' that goes ... " lookin' for love in all the wrong places " ? ( Yes, I do know how much I'm dating myself here, but it is what it is. ) That's what I think of every time I see him showing off for the chickens. Obviously, they are not impressed.

Hey, girls ..... look .. look ... look at me !


Hey ! Where's everybody going ?

A flurry

2012-02-24T16:45:00.000-05:00

Not of snow, that's for sure. The temperature yesterday reached 69 degrees ! Today it's in the mid-forties and falling to mid-twenties tonight. Such a weird winter we've had this year, but I know from reading some of my favorite blogs, that even in New England there's been very little to resemble the winters they normally have.

It's a flurry of finished objects that's been happening around here. One of my goals for this year is to finish at least some of my many, many, many ( and many more ) projects that are currently taking up space on my collection of knitting needles. In fact, the reason I have so many knitting needles is that it's just easier to buy another needle sometimes, rather than put all those projects on stitch holders ( or, I suppose, actually finishing something before starting yet another .... but, what fun would that be ? )

( Think those tulips have given it their all ? )

First, it's a Bandana Cowl from the Purl Bee. I used a skein of handspun that needed to be made into something fairly small and useful. Don't you love the Purl Bee ? Their projects are nearly always something I want to cast on right away ( could be part of the reason for knitting needle shortage around here ). This skein of yarn came from my own hand-dyed wool/alpaca blend roving. It's really soft and comfy around my neck and I think it will become a favorite. Right now, I'm kinda over wearing scarves. There's always the wrapping and draping and looping thing to figure out with a scarf. Cowls are simple. You just slip it on and you're good to go !

Next is a sweet little bolero/vest that will probably go into the Christmas 2012 stash. ( I can hardly believe that ! What's the world coming to, if I have already knit something for Christmas ? ) I think this needs to go on a smaller body than mine and there are several candidates in my family. The pattern is from Plymouth Yarn. The yarn I used came from my collection of Briar Rose yarn. I. Love. Briar. Rose. I want to be able to dye yarn like Chris Roosien when I grow up ! I've never seen a Briar Rose yarn I didn't want to bring home with me. And, here's some really good news .... Briar Rose will be at the Kentucky Sheep and Wool Festival, May 19 and 20, at Masterson Station Park, in Lexington, Kentucky. A lot of folks around here have not had the pleasure of seeing Briar Rose in person and I predict there will be a small riot at Chris' booth !

Last one for today ..... a very simple, garter stitch vest from the book ' Seamless ( or Nearly Seamless ) Knits ' . Once again, I used my own handspun, natural colored wool/alpaca blend yarn. This was an easy, easy knit and the kind of thing I'm going to like wearing a lot. I'm a plain and simple person when it comes to clothing, so this is perfect for me.

Believe it or not, I have two more finished items that I'll share in a few days. I know ..... it's shocking !

Morning

2012-02-16T13:41:00.001-05:00

This time of year, the routine is the same every morning and yet there is always something new.

So many personalities ...... the possibilities are endless.

Boss of the barn

2012-02-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

Carson, our rescue cat, is really starting to come into his own around here. We love him and I think the feeling is mutual. He's such a lovely boy and his personality is so sweet and affectionate. Sadie, wild girl that she is, still pretends she is pushing him around, but they both know it's just a game now. Slowly, slowly he decided to come out of the room in the barn where the cats sleep at night. I let him pick his own pace for acclimation. After all, it's a big barn and there were lots of other critters around that I'm sure he'd never seen before. For a week I left the door from the workroom standing open and each day he ventured a little further out. He was quite timid in the beginning and kind of crept around investigating all the nooks and crannies. The day he discovered the barn loft was the turning point. He loves going up there. In fact, he turns into " Zippy Kitty " and " Boss of the Barn " when he's in the loft. He and Sadie chase each other around and up and over the stacked up hay bales and he loves going up into the rafters. He's even gotten brave enough to take a run at the peacock a few times. I'm pretty sure he now knows he doesn't want to go there anymore.

Carson reminds me so much of my Buster cat. Buster was not a rescue, but was given to me at a time in my life when I needed to feel unconditional love .... and he certainly gave me that for many, many years. I'm so glad I just happened to be looking at the adoptable pets on the Friends of the Animals of Jessamine County website and saw Carson's picture ( the boy formerly known as Peaches, no less ! ) . I believe Carson is glad, too. He's part of our farm family now.

I'm impressed

2012-02-06T23:53:00.001-05:00

Oh, if only I'd known about the possibilities while Phoebe was alive ! I can't stop watching this ... and laughing !

My husband's cousin, Vicky, sent this along to him and he shared it with me. I love this!

What's the world coming to?

2012-02-02T12:43:00.000-05:00

I've given up on winter this year. My daffodils are blooming and the forsythia is coming on strong. It's too weird. I don't seem to be able to conjure up any snow, so I'm just going to enjoy the mild weather ( and hope that winter doesn't show up at the end of March, when lambing begins ).

I have lots of little rituals and my own methods of doing things around here that can appear to be awfully random to the casual observer ( and my husband ). For instance, the way I feed hay. Mornings and evenings I pull the hay cart out into the field and put down flakes of hay for the sheep, llamas and alpacas. There is some waste from feeding on the ground, but it is preferable to having the sheep pull hay out of the feeders and down on their neighbor's head. It certainly would be easier to feed from big roll bales, but there is no way to keep the fleeces clean and having clean fleeces is very important to me. I like to put hay out in a different location every day, to have fresh ground under the hay. When the weather is not unpleasant, I go as far out into the field as I can stand to push the cart and then, when the weather is nasty, I have cleaner spots up close to the gates, where I can quickly unload the hay. Since we have had very little unpleasant weather, I'm now going way, way, way out. Pretty soon I'll be in the "back forty" ! Sometimes the hay is so far away from the gate that the sheep have trouble seeing it and I have to lead them half way there before they spy it.

Last fall, I was worried that we might not have enough hay to get us through the winter. We ended up buying extra and are now going to have plenty to get us through. Of course, if the weather continues to be strangely warm like this, I can stop feeding hay and will have to start mowing the grass !!

Waiting

2012-01-25T12:31:00.001-05:00

( Almost dinner time )

( Poor Buddy - it's exhausting to be in charge of all these pregnant girls )

We are in a little lull at the farm right now. There's not much happening but the ordinary, day-to-day barn chores; feeding hay in the mornings, feeding hay and grain in the evenings, cleaning out the automatic waterers, keeping clean bedding down for the teenagers (nearly one year old ewe lambs), feeding the dogs and cats, feeding the chickens and collecting the few eggs they are giving us at this time of year. Those are all mundane tasks, but they add a certain rhythm to my day. I still have the washing, ironing, cooking and cleaning stuff to do, but the animal related chores are the framework everything else fits into. I sometimes wonder how it would be to not have those animal chores on my schedule. At this point in my life, I simply can't even imagine. I know the day is coming, sooner rather than later, when I won't physically be able to do the heavy work that shepherding requires. I hope when the time does come, I am able to focus my energies on something as personally rewarding as what I do now.

I have been thinking a lot about shearing and lambing. Usually, that happens earlier than it will this year. I purposely decided to start lambing a little later, so the weather would be warmer and the grass starting to come on. ( Little did I know that winter wasn't going to make much of an appearance this year. ) I'm hoping that shearing day will be pleasant because I would really like to have a "Shearing Day" event here at the farm. Something very casual. Maybe a come-on-down if you feel like it sort of event. Maybe even a potluck meal for anyone interested in participating. I'll know more as we get closer to the time and will issue the invitation here, if I manage to get my act together.

( the ears crack me up - they're like antenna........always scanning )

In the meantime, these pictures are what you'd see a lot of, if you were to stop by. Nearly all of us just lying around, waiting for our next mealtime !!

Carson

2012-01-20T16:18:00.001-05:00

Carson has come to Tanglewood Farm and we love him already. He's a sweet boy and we are hoping that eventually Miss Sadie will make friends with him. So far, she seems determined to make sure he knows she is the boss around here. Carson appears to be around 7 months old now, judging from his teeth ( exam courtesy of my resident veterinarian ) . He's already about twice as big as Sadie, so it will be interesting to see how long she can keep up that charade !

Carson came to us courtesy of the Friends of the Animals of Jessamine County. Recently, my friend, Teresa, adopted a precious little dog named Tilly from the Friends. I had seen Tilly's picture on the Friends' facebook page and it looked like a match to me, so being the good friend that I am, I sent her the picture and the rest is history. Not one to leave well enough alone, I found myself looking at their Available for Adoption page late one evening and there was Carson ( formally known as Peaches - which is way too girly a name for such a big boy ! ) looking out at me as if to say, "Take me, I'm yours". How could I resist ?

Of course, the name Carson came about because we are 'Downton Abbey' fanatics here at Tanglewood Farm. Sunday night is now our favorite night of the week because it means the latest episode will be on Masterpiece Theatre ! I suspect that there just might be a 'Downton Abbey' themed lamb crop arriving here at the farm around the end of March !

Friends does such a wonderful job. They have members who work tirelessly to rescue as many cats and dogs as they possibly can and they furnish foster care until they find loving, forever homes. If you have room in your heart and home for another pet, please take a look at the Friends' website and schedule a home visit for pet who will be so grateful.

Stella

2012-01-18T14:19:00.001-05:00

Just for the record, we are no longer confused. We are having Kentucky weather, which means it can be almost any temperature at any time of year. Yesterday we had spring ( complete with thunderstorms and tornadoes ) and last night and today we're having winter. Nothing new.

So, I've neglected this little feature lately and need to catch up on introducing you all to another one of my teenagers. You know, those silly little girl sheep that are ( mostly ) sweet and can sometimes be so flighty ! This is Stella. It took a while for me to give Stella her name. Sometimes I know the name as soon as they're born ( as with Luna ) , other times, I have to get to know them before I know what suits. Stella was a triplet, born to a first time mama, and as with nearly all of the ewe lambs I kept, her father was Henry. She's got that beautiful, lustrous, soft fleece I've been working toward for several years now. Just look at those lovely, crimpy locks ! I love that she has virtually no britch - that luster and crimp runs all the way down to her knees. ( It's fairly common for some sheep to have coarser fiber on the lower part of their back legs and that is referred to as britch. For me, it's not a reason to get rid of a sheep who has an otherwise wonderful fleece, but having nice fiber all the way down is certainly a trait to encourage in a breeding program. ) Stella is a little shyer than some of the other girls .... only wants to be petted on when she decides. She's a girl who knows her own mind ! Although, if I go into the pen and just sit down and wait for the girls to gather 'round, she'll step up ( if she can shoulder her way through Luna and Birdie ) for a scratch behind the ears.

I didn't breed any of my ewe lambs this year, so none of the little girls will become mothers until next spring. Often, the shyer girls will get to be much friendlier during lambing season, especially if they end up needing my help when their lambs are born. It's always interesting to see how their personalities and temperaments develop. Sometimes the ones you least expect will become a sweetheart when they grow up. Amazing how much they are often like children !

**So, here's a news flash ( at least for me ). My " local " Kroger grocery has a Starbucks that has WiFi ! So, while my less than stellar service by Windstream, who supposedly supplies me with Internet at home, continues with no resolution, I only have to drive 12 miles to find a reliable connection !