Around the Farm and Maryland sheep and Wool Festival



 In preparation for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, I wandered the farm looking for the perfect picture to use on my banner. This photo appears to be close, but I found a better one. Come check it out. I will be in the sheep dog area in the northwest section of the fairgrounds.

 The kids are enjoying  being out on the front yard. they are running around climbing on rocks while their moms are grazing.

 This mom had twins. They are really heavy kids. They were among the first born. All are keepers.

 The Shetland sheep were also out. The two little white blobs are twin lambs belonging to the sheep at left. The sheep and goats are in the same fenced area but they hang as separate herds.

And there always has to be one. This doe is one of my oldest and she got pregnant last. She never got pregnant by the black buck, so I put her in with the white buck. She is a drama queen and waited till the second round to let the buck catch her. Kids any day now?

I am busy pricing roving, carding large batts and spinning art yarns. I am down to one freeform yarn, so I need to sit and focus. Good thing that it is raining, so there is not a lot of temptation to run around the farm. Marc was kind enough to do all of the feeding and milking this morning.

I have a new flock number for Maryland. Ran out of the Arizona tags and finally found the right place to order new ones. Another part of my past life is being left behind.

See you at MSDW!

Spring, New Designs and Art Yarn

 I am hoping that this will be our last snow for the year.

 I thought Rosemary, one of our dairy goats, was due March 17. Guess she did not get bred that time. She has the blank stare that a lot of the goats get right before delivery. Of course, she has had this look for a few weeks. She is now enormous. Last year we could not tell that she was pregnant and out popped a kid. Definitely twins this time around. Good thing I saved a lot of her milk from last year, because most of my sheep and goats have delivered already.

 Winter is a good time for designing. I started the sweater around Christmas and then decided that it needed a hat and cowl to go with it. I finished it just in time for spring, when I won't need it!

 I have been playing around with new yarns and this is what happened to my feathered yarn. The pattern is available as a digital download on my Etsy shop: www.uniquedesignsbykathy.etsy.com. I have one yarn kit spun up and custom colors may be ordered.

 Spots has given me the cutest lambs so far, They are both ewes and have the modern style fleece. It will be very crimpy.

I have also been busy spinning. The above batch has already been sold, but I thought I would share what I have been doing. I have lots of yarns on Etsy, if you are interested.

Upcoming Shows: Carolina Fiber festival, Stitches South, Powhatan Fiber Fest, Maryland Sheep and wool Festival, and Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Festival.

Snow Again means Animals in Barn Again

 Shetlands, Merinos and the kid angora goats are sharing the barn. We are supposed to get over 7 inches of snow. They are all content. The ram at the very front left hides among the ewes till I show up and then thinks he can ram me. I am wise to him now.

 No matter what type of feeder we buy, the goats find a way to get in it. A little black doe is enjoying being above the ground. If you look click on this picture to look at it more closely, you can see that I have several goats with blue eyes.

 If you follow Pantone's color way, you will know that natural silver and "red" kid mohair are in. This silver doe is super soft. I am currently spinning her first fleece.

 The Merino ewes above and below are due any time now, so they are in their own pen. With all of the rest of the animals in the barn, it would be too easy for them to have lambs that do not bond to them.

 I am still listing on my www.uniquedesignsbykathy.etsy shop. The yarn above is super bulky and will be listed today. It is next to the skin, so it is appropriate for next to the skin wear like cowls.

Lovely kid mohair/alpaca supercoils are part of a series that I will be listing today.





I did not even step outside to take this picture! If you are snowbound, enjoy your freedom from the rat race!

First Kid of Season is not an Angora

 Rosemary surprised us with her kid on Saturday afternoon. According to the breeder, she was not due till the first week in March. I have Parsley down in the barn with her mom, now that she associates milk with me and a bottle. Rosemary is three years old and never had a baby suck off her, so she did not let the baby nurse. I am glad, since I wanted a dairy goat to provide milk for angora goat babies that fail to thrive. Now I just need to get my stiff fingers to loosen up! Marc is a much better milker than I am.

 Everyone has suggested that I get brooches to complete my collars and scarves. I found a lot of vintage ones two weeks ago and I am starting to design to fit the brooches. I have another larger daisy brooch that is crying out for a scarf. I might start selling the pins, if I find there is enough interest.

 The skein of yarn above and below are the same skein. I have just wrapped them differently. I tried different pins for color. Since it is yarn, I won't permanently place the brooches, because it limits their use. There are a lot of knitters and crocheters out there who like to use the yarns as embellishment.

I am busy spinning beaded yarns over shades of green right now as part of my Fields of Green series.

Starting the first week in March, I will be available for farm visits. Call 410-795-6070 or email jmarckathy@aol.com for an appointment. I will be publishing a class schedule that starts then. Hopefully it will be warm enough to do wet felting. Call to schedule your own class or contact me, if you are interested in a trunk show at your location.

Goat Coats and Beavers

 The Oaks Sugarloaf show turned out to be a happy surprise. The Mountain Refuge Landscape at the back
left sold to a lovely lady who will cherish it. I met lots of interesting people and, as always, my neighboring
vendors gave me a new perspective on doing shows.

                                  

The kids were shorn on October 27th. It turned cold with the Hurricane Sandy and now is dropping down to freezing at night. The animals who were shorn are all in the white barn. Parts of the barn are drafty, so I put t-shirts and sweatshirts on the kids and one adult. I also bought a heater to raise the temperature and dry out the barn. I have a few that I am watching for pneumonia. Unfortunately, their immune systems are weak due to parasites. I had to treat all but one of the kids yesterday. They are all looking perkier this morning.

 Above are Flower and Orphan. I have a hard time getting photographs of them, since they hang on me when I am in their area. The does all got Onsies. Easier to tall them apart that way!

 I don't know whether the beaver is still in our pond since he did not cover the grate last night. His lodge looks like it has more canes on top and more trees are down since the last time I checked.

I don't know where the top of the tree on the right went but, in my Internet reading, I discovered that beavers have multiple tunnels running into their lodge and that they can haul entire trees under water. They also do not hibernate. I do hope that he is still around. Natural live entertainment!

I will be home this weekend and will be at the Gaithersburg Sugarloaf show at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds next weekend.

Absinthe's kids

Absinthe is making sure that the kid on her, Mini, is really hers. Mini and Mega (M&M) were born Sunday just before noon. Mini was really little compared to her sister, so I had to move them to the shed. She was weak and cold. Hard to believe, when it was 80 degrees outside. That slight wind was just enough to chill her and make her unable to stand. Now the two kids look very similar in size, but picking them up is a true indicator. Mini is puny!

Peaches' doe

Dark Chocolate looks gross, but she is up on her feet less than 5 minutes after being born.

Color genetics in goats is a lesson in biology. Peaches was born apricot colored from two black looking angora goats: one was a dominant black and the other a recessive black. I bred Peaches to a recessive black in hopes of getting a black kid. I am always thrilled when the kids are born, especially when they are does. Anyhow, she had her kid on the 1st of March. I let them out of the shed this morning. Peaches was a first time mom, so I was excited to be able to get her kid on her by myself.

I did learn one thing, while Peaches was in labor. She was the first mom to make any noise as she gave birth. She was also the first first-time mom to deliver. I ran out to see what was going on and saw all of the other mothers ganging up on her. I think they were trying to shut her up. Usually, the first that I know a mom is delivering, is from the cries of the baby. Now I know why!

Barbara's kids

Barbara's kids are floating in and out of the shed today. This is a photo from the day they were born.

Latte's kids

I am already behind! Latte had twins last Friday: a buck and a doe, that my sisters named Almond Joy and Toffee. They are really small. Latte has obviously bonded more closely to the buck. I picked up the doe and held her for people to pet today and Latte was not overly concerned. When I picked up the buck, she about had a fit. They were all three waiting for me at the gate this evening, when I came out to feed. Would have made a great picture, but I did not have the camera!

I am listening to the monitor now, and it sounds like someone is in labor. I was just out there, so will wait to hear something more definite - like the cry of a baby - before I go running out. Too many false alarms, but several are imminent. Nerve wracking! I sure am glad I just have to assist.

Cocoa

This is Cocoa, Habanera's doe. If it does not rain tomorrow, I will let her and her mother out to explore. At the rate kids are being born, I will have to, in order to have somewhere to put the new kids. She is getting quite plump, but no where near the size of Holly's babies!

My new shed

I thought I would post a picture of one of my sheds. It is turning out to be quite useful this year. I hate when babies are born in the cold and especially in the cold and the dark. Tonight Holly, my dairy goat, had twins that are angoara goat look-a-likes. They are huge and heavy compared to the angora goats. I have them in the shed now and can hear them over the baby monitor. I have put them on the mama, but from the sound of it, one of them has not learned how to get back on mom. I will give them half hour.

Habanera's kids

It is depressing to watch a doe grieve over a lost kid. It is impossible to believe that animals don't have feelings and memories. Habanera had twins today - a buck and a doe. They were very different in size making me wonder, if she got pregnant at two different times. The doe is really small and doing well. She is drinking from her mom all by herself now, but is still not cleaned up by her mother, so I did not include a photo.

I took the buck to the vet this afternoon. She took one look at him and said he would be dead shortly. Such a short life. Anyhow, Habanera knows that she had two babies and is mourning for the one that is missing and ignoring the one that she still has. I wonder why the moms always clean and do for the bucks first. I have discovered that does let the doelings die, while they clean a buckling. If a doe has twins, she can switch from one to the other, or just pick one. Habanera totally ignored the doeling after it was born, which makes me think the buck was too big and causing her a lot of pain in delivery. I am going to name the doe, "Cocoa." She is pure black and definitely the tiniest kid I have seen so far.

By the way, Latte and Holly (mentioned in earlier postings) are drama queens. These other mothers are not giving me any warning. I let them out of the pens, since it appears that the mothers are voluntarily going into the shed to have their babies. I am leaving the door to the large shed open, so others can go in. I put a heat lamp in for the kid and she has already found it and gone to sleep under it. I think I will go to sleep also!