A Week of Contrasts

 Sunday morning the East Friesian had a ram lamb weighing over 9 pounds. I was thinking that she had twins based on size, but nope! Just the one big lamb.

 Last night I did my final check at 8:30 and discovered that Cloudy (mom) had twin babies. Thought for sure the the ewe lamb was dead and the ram just about. They both cried when I picked them up, so I spent two and a half hours drying them with a blow dryer and waring them up. Then I finger fed them colostrum that I saved last year and got them sucking. By 11 the ram was standing. I held both of them on the mom to drink and then left them to settle in. I went back out at 1:15 and both babies were walking around and popped onto mom when she stood. I have had to supplement today. They are very small for Merino babies.The mom was in the barn and front yard area where I have been feeding grain, so I think she had them prematurely. She is a first time mom and was fortunately relaxed enough to let me handle her and her babies. I am naming them Angel and Candle in honor of the Christmas season.

 Our barn renovation is moving along. the front is almost done, the downstairs windows are in and big picture windows are behind the blue tarps.

 I plan to move my shop to the area behind the french doors, so that will be the first thing that people see when they come into the barn. I am going to turn the current shop space into a studio, so I can work in the barn and heat only a small area. We plan to put a catwalk around the upper area for roving storage.

 I am busy weaving on my Majacraft loom. I have decided to turn the piece into a vest. The back is done and I am a fourth of the way down the front.

I managed to get close up photos of the peachicks this morning and I can now tell that I have three cocks and one hen. The mother is the second from the right and the hen is to her right. You can tell by enlarging the photo that their wing feathers are the same. The cocks have speckled feathers like their father.

Shop, Rug Hooking, New Landscape and Peacocks

 My shop will stay set up all year round now since I have enough yarn to fill the racks even with yarns pulled for shows. I am starting to have some of my Merino and Kid mohair blended to create lace and fingering weight yarns, so I can design patterns and have yarns to go with them. Some of my patterns require specific yarns which will become limited editions. Seems like everyone wants the exact same yarn and color that I make my models out of. Unfortunately, it has become tedious and they are no longer unique, if I am always spinning the same yarns. So make yourselves notes to buy it, if you want it.

 We are currently waiting  on a bid for our red bank barn to be remodeled and climate controlled. I would like to move all of my fiber stuff to one place and be able to work in the barn.We have ideas for the interior being redone, but the holes in the walls have to go first!

 I went to the MAFA show in July and came home determined to try something new. I have been fascinated for a while by rug hooking and my friend, Loris Blanchard of the Wool Farm, got me started on a sample piece last year. I am now experimenting using my art yarn on monk's cloth.

 This is one of the skeins that I spun in attempts to recreate the colors for my first rug hooking project. This actually represents what our grass looks like now. I love it, but have posted it for sale on my Etsy shop, since the landscape that I have chosen is from early spring.

 I am going to use this photo for my landscape design. I will be editing out the tree shadow and simplifying the smaller details.

Last, but not least, Marc and I added peafowl to our menagerie. My uncle passed away a few weeks ago and I have decided to live my life to the fullest. Peacocks were on my bucket list. Marc always denied my request saying that they are "dirty and loud." Well, the dogs and Skyler are much louder. It is fascinating to watch their stately strut. They are currently in the aviary till we are sure that they will stick around. The male spreads his feathers when he sees me coming out with treats. He has been losing a few feathers - some big and some small. Soon I will have enough to spin a feathered yarn with the small ones. I am amazed at how many types of feathers they have beside the impressive tail feathers with the eyes.

This is a good time to visit the farm. Just a reminder - call first since I occasionally have to run off somewhere, and be sure to not wear your best shoes, since we occasionally rotate the sheep and goats on the front yard.

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!

Dyeing, Making hay,felting and last lambs of the year.

Just picked up a bunch of my fiber from the Sweitzer's Countryside Mill. I had her turn some of the mohair into yarn. I have been dyeing the skeins different colors. I got back seven pounds of the white and have been having a good time color combining. They are not going to be striping, since I am using my dyeing. The top two are skeins that I spun this week.

The farmer is cutting our hay now. He fluffed it today so it would dry. He plans to bale it tomorrow. We will be borrowing his elevator to get it into the hay loft. 

We have fenced off the front yard now and have put a sign on the front gate reminding visitors to close the gates behind them. I will only move the animals when I am not expecting deliveries. The doe above was shorter than the grass. I figure the extra pasture is about 7 days of feed, if all of the animals are on it. That is equivalent to 32 bales of hay. Of course, they can't be on it all of the time.

I have been teaching felting. So far, this is my favorite bowl. 

Blackie had her lambs last Sunday evening. The one with the white spot is an ewe, the other a ram. They are out of her, a Shetland, and a Moorit Merino ram, who was supposedly to young to breed. Lovely surprise. Baby season is over till September, when the Merinos will have their lambs.

Shearing, locks, lambs and a garden

 The alpacas and 3 of the Merinos were shorn this past Wednesday. The alpaca fleeces were fine, but the ones that really excited me were the Merino fleeces. All of them were very fine, but the finest and loveliest color of all was the Moorit one top left. It was variegated from deep chocolate to taupe. I have already washed that fleece and I am working my way through the rest other two.

 I am having a lot of trouble finding a shearer who is willing to do angora goats. Nathan Good sheared the alpacas and Merinos, but he has already told me that he was not willing to do the angoras. If anyone knows someone on the east coast, I would  love to know. I have called quite a few listed on the American Shearers Association page. Most are not returning calls. Some have bad numbers.

 Columbian obviously got pregnant by a Merino ram, since her lambs look just like him. These photos were taken a week ago when they were a day old. I let them out in the front yard today. They are almost as big as she is. One ram and one ewe with sweet faces.

 I am still waiting for Blackie to deliver. On the day that Columbian delivered, she thought she had babies and went looking for them every time the lambs bleated. She even went so far as to nuzzle Left a few times. It was funny to watch. Of course, she is getting bigger and bigger and is definitely overdue based on when I pulled the rams. Marc said she will have them some day. Maybe...

I am spinning, felting and washing fleeces. The one big advantage to Maryland is that I can now have a garden. With all the rain that we get, it is looking pretty good. We are eating lettuce and three kinds of radishes from the garden. I have a spicy kind that has ruined the traditional ones forever. My turnips and rutabagas are getting close. I will be harvesting sweet peas this evening. The chickens are loving the radish tops, lettuce and whatever else I pull from the garden. I really love the varying shades of green. They are my inspiration for a few yarns.

Carroll County Maryland Fall Home Show

Another show has come and gone. The attendance at the Carroll County Home Show was pitiful, so I had a chance to meet with the other vendors - a really nice group. I had time to knit several inches on my latest project. I am writing a pattern for a tunic and knitting it with a Rambouillet and llama blend.

Marc and I did the Famancha eyelid check again on Friday. We got through it in 45 minutes and only found 6 angora goats that needed to be retreated. Progress!

All of my earnings from the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival went into an invisible fence to keep Left and Right in. They have not escaped yet, so I guess they have it figured out.

I am back to watching for lambs to pop. One of my Merino moorits is due any day. A black one is due within the month. I still have to name them!  It  is nice to have babies at different times of the year. I might have lambs to pet at my Woodbine Fiber Festival.

The angora goats have been separated for breeding and all of the males that I am saving are together on the hill next to the house. They are all getting along well right now.

On Thursday I will be setting up the the Montgomery Fairgrounds for the Gaithersburg Sugarloaf Show. It is an art show, so a much better venue for me. Hope some of you can make it out to visit with me!

Hazelnut's lambs

Hazelnut is kicking her lambs, trying to get them to get up and move away from me. We would call it child abuse! The lambs are used to me handling them. If I were bending down to pick them up, they would be gone in a heartbeat. Hard to believe that they will not be a week old until tomorrow. Spots had hers last Friday. It is a ram lamb. I have not gotten a good photo of him yet. My friend, Rosey, was here to help deliver him, so I let her name him. She chose "Mole'."

Columbian's lambs

As Penny was shearing, we noticed that Columbian had huge udders. When we let her back out with the other sheep, we knew to keep an eye on her. Sure enough, about 5 P.M. I saw her licking a lamb. We observed her for a while, and came to the conclusion that she could not be done. Since Truffle's mother kept trying to take the lamb, we moved Colombian to a pen and decided to tidy up after shearing and check again. When an hour had passed and Columbian had still not delivered a second lamb and had no afterbirth, Penny and I were sure that something was wrong. Never having done it before and really not knowing what I should do, I let Penny slide her arm up into Columbian. I thought it was funny when she said she felt three legs, where there should have been only one. I was also worried, because she said they were breech. I told her to go ahead and try pulling them out. I was sure they were both goners (we had decided there must be two more in there) and was amazed when she pulled out a ewe and then a lamb. Both living and, with a little help, drinking from mom. Penny was cool as a cucumber. She has loads of experience it appears. I hope to not have much more!

Looking at the lambs this morning, the ewe is going to turn a much lighter shade - grey, one ram is uncertain and the other ram looks like it might be brown. Unfortunately, these lambs are out of the ewe that has had ram with messed up horns for the past three years. I will castrate the rams and keep the ewe, to see how she does. The lady that I bought the ewe from three years ago was breeding for polled Shetlands. Kind of dumb on her part, since it is not a registrable animal. Also not a very good practice, because things like horns growing into the skull and into the eyes are real problems. I will keep these for the fleeces, but definitely will not sell them. It is not until they are about 9 months old, that the problems become obvious. Too bad, because they have the loveliest fleeces of them all.

Garnet's lamb

This little guy was born this morning, before I had gone out to check. He had already been exploring, because I found him in the Shetland pen. My friend, Debbi, has named him "Truffles." He is a Jacob sheep and I am pretty sure that his coloring is called lilac. He is a quiet and peaceful baby compared to the dairy kids.