Some sheep are in dire need of winter haircuts. The wooly top-knot that covers the head like an afro is 4 inches thick, nearly covering his ears and eyes. When it begins to cascade downward toward the nose and over the face, it acts like a visor making it awfully difficult to see what's happening in the world. This condition is called "wool blind" and is easily remedied. When we noticed Cody stumbling around the barn like Mr. MaGoo we knew it was time to take out the scissors and get to work.  Check out his salon makeover before &
Read More

Yesterday we ushered the lambs into the barn for a winter wardrobe makover. While they are closer to being yearlings at this point, we still think of them as our  "designer lambs", since all were named for fashion industry icons. Although it's barely been eight weeks since the last coat check round up, some of them were beginning to look like stuffed sausages. While most of the adults are simply piling on the fleece in this season, the lambs are still growing in all directions which means a closer eye on the trim of their little jackets as they get
Read More

This season's pattern of snowy, cold, snowy, cold, snowy, followed by yet more cold has become tedious. While we've been without "snowy" since Sunday, things tonight once again take a turn toward "cold". A few consecutive days of temps in the mid twenties has felt like a break. Cocoa and Charlotte have been enjoying mornings in the sun on the south side of the barn, while the youngsters have ventured to the stone wall at the pasture's edge for the first time in weeks. The sheep aren't the only ones out for a look around this week. The deer have
Read More

Amidst yet another winter storm, I pulled up to the barn this morning to find Cilantro with his snout buried in the snow right up to his eyeballs. For reasons I do not completely understand, sheep like to eat snow. Sometimes they do it because they're thirsty, but the boys had a 40 gallon bucket of clean water in the barn. Maybe they're thinking, "hey,there's grass down there somewhere. If I can just get rid of this cold white stuff . . ." Maybe its a sign of boredom. It's their little secret. While snowy, today feels balmy compared to
Read More

Saturday's storm dumped another 14 inches of fluffy white stuff on Patten Hill, making Sunday morning's commute to Webs to teach my handspinning workshop rather interesting. After getting the pickup truck with the snow plow hung up in the driveway and a heart-stopping sideways slide down a slick, unsanded town road, I finally managed to make it to interstate 91, which was slushy but otherwise okay. Knee-deep snow for a llama is chest deep for sheep and goats, but this doesn't seem to bother them. Like little bulldozers, they plow right through to keep up with me and the hay
Read More

The post-holiday reality of winter has set in. Over the last four weeks we've experienced nearly every known form of precipitation interspersed with bouts of mind-numbing single digit temperatures and hellish winds. Yesterday brought the second ice storm of the new year, followed the new year's second snowfall. Welcome 2009. The reserves of hay we stockpiled last August are shrinking at a brisk pace, as we've been feeding a little extra during extreme cold snaps. From the lack of hoof prints in the yard (and the piles of droppings in the barn) I can tell the sheep are not venturing
Read More

Wishing you health, love and laughter in the new year! Barb
Read More