Yearly Archives 2009

Emma

Yesterday we said goodbye to Emma. Her condition had worsened overnight to the point where we were forced to make a very difficult decision. She passed peacefully in the arms of her people, surrounded by her favorite toys from home. It was the best we could do for her. Emma, exploring a crystalline field after the ice storm, December 2008. Celebrating the season with a Christmas hedgehog, December 2008. Coming in from the snow, January 2009. She was our little diva and we were so lucky to have her in our lives. Mike, Caleb and I, along with our pups
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Changing Seasons

My sneakers were soaked by the time I finished checking the electro-net in the pasture this morning. The  autumnal dew falls much heavier and lingers longer in the cool air. Holly had set fence around the hay field behind the studio on Friday, and the little ewes were delighted to have new places to explore when I opened the gate today. The rest of the ewe flock has run of the sugar bush, further uphill where the  maples and beech are showy and colorful. My garden continues to flourish despite several frosts. I love the juxtaposition of the colors of
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Shearing & Sharing

Another week's gone by, and it's still  too wet for haying. I'm really starting to wonder what on earth we'll feed the flock this winter. I wonder if we can extend grazing until Christmas. . . Instead, my flock got to spend some quality time with their favorite shearer. We coifed the Border Leicesters on Tuesday. Yesterday was the goats' turn. Only our longwools get fall haircuts. They yield a nice 4-5 inch staple. Anything longer gives the giant carder at the spinnery indigestion. My Cormos, only shorn in spring, got fresh coats and pedicures, so they wouldn't feel left
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Coyote

Yesterday our day began with a call from a neighbor reporting a large coyote  inside our electro-net fence in the pasture! Grabbing my camera, I bolted out the door in my pajamas. By the time I reached the pasture, the coyote had vamoosed. I did a quick head count of the flock – all safe and present. Likely, the coyote  found its way out, probably the same way it had entered: at the north end of the field, a section of net lay on the ground, knocked inward as if something had run into it. I bet it had been
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Big Win at the Big E!

Exciting news on the wool front: our Cormo ram, Teaberry won the Champion Purebred Fleece Show at the Eastern States Exposition Fleece Competition on Friday! That's his fleece, the tall white one in the center. And it's a beauty!  Last Wednesday Holly and I delivered a carload of very special fleeces from this year's shearing to the exhibit hall at the Eastern States (a.k.a.  the Big E), the largest agricultural fair in the Northeast. This show, held every September in West Springfield, Massachusetts draws competition from all over the country. I reserve the best of our best to enter.  There's
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More Adventures in Yarn Farming

First of all, I want apologize to everyone who commented to my late August post about the end of summer. Due to some quirk in the new, "improved" Typepad, those comments never appeared (usually there's notice of new comments) and I didn't see them at all until posting yesterday. I remember wondering where everyone was at the time and thinking that all of you were enjoying a last vacation perhaps before sending the kids back to school or heading out for Labor Day. Reading your comments was a treat – and always is. I appreciate it when you take the
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September Scenes

Summer feels like it's evaporating as we edge toward the autumn equinox. Hay is happening, bit by bit, and the barns are now about half full of what we need to feed the flock this winter. The flock is now enjoying cool, dry grazing days.  Here's the scene at the top of the hill this afternoon, where my son Caleb and I found Caitlyn and her entourage enjoying the shade of the pines. Actually, when we arrived at the top of the hill, Caitlyn was in one of her favorite haunts on the leeward side of the shelter. She seemed
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Summer Snapshots

Here are a few glimpses from this week: The lambs checking for the newspaper, the yearlings and Caitlyn drying off in front of the fans after a thunderstorm, and Belle meditating in a quiet corner of the barn late one afternoon. We’re having some decent drying weather which means we’re back in business on second cutting hay. Norm and Lisa have mown, tedded and raked the Long lot,our largest field; we should be ready to bale tomorrow. So much rides on the volume and quality of this mowing. We have many mouths to feed in the barn this winter. Yesterday
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Visitors!

It's been mighty busy here over the past couple of weeks as we've been scrambling to pull in hay bales in between bouts of thunderstorms. In the midst of all of it I've had the nicest visits. . .  Starting with last week when Lynne Vogel, author of Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook and Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters, stopped in to meet the lambs and see the farm. Although Lynne and I keep in touch online, it's been about six years since we've actually seen each other face to face- that was when I took her color spinning workshop at SOAR in
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Day’s End

While Holly and I wrapped up chores this evening I took some sheep shots with my new iPhone. I’m actually able to post to my blog from my phone – it’s mindnumbingly easy. So I’ll quick posting more often. Separating the moorits was sad. Chai, the moorit ram above was quite protective of his girls and he’s not sure he likes being with the cormo ram lambs . Not yet anyway. He has his buddy Latte for company . The moorit ewe lamb, Cognac and Bailey, are enjoying their new friends. It was funto see them all together sharing the
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