Yearly Archives 2011

Summer Scenes

August 3, 2011 | 13 Comments

Fall Yarn Shares – Cormo Silk Alpaca yarn, Foxfire Fiber & Designs The photos tell the story of what's happening at the farm. Summer has hit its stride. The garden's growing full tilt, hay's happening . . . During the July heat wave the sheep grazed early morning and evening, returning to the barn to sit out the mid-day sun. The fans are running in the barn 24/7 to keep everyone comfortable.The lambs form a wooly puddle at my feet when I come to the barn in the morning. Our new Shetlands are loving life on the farm.
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New Little Sheep at the Big Farm

July 21, 2011 | 12 Comments

Today I'd like to introduce Ginger and Sassafras, our new Shetland lambs! We first met them three weeks ago at the National Sheep Show at the Eastern States Expo in West Springfield, MA. They were raised by the Ludlam family at Windswept Farms in Michigan who were showing sheep that weekend. We did not go to the show with a sheep shopping list. We went with a very specific mission: to pick up new sheep handling equipment (super light-weight aluminum panels for pens and a sorting gate). There was no plan to pick up more sheep. So why did we buy
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Departures and New Beginnings

July 14, 2011 | 38 Comments

The past month has been an unplanned hiatus and respite for us. We lost two beloved members of our family and farm, Daphne and Butch. Our 15.5 y.o. retriever, Daphne, was our first English Golden. While she maintained a strong spirit right up until the end, her health has been sliding for months. We think losing her pal and half sister Mishka at Christmas last year was really hard on her. Although we thought we were prepared for when this moment would come, we have been a mess, to be honest with you! Losing our three girls within a 1
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The Strolling of the Lambs part two

June 5, 2011 | 13 Comments

On Saturday we took a moment to honor Holly's commitment to the farm. This month she is leaving the farm to work on an exciting new endeavor in the restaurant business with her partner Chris. We love her and will miss her terribly! Kathryn's craft table was a hit! We made nests and hand felted eggs for a flock of hand-sewn chickens. Mistral loved every minute of being in the center of attention. Mike gave the farm tour. I forgot to tell him about it, so he was confused when people kept asking him when the tour began. Thanks to
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The Strolling of the Lambs

June 5, 2011 | 5 Comments

Thanks to our Sheep Shares members and your guests (more than 50 of you!) who traveled from far and wide to share a super-fun day with sheep. For those of you who could not be with us, I'm posting many images of the day (divided into two posts to make loading easier). Enjoy!
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MA Sheep & Wool Festival – No Kidding!!

May 28, 2011 | 11 Comments

It's stopped raining for two days which means we are crazy behind on outdoor tasks. We are scrambling to play catch-up with the grass – it's thigh high in most places which makes it impossible to set up temporary fence for grazing without mowing down a swath of grass to set the fence. The sheep have their work cut out for them. In the midst of it all, I took a little 2-day field trip to visit the critters shown in this post. It was a fascinating excursion – more on that later. Can anyone guess what they are? Add
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Lambs on Pasture Pics

May 20, 2011 | 7 Comments

Although the grass is very wet, it is not rip-roaring raining today. The sky is brightening for the first time in a week as I type this post. ahhh. The lambs are shoulder deep in grass and loving it. Every week we rotate them to a fresh pasture. It's their first tour of grazing. The immediate world beyond their big barn still brand new and infinitely worthy of investigation. I stopped mid chores yesterday to watch them explore the foundation of a long-gone silo at the south end of the barn. Once they had thoroughly inspected the loose stones and
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Knit-A-Long News on a rainy day!

May 16, 2011 | 8 Comments

Rainy day lambs Rainy day rams Rainy day retriever I try not to whine about rain. Rain jump starts crops and makes the grass grow. It saves me time in watering new plantings and the new but yet unplanted red bud trees we acquired last week at the nursery. But it makes for soggy sheep and unpleasant sheep tending. Several slipped their coats yesterday; the fabric gets sopping wet and droopy and the whole coat slips to the side. When the leg strap dangles below the hock, a sheep steps out of that strap. Then they step out of the
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Lambs – See How they Grow

May 10, 2011 | 11 Comments

Spring is gaining slowly here. The trees are finally leafing out on the upper Patten. At the center of the farm (a drop in elevation of about 600') things are perceptibly further along. Warmer temperatures are elusive. Plenty of wind. The pastures are greening up nevertheless. I have strong feeling that cooler spring is healthy for the lambs. We put them out in pasture every morning. Although they can return to the barn at any time, they mostly stay out all day. I know because I spy on them. The moms graze lustily. The lambs nap in the warm pockets
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Winner Lamb Count Give-Away & Sheep Shares

May 2, 2011 | 9 Comments

Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts about what makes this time of year special for you. Congrats go to RichelleCK who commented on 4/22. Richelle, you're the winner of our drawing for 4 skeins of Cormo Silk Alpaca yarn in the color "Bluebird" in celebration of our new lambs. Spring is now in full throttle here on Patten Hill. The trees are leafing at last and the pastures are greening. It's truly a welcome sight but it means we are extra busy setting up fences for grazing and hoses for watering sheep in the field. At the same time
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