Archives for Books

Name the Lambs Contest Winner!

March 30, 2014 | No Comments

I am pleased to announce a winner to our Name the Lambs contest. Mike and I narrowed down the list of potential name themes to our five favorites: types of tea, candy, National Parks, Disney characters and Shakespearean names. We then let our Sheep Shares CSA 2014 members cast their votes to decide this year’s theme. The choice by a clear margin was to use the Shakespearean theme for naming this year’s lambs and credit goes to Anne who was the first to suggest this theme on March 20 at 1:06 pm. Thank you, Anne, and to everyone who added
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GIVEAWAY – Adventures In Yarn Farming Celebration

November 8, 2013 | 130 Comments

Entries for this GIVEAWAY are now closed. Congratulations to our Givewaway winner, Sara, who posted on November 12 at 8:25 a.m. – she is the lucky winner of a Sheep Shares CSA 2014 Yarn Sampler (natural) membership. Thank you to everyone who posted – and for all your kind words on the launch of my new book. I can’t believe it’s almost that time. The official publication date for my new book, Adventures in Yarn Farming is next week – is November 12th! On that date, my book will be available everywhere. I’m celebrating the official publication this month by
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Evening Chores

November 3, 2013 | 10 Comments

Just back to the farm after a weekend vending and book signing at the Fiber Festival of New England at the Eastern States Exposition. Thanks everyone who stopped by my booth to scoop up skeins of Cormo yarn and to be among the first to acquire a copy of Adventures in Yarn Farming. I’m really flattered to hear the positive, warm responses from those of you who had purchased copies at Rhinebeck two weeks ago – and have already finished reading it. Wow, and wow. You made my day. Writing a book is like working in a bubble. It’s wonderful,
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Fiber, Foliage & Friends – Scenes from the Day

October 9, 2013 | 2 Comments

Last Saturday a group of intrepid Sheep Shares CSA members braved the threat of showers and the back roads of western Franklin county to join us for a special afternoon. Fiber, Foliage & Friends is an annual tradition here for our Sheep Shares CSA members. The event is a celebration – with knitterly camaraderie, home-baked apple crisps and pumpkin snickerdoodles, sheep antics, donkey pats, yarn painting and some jaw-droppingly gorgeous finished projects knit from our spring share yarn – all against a glorious autumnal backdrop. Thank you to everyone who joined us. For those of you who couldn’t, here’s a
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Milestones & Quiet Farm on New Years Day

January 1, 2013 | 10 Comments

Mike and I celebrated the holidays quietly at home this year, enjoying the company of our flock, dogs, llamas, goat, donkeys – and each other. We celebrated arrivals and marked several milestones this season. Milestone #1 – Hooray for Zoe and Welcome Home, Farley! The week before Christmas, we had some encouraging news for our Zoe, our 1 year old Golden Retriever. As some of you may know, she's been convalescing from radical surgery back in October to address severe degenerative joint disease in her right elbow. Her xrays on December 19th hold promise – good healing from the surgery.
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Back Online

June 1, 2010 | 21 Comments

It's been a challenging two weeks at the end of one of the most hectic of springs here. After a short hiatus from the farm to help with a family situation. I arrived home to nearly four days without power after last week's severe electrical storm. It's a great excuse for not doing the laundry, but it certainly creates an email back log. It also wreaks havoc on show preparation. I've never missed a Mass. Sheep & Wool Festival and was especially sad to miss this year. Thanks everyone for your concern and for checking in. We're fine – and the
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Spring Appearances

May 7, 2010 | 7 Comments

It feels very strange to not be packing a van to head to the NH S&W Festival today. Family circumstances, a book to finish on the heels of lambing season and a general energy lag are all contributing factors in this really tough decision. Sometimes you reach a moment when you say to yourself, "whoa – something's got to give." I send my love to everyone there and look forward to being back in my usual spot at the festival in 2011. Here's where you can find Foxfire Fiber this spring: – WEBS Fleece Market and Tent Sale, Saturday May
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Lambitious

April 30, 2010 | 6 Comments

The lambs are feeling more "lambitious". Scaling straw bales is their newest challenge. Each morning while we're cleaning the barn they compete to see who's king of the straw bale. After breakfast, we send everyone out into the pasture for the day, except for the triplets, and Mistral who likes to hang out with the triplets. And Thalia and little Zap, who is so much smaller than the rest and still catching on to life in the barn. The pack of lambs tags along with Crackerjack in the field. He's the lamb nanny. While it's been crazy windy here over
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Lambed Out! Celebration GiveAway

April 23, 2010 | 68 Comments

We're all resting after a long journey . . . . . . and breathing a huge sigh of relief this morning. Our last lamb of the season arrived yesterday evening. Thalia delivered the sleepy ram lamb pictured above just as I was heading to the barn for Mistral's bedtime bottle feeding. It was really considerate of her to lamb before I went to bed for the night. Since he is our grand finale of lambing 2010, I've named him Zapfino – "Zap" for short. He had thirty two curious little noses poking through the slats of his pen to
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Friday GiveAways & Studio Lamb

April 16, 2010 | 106 Comments

A few scenes from my morning: I've named Helena's black ewe lamb "Mistral" (one of yesterday's suggestions, thank you!). She spent her 4th night indoors, after making new friends in the barn yesterday. Following her midnight bottle feeding I brought her back to the studio with me as I did not want to return to the barn for the 2 & 4 a.m. feedings. She doesn't stay in her basket anymore, wants to sleep on the floor beside the bed with her head tucked under the bedskirt. I put a woolen blanket there for her and she has
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