Archives for Handspinning

First Lambs!!

March 27, 2010 | 23 Comments

Hooray! A quick post to share the news: our first lambs arrived at mid-day (right in the middle of a photo shoot for my book!). Tupelo, a three year old Cormo, delivered a ewe lamb followed by a ram lamb. Both sturdy, on their feet and nursing already. The picture above was taken on arrival. Below, the nosey aunties are inspecting the newcomers. Haven't had a moment to name them, but will let you know. More pics soon. copyright 2010. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this site. Please do not take content
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New Arrivals – Giveaway!

March 26, 2010 | 121 Comments

Lamb-o-rama Update: Still no new arrivals of the wooly four-legged sort just yet. The photo below is a close-up of my neighbor Barbara Gig's little cutie. But while we're waiting, I'm now kicking off a month of giveaways celebrating new arrivals of all sorts. This week I'm celebrating the arrival of spring shares for Sheep Shares! Fresh, crisp skeins of our hot-off-the-sheep Cormo wool lusciously blended with alpaca from a local farm and bombyx silk. And a new arrival of another sort. A good friend, Gail Callahan, aka the Kangaroo Dyer, is celebrating the launch of her new
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Lamb Watch

March 25, 2010 | 9 Comments

Got back to the farm just before 1 a.m. this morning after my presentation last night for an enthusiastic group of fiberists - the Boston Area Spinners & Dyers guild. Many thanks to them for asking me to share my slideshow and dyeing techniques – and also thanks to everyone here who wished me well. Although I the guild co-chair Carol (also a shepherd expecting lambs anytime now) offered to put me up for the night, I was anxious to get home to my own barn should anything happen. Holly reported that two ewes were behaving suspiciously at dinnertime. I went directly
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Boston Bound – Dyed In The Wool

March 23, 2010 | 5 Comments

Tomorrow's going to be a busy day. I'm giving a presentation "Dyed in the Wool: The Colors of a New England Sheep Farm" to the Boston Area Spinners and Dyers (BASD). This group meets in Sudbury, but their membership draws from the greater Boston area – my old stomping grounds. When I booked this presentation many months ago, I wasn't thinking clearly about the timing of our first lambs. This afternoon Andy reminded me that tomorrow is D-day if any ewes were bred the moment Teaberry set foot in the pen last October. Holly and Mike will be on call
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Barn Check

March 22, 2010 | 11 Comments

Just back from a quick barn check. Lambs are imminent; we're stepping up our visits to the flock. Watchful for unusual behavior. The girls are curious and surprised by my visits after lights out. Holly and I are watchful now for anything out of the ordinary. We leave each other notes in the barn log on the table in the milk room. Like this one yesterday, from me to her: "P.M. Stella acting weird. Not so interested in hay. Moved her to group 1 (where she seemed to want to be) but still not interested in eating. 'Moooing'. Sniffing butts
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Spring at Springdelle Farm

March 21, 2010 | 15 Comments

Hard to believe that just three weeks ago we were buried with two feet of snow. Winter made a mellow exit this weekend here in New England. Spring's arrival today capped a stretch of blissful warmth and sunshine. All creatures appear to be celebrating the change in season, though we're due for grey skies and cooler days for the start of this week. The sheep enjoying a quiet morning in the pasture. Neighbor's ducks, grateful for the spring melt. Red-winged blackbirds, epaulets in full display, atop each tree. The farm is ringing their calls along with the cries of the
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As the wool spins. . .

March 13, 2010 | 8 Comments

Moving right along, an update on the fiber front: I'm about half way through sorting the fleeces from shearing. The wool for the spring and summer Sheep Shares is in process at the mills – which means U.P.S. will begin delivering boxes of deliciously fresh yarn and fiber right around mid-lambing season. I'm immensely relieved to have yarn perking along as we await lambs. The show fleeces are carefully wrapped like burritos in paper and tied with twine – stowed away for the first round of competitions in May. Except for Teaberry and Cilantro's fleeces which are huge and wouldn't
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Announcing this year’s theme (drumroll please. . .)

March 12, 2010 | 13 Comments

Memphis, Cormo cross ewe lamb from 2007 (theme: U.S. towns & cities) Tough choice. First of all, thank you to everyone who took the time to offer a suggestion. While I always enjoy hearing from the world beyond the farm, your feedback is especially welcome at this season where the work here gets more intense and my occasions for interacting with the real world more limited as my focus is on the farm.Your thoughts, questions and input are welcome and I enjoy hearing from you. I've waffled a bit in choosing this year's theme. Some of you have chimed
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Ewe Tube

March 6, 2010 | 5 Comments

The t.v. in the bedroom is tuned to barn cam 1 most of the time now, which gives me this view of the flock. I looked up from my reading last night to spy on the girls, occasionally toggling over to camera 2. Would you believe, Crackerjack now sleeps across the barn threshold as if to say, "no one gets by me!" At one point I saw his head go straight up with his ears alert, pointing down toward the dell. Then I heard the coyotes yipping in the distance. He caught it first. Good llama. There were no picky
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Shearing Day 3 – Contest: Name the Lambs

March 3, 2010 | 119 Comments

The pregnant ewes are now all shorn. Whew! It's the group I fret over the most so I am hugely relieved that they're all now freshly coiffed and dressed in clean frocks. Without their ten pound fleeces, it's much easier to see if any ewes are over conditioned or under conditioned. The group looks just right. Carrera is the only one who looks as though she might possibly be eating pickles and ice cream on the sly. This afternoon as Andy finished shearing Galveston and while she was still seated on the board, Holly and I patted her tummy to
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