Archives for Handspinning

Summer Shares

August 18, 2010 | 12 Comments

Returning from a blog hiatus and a trip to spend some time with my family and friends on the seacoast. We celebrated a very special birthday. My niece, Lilly, turned 1. And okay, I'm a little biased, but I'm telling you she is the cutest, happiest little girl in the world. It is such good fun being an Auntie. Going on vacation is an amazing amount of work. List making, shopping, packing, instructions for the house sitter, instructions for the farm – it almost doesn't feel worth all the effort until you actually get away for a few days. I
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Lamb Camp

July 29, 2010 | 15 Comments

I'm always amazed at how quickly the lamb flock adjusts to free ranging during the summer months. With Crackerjack their trusty guardian, they're camped in the back pasture. We "stockpiled" it for them, meaning we kept other sheep out of it so the lambs would have fresh forage. In some places the grass is taller than they are. So when I go counting heads at day's end, it's a lamb safari! It's so different from the barnyard life they lived just weeks ago. The whole flock is free ranging for the summer. Although many lambs in this group are now
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Lambs – Out to Pasture

July 22, 2010 | 8 Comments

It takes a llama to get the lambs going in the right direction. Just a quick post – I thought you'd like to see how we get them out to pasture in the morning. WE LOVE CRACKERJACK!! copyright 2010. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this website. Please do not take content or images from this website without my explicit written permission. Thank you.
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Weaning the Lambs

July 19, 2010 | 15 Comments

The lambs huddle around me in the barn. With the shift of independence from the ewes, they've become more interested in our comings and goings. When I arrive they press in like this. They butt me in the legs and nibble on my camera strap. It's a nice way to start the morning. This group has made the transition of weaning quite smoothly. Just one very noisy night and then quiet. Except for when we arrive. They shadow Crackerjack, their new leader and we count on his help in getting them where we need them to go. The mother's are
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Of Rams and Men

July 15, 2010 | 20 Comments

In summer the rams live in our backyard. We like to visit with them after dinner, before dusk gets thick with mosquitoes and forces us to retreat indoors. It's one of my favorite times of day. In general it's ill advised to treat rams like giant teddy bears. You certainly shouldn't get down at their level in the middle of the field without nearby cover, as Mike is the photo above. Mike has a special connection with the "big boys". It's a guy thing, I suppose. He's not intimidated by them the way I am. They sense it and don't
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Big Moves

July 14, 2010 | 5 Comments

A few scenes from a busy day full of big changes. Weaning, Day One – We separated the lambs from the mothers this afternoon. It was high time. While I'm sure the lambs would nurse until they were yearlings (if the mothers allowed it), they are getting everything they need from the pastures now. And those mommas need a break. Holly led the troupe across the road: one llama, 20 mothers, 33 lambs. An orderly procession until we made it to the open barn where it was all craziness, noise and chaos. We sorted ewes from lambs and then
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Keeping Watch

July 7, 2010 | 9 Comments

Hay is happening. Last week's string of sunny, breezy days kicked off a chain reaction. Every farm in Franklin county is making hay. You need at least 4 days to get it crackling dry. Norm mowed every field on the farm in two days and he and his family then spent the rest of the week tedding, raking and baling. Haymaking means juggling the pastures a bit, keeping the flock out of the way. Perfect timing, really, as Holly and I would like to wean the lambs next week. We plan to use one of the mown fields for lamb
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Sheep Shares Lamb Visit part two

June 29, 2010 | 4 Comments

More scenes from the day: Georgia and Mistral remained center stage throughout the afternoon. Even when the rest of the flock drifted back toward the barn and we settled down to knitting in the shade, they wandered from guest to guest. Mistral inspected the contents of every knitter's bag (for contraband bottles?), - and almost frogged someone's w.i.p.! Georgia just wanted to be spoiled. She was not disappointed. Like a pair of toddlers, into everything!!! When it was time for a group shot Georgia took her second nap of the day in the arms of her new best
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Wake Up Call

June 24, 2010 | 71 Comments

Let me explain the pause in blogging – and please read this post carefully because it contains an important message for all my female readers. My agenda last week included prepping to teach handspinning at WEBS, dyeing summer yarn share samples, helping Holly give lambs their CDT boosters, getting ready for the Open Farm on the 27th, collecting sheep and goat fecal samples for inspection, sowing another round of salad greens and staking the tomatoes, attending my nephew's high school graduation in New Hampshire, working on my book . . . My "to do" list didn't include having a heart attack.
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Bottle Lamb Nostalgia

June 14, 2010 | 14 Comments

Georgia & Mistral Garamond My three little friends are now bottle lambs in name only – since we're entering week two of the weaning phase. That doesn't stop them from mobbing me the moment I set foot in the barn, nudging and nosing around my legs, insistently bah-ing, pleading eyes, jumping up in protest when all I have to offer is a handful of hay. Garamond is taking it very well. He's caught on to the "no more milk" thing, and after quickly checking just to be sure there are no bottles up my sleeve, he ducks outside. Georgia is
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