Archives for knitting

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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We Had Visitors!

June 6, 2013 | 3 Comments

Last weekend our Sheep Shares CSA members and their guests flocked Springdelle Farm for our annual summer social event – the Strolling of the Sheep. I love this event. There's no better time of year to showcase our lush, verdant fields and to put our flock on center stage. Here are a few scenes from the day. Of course Crackerjack, our guardian llama, received his share of the limelight. As did our mini donkeys, Cupcake, Prissy and Dulce who quickly made themselves the center of attention. The donks seemed to think any gathering is all about them. They quickly mobbed
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Wool Away!

April 7, 2013 | 3 Comments

"Wool Away!" is the command given by the shearer to the "fleece-o" to pick up the freshly shorn fleece after a shorn ewe exits the shearing board. In the lingo of a "down under" shearing shed, the "sheep-o" pulls sheep from the holding pen and walks her onto the shearing board; the shearer shears; the "broomie" sweeps away the fribs, dags and bellywool; and after the sheep is shorn, the fleece-o tosses the fleece pizza-dough style minus the spin – onto the skirting table. The skirters then get to work. Since we are a small operation, our "sheep-o" often doubles
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Solstice Sheep & Donkeys

December 21, 2012 | 1 Comment

It was a peacable pasture yesterday morning at breakfast. We turned out the sheep and donks together and fed them in the field. As you can see, the two groups kept some distance from each other at first. But by later in the day, they were comfortably ambling about with no worries. A lovely day in the field for all. It's a very good thing they are feeling more companionable toward each other. Wind, snow and rain rolled in last night. From the looks of things, the critters peacefully shared a cozy barn. Everyone was dry this morning and the
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Sunny Sunday Sheep & Donkeys

December 9, 2012 | 3 Comments

After two days of raw, dreary drizzle and fog, the sheep and donkeys were elated when I turned them out into the pasture this morning. The donkeys frolicked, bucked, tossed their heads and kicked up their heels in delight. I don't think they're use to having quite so much space for frisking and cavorting. The sixteen ewes who are their barn mates at the moment, were equally enthusiastic to have free run of the pasture. From the fence line they intently watched the donkey antics in the adjacent field. We are making strides with the donkey-sheep dynamic. Since the two
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Donkey Day Two

December 7, 2012 | 8 Comments

Yesterday the donks their first close encounter of the woolly kind. Since their arrival on Tuesday, they've had 16 Cormo ewes for neighbors in an adjacent paddock. The two groups have been studying each other through the woven wire fence separating them. This arrangement is fine except for one drawback – the donkeys have free run of a small paddock and access to the barn. The sheep have a large pasture with a stand of trees for shelter – but the only way to the barn is through the donkey paddock. The problem isn't the sheep camping out – well-insulated
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Flock Talk – Shetlands and a Goat and losing daylight

November 26, 2012 | 3 Comments

Gypsy and Sassafras posed nicely for me in the midst of flock maintenance tasks. I don't know about you but I still haven't recalibrated my daily routine to daylight saving time and I really hate doing evening chores as darkens settles on the farm. Since the flock still has plenty to graze, they're not particularly fussy about what time we show up. But watch, that will soon change, once we get some snow cover – and that could be later this week. There are fluffy flakes swirling outside my window right now as I type. Mike has set up the
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Wintering Rams

January 5, 2012 | 15 Comments

Following a snowless December, 2012 is off to a cold start. I don't mind the cold, nor do the sheep. Our rams and wethers are still in the paddock behind our house at the top of the hill (except for Chai and Cinder, who are down at the farm for breeding season). In most years, we've moved everyone down to the big barns by this time. This season, we're waiting for weather to force the issue. As soon as we hear snow in the forecast, it will be time to bring all sheep back to the farm for winter. In
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