Archives for sheep

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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Fleece Show at Mass. Sheep & Woolcraft Fair

May 27, 2013 | 6 Comments

Every spring on shearing day I hold aside a handful of special fleeces from my flock. Sometimes it's a fleece from a sheep who holds a dear place in my heart. And some fleeces are simply masterpieces of wool, crimp and lanolin. We keep our eyes peeled those truly special fleeces on shearing day. After a shorn sheep stands, shakes and scrambles from the shearing board we take a minute to examine the goods. If the goods are super-good, then everyone pauses to pull locks, fondle and admire. Back in March, that was the case for a number of fleeces.Those fleeces
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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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Another Day in the Shearing Shed

April 4, 2013 | 1 Comment

These photos were taken during last Friday's shearing. We were fortunate to have more spring-like weather and luckier yet to have Holly and Meg pitch in for the day! We still have about a third of the flock left to shear. Saturday is our shearing open house for our Sheep Shares Yarn & Fiber CSA members and their guests. We'll be posting photos on Instagram (look for them under BarbParry) throughout the day.
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Ready, Set, Shear!

March 24, 2013 | 5 Comments

On Friday we rolled up our sleeves and got to work on one of my favorite days in annual cycle of yarn farming. Shearing day! This year we've divided the work of shearing our flock over three days, last Friday, next Friday and then Saturday April 6 – when our Sheep Shares yarn farm CSA members will join us and pitch in. Working at this pace gives me time to be hands on with both sheep and fleece and makes for a relaxed, more comfortable day for both humans and sheep. We started with a group of ewes, below. Followed
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Happy Spring!

March 20, 2013 | No Comments

Okay, so spring 2013 is off to a less-than-ideal start. This was the view from our front door this morning. Mike's been busy clearing 12 inches of heavy wet snow from the driveway so we can get to the barn. Here's to brighter, warmer days ahead.Wishing you all a happy spring.
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Snowed In

February 27, 2013 | 17 Comments

Snow's so deep, the sheep won't leave the barn unless we make them. We break paths for them and lure them outdoors with hay on fair days. Today is not one of those days. It's been snowing sideways since I opened my eyes at 6 a.m. Fat, wet snow that shovels like concrete. Mike is scrambling to clear the driveway before this switches over to rain later – then we'll have a hot mess on our hands. A cold mess, I should say. It's been a wind-roaring, snow falling, frost heaving, ice damming, nose freezing winter – wearing us down
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Top of the Hay Stack

January 26, 2013 | 6 Comments

When it comes to barn chores on winter mornings, Mike is a trooper. Since the start of the new year, I've been under the weather off and on. He's been a super good sport about tackling morning barn chores solo for the better part of last four weeks. In mid winter, morning chores on a New England sheep farm are like an endurance test. You work quickly and efficiently. Inside the carriage barn where the rams spend the winter, square bales of hay are neatly stacked from the floor to the rafters. The stack is beside the row of feeders
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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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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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