I arrived to a quieter farm this morning. The lambs at last are settling into their new home in the carriage barn, no longer pining for their moms. Less stressed but wistful nonetheless, they were very curious about the change in morning ritual, intently watching me through the gate, as you can see in the following video clip. Over the next few weeks, they’ll become more focused on Crackerjack and Buttercup, their surrogate mothers for the time being. Saying goodbye to Charlotte yesterday was hard but her departure was peaceful and it clearly was the right time. Charlotte was always
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A barnyard of not-so- happy campers. On Wednesday, we separated the lambs from their moms, leading the little ones along with their nanny, Crackerjack, to the Carriage Barn paddock while the moms were shut in the dairy.  It's really tough getting lambs to flock properly. They don't want to leave their moms. And they have no leaders, since they have always followed their moms. Whenever we've wanted to call the lambs, we simply call the mothers. (The only lambs to come when called are the bottle lambs, and they've already figured out that we're not bringing them any more bottles.)
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If Crackerjack could read I know he would be truly flattered by all his fan mail last week. He's such a modest guy who really doesn't seek special attention at all, which makes him all the more deserving of praise and recognition for the important work he does. And, yeah, he's a really neat looking llama (goofy grin aside).  Thanks to everyone who commented. I drew a winner yesterday for the Crackerjack Fan Club contest – Tish is the lucky  Crackerjack fan! Another wet week here has created challenges, headaches, work disruptions. The rain causes the fabric of the sheep
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Hanging out with the llama is the "way cool" thing to do these days. Crackerjack has developed quite a following. The lambs toddle along with him in the pasture and gravitate toward him at rest time in the barn. They're fascinated by his fiber, always nibbling at the bits of straw stuck to his fleece. I feel a little sorry about him never getting a break and sneak him handfuls of grain when the ewes aren't looking. He deserves it. In fact, I think Crackerjack deserves his own fan club. He's an amazing guy and we love him. Would you
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My apologies for the lapse in posting. As summer kicks in, the workload has doubled. There is now as much to do outdoors as there is indoors, and I'm struggling to find a balance. Holly is keeping pace with barn cleaning and fence rotation and Mike is tending to the "big boys" camped at the top of the farm. We all take turns with bottle feedings and I handle the daily triage of minor issues. A lamb that spent too much time at the grain feeder has a poopy bottom (lucky Holly had the fun task of cleaning him up
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On Saturday morning as I was sprucing up the barn for visitors (Sheep Shares member Lamb Visit Weekend), the lambs were playing their own version of king of the hill on the straw bale I had left in the pen.  At just 8 weeks & under, the ram lambs are already becoming territorial and a bit adversarial. It's all play for the moment, but that will change as time passes. Thought you'd enjoy watching their goofy battle over the bale! (B.T.W. – you can tells the little ewes from the rams by looking at the ear tags. Girls are tagged
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I'm posting from my hotel room in downtown Providence, having spent yesterday evening in the company of a great group of people – the Slater Mill Knitters Guild. This fortunate group has one of the most amazing meeting venues I've ever encountered: the refurbished Slater Mill complex, a historic mill located on the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, R.I. that has been resurrected as a museum and community guild meeting space. You can check it all out right here. Lovely setting, lovely group of people. I was fortunate to have been asked to share my story with them. Thank you Bernadette
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I spent Memorial Day weekend at the Massachusetts Sheep & Woolcraft Festival which is one of my favorite gigs. Located in Cummington, just 45 minutes from the farm, it's like playing for the home crowd. Many of my neighbors are exhibitors, visitors or volunteers. The weekend has the feel of a visit with good friends. Fantastic weather, despite the thunderstorms that blew through the region on both Friday and Saturday night. Got lucky there.   I got lucky in the fleece show too. Stella McCartney's (a black ewe lamb from 08) pretty fleece scored a blue ribbon in the Colored Fine
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The Massachusetts Sheep & Woolcraft Fair is this weekend in Cummington. Small, laid-back and authentic, it's one of my favorite festivals.  The volunteers work very hard to pull this event off. The weather looks promising. I've selected some of my cormo, leicester and cormo cross fleeces to enter in the fleece competition – we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck. Another show means another busy week, so I'll apologize up front for my blogging brevity, and for taking the easy way out with this little movie of Holly trying to feed a handful of bottle lambs at once. You
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I spent Saturday at Webs Fleece Market in Northampton, an annual event that coincides with Webs' annual tent sale extravaganza. You should have seen the crowds. Since I was vending and signing copies of my hand dye book, I never made it to the big tent to check out the wares. It's really nice of Kathy and Steve share this busy venue with local wool growers. Having rushed out the door at an early hour yesterday, it felt good to relax a bit this morning with Mike and the lambkins. I think I've told you that the bottle feeding is
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