Announcing this year’s theme (drumroll please. . .)

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 in on our conversation on Ravelry. But the decision came down to one of the reasons why I use names rather than relying on numbers to know my flock (even though they all required to have ear tags). Naming shows respect for each animal and establishes its identity. It reminds us that although they are part of a flock, they are individuals. No two sheep look exactly alike or act alike.

Nomenclature connects flock members to the year of birth. I know without consulting the flock book that Parsley was born in 2006, the year of herbs and spices; Calypso and Cassandra 2005, Greek mythology; Donatella, Chanel, Burberry are 2008's designer lambs; Crimson, Violet, Indigo (along with Blaze, Cinder & Dune) were born in the year of colors, coinciding with the release of my book on hand-dyeing, 2009.

Tansy, Cormo ewe 2006

Our naming themes are more meaningful when tied to a world event (like the suggested winter Olympic theme) or something that is happening in my own life. And since the written word is very much my current focus, I've chosen Valerie's suggestion of "Fonts" for this year's theme. I'm confident it will easily generate 30 – 40 original, quirky, memorable names. (BTW, Shakespeare was the other top contender – very popular. Let's keep that one in the back of our minds for another year.)

So thank you, Valerie. (And since I happen to know you've recently reached a milestone in your own writing, congratulations!)