Thank you for visiting our farm this year.

Wishing you happiness, health and peace in 2014.

Saturday’s storm brought twelve inches of snow to our farm. The sheep dined al fresco Sunday morning. They needed a little coaxing to leave the barn, but once outside they seemed to enjoy ranging around the paddock. I distributed hay flakes everywhere, to spread the sheep out and make them walk.

As you can see, I’m late in getting sheep coats on this group. It’s on the agenda for the week after Christmas, along with a slew of projects that are back-burnered for the moment because there’s just too much to do before the holidays. I love this time of year, but am looking forward to getting back to business as usual.

Simple activities, like morning chores with sheep, are a respite from the hustle and rush.It forced me to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of this year’s first big snow.  I hope you, too, are finding moments of calm here and there within this hectic time of year.

Today is “big love” day at the farm – we’re turning our boys in with their ladies. Moorit ram, Chai, can barely contain his excitement.

This post is brief because I have lots to do at the farm this morning. We have to deworm the flock, trim feet, and put jackets on all the sheep.

But before I go, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who visited me at my booth and at the author’s event at Rhinebeck. Thanks for celebrating the launch of my book, Adventures In Yarn Farming, with me.

OMG – just looked outside and can you believe it’s SNOWING as I type  . . .

A gorgeous but intensely busy Columbus Day weekend here at the farm. I’m up to my eyeballs in the dye studio, getting ready to ship our Sheep Shares fall shares and simultaneously dyeing skeins for the New York Sheep & Wool festival this coming weekend (yikes!). Lots of leaf peepers on our road this weekend, stopping to take pics of our sheep, llamas and donkeys. The llamas are especially photogenic.

And if that’s not enough, poor Jellybean (Cormo ewe) is lame from an abcess in her ankle. Poor girl. It looks like a cut that became infected. Mike and I have been soaking her leg in a warm epsom salt bath, administering anitbiotics and aspirin. It’s draining (sorry, I know that’s gross, but that’s what it needs to do – and welcome to my world) and she is starting to bear weight on her foot again, which means she’s getting better.

Aside from Jellybean’s sore foot – a glorious weekend (as you can see from the snaps I took yesterday).

Cheers.

Yesterday I received an exciting email from my editor at Roost Books. The very first cartons of my book, Adventures in Yarn Farming, have arrived at the warehouse. Any day now, I will hold a copy of my own book in my own hands for the first time. This is a big moment for me because, as some of you know, this book has been a long time coming and because the subject material of this book – sheep, wool, fiber-craft, knitting, farming, rural New England life – is central to who I am, my daily work and ultimately what feeds my soul.

I couldn’t be more excited to share this news with you – and to share my book with the rest of the world, very, very soon.

My book will debut at the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck on October 19 & 20. I’ll be autographing copies at the Merritt Booksellers Authors Event in building B, on both Saturday (from 1 – 3) and Sunday (from 2 – 3). I will bring the gorgeous samples of the knitting patterns (from favorite designers Kate Gilbert, Christa Giles, Lisa Lloyd, Marnie MacLean and Melissa Morgan-Oakes) from the book for display.

When I’m not at the authors event, you can find me in my booth, Foxfire Fiber & Designs, in building A, spaces 29-30 – my usual location. I’ll have a colorful array of Cormo and Cormo blend yarns & fibers from my flock – and more copies of my book available.

To celebrate the launch, I’m offering the chance to win one 2014 membership to my farm’s CSA Sheep Shares to those who visit me at Rhinebeck (at either the Merritts event or at my booth). Be sure to put your name in the drawing if you stop by.

Over the next two weeks I’ll be sharing more glimpses of what my book holds in store. And I will offer a contest and prize drawing to celebrate this event with my blog readers, so stay tuned.

Will let you know when my very own first copy arrives. And in the meantime, you can learn more about Adventures in Yarn Farming here. My flock and I can’t wait to share our farm’s stories with you.