Sheep Gal Blog | Foxfire Fiber & Designs

Hurricane Preparation

August 27, 2011 | 17 Comments

What will Hurricane Irene mean for our farm? Like everyone along the eastern seaboard, we're being told to brace ourselves and be ready for the worst. High winds, torrential rain and extended power outage.

Yesterday I rounded up the flock in the high pasture and brought everyone down to the barn to ride out the storm. Without power, electric fences are useless; I don't want to chasing sheep all over Patten Hill in a hurricane.

I picked as many pears as I could from the tree beside the sheep pasture. Our pears are lumpy and imperfect to the eye, but tasty. The trees are loaded this year. I'm sure the storm will shake them all loose.

The sheep love pears. I chucked a handful of bruised ones into the paddock. Clover was the first to notice.

And then Cocoa. And then everyone else.

With pear juice dripping from their wooly chins, they begged like dogs for more. I'm sure tomorrow they'll find all the pears they can eat tossed about the pasture.

It's quiet here today. I'm finishing my coffee, then on my way to the farm now to fill extra stock tanks with water, fasten windows and put storm keepers on the barn doors.

I'll ride out the storm with my knitting and a good book.

I'm sending my strongest wishes for safe passage to all readers bracing for Irene. Be well, let me know how you fare!

Categories: animals/wildlife, Craft, fiber farm, knitting, and sheep.
Tags: Hurricane Irene, knitting, pear trees, and sheep.

Puppies Pending!

August 16, 2011 | 38 Comments

I have some exciting non-sheep related news. We are getting puppies in September!

A pair of Golden Retrievers (male and female) will soon call our farm home. I have been in contact with breeder Louise Guy (of Stoneledge Golden Retrievers) since June after losing our dear Daphne. At the time I wasn't sure we wanted another dog so soon but was intrigued to learn that Louise's dogs share common U.K. bloodlines with all three of our girls who passed away over the last year. After meeting Louise and falling in love with her dogs Holly, Crystal (the moms) and Gucci (the dad), we put our names on the list for one puppy and then quickly decided that we would rather raise two while we're at it.

The loss of our girls left a huge void in our home. Sure, we have pastures full of sheep and llamas and goats; we see plenty of four-legged critters in every direction when we look outside.

What we've really been missing this summer is sharing the sofa with a snoozing pooch, picking fur balls out of the beater bar on the vacuum cleaner, tripping over tennis balls and chew toys in the hallway, scooping clots of fluff from the swimming pool skimmer. . . and mostly the gigantic "<<<<<<HELLO! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??>>>>>>" whenever we step into the house.

We love our sheep, but they don't sleep at my feet when I settle down with with my knitting or a good book at the end of day. And the llamas are useless when it comes to retrieving tennis balls.

We raise sheep but we are dog people.

And so we are getting puppies. They were born in July. Today we met them for the first time.

OMG.

Can you tell we are just a little excited?!

Categories: animals/wildlife, PS Dogster, and sheep.
Tags: Golden Retrievers, puppies, and Stoneledge Golden Retrievers.

Shetlands Meet the Flock

August 7, 2011 | 11 Comments

At last, our new Shetland lambs can play with the rest of the flock. After passing muster with our vet, they spent a day sharing adjacent pens in the barn with our Cormo ewe lambs (and Mistral, Georgia, Arial and Crackerjack). Everyone got to sniff each other. Then we opened up the gates and let them mingle.

It felt a little like sending children out into the school yard on the first day of school.

Sassy and Ginger were eager to mix it up with the big sheep.

The Cormo ewe lambs seem to think, "Cool, more lambie friends! Check out there fancy fleeces."

The lambs were running in circles, sniffing each other. It was hard to get a decent pic. This shot gives you an idea of the size difference in two distinctly different sheep breeds. These lambs are all roughly the same age.

All went smoothly until Mistral (below, left) came over to inspect the new kids.

"Oh no, someone cuter than me!" Bash, bash, bash.

My hopes for harmony went out the window. So curious that Mistral, who as a lamb was rejected by her own mother (Helena 2010) was so aggressive toward the newcomers. Good grief, what a bully. She is clearly the dominant ewe of this little flock and was making that very clear to our new arrivals.

Sassy was very curious about Crackerjack, but he seemed to be giving them the cold shoulder too.

Things settled down when I sent everyone out to the pasture. Perhaps it was my mistake for not making the introductions out in the field, rather than at the barn. I had no idea Mistral would be so territorial and such a bully. She's now fully accepted the Sheltlands. I saw them napping in front of the barn fans early this afternoon. No more angst. Everyone is now playing nicely (both out in the field and in the barn).

Categories: animals/wildlife, fiber farm, and sheep.
Tags: fiber farm, lambs, sheep farm, and Shetland sheep.

Summer Scenes

August 3, 2011 | 13 Comments

Fall Yarn Shares – Cormo Silk Alpaca yarn, Foxfire Fiber & Designs

The photos tell the story of what's happening at the farm. Summer has hit its stride. The garden's growing full tilt, hay's happening . . .

During the July heat wave the sheep grazed early morning and evening, returning to the barn to sit out the mid-day sun. The fans are running in the barn 24/7 to keep everyone comfortable.The lambs form a wooly puddle at my feet when I come to the barn in the morning.

Our new Shetlands are loving life on the farm. We just received their final health clearances for OPP (Ovine Progressive Pneumonia). Tomorrow we'll introduce them to the 2011 ewe lambs and to Crackerjack, their new guardian. Fingers crossed that everyone plays nicely.

In the midst of it all, I'm working in the dye studio, plugging away on dyeing our fall yarn shares. Like the sheep, I'm at it early in the morning or after sun down. It's just too darn hot otherwise. I'm thrilled to say we started shipping our fall shares of Cormo Silk Alpaca yarn and roving today. Sheep Shares members, expect to see your fall shares sometime this month (August). We are doing our best to get them out the door as soon as they are ready.

Categories: Craft, fiber farm, Handspinning, knitting, and sheep.
Tags: Cormo Silk Alpaca yarn, fiber farm, Foxfire Fiber, sheep, sheep farm, and Sheep Shares.

New Little Sheep at the Big Farm

July 21, 2011 | 12 Comments

Today I'd like to introduce Ginger and Sassafras, our new Shetland lambs!

We first met them three weeks ago at the National Sheep Show at the Eastern States Expo in West Springfield, MA. They were raised by the Ludlam family at Windswept Farms in Michigan who were showing sheep that weekend.

We did not go to the show with a sheep shopping list. We went with a very specific mission: to pick up new sheep handling equipment (super light-weight aluminum panels for pens and a sorting gate). There was no plan to pick up more sheep.

So why did we buy two Shetland lambs? Honestly, I don't know.

While I was in the ladies room minding my own business, Mike wandered over to the sheep pens and became very good friends with the Ludlam's Shetlands. I don't think he had ever seen Shetlands before ("What are these guys? They're so tiny! They're so friendly!").

We hung out with the Shetlands, who wanted lots of pats and neck scratching, then we wandered around the rest of the show sheep pens and eventually came back to the cute little Shetlands. I tracked down the owner and, to make a long story short, we ended up with this pair of ewe lambs the next day.

They are inquisitive, friendly munchkins with gorgeous fleeces. At my local farm store I had trouble finding a sheep halter small enough to fit their pin sized heads. It turned out that the cat aisle offered the right solution. A 14" cat halter (with a few extra holes since it was still too big!) is the best answer for a Shetland lamb.

Ginger

Sassy

Mike and I love hanging out with the girls. They are in quarantine until we get health clearance from our vet (OPP testing and clean fecal samples). Then we'll put them in with our ewe lambs. Crackerjack has already noted the new arrivals.

I promise more pics soon, just wanted to share the news about their arrival.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and condolences on our losses of Daphne and Butch. The cards, comments and emails mean a lot to us. Mike and I truly appreciate your understanding and support.

Unfortunately we had another loss this past week: Buttercup, one of our original Cormo ewes. We had to have the vet come and put her down. She had been doing poorly for a while, losing weight, not eating well.

The vet determined that her molars were missing which explains why she was unable to properly chew grass or hay or pellets to a digestible size. Putting her down was the kindest thing to do. Poor old girl. She was a sweetie and has left us with many daughters and grand-daughters, all as gentle as she was. She was the nicest tempered and most maternal of our original Cormo sheep from Alice Field.

This summer has been a sobering reminder that our farm is home to a fair number of senior flock members. Right now everyone is down near the barns. Once this heat wave breaks, we will keep the "grannies" closer to the barn. The rest of the adults will migrate back to the uphill pastures.

Categories: animals/wildlife, Craft, fiber farm, Handspinning, knitting, and sheep.
Tags: fiber farm, sheep farm, and shetland lambs.

Departures and New Beginnings

July 14, 2011 | 38 Comments

The past month has been an unplanned hiatus and respite for us. We lost two beloved members of our family and farm, Daphne and Butch.

Our 15.5 y.o. retriever, Daphne, was our first English Golden. While she maintained a strong spirit right up until the end, her health has been sliding for months. We think losing her pal and half sister Mishka at Christmas last year was really hard on her.

Although we thought we were prepared for when this moment would come, we have been a mess, to be honest with you! Losing our three girls within a 1 1/2 year span has felt like losing family – and a big part of what has always made our home feel like home.

Daph's departure stirred the pot of grief for the loss of all three of the special girls in the photo below. This is the first time we've been dog-less in 25 years.

We are sitting still with it for now – but let me tell you, it will not stay this way for long.

Daphne Almax of Xanthos

11/3/95 – 6/18/11

Although deaf and struggling to walk, Daph could snatch a tennis ball out of the air right up until the end (well, as long as I aimed for her mouth). Her favorite past times: barking at rabbits, sucking on her fruffy toys, slurping Frosty Paws.

Our girls celebrating the holidays in '08 (left to right):

Emma (Melfricka Nth Degree), Daphne (Almax of Xanthos)

and Mishka (McCangus Queen of Hearts)

___________________________

More sad news. In June we had to say goodbye to Butch, the best Angora goat in the world. In goat years, he was getting up there. Somehow he managed to dislocate his hip, to the point where our vet was unable to pop it back into the socket. He was our buddy. I will miss him sucking on my hair and stealing my winter hats.

Gypsy is lonesome for a goat buddy. We are working on finding a good companion for her.

___________________________

Sorry to break my blog hiatus with bad news. There are some wonderful things in the works here and I have news to share in a separate post.

Butch

Categories: animals/wildlife, fiber farm, and sheep.
Tags: dogs, goats, goodbyes, and pets.

The Strolling of the Lambs part two

June 5, 2011 | 13 Comments

On Saturday we took a moment to honor Holly's commitment to the farm. This month she is leaving the farm to work on an exciting new endeavor in the restaurant business with her partner Chris. We love her and will miss her terribly!

Kathryn's craft table was a hit! We made nests and hand felted eggs for a flock of hand-sewn chickens.

Mistral loved every minute of being in the center of attention.

Mike gave the farm tour. I forgot to tell him about it, so he was confused when people kept asking him when the tour began.

Thanks to all who helped make this even a huge success, especially Mike, Daddy, Shirley, Holly, Kathryn, Fred.

Can't wait for our next Sheep Shares event on October 1, Fiber, Foliage and Friends.

Categories: animals/wildlife, Craft, fiber farm, Handspinning, knitting, sheep, and Travel.
Tags: fiber farm, sheep farm, Sheep Shares CSA, Strolling of the lambs, visitors, and yarn CSA.

The Strolling of the Lambs

June 5, 2011 | 5 Comments

Thanks to our Sheep Shares members and your guests (more than 50 of you!) who traveled from far and wide to share a super-fun day with sheep. For those of you who could not be with us, I'm posting many images of the day (divided into two posts to make loading easier).

Enjoy!

Categories: animals/wildlife, Craft, Current Affairs, fiber farm, Handspinning, knitting, and sheep.
Tags: fiber farm, Foxfire Fiber, sheep, sheep farm, Sheep Shares, Strolling of the lambs, visitors, and yarn CSA.

MA Sheep & Wool Festival – No Kidding!!

May 28, 2011 | 11 Comments

It's stopped raining for two days which means we are crazy behind on outdoor tasks. We are scrambling to play catch-up with the grass – it's thigh high in most places which makes it impossible to set up temporary fence for grazing without mowing down a swath of grass to set the fence. The sheep have their work cut out for them.

In the midst of it all, I took a little 2-day field trip to visit the critters shown in this post. It was a fascinating excursion – more on that later. Can anyone guess what they are?

Add to that the business of show prep. We've been dyeing roving and yarn for the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival which is this weekend at the Cummington Fairground.

The van is packed and in about twenty minutes I'll head to the fairground. Foxfire Fiber & Design's booth will be heavily fortified with Cormo blend roving, yarn and some delicious hand-painted delights. We are located in the stalls, under the grandstand and hope you'll stop at the booth to say hi. Join us Sunday at 1 for our group cast on for our Cormo Flock Sock yarn Knit Along.

Sheep Shares CSA members – please join us for the Strolling of the Lambs next Saturday, June 4, 11-3 (raindate Sunday, June 5).

Categories: Craft, Current Affairs, fiber farm, and sheep.
Tags: fiber CSA, fiber farm, Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival, sheep farm, and yarn CSA.

Lambs on Pasture Pics

May 20, 2011 | 7 Comments

Although the grass is very wet, it is not rip-roaring raining today.

The sky is brightening for the first time in a week as I type this post. ahhh.

The lambs are shoulder deep in grass and loving it. Every week we rotate them to a fresh pasture. It's their first tour of grazing. The immediate world beyond their big barn still brand new and infinitely worthy of investigation.

I stopped mid chores yesterday to watch them explore the foundation of a long-gone silo at the south end of the barn. Once they had thoroughly inspected the loose stones and mortar gaps, they deemed the silo base a perfect launch pad for a game of leaping lambs. Had it not been raining, I would have filmed it. I was happy not to have missed it.

Thursday was a big day for three of our ram lambs. A shepherd who runs a farm at a local prep school stopped by with some students. They are increasing the size of the school's fiber flock. In June Jonathan, Keswick and Fuji will join their school's farm flock. Lucky lambs, they have many young shepherds excited about working with them. We have 4 weeks until weaning so the boys will still be here for our Sheep Shares Strolling of the Lambs on June 4th. It's still nice to know they are going to a good home nearby.

In a freakish and totally unrelated-to-sheep accident earlier this week, Mike took a nasty fall while running to shut a window during a downpour. Fortunately, the corner of the sill molding broke his fall. Unfortunately it tore a lovely gash in his forehead. Although he was dazed and there was copious amounts of blood, he suffered no concussion – and the window sill missed his eye by an inch.

Many hours at the ER and 14 stitches later, Mike is faring well and being a good sport about our teasing.

"Have your met Mike? He's a cut above."

"He got into business with some shady characters – he thought they were talking profits when they said they'd give him a big cut."

"Did you hear about Mike's trip to the window? It was a Gash!"

Yuck, yuck yuck.

Okay, really, we're glad he's fine. Although Mike's been telling people he was hit by an errant hockey puck at a Bruins game, now you know the truth!

(humor courtesy of Kathryn and Hunter)

Categories: animals/wildlife, fiber farm, and sheep.
Tags: fiber farm, lambs, sheep, and spring.

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