Knit-A-Long News on a rainy day!

May 16, 2011 | 8 Comments

Rainy day lambs
Rainy day lambs

Rainy day rams

Rainy day rams

Rainy day retriever
Rainy day retriever

I try not to whine about rain. Rain jump starts crops and makes the grass grow. It saves me time in watering new plantings and the new but yet unplanted red bud trees we acquired last week at the nursery.

But it makes for soggy sheep and unpleasant sheep tending. Several slipped their coats yesterday; the fabric gets sopping wet and droopy and the whole coat slips to the side. When the leg strap dangles below the hock, a sheep steps out of that strap. Then they step out of the second leg strap. Unfortunately they cannot pull coats over their own heads. So I find them dragging their coats around the pasture (like gigantic bibs) and tripping themselves up. It's a problem.

Wrestling a wet sheep out of coat is no fun. Wet sheep smell is worse than wet dog smell. Since it looks like the rain is here to stay, today we brought everyone back to the barn to remove slippy coats.

On a brighter note, I have a fun announcement for a rainy day.

I am super excited to announce our very first ever Foxfire Fiber Knit-Along featuring our new sock yarn: Cormo Flock Sock. I'm grateful to Sheep Shares member Lisa McGuire for suggesting this excellent idea.

This is how it works:

1. Procure skein(s) of Foxfire Fiber's Cormo Flock Sock yarn in a quantity sufficient for the project of your choice. Sheep Shares members have just received their shipment.  I will bring whatever I have on hand to the Mass. Sheep and Wool Festival on May 28 & 29.

2. Choose your project! (We crafted this yarn with socks in mind but I am going to knit Anne Hanson's Budding Apple shawl featured in the Spring issue of Twist Collective magazine). Announce your project on the "Count me In!" thread on RAVELRY in our Foxfire Fiber Friends group. Let us know what you plan to knit.

3. Casting On – No sooner than Sunday, May 29th, the official Knit-Along Cast On date. Join us for the group cast on at 1 pm, Sunday May 29, at my booth at the Mass. Sheep & Wool Festival and we'll all cast on together! 4. Share your progress – keep us posted on your project on RAVELRY.

5. Deadline for finished projects – Sunday, July 10. (FO's should be completed, with photos and project posted on Ravelry by this date).

 

In order to be eligible for our 3 super-duper prizes you must have completed your project and posted it (along with photos) to our RAVELRY thread "Finished Projects" and also add to the finished projects for Cormo Flock Sock yarn.

6. PRIZES!!

We will draw three names of entrants who have met the above criteria.

Prize 1: A copy of Melissa Morgan Oakes' book: Toe Up Two at a Time Socks with two skeins of Cormo Flock Sock yarn.

Prize 2: A copy of my book: Teach Yourself Visually Handyeing and two skeins of Cormo Alpaca Lace in natural (so you can dye them a color of your own choosing).

Prize 3: A Fair Isle Surprise Bundle of Foxfire Fiber's Upland Wool & Mohair yarn.

Winners will be announced both here and in Foxfire Fiber Friends Ravelry group on Friday, July 15th. 

I hope you'll join the fun. It's the first time I've ever done anything like this, so if you're a KAL veteran and see that I've overlooked an important detail (or if you have any questions), please let me know.

 

Happy rainy Monday.

Categories: animals/wildlife, Craft, fiber farm, Handspinning, and sheep.
Tags: Cormo Flock Sock, fiber farm, Foxfire Fiber, Knit along, rainy day, and sheep.

Lambs – See How they Grow

May 10, 2011 | 11 Comments

Spring is gaining slowly here. The trees are finally leafing out on the upper Patten. At the center of the farm (a drop in elevation of about 600') things are perceptibly further along. Warmer temperatures are elusive. Plenty of wind.

The pastures are greening up nevertheless.  I have strong feeling that cooler spring is healthy for the lambs. We put them out in pasture every morning. Although they can return to the barn at any time, they mostly stay out all day. I know because I spy on them. The moms graze lustily. The lambs nap in the warm pockets on the leeward side of rocks.

When the sun intensifies, the mothers will retreat to the barn after morning graze. But until the heat (and the black flies) kick in, they are perfectly happy to picnic in the field all day. 

The lambs are sturdy and robust. I'd like to show you the difference a week on pasture makes on their growth. The first three shots show the lambsters just over a week ago.

Gala

Gala (with Jonathan in the background)

MacIntosh on pasture

MacIntosh (left) and Braeburn (right)

Pippin

Pippin rules! First and largest lamb in the pasture.

Now check out some shots from dinner time yesterday.

MacIntosh in barn

MacIntosh

Pink lady

Pink Lady

Keswick, fuji

Keswick and Fuji

See how they're filling out? A really nice bunch of lambs. Fuji (above) is IMO the pick of the ram lambs. He is the spitting image of his dad, Teaberry.

His pal Keswick (left) looks like his ears were dipped in coffee. He's got the same spots on his back side and hind legs.

Keswick's speckles
No one knows what to make of Keswick's mysterious freckles, though we are having fun inventing explanations for this. 

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

Winner Lamb Count Give-Away & Sheep Shares

May 2, 2011 | 9 Comments

Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts about what makes this time of year special for you. Congrats go to RichelleCK who commented on 4/22. Richelle, you're the winner of our drawing for 4 skeins of Cormo Silk Alpaca yarn in the color "Bluebird" in celebration of our new lambs.

Spring is now in full throttle here on Patten Hill. The trees are leafing at last and the pastures are greening. It's truly a welcome sight but it means we are extra busy setting up fences for grazing and hoses for watering sheep in the field.

At the same time we have been dyeing, boxing and shipping Sheep Shares. Our spring/summer yarn Cormo Flock Sock (and fiber) is now on its way to Sheep Shares members.

We still have a small handful of yarn shares available for 2011. If you'd like to join us, please click here for more info. And a reminder to Sheep Shares members, our spring open farm day "The Strolling of the Lambs" is on Saturday, June 4.

Caring for the lambs is delightful. The video shows snippets of morning in the barn and on the pasture. The lambs clamber in and out of their creep pen during breakfast (a creep is a separate lamb feeding pen – only little lambs can fit through the special panel). Outdoors, they are learning about nibbling grass while sticking close to Crackerjack, their llama nanny. You can hear the sound of the rushing brook in the background (and can see it too in a few frames).

I am off now to work in my garden before the predicted rain.

Thanks again to all blog commenters and congrats to Richelle.

 

Categories: animals/wildlife, Craft, fiber farm, and sheep.
Tags: blog give-away, fiber farm, lambs, sheep farm, and Sheep Shares.

Easter Morning – lamb video

April 24, 2011 | 6 Comments

Yesterday brought an inch of snow and a steady patter of sleet. The sheep huddled in their sheds. The lambs and mommas stayed indoors. The finches, chickadees, juncos and sparrows fought duked it out over the feeders. 

Today: a glorious sunrise over the trees that haven't yet leafed but have a fuzzy red halo of new buds. The snow has vanished except for a few freckles here and there in the pasture. The sheep are content lounging in the field.

It is a perfect Easter morning. I'm wishing everyone a happy holiday and sharing a video clip from earlier this week. The lambs are goofing around while the moms finish breakfast. They were racing while I fed the moms but by the time I grabbed my camera, they naturally became more serious.

We've had a string of damp, cold days and I've kept the lambsters indoors. There's nothing green outside for them to nibble on just yet. Maybe today they can go out to play.

In the meantime, the wet weather has screwed up the work flow here. We have 16 sheep to shear before breakfast today. I know. it's Easter. But the sheep are dry (I kept this group indoors) and this was my shearer's only opening all week. It will be Mistral's first shearing!

I'll have just enough time to clean up before my guests arrive. Wishing a peaceful day to all.

 

Categories: animals/wildlife, fiber farm, knitting, and sheep.
Tags: Easter, fiber farm, lambs, shearing, and sheep farm.

Lamb Count & Special Give-Away!

April 20, 2011 | 104 Comments

We are resting after a very busy weekend. The rest of our ewes have lambed out. I'm not completely surprised. The action was sporadic this year and I suspected that our last momma's would birth in sync with the full moon. The last lamb born, Crispin, is snuggling here with his mom, Java.

Java's lamb

Java's lamb close up

Our final tally this year is 13 lambs: 6 rams, 7 ewes. Part of what I love most about the end of birthing time is the sense of relief that all lambs have made it safely into the world. This year I'm blessed with ewes who are all excellent mothers, even the first-timers. Gorgeous full udders. No bottle lambs. And no more sleepless nights!

And now for the names, in order of birth: Pippin, MacIntosh, Duchess, Pink Lady, Jonathan, Gala, Paula Red, Braeburn, Baldwin, Keswick, Spy, Fuji, and Crispin. Not a bad apple in the bunch!

I'll post more pics and videos after I've rested a bit but I wanted to share our exciting news.

We're celebrating the end of a successful birthing season with a special give-way:

4 skeins of Cormo Silk Alpaca yarn in the colorway: BlueBird.

To enter our drawing, please share this post with a friend or two (or blog, Ravelry, FB, or Tweet it). And please leave a comment here about what you love most about this time of year. Be sure to leave your email address where it asks you for it so I can contact you if you win.

You have until April 30 to enter. I will announce our drawing winner here on May Day (5/1/11).

Thanks for sharing our good news!

Categories: fiber farm, Handspinning, and sheep.
Tags: fiber farm, give-away, lambs, and sheep farm.

Lamb Antics

April 14, 2011 | 14 Comments

Yesterday brought four new arrivals – and one unwelcome guest.

After the exciting entrance of Donatella's twin ewe-lings, Java quietly delivered a sweet ram lamb while I was at dinner. I found him resting in the straw beside her. After ushering them into a lambing jug she delivered a second sturdy ram lamb. I don't have pics to post yet, but please join me in welcoming our new apples: Braeburn & Baldwin.

While all eyes were on the barn yesterday, our bird feeders at home were attacked by a bear. Tree limbs ripped from trees. Feeders in pieces on the ground. Right beside the house. We love feeding birds at this time of year and seeing the return of old friends. But that may all have to change.

In the meantime, I thought you'd like to see how our oldest lambs, a full two-weeks old now, are growing and playing. Mac, Duchess and Pippin have formed their own little clique. It is an absolute hoot to watch them scamper, spar and prong from one end of the nursery to the other. Bailey's lambs, Pink Lady and Jonathan, try to join in but being a full week behind developmentally, they haven't quite got "the moves" down just yet. So funny to watch them trying to figure it out.

Here are a few scenes from the nursery pen:

Mac & Duchess. sibling rivalry

MacIntosh & Duchess – a little sibling rivalry (my sister and I were the same way growing up!)

Mac, duchess

Pippin on straw bale

PIppin is our leaping champ; she can scale a straw bale in a single bound.

Bailey, jonathan, pink lady

Jonathan and Pink Lady still cling to momma. It's time for the sweaters to come off. How do you like Bailey's new coat?

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

Donatella’s Lamb Birthing – video

April 13, 2011 | 12 Comments

I shot this with my iPhone (that's why the image is the size of postage stamp, sorry 'bout that) shortly after my last post. Donatella did a beautiful job of birthing her first lambs – a super-cute pair of ewe-lings! 

Help us welcome our newest apples: Gala and Paula Red.

Donatella and her lambs are doing well. For a friendly ewe she has turned into quite the fierce mother. She didn't want me or Holly anywhere near her lambs. I have a nice bruise on my hand to prove it.

This video shows Gala's first words (she's actually having a conversation with Chanel in the next pen) while her mom delivers her sister Paula Red. (If you're at all squeamish about birthing goo and blood, you may not want to watch). The second part of the video was shot after we got them into a lambing jug.

Enjoy.

 

Categories: animals/wildlife, Craft, fiber farm, and sheep.
Tags: birthing, fiber farm, lambs, sheep farm, and video.

Sunday’s Lambs

April 10, 2011 | 7 Comments

Lambs black and white 1

We have a new set of twins! Meet Jonathan and Pink Lady. Bailey delivered them at dinnertime last night.

Lambs black and white 2

Lamb, bailey

These are Bailey's first lambs and also the very first lambs out of our black fine-wool ram, Cinder. We had hoped for a Moorit lamb (brown like momma) out of this crossing. PInk Lady has one little spot of brown on her back, but that's it. We love her pink little nose.

Bailey has a beautiful udder and (so far) gets a gold star for mothering skills.

 

Happy Sunday to all.

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

Sleepless nights

April 5, 2011 | 11 Comments

MacIntosh Lamb. foxfire fiber

"Check out my wrinkles!"

No new developments on the lamb front since the weekend. MacIntosh (above), Duchess and Pippin are mixing it up with each other in the super-sized pen we created for them. Now they can have play dates.

Chanel is mellow about her little ones hanging out with the lamb from next door. But Chloe is an overprotective ewe. She doesn't want anyone getting too close to her lamb, including other sheep. It's kind of funny, since her "baby" is twice the size of Chanel's twins.

I love watching all of it during barn chores. I am not loving trying to sleep to the sounds of a restless barn. The moms-to-be belch, groan and shuffle around in the bedding. One of them likes thwacking the side of the mineral feeder with her head. Another likes using the panel beneath the audio transmitter as a scratching post. It's amazing how baby monitors capture and amplify even the smallest sounds.

That's what I get for eavesdropping.

The temps have really dropped and the wind has kicked in this evening. Fingers are crossed that we don't have to go to the barn tonight.

 

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