Archives for fiber farm

Sunday’s Lambs

March 28, 2010 | 18 Comments

Kodiak's twins arrived just after breakfast. A really good sized ewe – 11 lbs. and a 10 lb. ram lamb. Their names are Cambria and Corbel (we'll move on the font names beginning with the letter "d" for the next set of lambs). We think Galveston may be next up to bat. In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy some more shots from this morning's chores. Holly, showing Kodiak's lambs (in their Gumby-green sweaters) where we keep the milk. Charlemagne (Aberdeen's ram lamb), chillin' under the heat lamp. He is the spitting image of his dad, Teaberry. Bonding time:
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Lambslide!

March 27, 2010 | 20 Comments

Busy day. More lambs to deliver before I could put away my delivery kit. Aberdeen birthed a pair of ram lambs mid afternoon. We're certainly off to a lively start! Aberdeen is one stompy little mother, defiantly stamping her hoof at anyone who gets close to her pen. She had to put up with me while I administered iodine to umbilical cords, stripped the waxy plugs from her teats to open up the plumbing. Then I weighed her boys (8 lb. 9 oz and 9 lbs. 10 oz.) using a hand-held fishing scale with a special lamb sling attached. Crackerjack
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First Lambs!!

March 27, 2010 | 23 Comments

Hooray! A quick post to share the news: our first lambs arrived at mid-day (right in the middle of a photo shoot for my book!). Tupelo, a three year old Cormo, delivered a ewe lamb followed by a ram lamb. Both sturdy, on their feet and nursing already. The picture above was taken on arrival. Below, the nosey aunties are inspecting the newcomers. Haven't had a moment to name them, but will let you know. More pics soon. copyright 2010. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this site. Please do not take content
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New Arrivals – Giveaway!

March 26, 2010 | 121 Comments

Lamb-o-rama Update: Still no new arrivals of the wooly four-legged sort just yet. The photo below is a close-up of my neighbor Barbara Gig's little cutie. But while we're waiting, I'm now kicking off a month of giveaways celebrating new arrivals of all sorts. This week I'm celebrating the arrival of spring shares for Sheep Shares! Fresh, crisp skeins of our hot-off-the-sheep Cormo wool lusciously blended with alpaca from a local farm and bombyx silk. And a new arrival of another sort. A good friend, Gail Callahan, aka the Kangaroo Dyer, is celebrating the launch of her new
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Lamb Watch

March 25, 2010 | 9 Comments

Got back to the farm just before 1 a.m. this morning after my presentation last night for an enthusiastic group of fiberists - the Boston Area Spinners & Dyers guild. Many thanks to them for asking me to share my slideshow and dyeing techniques – and also thanks to everyone here who wished me well. Although I the guild co-chair Carol (also a shepherd expecting lambs anytime now) offered to put me up for the night, I was anxious to get home to my own barn should anything happen. Holly reported that two ewes were behaving suspiciously at dinnertime. I went directly
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Boston Bound – Dyed In The Wool

March 23, 2010 | 5 Comments

Tomorrow's going to be a busy day. I'm giving a presentation "Dyed in the Wool: The Colors of a New England Sheep Farm" to the Boston Area Spinners and Dyers (BASD). This group meets in Sudbury, but their membership draws from the greater Boston area – my old stomping grounds. When I booked this presentation many months ago, I wasn't thinking clearly about the timing of our first lambs. This afternoon Andy reminded me that tomorrow is D-day if any ewes were bred the moment Teaberry set foot in the pen last October. Holly and Mike will be on call
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Barn Check

March 22, 2010 | 11 Comments

Just back from a quick barn check. Lambs are imminent; we're stepping up our visits to the flock. Watchful for unusual behavior. The girls are curious and surprised by my visits after lights out. Holly and I are watchful now for anything out of the ordinary. We leave each other notes in the barn log on the table in the milk room. Like this one yesterday, from me to her: "P.M. Stella acting weird. Not so interested in hay. Moved her to group 1 (where she seemed to want to be) but still not interested in eating. 'Moooing'. Sniffing butts
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Spring at Springdelle Farm

March 21, 2010 | 15 Comments

Hard to believe that just three weeks ago we were buried with two feet of snow. Winter made a mellow exit this weekend here in New England. Spring's arrival today capped a stretch of blissful warmth and sunshine. All creatures appear to be celebrating the change in season, though we're due for grey skies and cooler days for the start of this week. The sheep enjoying a quiet morning in the pasture. Neighbor's ducks, grateful for the spring melt. Red-winged blackbirds, epaulets in full display, atop each tree. The farm is ringing their calls along with the cries of the
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A Day in the Sugar Bush

March 17, 2010 | 10 Comments

I've been quiet because I've been way under the weather this week. It felt good to be outdoors today working in the sugar bush with Mike and neighbors Norm, Lisa and Fred Davenport. We finally got around to tapping a maple stand that's not seen bucket nor tube line in more than a decade. The "bush" surrounds one of my hay fields. This field gives us two cuttings of hay each summer, feeds the flock during our fall grazing months and now will fill a large collection tank (we hope) with sap to take to my neighbor's sugar house each
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As the wool spins. . .

March 13, 2010 | 8 Comments

Moving right along, an update on the fiber front: I'm about half way through sorting the fleeces from shearing. The wool for the spring and summer Sheep Shares is in process at the mills – which means U.P.S. will begin delivering boxes of deliciously fresh yarn and fiber right around mid-lambing season. I'm immensely relieved to have yarn perking along as we await lambs. The show fleeces are carefully wrapped like burritos in paper and tied with twine – stowed away for the first round of competitions in May. Except for Teaberry and Cilantro's fleeces which are huge and wouldn't
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