Archives for fiber farm

Young Love

November 27, 2010 | 17 Comments

Courtship time. Rams snicker sweet nothings into the ears of ewes who batt their eyes coquettishly. The pas de deux that will bring new lambs to the farm next spring. And I'm telling you, with so many eligible ewes and four outstanding rams, it was very hard sticking to my original plan of limiting the numbers for next spring's lambing. Ultimately, we made sure each of flock matriarchs (Cocoa, Buttercup, Pansy, Charlotte) is represented by either a daughter or grand-daughter (or in the case of Cocoa, grandson). And then we took a close look at ram lineage to avoid crossing
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November morning

November 10, 2010 | 4 Comments

The majority of the ewe flock is now stationed in the high pasture, well out of reach of our rams at work. We're intentionally breeding fewer ewes this season to lighten the load for spring. I'll tell you more about that in a bit. Until then I thought you'd enjoy a glimpse of breakfast in the high field. Note the loaded apple trees; windfall apples are a sheep delicacy. BTW, Cognac is doing well and appreciates your get-well wishes. Her nose looks fine. copyright 2010. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this
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Quill-ogy

November 9, 2010 | 10 Comments

The calling card of an unwelcome visitor to the sheep paddock. Poor Cognac had a close encounter of the prickly kind Sunday afternoon. Mike found her with a snout full of porcupine quills as he was putting away the mower. Just in time for the Patriots game. We spent the next hour extracting a mess of nasty little barbs. Cognac winced with every quill but was otherwise quite stoic and patient. But her poor nose – you can some idea of how painful it was from the photo below! She seemed quite grateful for our help. Now, how to extract
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Thoughts from a Fiber Farm in Fall

October 30, 2010 | 10 Comments

What's there to think about? The "work" of the moment is thinking and planning for next spring. It's time to place the rams with the ewes. HIgh time. The flock is restless and impatient. With four eligible and highly motivated boys (Teaberry, Parsely, Chai and Cinder) and dozens of young ewes, I have more options than ever before for pairing. With one black and one moorit ram, there's more potential for breeding for color. I could easily breed 50 or more ewes. So exciting. So tempting. But really, I do not need 100+ lambs next year. This summer we rotated
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Lambs In TV Land

October 26, 2010 | 20 Comments

Monday was a big day. Holly and I popped Mistral and Georgia into the back of my Highlander for a special field trip. We were guests on channel 22's (WWLP, our local NBC station) lifestyle program, MassAppeal. The night before, I didn't sleep very well. In the wee hours of morning I found myself questioning the sanity of taking two lambs who have never set hoof off the farm to a television studio for live program. It was an hour drive. Mistral was vocal, Georgia, quiet. I sang show tunes to help them relax on the way to Springfield. I
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Fiber, Friends and Foliage

October 3, 2010 | 11 Comments

We love visitors! A few scenes from Saturday's Fiber, Friends and Foliage open house. Thanks to everyone for sharing a special afternoon with us (and to those of you who were with us in spirit!). Mistral & Georgia share an apple. Crackerjack greeted his fans. Lambs love making friends. Especially Mistral. Lambs also love pumpkin decorating. Georgia and Holly – naptime! A sneak peek at the Fall Yarn Shares. Local Hero Llama Tired lambsters. photos courtesy of Madeline Kennedy, Lori Parker, Holly Sonntag, and Mike Parry. thank you!!
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Sheep Shadows

August 28, 2010 | 14 Comments

In the lengthening shadows of shortening of daylight hours, Mike and I inspected the ram pasture on Wednesday. Thanks to three solid rainy days, the grass is in good shape. But we noted the length of time they've spent on this field and deemed it time to change pastures. The wet weather means no second mowing just yet. But we're entering a sunny dry spell. Hay is imminent. It's the stretch before Labor Day. Heath Fair, Cummington Fair, Franklin County Fair. Hay time. Storms have wreaked a bit of havoc here. Thanks to a close encounter of the electrical kind,
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Summer Shares

August 18, 2010 | 12 Comments

Returning from a blog hiatus and a trip to spend some time with my family and friends on the seacoast. We celebrated a very special birthday. My niece, Lilly, turned 1. And okay, I'm a little biased, but I'm telling you she is the cutest, happiest little girl in the world. It is such good fun being an Auntie. Going on vacation is an amazing amount of work. List making, shopping, packing, instructions for the house sitter, instructions for the farm – it almost doesn't feel worth all the effort until you actually get away for a few days. I
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Lamb Camp

July 29, 2010 | 15 Comments

I'm always amazed at how quickly the lamb flock adjusts to free ranging during the summer months. With Crackerjack their trusty guardian, they're camped in the back pasture. We "stockpiled" it for them, meaning we kept other sheep out of it so the lambs would have fresh forage. In some places the grass is taller than they are. So when I go counting heads at day's end, it's a lamb safari! It's so different from the barnyard life they lived just weeks ago. The whole flock is free ranging for the summer. Although many lambs in this group are now
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Lambs – Out to Pasture

July 22, 2010 | 8 Comments

It takes a llama to get the lambs going in the right direction. Just a quick post – I thought you'd like to see how we get them out to pasture in the morning. WE LOVE CRACKERJACK!! copyright 2010. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this website. Please do not take content or images from this website without my explicit written permission. Thank you.
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