Little Ewenice, Big City (part 2)

It's been a few months since I posted about the exciting trip that Ewenice was taking. I had hoped she would write, or send a post card sooner, but I was just glad to hear she was safe, and having a good time. She sent this to share:

She is having a great time! She said she made this sign in hopes of getting on the Good Morning America show. Yet, she kept getting pushed to the back of the herd. (She said it was much like trying to get to the grain pan in the ram pen.) So, that didn't work out so well for her, but she said it's been quite an adventure.

She is currentnly staying in Kewe Gardens, which is a short ride on the Qewe10 bus to the subway that takes her into the city. (where she grazes in Central Park) She said the grass is good there, and the night life? Well, she's never seen anything like it!

But it hasn't been all play and grazing, (she had her lamb while away you know) and she's had a little work to do, and she writes that it went really well, and it has all been an experience of a lifetime!

So that's her message, that all is well. It's funny that the postcard came the same day (yesterday) that I was in the store and picked up the latest copy of Vogue Knitting.

I knew there was a possibility that the work she was up there to do might end up in the
"What's new, what's now, what's next in knitting" section of the early fall issue, but I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to see that it's on the newsstands already!

Ewenice is pictured on the far right, 3rd row down. Bewelah is pictured 3rd over on the top row. (Ewenice was a bit miffed that Bewelah was asked to go as well, but what she doesn't know, is Bewelah is actually the one that got the invitation - and "she" was the one to tag along - just don't let that get back to her, ok?)


All that being said, I'm a little behind on updating my website! I've been adding new things to the pottery section of the FCW&P site, and working on the on-line shop at etsy. It was on the list to have completed by "early fall" but it's been moved up to.... "now".

Sending out thanks to Faith Hale for the invitation to display my mugs in her article - what an honor. Thank you. (I hope Ewenice has been on her best behavior, and hasn't been much trouble)

Lambs

It's been a while since I've posted, mostly because it is hard to get pictures of the sheep these days, and my ramblings need pictures!

I was able to get a few shots yesterday of the lambs, and wanted to share those shots.


#44 - Yes, I know - how impersonal. We've always named them, but this year -it just hasn't happened. There are a few with names - like this guy below:

He's "lambies rammie" but then again, so was the ram she had last year..

She's looking as if to say "every time i get up he does this! it's wearing me out."

Myrtle on the other hand is asking "when is this little piggy going to the market?"

This is our yearling "lil friend" She's not as friendly as the name implies - but she was a great friend to the little "broken leg lamb" last year when we had to keep her separated from the group. Lil Friend took up with her, even though that meant sleeping in a cage at night.

By the way - Didi (broken leg lamb) healed up from her surgeries so well, you can not tell she ever had a problem! (much thanks and gratefulness to the great care she received at Carroll County Animal Clinic - they were so wonderful with her. She seemed to rather enjoy getting in the truck and making the trip every time we went - probably because she got so much good and healing treatment there. Not to mention, all the attention) She has a little lamb of her own now. (I'll add those pictures in an upcoming post)

Back to lambs.. this is the mouflon ewe

And her brother:

I need to update my website - he is for sale, but we are going to use him to breed our 3 yearlings this coming breeding season.

And # 41.

It's been a great lambing season- and it's been so much easier to work the lambs this year than in previous years. This is the first year I've been able to get the girls in the barn on a regular basis. We haven't had that barn too long and when we were in the "old barn" - the rams were in the same pen, and the ewes knew they wouldn't get any grain anyways with the boys there, so why bother following me to the barn? We've kept the rams separate so that we can let Wyatt play while I'm checking on the sheep, and we couldn't do that with rams around. Anyways, it's worked out for the best. It's an ever evolving journey here with the sheep, and it takes a while to learn what works. Finally, it's a journey that doesn't seem to be uphill all the time.

Great Time at the Ky Fiber Festival!

Unfortunately, I don't have photos to back up my story, but the Ky Sheep and Fiber Festival was wonderful!

So many people have given of their time and energy to put together a wonderful show, and their efforts were successful!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello! It was great meeting new sheep and fiber folks, and so great to see familiar folks too!

Several people asked where my lil guy was, and him being almost a year and 1/2 already, we thought it would be best if he stayed home with Dad. I can only imagine how exciting a wool festival, with all the tempting wool, and goods within his reach.. it might have been hard to keep up with him, and hard to keep him out of trouble! But here's a little photo update on him. We were trying to get a few photos of lambs to put a list of available lambs together (we've almost got that ready, so if you were on the list, we'll be sending that in the next couple of days!) The lambs weren't easy to photograph, they were all either eating, or being chased...

Boy's best friend

Ky Fiber Festival

Ready or not... here it comes!

www.kentuckysheepandfiber.com

There are pots in the kiln still, and several ideas that haven't surfaced, but here is a few of the new items that I'll be bringing this year.






Ewenice is not pictured here (she's in the kiln) It's been hard with all her jet setting to get her pinned down on a mug, but good news - amidst all the excitement, she had her lamb! We plan to bring Ewenice and baby to the festival as well.

I'm looking forward to the festival, and hope to see you there!

Still waiting...

we are still waiting on 4 ewes to lamb (5 if you count Ewenice) The lambs are growing fast! Time is just moving right along. We have 16 lambs - 8 ewe lambs and 8 rams - all out of Andy, our moorit ram that was sold in December. After he left our farm, we put Ziggy in with the girls, so the remaining 4 ewes were bred to Ziggy - we're looking forward to seeing his lambs.

This is LeRoy... no real reason he's in this post, other than he was posing for a picture as I was trying to get a pic of one of the other fellas... If we could only eat our lambs, I think this guy would be a great sire for meat lambs. We haven't used him as a ram, but maybe next year we might use him to breed a few of the ewes. (if not, why are we keeping him again? oh it's something about the way he runs up to us and turns his head sideways and says "what's up" when we go out in the pasture. Yes, he's figured me out)
ok, lambs.. these aren't the newest pictures, but they are a little more recent than the last ones posted.

This is our moorit ewe, cheyenne with her babies. This isn't a great picture of Cheyenne, but as soon as I get a better one, I will be listing her and one of our other ewes on the website. I've had people ask if we had adult ewes available, and up to this point, we haven't... but then came shearing time. She's a good ewe, she's just a little much for me to try to shear. She's strong.. lots of muscle and she just won't settle down during shearing at all. Thought it was just me, but she fought our shearer that we hired too. (probably has something to do with the year I was learning how to shear..) (i didn't cut her or anything, but it was surely tramatic for her just the same)

Iced Mocha.. does he remind you of the bernstein bears? For some reason, I think of that when i see his pic.. maybe it's that smile?

And dear Alice. She's our non-trusting wild girl. Not so much as 'ewes gone wild' kind of wild, but she is just very leery of us. As wild as she is, you'd think she'd be a handful to work with. However, if I can get 'trick' her into the barn, she's the easiest to work with of any! She sits still for her shearing, while the tamest of them kick and squirm the whole way. Isn't she a pretty ewe? Nice girl Alice.

And since i haven't been posting more regularly, here's our weather. It's definitely "mud boot" season! This is a lot that the cows are in, so it's one you could easily lose a mud boot in. I don't mean to complain about the rain, but i have to say it's the first time i've heard the slugs and snails complaining about having too much rain.

And my little guy... I sure thought he would be a baby just a little longer than it's been. I look at him every day and just wonder how he got so big - so fast!

Eweniversity sports

A Few More Lambs..

and a few more pictures.





The last post ended with Myrtle, so I'll start with her... this is her little guy. 1/2 icelandic, 1/2 ? non icelandic. The little brown ram is not hers, he's just trying to sneak a little milk. He must think she'd never notice a little milk missing.



this is a little better pic of her guy, isn't he cute?

this little ram lamb is 1/4 shetland and 3/4 icelandic. We bought 2 icelandic / shetland crossed ewe lambs last year and this is the first lamb borm from them... can't wait to see what the other ewe comes up with! (i don't think she could top this little fella)

another picture of the mouflon ewe.. same lamb as on the last post, just a little older

What a little character. We might have another 'ziggy' on our hands. This guy loves a face rub. He'll put his head on your shoulder and fall right to sleep.

and his sister.

There's several more out there that haven't had their pics taken yet.. we're up to 15 lambs, with several more looking like they will lamb any day now!

Happy Spring!

Lambs

We had the first of our lambs earlier this month. I was anticipating late March, and the first ones arrived on the evening of the 1st of April.

We have 4 ewe lambs and 1 little ram. That'll be great if they keep coming 4 ewes to a ram!

These little mouflon twins were the first to arrive. This pic was taken a few hours after they were born. They're so active jumping around, it's hard to get a pic of them now! Plus, it would be easier to get a picture if I could set Wyatt down, but with the protective mothers, we've learned that is not an option. So, pictures are going to be limited to just what we can get. It doesn't help that my camera is acting up either! I'm having a hard time getting it to focus.. arh.

we've been putting the lambs up in the barn for just a few days when the lambs are born. We generally leave them on the pasture, but i'm shearing them as they have their babies... and keeping them in the barn for a few extra days just to make sure all is going well with them.

This is Josie's little girl. I should say big girl. Josie has twinned every year, but this year she 'singled' with this big beautiful girl.

These 2 belong to Delilah.. they're sweet. Not that i can catch them now, but when they were in the barn.. they were pretty friendly.

And of course, my helper in training! He's having fun. (well, except for the protective mother stuff... we bring the lambs to the other side of the gate now)

Meanwhile, the others are enjoying the sunshine, the green grass and the breeze... waiting for their time.

Except maybe Myrtle:

What's that Myrtle? I can't hear you.

"""I SAID SHEAR ME!!"""

"""HEAR ME?""""

"SSSHHHHEEEAAAAARRRRR ME!"

Oh, yes, now that you said it slower, and louder, I get it.

That was kinda creepy!

In the absence of a better title...

Is this the same ram that drives the 'Ewe Haul' truck?

Looks like it from here... must be his day off.

The Self Reliant Spinner

Little Ewenice, Big City!

Ewenice has packed her box and is headed to New York City!


She was thrilled when I told her she was invited, but when I told her exactly where in the city she was going, her eyes got big, and her wool stood on end. (Just as though she had exclamation points following her) !! She turned pale and said that now -she really had nothing appropriate to wear!

(this from a ewe that didn't pack a swimsuit KNOWING she was going to California. Imagine my surprise when I heard she was on the beach... a N'ewe'd beach, no less. Talk about a postcard in need of censorship.)



(photo removed due to content)



I told her more important than what she's going to wear, she needed to think about staying out of trouble... and, taking it easy! She is due to lamb here in a few months. (another story.. one of a fence climbing ewe.. well.. you get the picture)

She's actually going to be doing some work while she's in the city. This trip could be a big break for her, but I'm just hoping she has a good trip, and gets there safe. (traveling in a postal box should well prepare her for the NYC taxicabs.. You've not had an exciting ride until you've tried that!)

It might be a few months before we hear back from her, but I'll post more about the assignment she's on when she checks in and there's more to tell..

The Era Following The Pony Express

A pot here...

and a pot there..

It's definitely not been a quick process.. I have been working 3rd shift, well, potting 3rd shift. Not every night of course, but just here and there I'm making pots between the hours of midnight and 6am. I decorate them during the day while Wyatt is awake, but the pots are made while he's sleeping.

I have been working with the white clay, and sgraffito designs. I plan to switch back over to the brown clay here in the next 2 weeks. (Ewenice clay) All the tools, pottery wheel, sponges, wedging board...etc.. everything has to be cleaned thoroughly to use the white clay, so I'm trying to make an abundance of white clay items before I bring out the brown clay again. I am almost out of mugs on my website, so I'm trying to make several of each design so that I can have a good assortment on there, as well as a nice display for the fiber festival that is quickly approaching. The above design is a new one. Very similar to the "ewenited we stand" , but without the wording. I like the simplicity of this one. For whatever reason, I think of Charlie's angels when i see this one. Maybe i'll call it Charile's Ewes? (no, nevermind.. someone might think i'm meaning - sheen..baah! )
(And Alice, if you're reading this, you won't believe it... but I'm making plates. Well, ok, saucers. lol. )

I have another sketch that i'm working up of a postal worker. Ewe.S.Postal worker of course. I probably won't put it on the mugs, but I think they might find their way on some envelopes just for fun.