It's a process..

Over the last 4 years, I have really come to appreciate what all goes into caring for sheep and harvesting their product. (isn't wool amazing?)

My goal is to offer exceptional raw fleeces. The first couple of years, the challenge was vm and cleaning the pastures. Oh, and shearing.. yes, that was a big challenge. (not only for the first year..lol) Even though we've continued to expand the pastures, the vm this year was not a big issue. The shearing was much easier this year - teetering on the "i enjoyed it" stage.

I feel better about getting the fleece off with minimum stress on the sheep and myself. Still need a little improving on the second cuts, but that's getting better with practice. We had some really nice fleeces this fall, and a couple of fleeces that seemed to have lived in the holler'. I can't quite figure how one sheep can get matted and filthy while the sheep that lays next to them stays as clean as a show sheep! I had one fleece (from our moorit ewe Sierra) that her belly wool looked and felt like the wool off of a lambs back - I didn't separate her belly wool because it was just too soft and beautiful to toss aside.

But this next picture is the delima for some of our fleeces this year - gummy tips. I've only noticed it on a couple of the fleeces, and I'm looking for advice if anyone has some "gum free tips" for me! I sheared the ewes after they lambed this year and as their fleeces started growing, I noticed these gummy tips. I am thinking that maybe i sheared too early? Possibly before their seasonal wool-break? (however, it didn't seem to early to be shearing.. May?)

So.. I spent a few hours picking the tips off of Alice's fleece.. and by the time I did that, I was invested! I was looking forward to washing and carding and spinning her fleece myself... I still have a lot of wool to skirt, and I'm hoping that i don't get attached to all of them!

Product tester

I was trying to get a few pictures of new mugs for etsy listings when I had a helper arrive on the scene...

I guess calling them 'sheep mugs' really does have a double meaning.

Zig and Henry

It's quite a chore to get a good picture of these guys.. and as you can see, I still have some work to do! (since the best picture i could get has a wire running thru it) But this is Zig (left) and Henry - twin brothers, both sporting their summer fleeces.

Zig really is a calm and gentle ram. When the others want to butt and bully around, he is just off to the side. (Him and Joe.. neither one likes to get involved in disputes) I told Zig he looked a little mean in the pose, and for him to just let his personality shine thru....

Then I got this....

No.. that's not quite that either.. Zig is really sweet, but these pictures just don't describe him well. Maybe it's because he doesn't smile much.

Henry on the other hand, well.. this picture fits him.

These boys have the thickest, richest thel coat. (the undercoat) Their wool last year, as yearlings, made such nice rovings, that i'm looking forward to seeing how the wool from them works up this year!

I'm hoping, that with all the thel they produce, to separate some of the thel from the tog (the outer coat of wool) and felt just the thel to see how that will work up.

I made a cobweb felted scarf a few days ago from last years fleece (Ziggy's) and as far as the experimenting is going here, this is my favorite yet. I am still working on the scarves - learning what works.. what doesn't. This one needs to be felted more. I'm finding that with the layers being so thin, it takes a lot longer to felt than if they were solid, thicker layers.

This scarf took less than 1.5 ounces. It is light, yet, when wrapped around my neck, (or the neck of a headless form) it's a nice shade of warm.
And hey- the dyes I ordered just came in! I am really excited to try handpainting the scarves.. yet, I have promised myself I won't get the dyes out until things get a little more caught up around here! One thing (well...30) at a time.. dyes will put me over the limit, but it's great motivation to knock a few other things out of the to do category.

Val

Here's a fairly recent photo of our new ram, Val. He, much like Leroy doesn't mind having his picture taken. Several weeks ago, I was making a poster for the wool festival to advertise icelandic sheep in my booth and I had Val in mind - he was so patient allowing me to take a lot of photos, and he seemed to pose for each picture!

We'll be using Val with the majority of the ewes this year. He is a young ram (from this spring) yet he seems to be up for the job. When we put him in with the girls, he went up and introduced himself to them all. I hope his recent shearing hasn't effected his confidence. I'm hoping the girls haven't laughed at him - he looks so much different without his wool. He's still beautiful, but he is looking more like a lamb than he did with all the wool. (some of the older girls might feel a little funny about it?)

I suppose we will assign someone the job of clean-up ram later in the year, (something i need to be thinking about) just in case some of the girls think he's too young.

Leroy

Leroy, Whatcha gonna do with all that wool? (rather, what am I going to do with all your wool?)

I am somewhat of a "collector of rams" - We seemed to have an abundance of ram lambs born here the first two years and I didn't send any of them away, so here we are. They're not any trouble though- we keep them in a separate pasture than the ewes, and they just hang out producing fiber.

As you can see, he's somewhat proud, and likes to have his picture taken. When all the other sheep are busy with heads on the ground, Leroy notices the camera and he will stand still with a pose because he knows my camera takes a minute to focus!

If only they were all this easy to get photos of! Our new ram Val is much like Leroy with the camera, and then there's Lambie that loves to have her picture taken, but the rest? For the most part, not so much

Cobweb Felting

We had a great time at the Kentucky Wool Festival this year. In the sheep & wool tent, we each demonstrate a fiber related skill - from carding, to spinning, knitting, weaving, and much more. My demonstration was wet felting. I have so much to learn about wet felting, but the basics of it are really simple: Wool + Soapy Water + Agitation = felt. I was motivated to try new projects while at the wool festival, so I made a little goal to experiment more with purses, and scarves using the wet felting technique.

I was particulary inspired by a small sample of merino that I wet felted at the festival. It felted with such thin layers and draped so nicely. I wanted to try this with our icelandic lamb roving. (after all, we get a good deal on icelandic wool.. a little grass, little hay in exchange for the wool, and not to mention, we have a good deal of it - especially now that it's shearing time!)

This is what came from that experiment -

This scarf was made by layering very thin layers of roving and felting using soap and water. The wool was from a moorit badgerface lamb. The scarf draped nicely, like I had hoped and was soft to the touch. There were a few places on the scarf that were very thin -almost holes, so I went on-line to research scarf making and was surprised to learn that this style of felting actually has it's own name- Cobweb Felting. It is intended to be very thin, sometimes with some holes even!

I am looking forward to felting more scarves using this method, and have ordered some dyes to experiment with hand dyeing the scarves also after they are made. There are just so many things that you can make with wool (and other natural fibers) and so many different techniques to try!

Sir Charles

This is one of our new additions here, Sir Charles. His given name Charlie being already taken here, we modified his name a bit, and just call him Sir. He's an icelandic/Border Leicester cross. I've been waiting for one of those pictures that show his personality - like him reaching out to accept a kiss from a little boy that's reaching for him..but this lil guy said he's too busy for posing, he's got work to do.

Maybe another day.

Wyatt, How'd you get that bump on your head?

Could it be from trying to do something like this while Mom wasn't looking?

Who is watching you anyways?



I needed to check a few lambs today to see if they needed worming, and Wyatt insisted he'd rather go to the field than sit in the truck and watch a DVD. (educational of course) oh no, wait.. it was the cartoon about the fish, so scratch that "educational".. it would have served a purpose though - like keeping him safe while I checked the lambs. I was attempting to catch the lambs where they were resting in the shade, and while I had little success, I turned around and saw that Wyatt wasn't having trouble catching sheep! Fortunately, Roxy is a sweet sheep and didn't jump and run with him on her back. (likely giving him a matching shiner on the other side)

Thanks Roxy for taking care of lil guy.

All this dirt...

All this dirt, and so little time to play in it!

Footers are in, gravel is scattered.. basement walls and slab coming soon. (we were bumped back a little, but sounds like they'll be here next week now to do that.)

Meanwhile, we're working to catch up on some projects that need to be finished outside of our place - drywall, tile, beadboard ceilings...

And sheep! Wyatt and I picked up our new sheep from M&K Farms this week! We'll have them out on pasture soon, but here are a few 'barn shots' of the new additions.

This is daphne, a moorit mouflon.

Below here is Val, ram lamb and a gray moorit ewe lamb.

I really like Val and glad we chose him. Although it was a tough decision - H&K had so many nice lambs to choose from!

Not pictured here is Sir Charles. Charlie is his given name, but since we already have a Charlie (a sign we already have too many rams.. duplicating names..lol) we've renamed the new Charlie, "Sir Charles" and we call him "Sir". He's an Icelandic Border liecester cross and he's just something. (Thanks Mary Anne, we just love him!) He was raised on a bottle and he loves attention. I will post some photos of Sir when we get him out on the pasture (if i can get far enough away from him to take a photo)

Wyatt, what do you think of your new sheep?

He is becoming quite the helper around here! From shutting the sheep in the lot for the evening (even if it's not time) and watering and feeding the sheep, he was even helping stack wood last night. (not that we've given a 20 month old chores, he has just jumped in to help..) At this age, i'm sure this all looks like fun.

And well, it is! Isn't it?

Glorious weather

The heat spell that went through was-well, just - hot! These past few days have been so beautiful! It's hard to believe that fall is just around the corner.

Things have been busy around here, like everywhere. The big hole in the ground is still a big hole in the ground. They are coming Monday to start on the footers/ foundation and we should have a basement in the ground by this time next week.. meanwhile, I need to get a load of pottery glazed, some wool washed, and several miscellaneous projects finished. Looking forward to wrapping up all those loose ends and fraying some new ones with the next project.

Hope everyone is being blessed with cool breezes this week!

The Sheep and the how they're dealing with the heat..

Well this is how they're beating the heat -- they have an area in their lot that is low lying and it catches the breeze if there is any.
Considering the extreme heat we've been having - and the number of days it's been here, they're doing fairly well.
Our mouflon ram lamb has had a spell with it, but he seems to be pulling thru. I've said if he survived the treatment, he'll do well. He had quite a few shots - mostly vitamins, iron, but along with worming, I gave him a copper drench. He also seemed to be getting summer pneumonia, he had a bit of a rattle in his cough, so he got a few shots for that as well. I'm not a big believer in giving everything you got in the cabinet - but he was pretty bad, and felt the situation called for it! It's been a week, and he's still eating, and getting around, so I think he'll be fine.

The other lambs have been holding up pretty good.

Here's a couple of lamb pics: This is Iced Mocha, ram lamb


and Le Ann's ewe lamb

Sweet Miss Ellie

and our lil friend

While we're all coping with the heat, a break in the weather would be welcomed!

I Take It Back..

What I said about LeRoy, and "I doubt he'll try that again" ? Ok, I take it all back.

I went over to the barn yesterday, and there was under the wagon.. same spot.

I thought from this angle, he might be starting to bloat? Or maybe it's just the angle..

I got him out and he's looking at me as I'm walking away - as if to say "as soon as you're out of sight... I'm going back to my spot!" (notice Virgil under the wagon too... there really is a fan going in the barn, but I guess nothing compares to laying under the wagon!)

Just one of the many reasons I'm crazy..

about Jack!





Despite the long hours he puts in at work, and all the other work he has going on when he gets home, and elsewhere- he's never too busy to stop and play.





He's a great guy.

A great Dad.

And a great husband.

A New Project...

Today was our "groundbreaking" day on getting started on our house. We had planned to build several years ago, but we built a shop first, and along the way during that project we built living quarters in the upstairs. Then.. we were going to start a house. However, we've been cozy and content ever since, and just hadn't been real motivated to leap into building a house after we finished the shop. (and I say we, meaning not just Jack and I, but my Dad, my brother, friends.. a lot of people fit into that "we".. there were a lot of people that helped us along.. a tremendous amount of help!)

We have come to the point though, where we need more space - Wyatt needs his own room! We love where we live now, but it's becoming a necessary. So, all that being said, this is where we're building our house. (it's just beyond our shop/apartment) Unfortunately, those trees there in the front had to be cut down to accommodate an electric line/pole.

We hate to cut down living trees, but really didn't have any other options that were feesible. We will miss those trees, but will replace them with smaller ones in a different area that will hopefully someday reach those heights!

I'm sure the sheep will miss them too, but at the time this pic was taken, that's not what was on their minds. Starting a chainsaw up around here is like ringing a dinner bell.. they came from all corners of the pasture to see what we were trimming, and to see if there was anything in it for them!

There was. With that done, (yet not completely finished.. as there is still wood split, laying everywhere! Not to mention some branches remaining in the sheep pen.. ) but today was the day our excavator was scheduled to dig the basement. It went great -

and we have a hole in the ground!

It will be an on-going project, building this house.. and we cant even begin to have an idea of when we'll be finished, but we're getting started, and we're excited to be at this point.

Hey! Someone get me out of here!

Today was a full schedule, but nearing the end of the day, I noticed that LeRoy wasn't out grazing with the other boys. Which.. is unusual. The boys are in a separate lot from the girls, and it's fairly easy to find them - if they're not in the lot, they're in the barn. (unlike the ewe pen where you have to go up and down seven hills to find one of them that is coincidentally hiding on the other side of the barn) So, with all the heat, I thought i'd better just check the barn to make sure LeRoy was ok. There's a fan running in the barn, so I just assumed he stayed behind to have full access to the fan! Well.. along the way, I saw a big hind end under our wagon that is parked outside the barn. The boys sometimes lay under the wagon, so I wasn't overly concerned at first, but then I noticed he wasn't moving.


That's because he didn't have room to move! How in the world he got wedged in here, I'll never know. Le Roy had got himself trapped under the axle on the wagon - literally, with no room to spare. The wagon has a load of barn siding/metal on it and the back tires are flat, but they were flat before he got under there, so it's a wonder that he got there, but it was a bit of a wonder that we were able to get him out too. Jack had to "jack" up the wagon and I was on the pulling end. Free at last!

I doubt he'll try that again.

Disclaimer: I didn't leave him to go and get the camera..(lol) that would've been dirty. Of all things, Jack was watching Wyatt at the moment and I had my camera to take a few pictures of the rams while I had free hands.. who knew this is what I'd come back with.

Owen County Fan Fair

I mentioned in my last post that I stopped by the OCFF on the way home from "sheep shopping'' - and.. I did a little more shopping there:



(and I say I don't like to shop..lol) This painting was painted in acrylics by Ron Devore. I met Mr. Devore 3 years ago when I set up at the Owen County Arts in the Park. He had a painting of dairy cows out in a grassy field with the barn back in the distance.. I've thought about that painting so much over the past few years, that when I saw this one, I didn't go home to think about it! Here's a little bit of a close up on the details of his artwork. He is currently painting a series of paintings - the barn quilts of Owen County. (Kentucky) He painted 2 pictures of this barn - the barn quilt was on the other side of the barn. It is a beautiful painting as well, but I liked this view of the barn. It's more "lived in". The side with the quilt faced the road and did not have cattle tromping in front of it - the grass was all green in front of the barn.. freshly mowed. You know this side of the barn is being used- and I love it.

I was a bit sad to learn that he doesn't always record/photograph his work, and several of his barn quilt paintings have already sold. I inquired about the possibility of displaying his work on a website for others outside of our area to see and appreciate. If that works out, I will be posting a link. His work really is something to see!

Another great find of the day was.... pottery!
This is by Heartsong Pottery - by Gail Herrington of Owen County, Ky.

She was set up with another local potter and they had such beautiful pottery .. I thought of starting my Christmas shopping, but then.. wait, I have just the place for these pieces!

I love these pieces. Someone once asked me if I use my own pottery. I guess it's not good advertisement to say "no" but.. in all honesty, I prefer other potters work. I know what goes into a piece, and when i look at my work, I think of the night I stayed up pulling handles, or glazing them outside when snow was blowing in the barn and my fingers were freezing! You get the idea. I display someone elses pottery in my home and I look at it and remember the day Wyatt and I went shopping for sheep and we stopped by the art fair. I am then freed up to just enjoy the piece and it's beauty. (with no thoughts of sleepless nights and freezing fingers!)

There are such wonderful artists all around us.

A New Ram

We were looking to add a new ram to our flock this year, and we feel this ram lamb will just the right addition to our flock! I have to say though, the decision wasn't easy.

In addition to great fleece and conformation, we were also looking to add pattern to our flock.

This guy - currently known as 476 looks to be a gray moorit (with a double gray gene) (thanks to everyone who has had a hand in helping to decipher this!) I'll know more about what his pattern is when lambs hit the ground, but we're really looking forward to the 2012 lambs.

We will also be using our mouflon ram lamb as well as ziggy, or moorit ram, this breeding season.

476 was one of a triplet of 3 ram lambs. Just to give you an idea of how hard the decision was, just look at his brothers:

and that's not to count the other ram lambs there to choose from! This beautiful gray moorit has a fleece that just glistens..and the spotted ram? goodness, i need to quit looking at these pictures because i want them all. (Jack is supportive of this venture, but he might not be if I bought 3 or more rams at once! lol) These rams, along with other wonderful Icelandic lambs, are available at H&K farms - located in Pleasureville, KY.

We also purchased a gray moorit ewe lamb and a moorit mouflon ewe that we are excited to bring home. (and Sir Charles.. I can't wait to show you Sir Charles, an icelandic/border leicester cross)

It was a great day visiting H&K farm and then, to top the day off, Wyatt and I stopped by the Owen County Fan Fair - a new event in a nearby county to welcome Nascar fans. There were local artists, and potters.. and a big inflatable bouncy house for Wyatt! I did a little shopping there too! (pictures coming... I love local art)

I'd better stay home for a while now.