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Pretty Pennsylvania

Wish I could’ve spent more time in PA on this trip. Jim and I lived there 30+ years ago and used to camp & fish near where Erinn & Caroline live. Fond memories. Our son, Josh, kept me company on the drive and we had nice time…lot’s of talking and catching up on what’s happening. We saw some beautiful scenery…so different from coastal Maine. I’d forgotten about mountains and valleys like that! We passed through some communities where haymaking was being done with horses. Very cool! We covered alot of ground in just over 2 days and I could use a day of downtime but we’ve got to get Tatum and Bubba settled into their new digs.  They’ll be spending about a month in quarantine. They won’t be together (no lambs!) but will be able to see each other so they won’t be lonely. We’ll be watching them closely and they’ll get their feet trimmed, checked for parasites, etc. Bubba is badly in need of a shearing so I’ll have to see if Emily can come out.

On the Road

Bubba with his big fleece

Bubba with his big fleece

Erinn W. needs a new ram so I’m heading out to PA. I’m taking her a young ram and will bring back the ram she has now, Bubba. She bought Bubba from us several years ago and he’s grown into quite the studly guy. I’m also going to take out a couple of adult Coopworth ewes to Caroline O. and bring back Tatum whom she bought from us a year ago. For some reason, Tatum didn’t lamb last year. She was bred but something happened. Caroline was in the process of moving and the animals were shifted around a couple of times so maybe that had something to do with it. But who knows! As a result of eating for 3 and actually being only 1,

Pretty Tatum

Pretty Tatum

Tatum is a fattie. So fat, in fact, that its unlikely she would settle this Fall. If that were to happen, she’d likely be headed to the auction. So she’ll come back to Maine and it won’t really matter that she’s fat because we’re not going to breed the sheep anyway. It’s amazing how I can make it sound like this makes all the sense in the world. Truth is that if she’d been here and not lambed, we’d be thinking about retiring her, too. But…Tatum is a good girl with a fantastic fleece so having her on board won’t be a bad thing. She’s older but not ancient and may have lambs again — after we put her on a diet!

Gilda’s Hogget Fleece

Gilda's fleece and the yarn sample I made using the dog comb flicking method. The yarn is spun in the grease but here it's been washed.

Gilda's fleece and the yarn sample I made using the dog comb flicking method. The yarn is spun in the grease but here it's been washed.

I’m spinning Gilda’s hogget fleece now — flicking the raw locks with a dog comb and spinning them randomly. The fleece is multicolored and the resulting yarn is amazing! What a change her fleece has undergone with age. I think this is the most dramatic one we’ve ever had! Gilda had two really lovely natural colored ewe lambs last year and both are still here. Can’t wait to seeing their hogget fleeces on the skirting table this Spring!

Grass…Pasture…Forage

…whatever you want to call it, it’s been on our minds these days and in short supply.  Jim, the assistant shepherd in charge of pasture management<BG>, has been watching, worrying, reporting. Finally, with some rain, it seems to be turning around. Too bad that Fall is on the doorstep now and growth is slowing down. Time to switch gears to finding/buying/storing hay.  We’ve bought some from our very favorite hay maker — OMG! this man’s hay makes me wish I were a ruminant!  I just wish we could convince him to give up more of it.  But he’s feeding his own cows & beef critters so we forgive him.  Probably the rest of what we need will come from Canada.  We don’t like the idea of “importing” and would really prefer to buy locally but good hay is hard to make here on the coast.  Good soil is in short supply and there’s just too many foggy nights.  Decided to skip lambing this year…sigh. Feels good to have this decision behind us.  Jim is good with it, too.

Yummy Lamb Fleeces

here emily shears a black lamb

here's Emily shearing a lamb

Emily — our wonderful shearer — was here and sheared a bunch of lambs. Wow! a new supply of black fiber and the lamb fleeces are so-o-o soft! The last time we had this many black fleeces in one place at one time, I had them blended with black alpaca that came from my friend Elyse  in NY.  Her fiber is special. The yarn I had made is exquisite! Quite a bit has sold and one customer tells me that she’s going to give a photo of the cardigan she made from it.  I’m looking forward to seeing it and will post it, too.  Oh! And Emily shared her happy news with us — she’s pregnant! The baby is coming in January. Perfect timing…although I’m sure that our shearing schedule wasn’t a consideration! LOL!