We, meaning Pam mostly, are getting much better at scheduling this annual event. We now completely understand that our shearer will NOT, under NO circumstance, EVER return a phone call. So, Pam drops by at his farm when she's sure he'll be there doing chores to discuss the best date for shearing.
Snowfalls have been so frequent this winter that we took no chances and moved all the sheep in under cover a day and a half ahead of time. We put the rams, along with Quinn the wether, and the non-pregnant girls in the old horse stalls under the main barn. The expectant moms went into the large sheep shed.
We were all set up and ready to start by mid-morning. Claire and then Jocelyn both arrived. But, no actual shearing got underway until shearer Lee arrived well after noon.
It was a LONG afternoon! Claire, an Americorps worker from an educational farm down in Freeport, jumped right in and took charge of keeping the shearing floor swept clean.
With Jocelyn on the job again this year, the skirting "crew" was well able to keep up with Lee. The skirting table was almost always clear and ready for the next fleece to be thrown on.
Photo: Pam and Jocelyn "first skirt" a fleece -- removing the most obvious "nasties". Pam will do another "full" skirting before the fleece leaves the farm.
We all took a break sometime not too much before dark -- it had been planned as "lunch" but happened a lot later. I don't think any of us had any idea about what the exact time might have been when the last fleece was free and Lee began packing up his shearing machine. Pam knew it was way too late to be bothering with carting the fleeces up to the house. The ladies stacked them all in the little shed and we headed up the hill -- it was almost 8:30!
It was not until a few days later that Pam and I stacked all the fleece in the back of the pickup and trucked them up to her studio.
If Skye can't actually SEE our sheep from Pam's studio, at least he can SMELL them!