About Robin

Owner of Meridian Jacobs, farm and fiber shop. I raise Jacob sheep, teach fiber arts classes, weave handwovens for sale, and manage the store.

A Great Day to Meet the Sheep

Posted on April 3, 2010 by Robin

Meet the Sheep is our annual spring Open House. After a rainy week we were very lucky that it didn’t rain. We were even luckier that the sun eventually came out.

It feels so nice to get the shop cleaned up. I wish it could stay that way.

Colleen of Fiber Confections brought her fiber and some sheep.

Colleen has a couple of bottle babies that were a great hit.

Another friend, Julie, brought her goats and also demonstrated dyeing mohair.

I have some great photos of kids (people) holding kids (goats) and Julie’s bottle lamb, but I didn’t ask if I could use them here.

I’m sure Tina won’t mind a photo on my blog.

It’s hard to take a photo when a sheep sneaks up on you…

…especially when she gets in front of the camera.

I’m off on a short vacation tomorrow. Watch for photos of snow and desert!

Friends

Posted on March 27, 2010 by Robin

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and three of us Jacob sheep friends got together to play with sheep.

This is Jackie with her newest acquisition, Sid, a Jacob wether. Sid will live here until he is weaned.

This is Julie with her puppy, Evan. The black and white border collie is Moby, Jackie’s dog. That’s Rusty on the deck.

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Robin

Three are dozens of quail at our place. I usually just see them in flight because when I walk out to the barn I always have a dog with me. We snuck up on them today.

We were not quiet enough.

Off to the blackberry bushes.

Here is the wisteria that I planted last summer. This is it’s first blooming season!

A spring evening

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Robin

I knew there was a reason for the manure pile.

Three weeks — 81 lambs

Posted on March 18, 2010 by Robin

This calendar is what I use to keep track of lambs. I have a whiteboard in the barn as well so that I can record BOSE injections, banding tails, etc. Here are today’s lambs, # 77 through 81.

This is Sparkle and her twins waiting while I clear out another jug. She lambed early in the morning.

This is Haylee and her newborn twins.

This looks almost gruesome but everyone is just fine. Mom is a yearling, Annette, and delivered a big ram lamb. All 4 horns are prominent already. Most of my yearlings lambed this week.

Where are the spots on this one? A friend of mine came by yesterday and asked if i could babysit some of her animals while she dealt with some medical problems. This is a Merino lamb–kind reminds me of one of those wrinkly dogs.

And the little guy is the puppy that I’m babysitting.

Here are today’s jumping lamb photos:

Lamb races

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Robin

The first 12 ewes to lamb and their babies are in this group. Lamb races have begun.

See more lamb photos here

Almost spring

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Robin

It sure looks and feels like spring today.

Twenty ewes have lambed so far with 38 lambs. Only about one third of those are rams.

A few days ago I took photos of lambs for the website before putting the ewes and lambs into group pens. Do you think Rusty showed restraint?

Nine lambs today

Posted on March 4, 2010 by Robin

Lambing moved into high gear today. The first lambs were born last Thursday and through yesterday (Wednesday) I had 16 lambs. Today four ewes lambed with 9 lambs and I think one more ewe will lamb tonight. Of those 25 lambs only 6 are rams!

This is Linda cleaning her second lamb. That’s steam coming off the lamb.

The lamb is trying to get up within 10 minutes of birth.

It’s always amazing to me to see lambs instinctively search for food. They know where to look for dinner. Did you know that the mom’s licking of the lamb stimulates the sucking response?

These lambs were born yesterday. See more lamb photos on my website .

Chenille Colors

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Robin

My February 16 blog includes a photo of a chenille scarf in which 6 colors blend from one to the next. I want to weave more of those scarves, some for Cotton Clouds kits, and some for the show I’ll have in November at the Artery. Here are the chenille colors I have to use.