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.

Sheep Portraits

Posted on August 10, 2014 by Robin

The sheep bed down around the barn at night and this morning took their time about moving to the pasture.Here are some sheep who posed for portraits (and, for those of you who care, some ancestry info). 5-year old Moon (bide a wee Yuri x Hillside Luna’s Harvest) Yearling, Sophia (Kenleigh’s Matrix x Meridian Jazz) Yearling, Cascade (Meridian Miller x Meridian Sierra) Yearling, Mae (Meridian Miller x Meridian Mary). She must have been looking in the mirror when she wrote the number on her tag? 5-month old BFL cross who I am keeping. No name yet. (Faulkner x Dazzle) 5-month old lamb who may stay here. (Meridian Miller x Meridian Vicki) 5-month old lamb who I want to keep (Meridian Hendrix x Meridian Alison) Someone is hiding behind the dallisgrass. It’s the wether, Jimmy…who I may just rename to Jake, because I tend to call all wethers Jake.This is two year old Onyx, a BFL cross. This is one of the newest members of the flock. (Meridian Miller x Meridian Donna.) Six lambs were born in July at the State Fair. This is her brother. This is a gorgeous lilac ram lamb (Meridian Alex x Meridian Phyllis), just what I’ve been waiting for….except those horns on his right are growing together and his horn set will be horribly asymmetrical. He won’t be registrable. Out to the pasture. “Mom!”“MOM !!!”

Welcome Kirby Jean

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Robin

I know that this blog is supposed to be about my sheep, my farm, and my weaving, but I’ll get back to those soon enough. It was fun to have a vacation and to share my photos. My latest reason to neglect my business is that we welcomed a new member of the family and I had to go to Texas to do it. I won’t share my family’s personal moments and info here, but surely I can share a few photos of my granddaughter…and I know that there will be more from here on out.

Shortly after birth.

Two days old. It’s been a long time since the last of my kids was wrapped in one of my handwoven baby blankets.

One week old.

The last morning I was in Texas I sat with Kirby on my lap and took photos as she was trying to wake up. I won’t include all 25 of them, but here are a few.

So now I’m home and back to business. I have some babies here to hold…

…They are cute, but really no substitute.

Waiting in Texas

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Robin

I’m in Texas waiting for the birth of a granddaughter. My daughter and SIL live in the Texas Hill Country and this is some of what I see on my walks in the early morning and evening.This is the road to the kids’ house.I saw three of these when I turned out of the driveway early this morning and at first I thought it wouldn’t be a very long walk. They eventually meandered through the fence. Lots of deer in the area. I don’t know what this bird is but it has a distinctive long tail. I need to google “bird with long tail in Texas hill country”. At Katie’s bird feeder there are a lot of cardinals and a very colorful painted bunting.

I want to look this plant up also. It was full of butterflies and some giant bees the last time I walked by. MamaLu cooling off after a walk when Katie went with me. View from the kid’s kitchen window. This is a Black Buck, native to Africa. There is a herd in the area. What do you do when the baby is a week overdue? Let’s go wash the horses. Libby is the horse that Katie got when she was in junior high. Libby moved with Katie to Cal Poly, to TX, to VT, and back to TX. Libby is not too crazy about baths, but her companion, Slim, loves the hose. View through the oak trees. Views from this morning’s walk before going to the hospital where we are waiting for a baby.

Sheep Grow Up

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Robin

I didn’t get around to registering most of the lambs that I kept last year. JSBA was in transition from me being the Registrar to having an outside organization handle it. So I waited. Why add more workload? Besides, the applications can now be submitted electronically (no more printing lots of photos for each sheep) and photos will show up on the registration certificates. Here are the sheep that I submitted, now yearlings. Meridian Santana = Puddleduck Sullivan x Genesis Farms Belinda Meridian Alex = Kenleigh’s Matrix x Meridian Alexandria Meridian Lana = Meridian Fogerty x Meridian Loretta Meridian Raquel= Meridian Miller x Meridian Rosie Meridian Cascade = Meridian Miller x Meridian Sierra Meridian Mae = Meridian Miller x Meridian MaryMeridian Sophia = Kenleigh’s Matrix x Meridian JazzThis is Marilyn who was registered last year so I didn’t get a new photo of her. This photo is before shearing her as a lamb. Marilyn = Meridian Miller x Meridian Hot Lips.This is some of Marilyn’s wool. I am spinning her fleece now during the Tour de France as part of Meridian Jacob’s unofficial Tour de Fleece group on Ravelry. Join us!

Who will the 2014 keepers be?This is one. Meridian Ginny = Meridian Hendrix x Mud Ranch’s GinsengMaybe this one shown with her mom. Not named yet = Meridian Miller x Meridian Vicki. Meridian Miller x Meridian JaneMeridian Hendrix x Meridian Alison

Road Trip – Days 8 & 9

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Robin

After leaving Imperial Stock Ranch in Oregon we were heading home. There are a lot of landscape photos at 70 mph in this post. I could have left out the blurry ones, but…hmmm…then I wouldn’t have all the impressions that I want to remember. Sorry. It makes me appreciate other people’s very sharp photos that much more. The trusty green truck that Dan got for $5 when his dad moved to Hawaii. Landscape off Hwy. 97 in north-central Oregon. Sunset over Klamath Lake in Oregon.

It was dark as we were looking for a place to camp along the road in California. I realized later that Dan had an ulterior motive for wanting to make it as far as Military Pass Rd., off of Hwy. 97 before it joins up with I-5. If you want to hike the north or east sides of Mt. Shasta that is where you find the trailheads and he wants to do that trip before he goes back to teaching in August. We found a place off the main road, ate what was left in the ice chest, and went to sleep. This is what it looked like in the morning.This is the view from our “campsite”.It’s always a thrill to see Mt. Shasta when you drive into California from the north. The peak is 14,162′ and Shastina to the west is 12,330′.

We spent the morning driving the roads that circle Mt. Shasta to the east and finally join up with the highway to head south. We stopped several times at campsites and trails along the beautiful McCloud River.

Finally on the last leg home. No more stops. Passing Shasta Lake, indicative of California’s severe drought. This is only June and the lake should be filled with snowmelt. Dry hills typical of the Mediterranean climate of California. Most parts of California have dry summers and wet winters. We depend on the winter rain and snowfall to fill reservoirs and replenish acquirers to be able to produce the abundant agricultural crops that California is known for. With irrigation this is what the Central Valley looks like. This is a rice field. This land is usually brilliant green from about October into April. The brown landscape is normal for unirrigated land. However, last year we had an early rain (September?) and then nothing. What grass germinated died. Many ranchers who depend on the fall grass to feed their cattle and sheep had to sell their livestock. The next rains came in January and they were meager. There was not enough rain or snow, especially following other years of relatively dry conditions, to catch up. You can read about the affect of the drought on California’s farmers and ranchersat Voices from the Drought on Facebook. Harvesting hay.Sunflowers at 70 mph. The dry hills are typical of California in the summer. The valley crops are grown with irrigation water.

Well, I got sidetracked into a semi-documentary. These photos in Yolo and Solano Counties meant that we were getting closer to home.

Here is who greeted us when we pulled in (my camera doesn’t seem to be doing any better at 0 mph).

We had a wonderful trip but it’s good to be home.

Road Trip – 2nd half of Day 8 – Oregon

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Robin

After touring Pendleton Woolen Mill we got on the road again. Just as we were getting on the freeway to head west we saw this scene:Herding cattle next to the freeway and across lawn? Look again. These are beautifully made full-size sculptures.Not far from Pendleton Highway 84 meets up with and then follows the Columbia River. We followed the Columbia River. This is the John Day Lock and Dam. In some places we saw windsurfers on the river, but elsewhere there were huge barges. I don’t have photos but we also saw several bighorn sheep on the rocky cliffs just south of the highway in this area. We turned south onto Highway 97 which would take us all the way to California. More stunning landscape, sky and wide, open spaces. Rolling hills of wheat. Isolated ranches and distant mountains.

We passed the town of Shaniko (population of 36 at 2010 census) which was known in 1900 as the Wool Capitol of the World. The largest landowner at the time was R.R. Hinton who had first homesteaded in the 1870’s and continued to purchase land until his Imperial Stock Ranch became the largest individually owned ranch in Oregon. The Imperial Stock Ranch eventually ran 35,000 head of sheep in 12-14 bands that would winter on the home ranch and be trailed to summer range on Forest Service land. Hinton was involved in breeding programs that led to the one of the first sheep breeds developed in the U.S., the large-framed, fine-wooled Columbia sheep, originating from Lincoln and Rambouillet ancestors. The newly formed town of Shaniko (built as the railroad reached the area) was less than 15 miles from the Imperial Stock Ranch’s headquarters, and its wool warehouse shipped 4 million pounds of wool by rail in 1901.Imperial Stock Ranch is now owned by Dan and Jeannie Carver and they have developed the Imperial Yarn Company using Columbia wool produced on the ranch and elsewhere in the state. This is some of my favorite yarn in the shop and I have recently been using it to weave blankets. Since we were going to be driving through this part of Oregon I had asked if we could visit the ranch. The photo above is the road into the headquarters.

Keelia, lives on the ranch and was there to show us around the headquarters. This is the house built by R.R. Hinton, now headquarters of the Yarn Company.The headquarters complex has been entered into the National Register of Historic Places and the history of the buildings and the Hinton family are available for review.

The grain silo. See the detail of the construction below. This is one sturdy building. We also saw the shearing shed and other buildings that are still in use.A few bottle lambs hand out under the house to greet visitors. As we left the ranch headquarters some of the sheep were near enough the road to get some photographs of them in this majestic setting.Back on the road on the last leg of the trip.

Next post: California’s scenery isn’t too shabby either. Mt. Shasta and home.

Road Trip – Day 8 – Pendleton

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Robin

It’s been several days since I wrote the post about Day 7 of our vacation. The vacation wasn’t quite over. We needed to be back home on Tuesday but there were two places to visit in Oregon. (Actually I had marked many others on the map in my head–Hell’s Canyon National Recreation Area, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, a friend in Boise, a cousin near Portland–but those will all have to wait for another trip.)

We arrived in Pendleton… …and easily found the woolen mill. There is also a mill near Portland. That is where they weave cloth for the Pendleton clothing line. At this mill in Pendleton they spin and weave blankets. There were about a dozen people there for the tour even at 9 a.m. on a Monday morning. It was interesting to see the workings of the mill but now I have a lot of unanswered questions. We all wore headsets so that we could hear the tour guide over noise of the mill machinery but that meant that there was no opportunity to ask questions while we were walking. And the tour was fast. I would have liked to stop and watch what was going on with each loom. Now that I’m looking at my photos I realize that I have even more questions about what I was seeing. I guess I’ll just have to go back!The Mill uses Rambouillet wool from Oregon and surrounding states and Merino wool from New Zealand and Australia. The wool is scoured in Texas and then comes to Oregon for spinning and weaving. The carding and spinning equipment was on the second floor. That room was quite humid. The guide told us that high humidity lessons the quantity of airborne particles so employees don’t have to wear dust masks. Now I wonder if that is the main reason for the humidity or if it makes carding and spinning more efficient (or both). The photo above shows the carding equipment operating behind plexiglass.Pencil roving is spun onto big spools and the yarn is later transferred to cones. The yarn is steamed to set the twist. Now I can’t remember the details. I think it was steamed for an hour or so. This is a view from the second floor looking down on the looms that are on the first floor.Above the looms are the computers that operate them and fans that keep the lint from settling and, thereby, prevent overheating.Here is where I now have more questions than answers. This is one of the Jacquard looms. A Jacquard loom can weave complicated patterns because all the threads operate independently. Notice the selvedge threads that are wound separately.It is only after looking at this photo that I see the selvedges being cut off as the cloth rolls onto the cloth beam. At least I think that is what I am seeing. (This will only have significance to those of you who are weavers.) This is one of the dobby looms. I think that guide said that with their newer dobby looms a blanket takes 15 minutes to weave.The blankets in a continuous roll are inspected for flaws as they roll over a light table (middle of the photo where the bright light is). Blankets ready for finishing touches. Bags of selvedges ready to sell to people who want to make rugs.We left with a few bags of our own. Dan wanted to point out that his purchase (BBQ sauce) fit into that little paper bag.

Next post: Second half of Day 8–sheep.

Road Trip – Day 7 – West to Oregon

Posted on June 29, 2014 by Robin

The plan for this day was to end up near Pendleton, Oregon because I wanted to go on a tour of the Pendleton Woolen Mill on Monday morning,

This was another early morning with no dawdling around camp. No rain or snow, no moths or mosquitos (see earlier posts), but it was cold and we had places to go. Before we left Yellowstone we checked on a couple of sites that we hadn’t seen during the previous two days. Boiling mud at Artists’ Paintpots There are no photos, but we were struck by the crass commercialization of the town of West Yellowstone, just outside the West entrance to the Yellowstone. It made us very appreciative of the Rockefeller Parkway, that preserves 24,000 acres connecting Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone. Some of this land was purchased by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to prevent commercialization and ensure preservation of the Yellowstone Basin ecosystem. It is now administered by the National Park System. Once on the road we didn’t stop very much so many of my photos are from the highway. I was continually amazed by the huge pivot systems up to 1/4 mile long which means they are irrigating circles of 1/2 mile in diameter. We were entertained by following our map books. We started out with California and Nevada. I think we picked up Idaho somewhere on the way. Later we found Montana and Wyoming in a used bookstore in Jackson, WY. Eventually we found Oregon in a bookstore in Pendleton. We found these books to be a way to keep the travel interesting even in the broad stretches of “nothing” in the high desert landscapes. There are always geological formations, land features, mines or mountain-tops with names and the books offer much more detail as far as land ownership and dirt roads than regular road maps. The books came in particularly useful when we wanted to camp along the way and find roads into Forest Service land. (Yes, I also have an iPhone and I use it, but there is not always service and sometimes it’s just easier to see the whole thing on one page.)On Day 2 we got interested in the fact that our route followed the California Trail used by the pioneers in the 1800’s. Now we were following the Oregon Trail. These map books also indicated these trails and all the interpretive centers along the way. We stopped at Glenn’s Ferry and spent about an hour at their historical center.This is called Three Island Crossing (those larger trees are on islands in the middle of the river) and is where the covered wagons crossed the Snake River. The river was much different before it was dammed and the crossings were dangerous.

While traveling in Idaho I discovered this very cool Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide of the Oregon Trail as it follows the Snake River in Idaho. This guide includes info about the trail, the events that occurred at specific sites along it, and excerpts from pioneer diaries. I’m not much of a history buff but this was a fun way to learn more about this part of our history and it is much more meaningful when you are seeing the landscape–rivers, mountains, deserts in much the same way that those pioneers saw them, but of course with much different perspective. I highly recommend traveling with the map book open on the lap while reading the info on the iPhone. We made it to Oregon by late afternoon.Wide open spaces.

There is a what looked like a very cool interpretive center near Baker City, Oregon but we were there too late in the day. This marker indicates… …the remnants of the actual trail.

Even without the aid of the Oregon map book (which we didn’t buy until the next day) we found a place to spend the night. We think this was Forest Service land, but maybe not. Dan received Father’s Day greetings from the kids. We wondered a short distance from camp and enjoyed the greenery of the forest after driving through the desert. This area is part of the Blue Mountain Range which was a formidable obstacle for the pioneers. But it was close to dark when we stopped so once again we didn’t linger over dinner. I don’t even remember what it was–I think we were using up what was left…crackers, peanut butter, cheese, yogurt, carrots. We needed to get on the road fairly early to make sure we got to Pendleton in time for the 9:00 mill tour.

Next up: A day of travel that includes wool and sheep.

Road Trip – Day 6 – Another Day at Yellowstone

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Robin

In the last post did I say how cold it was when we went to bed the first night in Yellowstone? The cold plus the bison in the campground make me wish that I didn’t have that middle-of-the-night call of nature. However, maybe that’s a good thing because it was starting to rain and I shut the tailgate and the camper window. When everything is shut up it is warmer inside, but it is also stuffy and the windows get wet with condensation. There are trade-offs and stuffiness is probably better than feet in a wet sleeping bag especially when the temperature dips into the 20’s. The green truck is too old to show the temp but that’s what my iPhone said when I asked. So instead of rain we had snow during the night. Not a lot, but nevertheless, snow. Once again we didn’t linger over our breakfast of instant oatmeal but got in the truck and turned the heater on.

I chose way too many photos for this day’s blog and I should cut some out, but I probably won’t. I like blogs that are mostly photos…

Our plan for this day was to drive the northern loop starting with Mammoth Hot Springs and ending with the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.Not far from the campground we saw our first grizzly bears – from the safety of our truck. (Even though I have been told by blog readers that the bear we saw in Grand Teton was a grizzly bear and not a black bear we thought it was a black bear at the time and I prefer to think that we were hiking with black bears, not grizzlies.) The one on the left was eating a carcass of something and was wearing a collar. They were being watched by a park biologist. I wonder if the park personnel always keep track of bears that are collared and monitor them when they show up near a road? One thing that we learned quickly is that being a Park Ranger in Yellowstone means Wildlife Traffic Patrol. Do you know an easy way to spot wildlife?Just look for parked cars and people walking along the road.It didn’t take long to find more bison… …and more bears. This one wasn’t alone. I know, the sagebrush is more in focus than the bears, but that may be my last grizzly bear photo.

It was still early and when we got to Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces the weather was not looking good. It was cold and windy and during our walk along the boardwalk trails it started snowing. But the changing conditions only made the views more dramatic.

We didn’t hike any long trails on this day but there were many shorter hikes. There were people stopped on the road watching a black bear when we got out of the truck to take a half mile trail to see Wraith Falls. Dan was trying to decide if the bear was still entertaining people on the road or had retreated in our direction. Note bear spray with orange cap in the backpack pocket.

There are several one-way roads that you can use to get off the main road. Blacktail Plateau Drive is one of them and the scenery is majestic. To my surprise Dan asked if I wanted to stop and take flower photos. I am usually teased about this habit. This one is wild flax. Phlox.

I wish I knew what this flower is. From a distance it looks like single blue flowers. It’s only when you get up close that you see that it is lots of little tiny flowers.We stopped at another waterfall trailhead and Dan took this photo of a 1936 touring van that he had just read about. These were canvas topped vehicles used in many of the national parks. They seated 14 people and in cold weather (at least in the northern parks) they provided Pendleton wool blankets for the passengers. At least some of the vehicles were used into the 1990’s when they were just too old to keep running. The Park Service replaced the old vehicles with modern Dodge vans but the visitors wanted the old touring vans. So they are on the road again but Ford kept just the top part and replaced the chassis (and all the important things like brakes) with new parts.

Speaking of vehicles it seemed as though each of the parking lots at the main attractions had it’s own sentry. This one was eating crackers.

It was getting late in the day by the time we got to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There are several access points and trails on both the north and south sides. We knew that we didn’t have time to hike all the trails, but we went to all the overlooks and walked a few of the trails. We took Uncle Tom’s trail to a viewing spot of the Lower Falls. Writing this blog I’m in a tank top and shorts with the fan on and it’s hard to remember that just 10 days ago I was bundled in two layers of wool, my Carhartt jacket, wool hat, and gloves. Originally this trail had over 500 steps and rope ladders. Now it has only 328 steps and no ladders. The trail no longer takes you all the way to the bottom but you still hear and feel the power of the water cascading over the rocks. I love the green color of the water here. This is a scene of the canyon and the river taken from another viewing area. Simply majestic. I don’t think that I would have spotted this osprey nest except that some other people were looking with binoculars. See what I mean? The top photo is a close-up of this one.Another beautiful evening. Again we got back to camp at dusk, ate a couple of cans of beans and went to bed.

Next post: On the road to Oregon

Road Trip – Day 5 – Yellowstone

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Robin

The mosquito situation in camp was no better than the night before so we didn’t linger in camp on our fourth morning. We took just enough time to get our food out of the bear box and for Dan to make his coffee and we got on the road. There are plenty more trails to explore in the Tetons and I hope to make it back there some day. But this was our next stop and we had two days to see as much of it as we could. Not far into the park we saw our first bison. Initially we didn’t stop for much because we needed to find a campsite in one of the non-reservation campgrounds. After we secured a spot we were free to plan the day. There are two main loop roads in Yellowstone and we spent the first day exploring the southern one. This is the Norris Geyser Basin, not far from our campground. That steam on the left was rising out of the ground with the sound of a roaring a furnace. The trail traverses this valley and there are steamy, boiling, gurgling features everywhere.

I took Geology my first quarter of college and decided that I would not be a geologist. I am definitely more of a life sciences type, but I can be awed by these spectacles even if I don’t know the physical science behind them. This landscape is all about color, patterns, bubbles, steam, explosions. Bison footprints. Then there is the wildlife.On the way south towards Upper Geyser Basin (where Old Faithful is) traffic was stopped on the road. Going around a turn we saw the cause. Bison were walking alongside and on the road. Why not? It was certainly the easiest way to get from one meadow area to another, especially where this canyon narrowed. Passengers scurried ahead of their cars (leaving drivers) to get a better look.Eventually it was our turn to pass the three dozen or more bison as they turned from the road and moved into the forest. Osprey over the Upper Geyser Basin. We got to the Visitor Center and Old Faithful just minutes before Old Faithful was due to erupt. After watching we faced a furious wind as we walked a couple of miles along the boardwalks and trails that traverse the Basin, seeing more of this amazing landscape. It was getting later in the day as we completed the loop road to get back to camp. The road crosses the Continental Divide a couple of times in this area. Living on the West Coast we always think of all water ending up in the Pacific, but crossing the Divide twice in a short distance made me think about it. We had been following two major waterways, but they end up in different places, the Snake River flowing westward and the Yellowstone River flowing east. As dusk falls even more animals are visible, although not easy to photograph. It was dark by the time we got back to camp for dinner. I walked up the hill to the bathroom and a woman who was waiting while her cell phone charged pointed out to me what looked like … nothing…well maybe more black than the rest of the dark. There were two bison munching on grass right next to an RV. In the dark it was as though there was a Black Hole. I would never have known they were there. The woman told me that the bison had just walked around the bathroom and stopped to graze there. At that point I decided that the weak batteries in my headlamp were not adequate for the task of walking around Yellowstone at night.

No moths or mosquitoes at this campsite, but it was dark when we got back, we were out of firewood and it was cold. We quickly cooked our spaghetti and some hot chocolate and went to bed.

Stay tuned for Day 6.

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Life on the farm and at the loom.

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