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.

Farm Club Goes to the City – Part 1

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Robin

This was the weekend of Farm Club’s third annual retreat. Our destination was San Francisco because we have a wonderful place to spend the night. Three of us are now members of the NDGW (Native Daughters of the Golden West) and we (and our friends) have a fabulous place to stay in the city. Look here for some photos of the NDGW home.

We arrived in SF shortly after noon and began our retreat with an excursion to the Hayes Valley Farm. There is a fascinating story here. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake collapsed some of the freeways in SF the sites were abandoned. This parcel of land holds what is left of the on-ramp and off-ramp to one of the collapsed freeways. A group of volunteers started this urban farm project a few years ago and turned the blighted landscape into fertile ground with unique collaborations and composting. (One fact I think I remember correctly is that Google supplied 15,000 tons of cardboard used to compost horse manure and wood chips on top of ivy that was growing there.) We saw unique ways of using found materials to grow plants.

This is the seed bank, outside… …and inside. There were other uniques structures…… built from unlikely materials.

But the most remarkable thing is the landscape itself.Look at that soil and the vegetation. You almost don’t notice the city behind it until you look from another aspect: That’s the SF City Hall in the background. Yup, that’s part of the old onramp.This is a bittersweet time for the volunteers here. It turns out that this is the last week of activities here. The site is being used under some kind of temporary permit and the city is now going to build condos there. The person that we talked to said that even as the Hayes Valley Farm closes, it is providing a demonstration and lesson to all. There have been no protests, no marches, nobody chaining themselves to trees. They are dispersing all the plant materials, greenhouses, and compost throughout the city–some to schools who have developed urban ag programs, some to other urban farm sites in the city, and some to individuals. They feel that the program has been successful as a model of what can happen with the partnership of cities and volunteers and the benefits to everyone. (Celebrating Blue Tape as opposed to Red Tape.)

I am inspired to try planting nasturtiums again as well as a garden with a bit more freedom from even rows.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our adventure.

The Bone Yard

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Robin

I was cleaning the barn before Meet the Sheep and gathered up all the skulls and horns that I had collected over the years.

I took advantage of the sunny day to clean everything and I matched up horns to skulls. I sold the two horn skulls already, but the 4-horn skulls are for sale on my website.

What do I do with these horns?Here is something that I think is interesting. Take a look at these horns in these two photos: I measured the horns so that I could describe them on my website. The horns in the first photo are 23″ long and they measure 9″ around at the base. The horns in the second photo are 24″ long and measure 10″ around. I never think of the curled horns as being as long as the upright ones, but it makes sense that they are.

For comparison, the longest horn on the skull at the top of this post is 20″ and the lower horns are 13″. The longest horn on the second skull is 28″. The longest horn on the second 2-horn skull is 31″ and on the last skull is 21″.

Meet the Sheep 2013

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Robin

Another great day at the farm and another day that I’m so thankful to Farm Club and my other friends! Meet the Sheep is our annual spring Open House event. It is a big undertaking, but with the help of Farm Club and my family (and some luck with the weather) it went very well. Mary, Joy, and Gynna are three of the crew that arrived early to help with set up. Notice the threatening weather. Just before visitors were due to arrive I brought the sheep in from the pasture… …and moved them to the pasture near the shop so that they would be ready to Meet the People. Jackie set up a booth… …as did Colleen. I resurrected some displays from my Shear Delight days.Shelby and Dona tried out the new photo station that was created by Dona and Rick.The scheduled demonstrations were very popular. Alison demonstrated spinning. Colleen taught Solar Dyeing with Kool-aid……and how to felt a bowl using a balloon. Julie brought baby chicks and bunnies and showed people how to handle the bunnies. I think she won in the Cuteness Category today… …although Mary’s triplets were popular as were the three bottle babies and the six newest lambs. Julie also talked about dyeing fiber.Janis made this cool poster using wool from a fleece she bought in November.

And that’s it for my photos although there was a lot more going on. We were so busy that I was in the shop the rest of the day!Good thing that Dona brought brownies for lunch!

Field Trip Season

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Robin

I found a new Season. Field Trip Season. I’ve had 4 field trips here in the last couple of weeks. I don’t get very good photos during field trips because I’m the one who is leading the field trip, but I’ll use a few. Today I’ll share yesterday’s field trip because I got to be a participant (as opposed to leader) of part of it.Fibershed sponsored a field trip for representatives of Smartwool, Northface, Lucy (and maybe others) to learn about our end of textile production. Many (most?) people who purchase and use fabric, individually or commercially, don’t necessarily have a sense of where it comes from. The goal of this trip was to expand the awareness of fiber production–the animals, the farmers, the soil and plants–and the importance of supporting sustainable local farms, and the idea that there is plenty of wool grown in N. CA but not the infrastructure to turn it into cloth. That is a primary goal of Fibershed–to set in motion the creation of that infrastructure and to create thriving businesses that support farmers, designers, fiber processers, and consumers. Whew! Pretty lofty goals? I am always amazed at what Rebecca (creator of Fibershed) has coming up next. I really hope that you’ll spend some time on the Fibershed website because I think it’s one of the most important non-profit groups you’ll find.

On to the field trip. I expected 5-6 people. There was a busload! First stop for us was the pasture. The sheep performed admirably. I had waited to move the fence for the day’s grazing until the field trip was here. The sheep rushed to the fresh pasture just like they always do. This is the group in the pasture. We spent a lot of time discussing pasture management, irrigation, choice of breed, wool types, etc. Friend, Dona, brought this board over, getting ready for Meet the Sheep on Saturday. Some of the braver visitors tried it out.

The second part of the tour was a trip to Mary Pettis-Sarley’s ranch in the hills west of Napa. Mary has a variety of sheep, cattle, and alpacas who live in a beautiful setting. She creates Twirl yarn using unique blends of the fibers she grows. The yarns are all natural colored or dyed with natural dyes from plants that grow on the ranch. The “I” in these labels indicates that the dyeplants are invasive species. A major challenge of raising livestock in the hills is the predator problem. Mary has 17 dogs, most of whom are various breeds of livestock guardian dogs (LGD). They can be intimidating when you drive onto the property, but aren’t so scary once they know you’re on the approved list (or maybe that you’re not a 4-legged hungry visitor). Mary let out the bottle babies… …and I think her part of the field trip won the Cuteness Factor award. We were accompanied by two of the pets on the way to Mary’s wool washing station.Now I’m jealous, not only of the property, but of this. Maybe I’d wash more of my own fleeces if I could figure out a set-up like this. Here is where the fleeces are dried. Mary had several fleeces spread out so that the visitors could handle them and feel the characteristics that we’d been talking about all day. A couple of scarves knit with Mary’s yarn. As I drove way I saw some of Mary’s cows. As it happens, these cows are the daughters and granddaughters of Jennie, a Brown Swiss cow that Mary got from us when we left our dairy life in 1998. Talk about happy CA cows. These truly have a happy life.Look at their view of the Napa Valley if they choose to look up from all that grass. (Alpacas in this photo–they were right next to the cows.)

Wildflowers in the hills

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Robin

Dan and I went for a hike today not too far from here. The loop is about 4.5-5 miles with spectacular views.It’s been dry this spring, and the greenery won’t last long, but there are a lot of wild flowers right now.

Also a lot (A LOT) of poison oak. I love the effect of my new lens with the shallow depth of field, but it’s sometimes hard to work with, especially when I’m trying to snap photos quickly.

“I’ll catch up…Just taking photos.” Western Redbud is one of my favorites.

Felting Field Trip

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Robin

Today I hosted a field trip of 4-Hers led by Carol of Joshua Farm Shetlands. They came to talk about Jacob sheep, pasture management and the fiber business and to do a felting project. The morning started in the pasture. Most people that come to see the farm want to spend time with sheep, but it is very important to understand that we should think of ourselves as “grass farmers” first. I couldn’t possibly have the number of sheep that I do without irrigated pasture and intensive grazing management.We discussed sheep, facilities and ended the livestock part of the tour by looking at the Dead Zone (I just thought of that name). There are ram skulls in that fence in various stages of decomposition. As we explained to the kids, we want to sell every part of the animal we can. We came back to the shop for lunch and then a felting workshop. The idea was to felt a sheep. Some of the sheep had morphed significantly into other life forms: Snail. Duck.Aren’t these cool?

Before they left the 4-H group was gracious enough to help my son out with his photography assignment. He is supposed to submit an interpretation of Social Awareness and decided to stage a family picnic in which it is obvious that everyone is more involved in their electronic devices than each other.

No one seemed to mind the time for this, but the girls crowded around the iPad kept asking for the password.

It Takes A Farm Club …

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Robin

I’ve thought about titles for this post for a couple of days, but I’ve been too busy and/or too tired to write it. It Takes A Farm Club to Run a Farm. Or Farm Club Experiences Life and Death. FC met here on Saturday. I am so appreciative of everyone in FC. I know that they are getting experiences they wouldn’t otherwise, but I am benefiting tremendously as well. There was a lot going on that day.

My day started with a ewe that I though might have milk fever. I treated her with calcium gluconate and put her with her lambs in a pen so I could watch her. The first FC members arrived as another ewe, Onyx was lambing.
Lambing pens ……and the rest of the barn were cleaned while we kept an eye on Onyx. Onyx is a BFL/Jacob cross bred to a Jacob. She had a black lamb and a Jacob-looking lamb while FC looked on. I’m glad that she lambed in the barn. If she had been in the field I would have been looking all over for a Jacob ewe missing a lamb.Look at the horns on that lamb. Ouch! It’s unheard of to irrigate this early in the year, but we have had almost no rain since December. The irrigation district charged the ditches so I put in a call for water. Gynna and Lisa helped by clearing debris from the ditch. We checked this ewe lamb’s broken leg. I showed FC members my bone-yard ( a pen where I put skulls that are in various stages of decomposition). Shelby sat with the ewe who later died (not of milk fever, but a metabolic problem similar to pregnancy toxemia, according to preliminary necropsy results).Then we had to bottle feed her lambs. (The day before I had just grafted the bottle baby I had onto a ewe. Now I have more bottle lambs.) And there are always plenty of lambs to hold. We checked all 70 lambs for split eyelids and number of horns and I gave them all BOSE injections. I don’t have photos, but a guest of a FC member worked on my buttons–sanding buttons that I had cut out months ago. We can’t have Farm Day without Donna’s brownies…and now Lisa’s sheep cookies and Mary’s O’Henry bars. Thank you to everyone who came and helped and then shared the warm afternoon sun.

Busy Busy

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Robin

Here are some of the things that have filled this week: These are 8-9 pound triplets. The third was already up and nursing. I pulled these. This is the lamb list so far. Purple for ewes, blue for rams. I have a lot of new things for the shop, but haven’t had time to play with them or get them on the website. Electric carder, blending boards, and batt rollers (and other spinning gadgets) by Clemes and Clemes. I also have new DVD’s, books, felting kits, and gadgets.

I had a big weaving deadline that coincided with the first week of lambing (which also coincided with my tax appointment). This is just a preview of an item that will be in an upcoming issue of Handwoven magazine. And a new dog added to the workload. You can read Rusty’s blog to learn more about Maggie. There are still more ewes to lamb. I’m on my way to the barn now for the last check tonight.

Lambs everywhere

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Robin

Eight lambs today brought us to 22 lambs in five days since lambing began. It was hectic today. I had a Lambtown Fiber Committee meeting scheduled here from 1 to 3. One ewe (Delilah) lambed with twins and I put another ewe (Belinda) in a lambing pen just before the meeting started. One of the participants in the meeting brought her kids and the kids needed something to do. They were charged with the task of telling us if Belinda started having a lamb. About half way through the meeting the kids told us that a different ewe had just had a lamb. That was Terraza and I brought her into the barn. By the time the meeting was over there were 5 more lambs (2 for Terraza, 2 for Belinda, and 1 more for Delilah, giving her triplets). The morning began with finding Summer’s lambs. Unfortunately one was dead. (This is not a very good photo but it is of the live lamb.)The third of Delilah’s triplets. Look at those horns.This is Belinda. It’s no wonder that lambs and ewes get mixed up when lambing in a confined area. Belinda was desperate to have a lamb, any lamb.Delilah and her triplets.Terraza and twins. 1-DSC_5697weigh Dona came for the meeting and she took some photos. I like to weigh the lambs so I have an answer when people ask me “how much do they weigh when they are born?”Here are the official Lamb Watchers of the day. This is one of Eliza’s lambs, born a couple of days ago. Hot Lips and one of her lambs.The Lambing Board.

Lambs are Here!

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Robin

Lambs were due on Thursday, 148 days after the first breeding date. I’ve started watching for early arrivals. Last night I went out at about 12:30 a.m. (after finishing bookkeeping for the night) and found two ewes with four lambs. I brought them into the lambing pen area and tried to sort out moms and babies. I finally assigned two lambs to each ewe and they all seemed happy. In the light of day I realize that the sets of twins are split up. But that’s OK as long as each lamb has a happy mom. This is a beautifully marked ram lamb. Meridian Celeste x Kenleigh’s Matrix. The two parents are both lilac (the color of this lamb) and they should have lilac offspring. This is his adopted twin, but he is black so I think belongs to the other mom. (Meridian Zoey x Meridian Fogerty) Here is a lilac ewe lamb (although in the photo she looks black) so this is the twin to the first one. Meridian Loretta lambed with twins in the middle of the day. I put Loretta in a pen and came back an hour later. No muss, no fuss. Twins clean and nursing. This is a ewe lamb. Meridian Loretta x Kenleigh’s Matrix. Here is that first lamb again. I usually just number the lambs and let buyers give them names. This lamb is tempting me to name all my lambs. I don’t have his name yet, but I’ll think of one. Lambing season has started.

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