Checking the pasture this morning. The fog was so dense it seemed dark for longer this morning and I didn’t go out right away. The sheep had already been out eating.
This is Day 3 of grazing this paddock but it looks as though there is still plenty of forage.
When I walked outside this morning I heard a lamb and I wondered if one of my ewes had an “oops” lamb from when the rams got out (or in with the ewes) but it still wasn’t the right timing. The sheep grazing Across the Road have now been moved to right across from our house.
There is one black lamb in this flock.
There are two guardian dogs and this one noticed me standing at the mailbox. He barked until I retreated.
Tanning is ongoing. Last night was the second session of the “hair-on” class. These will stay in the barrels for a week. They are tanning in mimosa.
About a dozen people came for Spinners’ Day Out today. I think that today two people were spinning, one inkle weaving, one floor loom weaving, four knitting, one using a blending board, and everyone enjoying the conversation and great snacks.
Paddock 1 after the first day of grazing. These are yesterday’s photos and this morning the sheep were moved to Paddock 1-N. That is the one just north of this one.
This is 1-N before I moved the fence.
Did you notice the owl box in the first photo? I can’t look in but I can just reach the latch, open the door, and snap a photo with my phone. It’s obvious that it has been used, but I don’t know if the owls have raised babies or not.
Leaves at the edge of the pasture.
The tenacity of trees to grow however they can.
A view of some of the sheep Across the Road. They are grazing the alfalfa and being moved strip by strip.
This morning I shared photos of our grazing set-up now that it’s one year after the big project began. I just looked back through my blog and found this post when we seeded. That was November 19, just hours before we had a lot of rain. A lot has happened in a year. This winter it feels like a whole new experience because prior to this project I would not have been grazing in late November and would be waiting for spring.
Yesterday about noon I walked out to check the fence. Some of the sheep were on their way in.
This is the corner of the new paddock I’d just set up. I think I mentioned something in previous posts about acquiring five new sheep. This is one of the three Corriedales, so far named Corri 1, Corri 2, and Corri 3. Yeah, not very creative. This is Corri 3…
…and she is one of my best friends.
Sparky is another.
I have been taking photos of individual sheep to update the pages on the website. I have updated this page with the current ewes, but haven’t included all the new photos yet. The ewe in this photo is Ophelia, a yearling.
I also took photos of new lambskins yesterday. I stopped in the middle of writing this to list them here.
The hedgerow project wasn’t completely finished yesterday. I found more cardboard and cut it up for the remaining 19 plants and added more straw. We hadn’t got them all watered yesterday so I brought out a wagon to haul more water at one time.
I finished just as the sun went down.
In the evening I jumped on Zoom for my final Basics of Bark Tan class presented by Traditional Tanners where I have had the latest sheepskins tanned. This is leather I made from deerskin! I highly recommend this class. It is very well presented and a lot of fun!
These photos may seem to be unrelated, but that’s how my life is right now…or maybe all the time. Farm Club members were here on Saturday to help set up breeding groups. Too busy to get photos then. Sunday I demonstrated weaving at an alpaca farm for their open house for National Alpaca Farm Day (remembering at 6 the evening before that I needed to get a loom warped for that). Today I worked on lots of odds and ends, mostly working towards being ready for Lambtown this weekend. So this is odds and ends.
Clancy got to work right away on Saturday. (For the record, he is a BFL registered as Liongate Aylan, but I started calling him Clancy because I couldn’t remember that name. Clancy stuck.)
This is one of the ewes I picked up in Napa last week. That’s a story for another blog post when I have time. She is with Clancy’s group.
Indigo is flowering. I spent so much time trying to keep the indigo thriving during the summer that I want to make sure I use more of it for dying before it’s too late.
This is today’s fresh leaf indigo dyepot. That yarn will be blue when it is out of the pot and dry.
I made buttons over the last few weeks but hadn’t finished them yet. I use lacquer in a satin finish. I could only find semi-gloss locally and had to order what I wanted. There are also two skulls that I cleaned as well as I could and wanted to apply lacquer to the horns.
I load the buttons onto wires that I can dip in the can of lacquer and then spread them to drip and dry. This is one way to get some use out of styrofoam packing material.
These are buttons and shawl pins that I finished a couple of weeks ago. When I couldn’t find the satin lacquer I used semi-gloss and also polyurethane. I think I like the satin finish best, but I’ll find out at Lambtown if it even makes any difference.
I spent a lot of time this week using a new app that will completely remove the background from photos.
This is another example. I wanted these photos for the new weaving class on my website.
One more sheep thing. I have two registered adult rams that I need to sell. There are four rams out with ewes now and these are extra this year. This one is Hurricane. Rams are on the website here.
I was able to trade in my camera phone for a new one and actually lower our Verizon bill! So I did it. Trying it out at chores time tonight:
Hollyhock.
Hollyhock close-up
Sunflower.
Pincushion flower, one of my newest dye plants.
Chicken portraits.
Sheep named Roca.
Selfie with Sparky.
Very wide angle view from the barn to the southwest.
Telescopic view taken from the same location as the wide angle photo. This is the owl box at the south end of the pasture. In the wide angle photo it is about center along the treeline to the left of that telephone pole. I’m impressed!
I put this ewe, Sweetgrass Tranquility, in the lambing area the last two nights thinking that she was ready to lamb. Notice the sunken sides. She looked like that yesterday too. This was her official due date based on breeding date. There was still no action.
I did chores and moved ewes and lambs around. This is Meridian Janna with triplets. They moved from the stall where they’d been a few days to the big outdoors. I went to the house to do some computer work. When I came back out Tranquility was straining some, but there was still none of the other obvious signs I expect (mucous, drainage). I gloved up and found a lamb close to being born, but stuck. This could be a long story but I’ll just explain that the lamb was dead and was blocking the exit for the other lambs. When a lamb is dead it is floppy and the legs and head don’t stay in the position necessary for easy lambing.
I pushed that lamb back to where I was able to grab its legs and head and pulled it out. Then I was able to find and pull two live lambs. The meconium staining indicates that the lambs were stressed during the process, but all is well. These lambs were normal size (7+ pounds). I think the first one died at least a few days ago. I have a photo but didn’t think this was the place to share it.
Here are those two lambs up and looking for something to eat.
Lambing isn’t always a pretty sight.
I spent a couple of hours still in the barn working on fleeces. I have a lot of fleeces to skirt and photograph for sale. I will get some on the website tomorrow.
I took this photo earlier in the morning, before Tranquility lambed. This is the BFL X Jacob ewe, Addy. Those BFLs put on much more weight than the Jacobs with the same feeding regimen–she is a tad heavy and has looked round for days. Later in the day I went out and thought that the lamb(s) had dropped. Her sides were more sunken and I figured that I would put her in the lambing area tonight.
When I went back to the barn about 5:00 I found her with a lamb that was 12.4 pounds! Maybe the vet that reviewed the ultrasound and gave a 1+ result was right and there was only one. (1+ means they confirmed one but didn’t rule out a second.)
When I went back to the barn two hours later here is what I found. This is a 9.6 pound lamb and had already nursed. I wonder if I’ll be surprised when I go back out as soon as I finish this post.
Here is the lambing list so far. We’re off to a much slower start than previous years, but it’s been easier that way. There are a lot more due before the end of the month.
I don’t think it’s spring yet, but it felt like it today when the sun was out!
If you want to see lambing videos check out my YouTube channel. This is Bessie lambing with twins and here is Cashew with twins. These are about 6 minute videos.
This post is just what the title says. You may have seen some of these on Instagram if you happen to notice them among all the others that bombard you.
Ginny on her bed. She likes to take things out of the recycle bin on the back porch. That’s why the oil bottle is there. That moose has been a favorite inside toy since she was a puppy. Amazing that at age 9 the moose is still here with only a couple of repairs.
The rams that are still here after the last culling. Left to right: Meridian Blizzard, Meridian Typhoon (both born in March 2023), Hillside Gabby’s Barrett, and Fair Adventure Horatio (both born in 2021). There will be lambs sired by all of these rams in February.
Devil’s claw pods. I have these listed for craft or decorative use on the website. I had an order the other day so I thought I’d take more photos while I was gathering them. Not only do they get tangled up with each other, the points on those claws are very sharp. These are not a good plant to have around when you’re raising fiber animals. If I see them on the sheep side of the fence they are removed. I gather these from places where there are no sheep.
Across the Road with Ginny yesterday before the rain. There is hardly any water in the cement ditch now, but what is there is stagnant and slimy and muddy. Ginny was hot from chasing the ball and thought it was a good idea to lie down in that.
Border Collie focus.
This morning’s look at the rain gauge. It’s about time we started to get some real rain.
Most of the flock after feeding in the morning. I think I count 40 sheep here…and a goat.
There are eight sheep here so there must be a few at another feeder. The hardest question to answer is “how many sheep do you have?” I think there are 53 ewes, 2 wethers, and 5 rams now.
And 4 chickens. The rooster is a new addition.
I’ve been finishing up some weaving projects. I usually weave rayon chenille scarves, but decided to weave a series of shawls. These are two different shawls on the same warp with slightly different weft colors
This is on the same warp with a different color weft, but stitched together to create a poncho of sorts. I really like how it came out. Even though the sewing adds a bit of work, I think it takes far less time than twisting all those fringes. I hope that this style is popular because I’d like to make more of these.
So much for my one blog post every day routine. It’s been a week. I think I had a set back last weekend. I often work on the computer in the late evening. Last Friday I went to bed earlier than normal because I had to get up early for the next day’s event. That backfired. I woke up at 3 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep.
Charlene (Integrity Alpacas, creator of Gardener’s Gold, and my down-the-road neighbor) and I left at 5 a.m. for San Francisco to be part of the Fibershed booth at the Ferry Building Farmers’ Market.
We arrived at dawn and some people were already setting up. It had been raining and continued to rain and drizzle off and on all day.
This is the opposite view from our location.
A few Fibershed producers arrived, and we finished setting up in time for the market to open. There were twelve producers represented at the booth.
Do you recognize any fabric here? Gynna (creator of Soil to Soil Market is using some of my woven pieces to create earrings! (FYI – Soil to Soil Market is open, there are still only two of us listed while there is more behind-the-scenes work.)
This was a cold, wet day. Thankfully we were able to pack up when the market was over at 2. When Charlene went to the parking garage to get her truck she found it, along with six other vehicles, had been broken into. Her rear passenger side window was shattered and the truck had been searched. The next day after, a night of freezing temperature, the front passenger window had shattered and you could tell where it had been hit first but hadn’t yet broken.
I didn’t feel warm until that night in bed (early). I’m ready to stay home.
Back to farm life.
This is SilverSun, one of the March 2023 lambs. I changed coats a couple of weeks ago. Its always a gamble to figure out which coat is big enough to give room for more wool to grow but fits well enough to stay in place. I had bought some new coats last summer and I they fit a little differently. She had probably got a back leg out of the strap and then the front was loose enough to get a front leg through. Eventually the neck opening was around her middle and she was trapped with the coat dragging underneath. The other sheep were harassing her and she couldn’t do anything about it.
Here she is in one of the old style coats that has been patched. That’s a better fit.
Ewes (and a goat) in the small field behind the shop.
I’ve been focused on weaving…all the weaving that I wish I had done earlier in the year to be ready for the holidays. These are three wool shawls now at The Artery in Davis.
I’m also creating other pieces using odd bits of handwoven fabric. These pillows are at The Artery.
At Spinners Day Out on Friday a friend who had harvested our pomegranates brought me a treat of pomegranate soda!
Also at Spinners Day Out, our youngest friend, daughter of one of the original Farm Club members, went to the barn to visit with Jade. (That’s a stuffed kitty snuggled in her clothes.)
Could I actually write a post a day? This is two in a row. I don’t want to bore anyone who clicks here, but I think I could always find photos to write about.
I shared this photo on IG this morning. This is me trying to stay warm while looking at IG before getting out of bed. The woven piece has meaning. After I had the major accident in 2019 my Farm Club friends got together at one friend’s house and wove this shawl/blanket using handspun yarn they had all brought. I think some weren’t even weavers, but Mary had the warp on the loom and guided them all through it. I have my own woven blankets around here but this one always makes me think of friends.
By the way if you go to that link in the last paragraph you’ll find lots of typos. That is because my small motor control still wasn’t very good and I couldn’t type very well.
I have been harvesting my walnut crop. When the wind blows the walnuts off the tree a lot of them are still in husks. I can’t throw all those husks away when I know what great color they give. I had a bucket of husks that had been soaking for a week and decided to use them this morning.
I also decided that its time to do something about the skulls that are in various stages of progress in the barn and the garage. I never get them as beautifully white as most you see for sale, but I still sell them. This one needed a little glue.
Dan’s project for the day was to pour concrete in an area where the concrete walkway is being undermined because it’s a low spot and holds water once it starts raining.
This was the first load.
He ended up getting two yards of concrete for this patch.
This is at the north end of what we call the corral, out of sight behind the tractor in the photo above. The disturbed part in the center above the black tub and in the foreground are where I have buried skulls. There are some in the tub too. The baling string in the front is tied to horns so that i can figure out where they are and how many. When I dig up the others I have to be careful because I don’t know exactly where to dig. When the ram, Townes, died Dan buried him in the mound at the very top of the photo in front of the burn pile. You can’t see it but there is a string on his horn too so I know where to dig eventually. At the time of his death he was so bloated, even his head, that I didn’t want to try and salvage it then. It seemed to likely to explode. [Some of you probably don’t want to hear this stuff, but it’s not always pretty on the farm.]
I spent the afternoon at the Weaving House working through a box of handwoven pieces that I had put aside and never got around to finishing. I think that three were destined to be ponchos–at least that’s what they are now.
I spent a long time going through all my weaving notes to figure out when I wove these and what fiber I used. This one is handspun weft. I don’t know if I meant it to be a poncho–maybe it was just a very short blanket. It’s a gamble to choose how it will sell best. It looks like an awkward size, but if it’s worn at an angle I think it will be good. I need a photo on a mannequin.
The third poncho of the day. I don’t know if these will make it to the website. I think one will be at The Artery and two may go with a friend to her Bay Area sales.
This is on the south side of the Weaving House. The vegetable garden is done and the indigo that was left is all shriveled and dry after the frost. It’s almost December and a couple of the hollyhocks I use for dyeing still have flowers! What’s with that? Do you know I have packages of these flowers for sale with directions on using them for dye?
Once again I had several great blog ideas to share, but other things happen. So here are random photos that were going to be in some of those post.
I have friends who talk about what they see on the Next Door website (or is it an app?) and I didn’t get around to exploring that until recently. I still haven’t spent much time on it, but right after I signed up I got an email about For Sale and Free stuff. I saw these bookends ($25) and knew I needed them. The person who had them was going to be driving near my place the next day and offered to deliver. Aren’t they great?
That’s random. What else?
Butternut squash harvested from my garden. I made “pumpkin” pies from these for Thanksgiving. They turned out great! The three little ones at the top are too green but I thought I’d try them. Not ripe.
Here are the rams I’m keeping through the winter. The two on the left are this year’s lambs. The four horn ram is Typhoon and the two horn is Blizzard, both born here. The two two-horn rams on the right were born in 2021. That’s Hillside Gabby’s Barrett from Michigan on the right and Fair Adventure Horatio from Colorado on the left. I would have used another 4-horn ram for breeding but Townes died in a freak accident when he caught his horns in a fence panel. After a fertility issue last year I had the vets do some fertility testing and Silverado was found to be not fertile at the time of the test.
I have finally been spending time at the loom. These rugs are woven from corespun yarn that is spun from the coarser britch wool that I have sorted away from the rest of the fleece.
This is a close up of the corespun yarn that is the weft for those rugs. It is listed here on my website. The rugs are here and now I have two more to post.
I use a big ski shuttle to weave with this yarn. What you see on the loom in this photo is the part that will be the hem and I’m ready to weave with the corespun yarn.
Speaking of weaving, these are some of the shawls that just came off the loom. I wove some holiday colors so that they would have a place in this room at The Artery in Davis. Everyone has an opportunity to bring more work in for the month of December.
These items are in the main display area of The Artery. That colorful piece on the left is a rug I wove at the same time as I wove the corespun rugs. I have two more of these here at the shop. Most of these items are not on my website because it is risky to have them listed on-line but not know if they might have sold here at the Artery. The pieces in the middle are blankets.
I took this photo out the window when I was leaving The Artery this week. The Artery is located at the other end of this block. At the beginning of the pandemic the bars and restaurants on this part of G Street were given permission to block off the street and have outdoor seating. The street is blocked at that the other end just past our store, so there is still access to the sidewalk and a small amount of parking, but it’s not exactly inviting when you look down the street and it looks like it is a crime scene or a medical emergency. Those of us at The Artery have tried to have the street reopened but The City is not interested. They have ideas about making G Street a destination venue of some kind. Where there used to be other retail shops, now mosts of the businesses here are bars and restaurants. So the street was closed off in 2020 or early 2021, and it still looks like this.
That was random too.
When I got home I saw that Dan was using our new (last year’s purchase) manure spreader to spread the composted pile on the pasture.
It is so much faster and more effective than the old way of taking the manure out one scoop at a time and then kicking it around to try and spread it.
Last random photo. This is the Jacob yarn that I just picked up from Valley Oak Mill on Tuesday. This will deserve it’s own post soon. I am weaving scarves with it now.
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