State Fair – The 4th Day

Posted on July 31, 2023 by Robin

No, you didn’t miss the first, second, and third days. I haven’t had time to sort photos or write anything. So I’ll start with the last day which was our show day.

Row of Jacob sheep tied to blue fence panels at fair.

We tied our sheep to the outside of the pens while waiting our turn so we could get the straw off the bellies. We had 11 sheep at the fair this year. I was missing a yearling ram because I sold Turbo at the Estes Park show. My show string consisted of 2 ram lambs, 2 yearling ewes, and 2 ewe lambs. Kirby has sheep that are the descendants of the ewe I gave her in 2019–I don’t give her sheep each year for the show. Kirby had twin yearlings (ram and ewe), and three lambs (two ewes and a ram) to show. I just looked at the blog post I wrote after the 2019 State Fair. There are some of my favorite photos of Kirby there, and you’ll see some of the same other characters in 2019 as in this post.

Two people in green shirts with two horn ram at fence.

Kirby with the yearling ram, KJ Royalty Thorn, twin to KJ Royalty Rose. It’s the breeder’s prefix that is part of a registered sheep’s name, and Kirby’s prefix is KJ Royalty. She was the owner of Meridian Belle when she was bred. Now all the offspring of Belle and Belle’s offspring will have that prefix. There is a theme here for some of the sheep names. You’ll pick up on that if you’re a Disney fan.

Thorn was the only entry in the Yearling Ram class and the judge gave him high praise for conformation and fleece.

It is too bad that there are no other breeders showing up for the Primitive Breeds sheep show now. Pre-pandemic we had some Shetlands, Icelandic, and other breeds so there was competition. Now it’s just Kirby and me as separate breeders. This is the Champion drive for rams. That’s Thorn as the yearling. My ram lamb, Meridian Cyclone (weather theme for 2023 lambs) was first place ram lamb and Kirby’s Gusgus was second. Thorn was given Champion Ram and Cyclone was Reserve.

There were three Farm Club members helping on this day and it took all of us to make sure the sheep were where they were supposed to be and Kirby had an adult helper so we don’t have more photos of the show. But we have photos of After. Thorn’s sister, Rose was awarded Champion Ewe so Kirby made out with the banners.

Fair week is always exhausting and Kirby’s four fair days were at the end of being away from home for six weeks. Her birthday was the previous day, and there was a lot going on then as well.

After the show we were back to educating (entertaining / enlightening?) the public. I am grateful to the Farm Club members who came to help. Siobhan was there Thursday and brought a local friend to help also. Lisa came Friday and Saturday. Marina, Beth, and Doris were there Saturday and Sunday. I couldn’t have done this and stayed sane without them there.

This entertainer showed up in that 2019 post.

He rides all over the fair and makes balloon characters for kids. This is a dinosaur that Kirby plans to take home to her brother. Hopefully it will survive a road trip back to Texas.

The last event of the day was the Supreme Champion show. Both of Kirby’s Champion sheep needed to be in their respective classes. This photo shows Rose and Thorn together. I don’t have photos of the Supreme show because I was in the show ring with Kirby. Afterwards they announced the Herdsman and Marketing awards.

We did it! First in Herdsman and first in Marketing. These awards have more meaning for me than the sheep show awards because there wasn’t competition in the sheep show ring. Actually there wasn’t that much competition this year for these, but there was some and we really worked for it.

If you look at that 2019 post you’ll see that this is the same crew as then, with the addition of Kirby.

While we were loading the trailer and my car I let Kirby watch one last horse performance if she stood at the corner where I could see her (easy in the bright green shirt). When we finished loading I joined her.

Random Farm Photos

Posted on July 9, 2023 by Robin

There hasn’t been time or focus for a blog post with a specific subject, so you get Random Farm Photos.

Red border collie lying on floor covered with blanket.

This is how 4th of July looks with a very gun-shy Border Collie. Ginny is next to Kirby’s bed and Kirby covered Ginny with her “special” blanket.

Part of the dye garden. These dahlias are taller than me.

Orange cosmos flowers blooming in the greenery.

Cosmos in the dye garden.

There is a gate and a driveway under those wild grape vines. This is the result of a truly wet winter.

Salted lambskins on a tarp, ready to ship.

Sheepskins that were just sent to the tannery.

Horned sheep skulls after digging them out.

Skulls that have been buried. Some will need more time to get really clean.

Kirby is here for another three weeks. A couple of nights ago she wanted to make dinner. She described her process and we just got out of the way (and handled the iron frying pan).

Baby blankets almost ready to come off the loom. The same style that I’ve made since 1980.

Handwoven wool cat beds with stuffed toy kitties inside.

The latest weaving project. Cat baskets.

Black Sheep Gathering – Day 3

Posted on July 1, 2023 by Robin

View Day 1 and Day 2 of this adventure. The only thing I had to think about on Saturday was showing sheep in the afternoon and Spinners’ Lead in the evening. I’ll share scenes from the farm booths and around the vendor hall.

Karen of Liongate Farm always has an array of unique needlefelted pieces at her booth.

Felted white stag with fairy rider with champion ribbon in front and the Black Sheep Cup award

She was awarded the Black Sheep Cup for this piece. The detail is amazing.

Knitted and felted Wolf head with award.

Here is another Black Sheep prize awarded to a different fiber artist.

Black Lamb Cup award showing light gray knitted sweater with motif around neckline.

I was glad to see the Black Lamb Cup awarded to a youth entry. We need to encourage the next generations to be excited about sheep and fiber.

White tennis shoes with black and white line drawings of sheep and blue laces.

The perfect shoes to wear to a sheep gathering.

This is an impressive display that was just outside the vendor hall. I hope that everyone took a look.

There are dozens of different sea creatures in a variety of fiber arts represented here.

A closer view.

Two Jacob ewes in a pen with straw on the fleece. One is "lilac", the other black and white.

Back at the barn, a little clean up was necessary. Jazzie had been wearing a blanket but I took it off because I’d rather see the sheep than a blanket. Jazzie is a black and white sheep and Lenore, behind her, is a lilac.

We were the only Jacob breeders who entered the show this year so we had to show in an All Other Breeds division. This is for sheep registered in their own breed associations, but without enough sheep or breeders to show in separate divisions.

Ram lamb, Meridian Bridger, won Champion ram of this division.

We also had best Young Flock (one ram lamb, two ewe lambs). This isn’t the typical photo you’d take of your winning sheep group, but I mainly wanted to have one of Farm Club members who were there and helped out. This is Brenda, Lisa, Beth, and me. Doris was taking the photo. Other Farm Club members were there too. Ryan had his own Heritage Fiber booth in the vendor hall, Stephany was helping with the Mendocino Wool Mill booth, and Lyn was visiting. Did I miss someone? I kept running into people I knew all day.

The collection of ribbons and a trophy.

I think Lisa took this photo. I was told that this should be my new profile photo on all my social media pages. What do you think?

The Angora goats showed on Saturday also.

The day ended with Spinners Lead. I had told Ryan that he should definitely wear his handspun handknit sweater using fleece that he got at his first shearing day from Jacob ewe, Columbine.

He led Jazzie, whose fleece matched the spots really well.

There were 15 entries (no photos unfortunately), and the two of us won the top placings in the show. Ryan was first for non-sheep-owner and I won for the sheep owners. Great fun! I’m so glad that we did this.

Black Sheep Gathering – Day 2

Posted on June 29, 2023 by Robin

Usually we show on the Friday of Black Sheep Gathering. Unfortunately I was the only Jacob breeder this year so I was bumped into sort of an All Other Breeds class on Saturday. That meant that Friday was a free day. I had books and magazines and a crochet project with me. What did I accomplish? Nothing, because everywhere I turned there were people to talk to and things to see. Sometimes its the best thing to have a break from “accomplishing” something.

Trophies and ribbons on a table in front of the tables full of fleeces in the wool show.

The morning activities began with the wool show. I listened for awhile because there is always something to learn. The Jacob class was #12 so I decided there was time to buy a BSG t-shirt before that started.

This has nothing to do with the t-shirts but it is what caught my eye at the t-shirt table. A women had an 8-day old kitten with her. She is feeding it every two hours.

Back in the barn, there were vendors as well.

The barn vendors have their booths near their pens of show sheep. I have not been a vendor because that would mean there is more organization required, more things to take, and I’d be tied down to staying there the whole time. I was having fun wandering everywhere.

Fleeces lined up on a table while being judged.

Back to the wool show. There were 8 fleeces in the Jacob class. Four were mine. I placed first with Brady (ram), 2nd with Janna (ewe), and fourth and sixth with two others. The first two sold there. I’ll have the other two on my website.

Wandering through the vendor hall I took photos of just a few things that caught my eye. My friend, Karen of Bide a Wee Farm, came up with unique products–lamb tail keychains and ram horn earrings!

She also does a much better job with ram skulls than I do. Mine are still brown and somewhat nasty looking.

Five wool samples from Indian sheep in small boxes with labels.

A friend from Davis is selling goods from India, including this box of wool samples from sheep I’ve never heard of.

An Oregon sheep breeder has started producing panels for use with sheep.

Colorful skeins of mixed yarns next to a sign that says One of a Kind Art Yarn.

I met a new vendor from my area who creates art yarn from leftovers.

Carded fiber in rainbow order of color from red through purple in front of the drum carder.

Last but not least, it’s a rainbow batt from my friends, Roy and Henry Clemes!

Sheep Show and Spinners Lead tomorrow!

Black Sheep Gathering – Day 1

Posted on June 28, 2023 by Robin

Three of us traveled together to Black Sheep Gathering in Albany, Oregon. My friend, Vicki, used her truck to pull my trailer with my 10 sheep. She brought fleeces to show and sell. Another friend, Doris rode with us. We left about 7 a.m. on Thursday.

I don’t remember the last time that I saw Shasta Lake full.

Glimpse of Mt. Shasta.

Another view of Mt. Shasta.

Two of the sheep I brought were already sold so we did a parking lot transfer of those and then settled the rest of the sheep in the barn by late in the day.

Vicki slept in her camper, but Doris and I set up tents for the weekend. This became a gathering spot for some of our California and Oregon friends.

Horned dorset sheep in pens at the show.

I took photos of a few of the less common breeds. These are Horned Dorset, a sheep with spots that can make them look like Jacob sheep to people who don’t see the more subtle differences. The horns have a quite different look than my sheep with two horns.

Valais Blacknose sheep.

Valais Blacknose ram.

We had three full days at the show. Stay tuned!

Estes Park Wool Market – Traveling Home

Posted on June 20, 2023 by Robin

There isn’t much to this post, but I need to write it to finish the story. In the last post we had driven through Wyoming and eventually stopped in Utah to sleep awhile. I gave the sheep alfalfa and joined Dan in the cab to try and sleep for a few hours.

We were on the road by about 5:30.

We made it to this part of Utah about 7:45. I looked this up online.
“An abstract artistic sculpture called Metaphor: The Tree of Utah stands off the edge of I-80 on the barren Bonneville Salt Flats west of Salt Lake City. Swedish artist Karl Momen created the 87-foot high tree between 1982-1986. He financed the project himself to bring bold color and beauty to the stark, flat, salty landscape. The sculpture is made of 225 tons of cement, almost 2000 ceramic tiles, and five tons of welding rod, and tons of minerals and rocks native to Utah.” …

“The concrete trunk covered with tiles holds up six spheres coated with natural rock and minerals native to Utah…The sculpture is surrounded by a fence to protect people from falling tiles.”

I find the whole idea strange–that someone can decide to install something like this in the middle of what I assume is public land. I haven’t found the explanation. This article from Roadside America gives a different perspective about it.

We made it to Nevada around 8 a.m.

Interesting erosion patterns in the rock.

There seemed to be road construction almost the whole way to Colorado and back.

This was about 2 p.m. The Welcome to California sign was on the ground.

It was cloudy in the Sierras and it began to rain.

There is still snow lingering on the peaks.

This is the last photo I took on this trip. We made it home about 4 p.m. Good to be back.

Estes Park Wool Market – the third chapter

Posted on June 19, 2023 by Robin

I left off with Saturday’s events at the Estes Park Wool Market. Sunday began with the Estes Park Wool Market Classic Sheep Show. Saturday’s show was specifically for the JSBA annual meeting, but this one could include several breeds. There were a few other sheep, but it was mostly the Jacob sheep that had shown on Saturday. This is Lamb 2329 that was heading to Pennsylvania following the show. She won her class.

Here she is in the champion line-up. The judge spent so much time looking at her and coming back to her that I thought she would take a ribbon, but Grand and Reserve went to some of the older sheep. The sheep in the back being shown by Royal (standing) is Meridian Quince, second in the Yearling Ewe class.

Royal helped show in all the classes while Dan was watching over the sheep that were tied to the fence waiting for their turn. This class is Young Flock, a ram lamb and two ewe lambs.

Best Four. The trick for this class is to pay attention to what the judge has said and choose the ones that she liked best. Ours was first place.

This class is Best Flock. That’s one ram, two ewe lambs, and two older ewes. We chose one of the ram lambs for this class because this judge gave him better comments than she gave Turbo, the yearling who was Champion Ram on Saturday. First place for this group.

A Sheep Lead class followed the sheep show. This ram and his companion are ready for the office!

I wore almost a repeat of the previous day, but substituted a pinwheel shawl that I had just got back from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival where it took the award for the Best Jacob project.

Turbo and I were given the top place in this event. I sure like that ram. He was going to stay behind because one of the organizers of the JSBA meeting purchased him for her flock. However I wouldn’t go home empty-handed.

Her ram, Fair Adventure Horatio, was to come home with me.

The show wasn’t over yet. The Jacob fleeces were judged in the afternoon. It was frustrating to listen to comments but not know whose fleece was being discussed. I tried to recognize bags, but the best I could do was to tell that some bags were NOT mine. I could also tell the difference between coated and non-coated fleeces. When we picked up fleeces after the judging I found that I had won a first, second, and third. Those weren’t all in the same class because large groups had been split into smaller classes. These same fleeces will go to Black Sheep Gathering this week.

I finally spent a little time walking around the vendor booths. This is the only photo I took. I thought these mittens were certainly photo-worthy.

By about 4:00 the barn was almost empty. I was torn about leaving Quince and her lamb behind. I really like that ewe, but I know I have too many sheep and one of the reasons to go all the way to this show was to sell sheep if possible. I’m glad that these sheep will be with a serious Jacob breeder.

We loaded fewer sheep for the return trip. The ram, Horatio, joined us as did a couple of ewe lambs I brought home for a friend. But we left behind Turbo, Quince, and 5 lambs.

My phone showed that if we drove straight through we’d be home at almost 8 a.m. That of course is not possible.

The first point of interest, just a few miles out of town. There were a couple of places where people had pulled off the road to see elk.

On the windy road between Estes Park and Fort Collins.

Now we’re back to drive-by scenery photos like in the first couple of posts about the trip.

I was still in the passenger seat, but now we’re going the other direction so the scenery is different.

Dinner on the road.

Wyoming. We should have paid attention to Siri. The phone told us to take a detour but we didn’t see any reason to. Eventually we came upon a huge back up of trucks and cars and it took us over 90 minutes to go 10 miles. When we got to the problem it turned out to be a big-rig trailer that had caught fire.

In the meantime the traffic was stop and go and the sky became more ominous. I entertained myself with taking videos and isolating the lightning shots.

We also noticed the spinning wheel in this truck when we were both stopped on the freeway. We both had windows down and we asked if he’d been at Estes Park. Yes, he had.

I took this photo and the next from some of the videos I recorded while waiting on the freeway.

We drove until some time after midnight and stopped at a rest stop in Utah I think.

Estes Park Wool Market – the third installment

Posted on June 18, 2023 by Robin

I just finished the blog post about the second day of travel and first day of the Estes Park events.

Saturday was very full, with a whole day of scheduled events for the AGM as well as the full Wool Market events going on. We started the day with breakfast followed by a talk about copper in the diet of sheep and then a discussion of spinning Jacob wool. There was a session on slaughter and butchering with a live demonstration of the butchering part followed by other informational sessions.

Two horn Jacob ram being handled in the show ring.

The JSBA Jacob Sheep show was held after lunch. Rams were first. Turbo won the yearling ram class

I had two entries in the ram lamb class. I was pleased that the winner of the class was my ram (#2317) purchased by a Jacob breeder (standing) from Pennsylvania.

We went into the ring for the Champion ram class and Turbo was the winner.

The ewe classes followed. Royal helped show in all the other classes. Dan was glad of the help, and he was in the barn keeping people away from the sheep we had tied up in the alley so they’d be ready for the show ring. This is Quora in the aged ewe (anything over yearling) class.

Quince was in the next class. You don’t normally have sheep with lambs at shows, but in this case I brought two nursing ewes with their lambs. The reason for that was the next class:

We were the only entry in this class that was for Three Generations. Dan is holding Quora. Quora’s daughter, Quince, is in the midde, and the lamb is Quince’s.

Quince and her lamb are also in this class, Family Tree. Turbo joined the group as he is the sire of the lamb.

A just-for-fun Project Runway followed the show. There were four entries in the adult category for less serious themes. I was the only person in the Wool category.

They all had humorous stories to go along with the entries. I don’t remember all, but this is obviously a sheep dressed in royal garb and I think Anne is her subject.

I will say that when I compare these ladies to me…

…it reminds me of my job in the early 1980s. Why? I worked at a place called Continental Lady, leading aerobics classes. When we had to wear Halloween costumes I stitched unwashed wool all over a t-shirt, and wore black leggings and a wool hat with cardboard ears. The other people (all young women) all dressed as princesses or fairies or some other cute, pretty character….and then there was me. Just like in these photos. At least I’m not wearing unwashed wool. I have on a base layer of wool that is not seen, a wool sweater knit by friend Kathleen Hendrix, a handspun handwoven v-shawl, and a knit cap that was probably my last knitting project. Turbo is wearing a handspun, handwoven scarf.

It’s taken me two days just to finish writing this post. Let’s see if I can finish this story before the next one starts.

Estes Park Wool Market – Arrival

Posted on June 17, 2023 by Robin

We drove half a day to get to Estes Park from Wyoming. The previous day’s photos took us from California to Wyoming where we pulled in a rest stop about 2 a.m.

We left the rest stop about 5:30 a.m. I didn’t keep track of where we were or where this photo was taken. It’s obvious that someone needs to clean the windshield at the next gas stop.

Wyoming landscape with a train.

Wyoming landscape with snow fences.

Green Wyoming hills with blue sky and puffy white clouds.

There are several Wyoming landscape photos. It was beautifully green with lots of flowers . Too bad this was a trip where we couldn’t stop.

White pick up with aluminum stock trailer parked near grass.

Stopping at a rest stop doesn’t count, although this one had a telescopic viewer set up so you could zoom in on the hills to the west.

While driving (Dan driving) I kept amused by teaching myself some crochet stitches. Too bad I hadn’t read the directions more carefully on this. I learned to do double crochet and did quite a bit before I noticed the H that stood for Half Double Crochet, which is what I was supposed to be doing all along. I persevered, thinking that it will all work itself out. I’m trying to develop a new product using some of my yarn. I continued this on the return trip and I think I will probably be ripping it all out, but that will be another story.

Green Wyoming hills with a little blue sky and gray and white clouds. Cattle in the far distance.

More gorgeous scenery. Green grass, yellow and white flowers, blue sky with clouds. Cows at the base of the hills.

Green Wyoming hills with a little blue sky and gray and white clouds.

Green rocky hills with blue sky and clouds. You can barely see snowcapped peaks in the distance.

I think we’re finally in Colorado.

Green plain with snowcapped mountains in the distance. Blue sky with clouds. Two pronghorn antelope in the foreground.

I took several photos of pronghorn, but they most were too far away for the iPhone camera.

Sign inside barn to welcome Jacob breeders. Balloons and check in info on table.

We pulled into Estes Park in the early afternoon. I didn’t want to do anything but get the sheep out of the trailer and on firm ground and give them water and hay.

It didn’t take long to get the sheep fed and watered and settled in.

Bagged fleeces on tables ready for the fleece show.

The first event of the JSBA part of Estes Park Wool Market was the Jacob wool show. We were able to enter fleeces and sheep in both the JSBA show and the Wool Market show so some of us had double events.

I entered five fleeces and I really don’t remember how they placed. I guess there is a record of it somewhere. These same fleeces also showed on Sunday at the Wool Market show.

We had a JSBA sponsored dinner at the fairgrounds Friday evening and then went to a cabin I had reserved for two nights that was about 3 miles out of town.

On the Road to Estes Park Wool Market and AGM

Posted on June 15, 2023 by Robin

A week ago today we started the drive to Colorado for the Estes Park Wool Market and the JSBA AGM (Jacob Sheep Breeders Association Annual General Meeting–that’s why it’s easier to use acronyms). I just looked up acronym and JSBA is one when we say it “Jazba”, but AGM is an initialism. Just thought you might want to know that.

We got on the road at 8:30 with a trailer full of sheep.

Turbo, the yearling ram, was up front. A yearling ewe, Quince, with a single lamb and a two-year-old ewe, Quora, and her twins were on the left. The right compartment held 3 ewe lambs and 3 ram lambs. They were bigger than the lambs on the left who were still nursing.

We always bring our map books along, but there wasn’t going to be any National Park time on this trip.

Dan did all the driving. He likes to drive. I entertained myself in a variety of ways, often with my phone. We’re still seeing snow in the Sierras.

I haven’t been through the Sierras on I-80 in years. I think the flumes that follow the canyon are so interesting. And look at the water pouring out of this one.

Blue sky with clouds over the Nevada dessert, green from rain.

Nevada landscape. We were amazed at how green it was.

There are lots of “drive-by” scenery photos. As great as the iPhone is for photos, when zoomed in it can leave something to be desired. I left my regular camera home because I couldn’t find the battery charger and both batteries were almost dead.

More green landscape in Nevada. Amazing!

I think this is still Nevada, but I didn’t keep notes. Of course I assumed that I would remember. The photo info shows it was taken about 5:20. I guess I could do the math to figure out where we were.

Overcast sky over the Great Salt Lake, photo taken from the car on the freeway.

I know this is Utah because that is the Great Salt Lake. At this point it was 7:20 p.m.

Rainbow over hills with trees in foreground.

This was taken from a gas station in Lake Point, Utah, just past the Salt Lake.

It was at this gas station that I watered and fed the sheep. We stayed in one spot for about a half hour to give the sheep a chance to eat. Then back on the road.

I was keeping track of miles, mileage, etc. We were dismayed to calculate after this gas stop that we were only getting 10.2 mpg. We’d had 12.6 from home to Loveland and 11.6 from Loveland to Elko. Pulling a loaded trailer, at elevation, and up hills is bad enough, but fighting a headwind made the mileage worse.

We drove into Wyoming. I say “we”. Dan drove into Wyoming and eventually had to stop. We stopped at a rest stop abour 2 a.m. and I gave the sheep a little more hay. I can’t say that we stretched out in the cab of the truck because there really wasn’t room to stretch out, but we covered up with our wool blankets and slept as best we could. I got out my ipad and finished editing the minutes of Tuesday night’s Artery meeting so I could send it when I had wifi. Then I slept.

Stay tuned for the next day!

Meridian Jacobs' Blog

Life on the farm and at the loom.

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