Shearing at the Timm Ranch

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Robin

Here is where Colleen (Fiber Confections) and I spent last Sunday. I first got fleece from the Timm Ranch, just a few miles from here, last year in preparation for my show at the Artery. Here is a blog post with info about the ranch and photos of the blankets I wove with the wool. This is a view to the northwest taken while driving through the ranch.Much of the 2700 acres is leased for cattle grazing.The last gate before the ranch headquarters.There were about 90 ewes, several lambs, and five rams to shear. One group of sheep was already in the barn when we got there but I helped with the second group. These are a “ranch mix” developed many years ago and are a blend of Rambouillet, Targhee, and Polypay.

The sheep are brought into the barn (on the left)……move along a lane in the north side of the barn……and end up in the pens in the middle where they are visually contained by burlap drapes. The shearer pulls the next sheep to shear through the drape and when he is finished the sheep is released and…

…it walks out the door to the back.The wool is pushed through the window of the barn into a pile where it is later loaded into a wool press that compresses the wool into bales.These bales can weigh 300-400 pounds.

In this case Colleen and I diverted many fleeces to our piles and inspected, bagged, and weighed them. I had bagged up my predetermined amount of 200 pounds and was ready to leave (having been battling a cold for days and at this point in the day had completely lost my voice). But then it was time to shear the five rams.I figured that I’d been there this long. What’s another half hour?

I’m glad that I stayed.

The ram fleeces were gorgeous. Whereas the ewe fleeces weighed 5+ to 8 pounds the ram fleeces I bought weighed 12 pounds (two mature rams) and 8 pounds (the yearling ram with the horns).

Last year I had the wool spun into yarn and put on cones (easy for weaving). I think that I’ll have this year’s fiber put into skeins because of the appeal to knitters. Last year’s fiber tested at an average of 23.5 microns. I think I’ll send some more samples in from this year’s wool. Be looking for this yarn in a few (several?) months.

Distracted by Kirby

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Robin

Here’s why I was distracted the last few days. She’s 8-1/2 months old.

More Lambs

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Robin

Just photos of lambs in the evening.

Lambs

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Robin

Still trying for that perfect lamb photo. There are either too many lambs in the background/foreground, there is not enough light (lambs love to run around at dusk), there is a lot of clutter in the shot, or I am still not in the right place at the right time.“Fight, fight!”It’s never too young to start.

Jepson Prairie in Early April

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Robin

Yesterday I visited Jepson Prairie, a nature preserve owned by the Solano Land Trust, that is only about 15 miles from here. This is the time of year to see the wildflowers in this remnant of native landscape. The patches of goldfields (Lasthenia species) are spectacular. View to the southwest.View to the west. But there is more than just goldfields in this gold field.The yellow and white flowers are butter and eggs (Triphysaria erianthum)

The purple flowers here are Downingia species. Brass buttons (Cotula coronopifolia). I looked this up and its a native of Africa. The other flowers I’ve listed are CA natives. How about the name of this one? It’s a species of Wool Flower, requiring a host support. Another species that grows in my pasture is shown here. (If you like this then google hippos and manatees in Stockton.)

Jepson Prairie is also home to wildlife.

I rather amazed myself by getting some decent shots of flying birds…maybe not National Geographic quality, but OK for me. These are Canada geese.

I saw these birds walking across the gravel road to get from one part of the lake to the other. I thought that was rather odd… coots …but looked them up and found that “coots have strong legs and can walk and run vigorously. They tend to have short, rounded wings and are weak fliers” Avocet This bird is an avocet. I will admit that although I know the Canada goose, I didn’t know the other birds. I ran into a docent in the preserve and asked him. Maybe I’ll remember these two.

I want to go back before the wildflower season is completely over. There are docent-led walks every weekend through Mother’s Day so maybe I’ll make one of those.

Meet the Sheep — Part 2

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Robin

Dona took all the photos in the previous posts (this one too) because I was in the shop most of the day. Here are a few that I took when I made quick trips to the barn.Colleen brought roses for all the tables……and set up a booth with her felted creations and dyed yarns.Observed in the parking area.Speaking of parking, here is the Parking Attendant, who doesn’t get much attention in my blog, but is a Very Important Person behind-the-scenes. Bunnies in the barn were a big draw. Lisa worked on her Cricket loom all day and sent interested customers to the shop.

Alison led a Sheep Portrait class.

Feeding the bottle baby drew a crowd.At 4:00 everyone pitched in and sheep were put away, pens moved, and signs stored for next year in no time. Wow! What a crew! (What I haven’t talked about in a blog post was the huge help that Farm Club members were during the last week when I had severe tendonitis and couldn’t use my right arm at all. They did all the pen cleaning.) I think we got the whole Farm Club crew who was here (except for Gynna) in this photo.

Don’t miss Rusty’s story about Meet the Sheep.

Meet the Sheep – Part 1

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Robin

Meet the Sheep was a fantastic success. The weather was perfect and dozens of people came out to enjoy the farm, the lambs, and the bunnies. Yes, bunnies!

These photos of people enjoying the day were all taken by Dona.

This is Julie Kuroki who raises show quality French Angora rabbits and Angora goats. I can give you her contact info if you want it.

The bunnies are always a huge hit with the kids. There is more in Rusty’s blog about the bunnies.

Alison led a workshop in Sheep Portraits.

Meet the Sheep–Getting Ready

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Robin

Meet the Sheep is our annual open house when we invite the public to meet our sheep, learn about fiber and hopefully become fiber enthusiasts. I couldn’t do this without the Farm Club. FC members spent the day here on Friday helping clean up and set up. After everyone left on Friday Dan did the final clean-up of moving the piles of things that accumulate on a farm (pallets, disc, un-burned burn pile) and the place looked great.

These photos were all taken by Dona on Saturday morning. We parked in the back but there was a line before I got the sheep locked out of that area. “Put it there.”“It’s this one.” We selected sheep for petting and display. FC has already made a “naughty list” of ewes who were NOT to be used for petting.Signs went up. Amaryllis went into her own pen…

…with her own sign.

Faulkner is in a pen next to Amaryllis so he got his own sign.

We gathered up some ewes and lambs to put outside where people could get close to them.Others were in a pen in the barn and FC members lifted up lambs for people to pet.

Jackie set up her Sheep to Shop booth…

…and Colleen was here with Fiber Confections.

Julie Kuroki brought her French Angora bunnies and Angora kids along with a lot of display material. (Photos in the next post.)We’re ready for the day!

Lambs

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Robin

I started the last post with a photo of my “lambing board” with two entries. It’s full now……and there is overflow onto another board. I have 72 lambs with 3 more ewes to lamb. Celeste lambed this morning. These lambs are #71 and 72. Most of the others are in the field. That’s no lamb. That’s Puddleduck Petra coming to the barn. You can meet these lambs at our spring open house, Meet the Sheep, Saturday, April 4.

March Miscellany

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Robin

I am fairly organized with my photos when I transfer them from my camera to the computer. But the “photo stream” from the iPhone is another matter. They all show up in a file labeled March. I take a lot of these intending to write blog posts that never make it through the fingertips to the keyboard. So this is a jumble of these photos that might have become blog posts if I didn’t have to allocate at least a few hours for sleeping. I’ll probably need to break this into two posts.The Lambing Board at the beginning of the month.First day on the pasture and looking for mom.

The Little Chicken, who has lived here forever, was not too crazy about……the New Chickens that a friend gave me.Finally, fresh eggs again.This is an example of clasped weft in a rigid heddle weaving class……and this is weaving students taking a lamb break in the barn.And speaking of holding lambs, I love this photo. These are three Farm club members (and friends) who have spent many hours helping me here, not only during lambing but at other times also.Weaving. I’ve spent a little time at the loom, although I still have projects ~~looming~~ hanging over my head and that is getting very frustrating. These are wool blankets woven using one of my favorite patterns, but usually done in one color.Marilyn with the first lamb of twins.About a week ago I went to my uncle’s memorial service. His ashes were placed in a family plot with his wife’s and next to those of his two sisters (one of whom was my mom). The end of that generation in our family.Life moves on. This is Spring who looks as though she should have sprung days ago.