Lambs Grow Up

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Lambs will be here at the end of February and I have been thinking about how fast they grow. Here are some of the 2013 favorite lambs as they grew up.

008 This is Marilyn with her mom, Hot Lips. 009 2 1/2 weeks old.1st place ewe lamb 3007 First in her class at Black Sheep Gathering, 4 months old. 011 Marilyn at 8 months old. Isn’t she pretty? 012 Santana at 10 days old. 013 About a month old. 014 Not quite two months old.  016 5 1/2 months old with a great horn spread. 017 Santana with his ewes 7 1/2 months old.  020That’s Alex on the right at about 10 days old. Not much color on that side. Fortunately he has more on the other. 019 About 4 months old. 021 About 8 months old. 018Alex after shearing, 9 months. 024This is Cascade at 10 days old. 025Two months old. 022 Here she is at 7 1/2 months. 023 

 

Across the Road Close-up

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I just wrote a post using photos that I took Across the Road from our mailbox. I started that to document the changes in the field that we see from our house everyday. The photos themselves are kind of boring and not all that attractive. Here is some of what I see when I walk Across the Road. (And here is Rusty’s version.)100_0485 Last year the main crop was sunflowers but there is a corner of land owned by someone else. Last summer’s crop on that parcel was corn.DSC_2773 Hot dog.DSC_2777 Irrigating the sunflower field.DSC_3926 Pollenating the sunflowers.DSC_3929 Stickers in someone’s fur.DSC_3931 Sometimes our road seems like an alfalfa highway.DSC_3950 Swarm of bugs.DSC_3954DSC_3968 Another hot dog. DSC_3984 Irrigation water. This sure looks appealing when it is 100+ degrees.

DSC_4012DSC_4025DSC_4457DSC_4764 Signs that I’m not the only one Across the Road.  DSC_5755DSC_5771DSC_7395DSC_7769 Hope of the next harvest.

Last Year’s View Across the Road

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We don’t have very much acreage, but across the road is a much larger parcel. We appreciate living here and being able to walk, run the dogs, and just a enjoy the view across the road. In 2013 I planned to take photos from the same location, of the same view, and at the same time each week to document the changes through the year. You probably don’t mind that it didn’t work because who would want to see 52 photos of the same thing? This field has been planted to alfalfa for several years but in 2013 there were sunflowers. Here is the year Across the Road:

1-10 January 101-25 January 251-31 January 313-7 March 73-26 March 264-4 April 44-11 April 115-5 May 55-21 May 215-28 May 286-13 June 137-4 July 47-12July 128-8 August 89-30 September 3010-10October 1010-18October 1811-24 November 2412-31December 31

There you have it. I stood at the mailbox for each photo. But the photos are obviously now always the same view or even using the same camera.

The most striking thing in my mind is how dry it was last year. The Central Valley of CA enjoys a Mediterranean climate which means hot dry summers and cool wet winters. We rely on winter rainfall to replenish aquifers and reservoirs to provide the water that keeps the valley from being a desert in the summer. This link shows graphs of the average precipitation and temperature for our area. According to accuweather.com the average annual rainfall for Sacramento is 18.5″. We have had only 30% of that (5″ in all of 2013). The hills (and the field across the road) should be green right now with the growth of the annual grasses that germinate from fall rains. Grass started to grow with each of the two (only 2) rainy days that we had but has mostly dried up.

On the bright side, I’m not slogging through calf-deep mud when doing chores and we don’t have to run the sump pump to keep the the water heater in the basement from flooding.

Hoping for a wet 2014!

Amaryllis is a Good Sport

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Rusty has never been a willing partner in taking cute holiday photos.DSC_5250 DSC_7185DSC_5273 His friend, Moby wasn’t much better. DSC_7188 Nor was Ozzie.DSC_7190Maybe it would have worked with a smaller hat.

DSC_6900Some of the sheep are OK with it. This is Noel.DSC_6913Here is Paulette. But now we have a new star.DSC_6456 Spinners’ Day Out was yesterday. Most of the people here were part of Farm Club (which, by the way, anyone can now join as an e-Farm Club member) and they were willing (more like insistent) on getting photos with Amaryllis. Dona and Mary took these photos."Get that thing out of my eye." “Would you get that thing away from my eye?” DSC_6482 

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Box of Chenille

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It may take me years to use up the yarn in the studio part of my shop. But I’m hopeful. Here is an attempt at one box.Image

I dumped the box of chenille on the floor and arranged the colors. I posted this photo on Facebook and then decided to have a contest. How many scarf warps could I get out of this pile of yarn?

The guesses ranged from 17 to 50 (well, there was one outlier at 502–maybe a typo). I had a good time winding these warps. For me winding warp is the creative part of weaving–at least for chenille scarves. The weave structure is almost always plain weave so all the design comes in choosing colors and arranging the order. This actually became a challenge here. I rarely weave chenille scarves in those light colors. Also, it’s hard to tell in this photo but there are a lot of variegated yarns there. I like to use those, but usually as accents with solid colors. As I worked my way through this pile it became more difficult to put together pleasing combinations. Because I had set up this contest I didn’t want to add in yarns off the shelf–that seemed like cheating. All of the first several warps were long enough to weave 2 or 3 scarves. As I worked my way through the pile I had less yarn in any one color so I made warps for single scarves. I finally got to this:

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All those bits and pieces got me three more scarf warps.

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It may not look like much but those warps will weave 44 scarves!  I wish that I had time to weave them all and then take a photo. Instead I will start weaving but will be putting some out for sale at the Artery as soon as I get them finished. ‘Tis the season…to be selling chenille.

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By the way, the winner of the contest lives in Placerville and will be getting a chenille scarflet in the mail!

Shearing Day

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Sunday was Shearing Day and we sheared 71 sheep (61 ewes and 10 rams and wethers). I said “we”. Not really “we”, but John, my fabulous shearer. The sheep looked great, the fleece looked great and he finished shearing in two and a half hours! Shearing was finished by 11:30.DSC_6831Here are sheep ready to be shorn.DSC_6800Clover.DSC_6805Mary.

Shearing Miller

John started with the rams…DSC_6818…and moved on to ewes.

Farm Club members were the other wonderful helpers who made it all work.DSC_6764 Alison spent the morning at the skirting table explaining skirting and helping buyers skirt their fleeces.DSC_6767 DSC_6812DSC_6958Shelby and Gynna were our sheep wranglers, making sure that there was always another sheep for John to shear.DSC_6773 DSC_6776 Mary and Carol bagged fleeces while Anna swept and Jackie worked the exit gate.DSC_6783 Linda weighed and recorded fleeces.   Other members helped too but I didn’t get photos.DSC_6884What would shearing day be without chili…DSC_6885…and Dona’s brownies (and Lisa’s Jacob sheep cookies, Jackie’s corn biscuits, Mary’s wonderful tangy chicken and fancy rice krispie treats and more).DSC_6902After shearing the sheep look so much thinner. This photo looks as though it was stretched vertically, but it wasn’t.DSC_6826    Lila.DSC_6891 Cascade.DSC_6894 Gynna with fleece

Gynna looks happy with her Farm Club fleece.fleece And look at this gorgeous one!

After shearing we (Farm Club again and other friends) did demos of all kinds of spinning and fiber prep, but that’s another story, especially because it’s too late to write more.

Order Out of Chaos

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I made all these buttons this week.DSC_6639 Here are better photos.DSC_6640  DSC_6662 DSC_6664 DSC_6667 DSC_6670 DSC_6673I think I have a new audience for my buttons….DSC_6652…How about using them for sorting practice for little kids? You can sort by shape, color, and size. You can arrange them in order of size. So they’re not just for sweaters anymore! But at $6/button this would be a pricey sorting kit.

Early Morning Sheep Portraits

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I usually have my i-phone (camera) with me but was glad I took the real camera to the barn this morning.Celeste 873That is Celeste in the doorway.Alison 11057 AlisonSummer 0899SummerRoxi 964RoxiVentura 11007Ventura and SonataLaura 706Laura is the third oldest ewe here. She is not really that old at almost 7 years.Phyllis 514Phyllis is an 8 year old lilac ewe.EarsThis is Ears, the second BFL-cross that I have kept.FaulknerHere is Faulkner, the BFL ram. He gets to be “clean-up” ram and is out with all the breeding flock now.DSC_6112    I used red the first two weeks of breeding (starting October 1) and green the second two weeks. Almost all the sheep are marked with red and maybe a 6 or 8 with green. Faulkner has been with them for about 5 days and there are 3 yellow marks so far. Marilyn 13007 left   Marilyn is my favorite of the lambs I’m keeping this year.AmaryllisAmaryllis