Up, down and all around

(look closely and you'll see Aslan keeping watch)

Well, it might appear that I've fallen into a deep, dark hole somewhere, but appearances can be deceiving.  Things actually seem to be looking up around here, though there have definitely been some ups and downs.  I'm finally off the prednisone (fingers crossed) and that jumping-out-of-my-skin sensation is starting to go away (and possibly my chipmunk cheeks will return to normal soon!).

(my nuno felted, eco-printed scarf)

I'm late getting to this, but I promised a short recap of a fabulous eco-printing/dyeing class I took with Nicola Brown the weekend after the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival.  Nicola is so much fun to take workshops from that I'd sign up, even if I learned nothing, but learn something, I did!  The eco-printing workshop had me nuno felting a scarf (which I've avoided for years and years, because I was sure I wouldn't like it - go figure).  After the nuno felting,  Nicola demonstrated how to eco-print designs on the scarf.  We used a variety of plant material - certain types of leaves, flowers, even tea leaves, all dipped in rusty water, of all things, and it was thrilling to remove our creations from the dye pots and unroll them to reveal the patterns.  It's a bit mysterious and unpredictable and that's part of what makes it so appealing to me.  There don't seem to be a lot of hard and fast rules, which is even better.  I find myself being drawn more and more to natural dyeing and have been reading up on plant material I might gather here on the farm and down in our creek.  There have to be some mushrooms out there that will give color and I'm letting all the pokeberries grow sky high in hopes of harvesting them for dyeing. All those avocados I've been using to incorporate healthy fats into my diet .... bingo!  Avocado skins and pits are great for dyeing.  I don't consider myself an artist in any sense of the word, but I do love creating functional items and eco-printing allows for just enough creativity to be fun, but not intimidating. It's quite likely Nicola will be back in this part of the world next May to teach some workshops, so keep an eye out for announcements (I'll keep you posted here) and sign up for a fun learning experience.  If you're up for travel, you might find her in Ireland, where she lives, Portugal (where she just finished teaching), California, Ohio or other locations here in the US.
 

(a partial collection of the class projects)

The lambs are growing, growing and eating voraciously - about 60 pounds every day at this point.  That means I need to order feed every single week.  I'm grateful that the fine folks at Woodford Feed deliver and the guys will dump out those feed bags right into my feed bins.  I need all the help I can get these days!  Midgie and Phaedra are still as friendly as ever and a few of the others want quick scratches, but most of them are content to eat their grain and get back outside to their pasture.  The pastures are starting to look a little thin around here because we haven't had rain in weeks.  I'm hoping that before the weekend is over we'll receive some soaking rains to green things up a bit and give the lambs fresh growth to graze on.

(I'm greeted with this when I go to the barn-that's Phaedra front and center and Midgie behind her head)

(and then it's belly-up-to-the-bar, or feeder, in this case!)

What else is happening around here?  This weekend we were finally able to get the alpaca boys and llama sheared.  Usually, I trailer them over to my friend Lindy's farm.  Her shearing day was way back in April and back then I was physically unable to handle getting all my animals in the trailer and hauling them over.  I've worried so much about the alpaca boys having all that fleece in hot weather, but have kept a big fan available for them and have sprayed them down with water on the hottest of days.  They seem to have done just fine, in spite of my worry.  I am really relieved to have that off my to-do list.

(Strawberry on the shearing mat)

 Meanwhile, this guy keeps watch over everything that goes on here!

Springtime on the farm

You know it's spring around here when the resident peacock has attained his full compliment of feathers.  Jim Dandy is really strutting his stuff these days - he's loud and proud!  I should think it would be hard work to drag all of that around, especially on windy days, but he doesn't seem to mind.  This time of year, he spends lots of time on top of the big gates outside the barn where he can display his beauty with a little less work than spreading it.

At long last, it truly feels like spring on the farm, but the weirdness of this past winter is still following me around.  I've spent most of this week with my leg propped up or else in a doctor's office.  Monday night we spent the whole evening in the emergency room because my right leg, from the knee down was so swollen, I could hardly walk.  The doctor diagnosed a blood clot, and I am just now understanding how scary that diagnosis was.  I was given a shot of blood thinner and sent home with instructions to report first thing the next morning for an ultra-sound.  Knowing what I know now, I'm so grateful that the ER doctor was wrong.  Ultra-sound showed one large blood filled cyst behind my knee and another down my calf.  These were likely caused by being knocked down by a ewe who had just lambed, that I was moving to a lambing jug.  (In her hormonal state, I'm sure she thought she was protecting her baby.)  I'm being told that is the best of the bad things it could have been. (How's that for putting things in perspective?)  After much consultation,  it's been decided that surgery is too risky and so we are waiting to see if it will go down on it's own.  This morning the swelling is significantly diminished, so I'm keeping fingers crossed that I'm nearly through this.  Poor Mike has been doing all his veterinary work, then coming home to take care of me and the sheep!  All night after our emergency room visit, I kept waking up, thinking about how I just couldn't possibly die right now because I needed to clean out the pantry and some closets.  I didn't want anyone to see what a mess they were - even after I'm gone!  How's that for logic?

Anyway, today is gorgeous outside and we're supposed to hit the 70's, so all in all, life is good.  We've been lucky to have no lambs born during all the drama with me.  I'm hoping they all wait until the weekend, when Mike will be here all day and I will be upright for longer periods of time.  There are five ewes who look as though they could deliver at any moment and they surely will go in the next few days.

Sunday afternoon, Sara and Saint Tim came over for a visit and Sara took some really sweet pictures of the lambs.  You can look at all of them here.  Sara is having Lamb Camp days on her blog right now, featuring pictures of lambs from lots of farms around central Kentucky.  Sara's a terrific photographer and has a fun blog showcasing the personalities of all her animals.  She will be teaching a workshop at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival - Intro to Blogging with a Side of Photography that will be a great class to take for any of you interested in blogging and/or photography.  Since I've mentioned the festival, please go check out all the workshops.  We have wonderful choices this year and it's a beautiful time to visit the Bluegrass.