Yearly rewards

Several weeks back, the shearers were here and all of those lovely fleeces the girls and I have spent the last year working on were harvested.  Those fleeces are one of my rewards for all the work I put into shepherding. Well, okay, the girls did most of the work, but, I did put some effort into helping them stay as clean as possible ..... you know, given that they live in a barn and all that.  Overall, I was very pleased with how healthy they looked, but the best part was seeing what my just now yearling girls produced.  Oh, my!  I love their fleeces!  You may remember that last year the famous Henry (half Wensleydale/half Cotswold ram) was the father of all but one of the ewe lambs I kept to put back into the brood ewe flock.  Henry did a fabulous job of putting beautiful fleeces on the girls.  I can hardly wait to spin them.  I need to select some competition fleeces and then start washing others in preparation for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival, so I'm not allowing myself to do more than wash a few samples right now.  The locks pictured below are from Birdie and I can hardly keep from carrying it around with me all the time, just so I can admire it.  It is so lustrous and so soft, it reminds me a lot of kid mohair.  I know it's going to take dye beautifully and spin into some pretty, pretty yarn.  My hope is that 'The Mister' (our rent-a-ram), who was Wensleydale, has given me fleeces similar to this on the lambs born this year.

One of the reasons I still love raising sheep (after lo these many years) is the fun of breeding for improvement.  Way back, when I was raising purebreds and showing in competitions, there was a different kind of thought process because that was not necessarily breeding for what I liked best, but more what a show judge would be looking for.  Believe me, as in most competitive endeavors,  show standards can be totally different from 'living in the real world' standards.  Now that I'm breeding strictly for healthy animals and beautiful fleeces, every year brings surprises.  Last year when I selected Birdie to become a bottle baby and be a companion to Luna, I had no idea she would turn out to be such a sweetie and produce a gorgeous fleece.  If I'm completely honest, she was a little difficult in the beginning and I wasn't sure I was even going to like her personality.  She's turned out to be a charmer and, even now,  would follow me around all day if she could.  And, as much as I love Luna, she does have a strong sense of entitlement (and I can't imagine how she came by it) that allows her to think she can do certain things that are un-sheep-like on occasion.  (Such as helping herself to Aslan's dog food!)

Well, it's on into the weekend.  The grass is growing, growing, growing and there are plants in the greenhouse that need to be put in the ground right now.  It's that time of year when I feel perpetually behind on every aspect of my life.  I hope all of you find a little bit of time to enjoy your weekend and I hope to see you back here next week, with lots of gratuitous lamb pictures!

All lambs, all the time

(Easter babies - how they sleep)

That's pretty much the story of my day to day life right now.  Twenty seven lambs, out of twelve ewes is a paltry sum when I consider that my friend, Kathy, has had 150 lambs born in the last two weeks.  Oh,  but mine do seem to fill my days.  Right now I'm bottle feeding 5 lambs, 3 of them 4 times a day and 2 of them 5 times a day.  Yes, that's right .... twenty two bottles.  I'm well on my way to dishpan hands!  The ewe that lambed on Easter has been struggling to gain her strength and her lambs were just not getting enough milk, so they are getting bottles.  Two other triplets from separate ewes are also getting bottles.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  I love raising bottle babies because they are so much fun and so easy to manage as they mature.  (Remember Luna and Birdie from last year?  They are still lovely and sweet girls.)  They've become ambassadors for the farm because they are perfectly comfortable being social with humans.  (Oh yeah, they are the two that were so good, they got to visit with Santa Claus!)

The good news is that help is on the way with bottle duty.  A lovely young woman, Hannah, is coming to get three of the bottle babies this week.  She has purchased lambs from me before and is building her own fiber flock, so these babies will be going to a wonderful home.  I do become attached to these little ones that I visit with so many times a day.  Five bottle babies are too many to have out and following me around, but two ..... well, that is much more likely.

The ewe flock spends nearly all their time eating.  They are especially ravenous now,  partly because they're providing milk for growing lambs (and partly because everything around here loves to eat).  If you are still watching the lamb-cam, you can see how the lambs are getting bigger and bolder in their play when they come in for the night.  The straw bales are like jungle-gyms (are those things even still called that?),  providing endless hours of jumping and climbing pleasure! And when they're worn out from all that play, the bales make a handy napping spot.

Tomorrow is shearing day for the alpacas.  It's a little stressful for me because I'm always afraid something will go wrong.  It never has, but still I worry.  I'll be loading my seven alpaca fiber boys and two llama girls into the trailer for the ride to Seldom Scene farm.  My friend, Lindy, has scheduled a team of professional shearers, who travel all over the United States in the springtime, to shear all of her alpacas and is gracious enough to allow me to bring my small herd.  Hopefully, I'll have a chance to take a few pictures and post a little about our day.  Wish me luck!

Because they've been such good girls ...

( they wanted to wear their Christmas halters )

All last week,  Luna and Birdie kept hinting about going see Santa.  (They had heard that Uncle Graham had gotten to go before. )  They were afraid that if they didn't get there to deliver the message in person,  Santa might not realize their presents needed to be delivered to a barn,  not to a house.  Frankly,  I wasn't so sure how the whole thing might come off.  The possibilities for chaos seemed almost unlimited.  Saturday morning it was dry,  sunny and warm-ish and,  on the spur of the moment,  I said,  "What the heck?  Let's do it".   Santa was at the closest Southern States farm store and when I called ahead,  to be sure it was okay,  they said come on over.   After begging asking Mike to go along as photographer,  we discovered that I'd grabbed the camera that needed the battery charged,  so documentation was done by iPhone.  ( I need to make notes to myself,  in case I ever do this again. )

( Is it my imagination or does Santa look a little wary ? )

Luna and Birdie could have used a little more grooming ( like a bath,  maybe ! ) and I'm pretty sure Santa had to change his white gloves after we left,  but a good time was had by all.  The folks at Southern States were tickled to have sheep in the store ( go figure ? ).  Luna and Birdie played it like they go to Southern States every Saturday morning.  They walked right in,  let everyone pet them and stood  ( sort of ) willingly by Santa for pictures.  The only thing Luna and Birdie complained about was that the floor was pretty slippery and required some tricky moves on their part to stay upright and moving forward.   We should receive the official Santa shot from Southern States soon, but in the meantime,  we have Apple to thank for these shots.  Funny thing about my personal photographer ..... I think he enjoyed it as much as anyone else,  once he realized it wasn't going to turn into disaster !

( They thought these automatic door openers were something we really needed in the barn ! )

Curly

Want to guess what this is?  Here's a hint - she has four legs and some big ears that she needs to grow in to.  I was out in the little girl's pasture this afternoon,  just checking up on Aslan and how he was getting along with his charges.  Anytime I'm with these little girls,  I can count on Luna and Birdie coming in close for a scratch under the chin and a little sweet talk.  I so love that about my bottle babies.  No matter how old they get,  they never forget that I'm their mother.  Of course,  once I've fed them for months and spent so much time with them,  I don't forget either and can't bear to sell any of them,  so I have quite a collection of sheep that see me as their mama.  Anyway,  back to the picture.

Do those look like a shepherd's hands, or what?  I need some hand care!

This is Birdie's fleece and I think it's  gorgeous.  I already know I won't be selling this fleece at shearing time next spring.  It already has my name on it!  There are other ewe lambs in the flock with similar fleeces,  including Birdie's two sisters,  and those I'll be willing to part with because they are not my special babies.  The ewe lambs are still a little shy about Aslan and,  when he walked up beside me,  Birdie got those ready-for-takeoff ears going on.

As you might be able to see,  just below the dried up stubble,  our pastures are starting to come back to life after the many inches of rain we've had this past week.  I'm so grateful for the remnants of hurricane Lee making it's way to us.  A week of cloudy, drizzly days has done wonders for my frame of mind.  I think we might actually survive the summer now!

Luna hopes you have a great weekend!

And a good time was had by Luna

(Luna.........just being Luna)

I can hardly believe that it has come and gone. After much work, by many people, the 2nd Annual Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival is history. Last weekend was a whirlwind of activity and now I wish I could go back and re-live the whole thing, without the worry that it was all going to come together as planned.

Many of us on the planning committee have been attending fiber festivals for years (or in my case, many, many, many years!) and we have known the potential for our event. I'd say we are well on our way.  This year we had lots more vendors and the attendance was much larger than last year. The weather cooperated, which is always a risky thing to count on during a Kentucky spring-time. I should say, it cooperated right up until an hour before the closing and then all you-know-what broke loose! Fortunately, everyone was told ahead of time and most everyone got their stuff packed up safely

Susan Anderson was our star attraction this year. She taught a workshop on Saturday morning and had a book-signing for her new book, Spud and Chloë at the Farm, on Saturday afternoon and both events were very well attended. (She blogged about it here.)I met Susan several years ago, when she was in town for a book fair. It was while I still co-owned Magpie Yarn and Jane and I were lucky enough to take the knitting authors out to lunch (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Stefanie Japel, Ann Hood and Susan). It was so much fun and a real thrill to meet all of them in person. My impression of Susan that day was that she was such a  down-to-earth person. I liked her immediately. What I've since learned, is that she is also the most genuine and generous person you'd ever want to know. She seems completely surprised at how many adoring fans she has and how far they are willing to travel to see her. Anyway, I am honored to call her my friend now. I wish I could say that I took lots of pictures of it all, but I did not. I was so busy most of the time, I didn't even think to get my camera out. Plenty of other people had the presence of mind to record the fun and you can find those on the Festival facebook page. (Obviously, I have a lot to learn about capturing the moment!)

As many of you know, Luna and Birdie (along with a few of their friends) came to the festival with me. I was sure that Luna would be timid and Birdie would be her usual in-your-face kind of girl. Not so. Birdie was not so comfortable, kind of shy and retiring, and actually got to stay at home on Sunday because she developed some digestive distress (if you know what I mean). Luna, on the other hand, acted as if the whole festival was just for her benefit. She was not the least bit shy, let all the little kids pet on her and tried to get Lila to come out to play and take a walk around with her. (Lila is still a house baby and had no inclination to hang out with a lamb, for goodness sake!)

So, it's back to real life on the farm this week. I want to thank everyone who came by to visit the Tanglewood Farm booth. We do know it was just to see Luna, but that's okay. By now, we are all used to living in her (very small) shadow!

There's sweet and innocent....and then there's blurry

Like all babies, lambs sleep an awful lot. As they get older and more confident, they love to romp and play with the other lambs. If you've ever been watching the lambcam when the ewes come into the barn and head for the feeders, you can see lambs jumping and racing and having fun together. When they've had their romp, they tend to settle in a pile and nap until the moms are finished eating. When I come into the barn most mornings, each ewe has her lambs gathered around her and they are all sleeping in little family groups.
 

Luna and Birdie don't have a mom to cuddle up against (I'm their mom, but I draw the line at sleeping in the barn every night), but they do have each other (and their heat lamp on chilly nights). Last week I was sitting out in the sunshine with my girls and while Birdie could not settle down (no surprise there), Luna was so happy and content to just soak up the warmth. I watched her as she drifted off to sleep and thought how much she reminded me of my own babies......so sweet and innocent when they were sleeping.

Birdie, on the other hand, can almost never be caught napping. There's just too much to see and do and she needs to be on the lookout, just in case I happen to have a bottle around somewhere. I wouldn't say she has a look of innocence about her, either! (and yes, I know it's a blurry, not so great picture, but when you're trying to capture a moving target, sometimes blurry is the best you can get!)

Musical Fields

It seems as though spring may actually have arrived here in Kentucky and a few mornings ago,  I had an overwhelming urge to move everyone around. It was kinda like that urge to open all the windows and rearrange the furniture. I just have to do it once in a while. (which makes Mike a little anxious because he never, ever likes to change things around)

The ewes and lambs have been in the pastures adjoining the barn, so in the mornings, I just open the side doors and out they go. So easy, for all concerned. The problem is there's hardly any grass in those fields because of the drought last year. The fields have not had time to recover and need to be given a rest. So, I moved the yearling ewes to what we call the triangle field (it was a triangle once, but no longer is), moved the alpaca boys with Buddy and Henry to the driveway field (where the road leads to the back of the farm) and took the ewes, lambs, Strawberry and Pippi through the back barnyard and into the square field (which really is square). Believe it or not, this was the easiest option available and it still caused a fair amount of chaos. It takes a while for the lambs to catch on to any change in routine and for them this morning was pretty exciting. There was a lot of baa-ing back and forth because the ewes ran straight into the field and started grazing and about half the lambs were left standing in the barnyard trying to figure out what just happened. You've heard the expression "like trying to herd cats"? Well, that's what herding lambs is like! They pretty much go anywhere but where you want them to go. Finally, a few of the ewes came back to collect their babies and the rest followed along. Evenings, when they come back into the barn, will be the same amount of confusion for a few days. Eventually, the lambs catch on and the routine will work for the rest of their lives here at Tanglewood.

Here comes trouble!

Looking for something?

Having everyone out in the square field meant that Luna and Birdie could be in the back barnyard all by themselves.They've still not been with the whole flock because Luna is too small and still a little too frail. I sat out there and watched them explore their big new world. Birdie is always bright-eyed, alert and getting into everything. Luna takes her time, stops to smell and look at everything and comes back to me for a little reassuring cuddle once in a while. Given their different temperaments, it will be interesting to see if they remain good buddies when they do join the flock.

Mark my words,
this one will be unlatching the gates and opening the feed bins before long!