Still here

(The Purple Martins have just arrived, so spring is truly here!)

Well, it's been "interesting" (interesting in that way one tries to describe something difficult to describe).  When last I posted, I was psyching myself up for knee surgery and keeping busy with my to-do lists and the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. (I know I'm not the only woman who feels compelled to do a bit of cleaning and organizing before surgery or going on a long trip, just in case something should go awry.) I worked diligently on my list until the last few weeks before and then lost my motivation. The sheep shearer came two days before my surgery and suddenly I had a big stack of fleeces (on top of the ones from last year that had still not been processed!) and I was completely overwhelmed.

 The surgery went very well and according to the doctors and physical therapists, I was the poster child for making outstanding progress. On the fourth day after surgery, I was transferred to a rehab facility to begin intensive physical therapy and that's when things got more complicated. I was only there one day when I woke up with a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in my lung) and another clot in my leg. Within minutes after I mentioned to the nurse that I was having some difficulty breathing, I was in an ambulance being rushed back to the hospital. Honestly, I did not know how serious things were until days later. I spent two days immobilized while I was pumped full of Heparin and then Coumadin (blood thinning medications). I finally got to come home after ten days of being hospitalized for a surgery that some folks come home from after only one day. Obviously, that was not how I planned for it to go!

(Some of my beautiful flowers)

There were some bright spots. I loved the nurses and staff at St. Joseph East Hospital. They were so sweet and kind to me and so considerate of not just my physical well-being, but also my emotional state. I truly felt they went above and beyond to help me be as comfortable as possible. Secondly, thanks to loving and caring family and friends, I was surrounded with flowers that caused everyone who came into my room to comment on how lovely they were and how cheerful they made the room feel. Mike brought freshly cut daffodils from home every day, so I would not miss out on spring blossoming at the farm. Friends came to visit, bringing special treats and spending time knitting and talking. Other friends sent cards, texts and emails to let me know they were thinking of me. I feel as though I learned some valuable lessons on how true friends show their love and concern. You have no idea how much the smallest gesture means until you are on the receiving end. I feel truly blessed to have people in my life who are willing to show they care about me.

(The view I wake up to at home)

I've never been so happy to be at home and in my own bed. When Mike drove me home from the hospital, the first thing we did was drive right by the house and up to the barn, so I could see all of the girls! I'm not allowed to be in the field with the sheep quite yet, but I visit with them at the gate every day. Now that they are all shorn, the little girls look almost grown up. They still run up to me (the main reason I'm not allowed inside the gate!), but if I see them out grazing in the field, it is more difficult to tell them apart from the adults. I know I made the right decision to not have any lambs born this year, but I really miss them and hope to be able to have at least a few next year.

(Miss Midgie and the Littles playing conquer the mineral feeder!)

I hope to get back to this space much more often now. I've been knitting and before the hospital, I managed to sew a little. I have big plans to use this time of restricted activity to sew and knit without feeling guilty that I should be cleaning out the barn or turning over garden beds or working on the multitude of the physically strenuous jobs that are waiting on me. They will just have to wait.

Spring is arriving in Kentucky by fits and starts. We've had some days in the 70's already, but it's going to be cold for Easter - fairly typical weather around here. I'm enjoying watching the grass turn a little greener every day and waiting for the forsythia bushes by the barn to bloom. Our Purple Martin familes have returned and will be building their nests soon. There is evidence of life being renewed all around us.

I want to say thank you to all who have not forgotten my little blog, even though I've been very neglectful as of late. I'll be back early next week with some knitting and sewing to show.

Checking in - finally!

*(Won't be long till shearing time-I'm trying to ignore the vegetable matter)

Apparently, I decided to take a break from blogging, though it was not a conscious decision, as such.  I've considered coming to this space at least once a day and then somehow never made it. It's not that I've been particularly busy, though life on the farm never seems to be really slow. I've been thinking a lot and that takes a fair amount of energy!

The holidays are behind me and right now, it seems that they barely happened. No more shortened work weeks for Mike and I can feel what is left of January and February stretching out before me.  At the moment I have a to-do list that needs to be accomplished before mid-March. It's a long list, to be sure, but there is plenty of motivation to get things done. I'm currently scheduled for knee surgery on March 16 and will be physically out of commission from my regular life for at least a few months (no driving for 6 weeks! Is that even possible?). I don't have an accurate picture of what those months will look like, except that there will be plenty of physical therapy.

I am one of those (among many thousands) who recently read a little book titled 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up'. (Ha-evidently, I'm not alone. Amazon is currently out-of-stock!) I'll admit to some skeptical eye-rolling while reading it, but something about it has lit a fire under me. I've been on a mission to clean out, sort, purge, donate, organize and dispose of an untold amount of stuff.  It started with the decision to move my dye room out of the studio and into a storage room in the barn.  I didn't feel free to make a mess with dyeing in the studio. I was afraid of spilling dye on the tile floors (for the record, I hate tile floors-they are deadly to glass bottles and my back). In order for the move to take place, I first had to empty the storage room. If I'd known how bad that would be, I might not have suggested it in the first place! Now that it's mostly done, I can say it was a good thing. I've been forced to sort through pictures, much ephemera from both mine and Mike's past lives, thousands of photos and stuff that should have been never put in there in the first place. I told friends before the holidays that what I truly wanted for Christmas was a dumpster! (That didn't happen.) Mike moved the big commercial stainless steel sink from the studio and installed it in the barn dye room.  I've repainted the walls, scrubbed the floor, brought in shelving, moved all my dye-stuffs, undyed yarn and brought in last year's fleeces (which are also on the list to be taken to the mill before March 16). As I told my friend, Diane, I can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear because it is, after all, a room in the barn and so I'm going to feel free to make many messes in it!

Another activity that has been occupying me is sewing. Just before the holidays, I bought a new Bernina and have taken a few classes at Q-Quilt First Kentucky. It's been fun to get back into sewing.  I haven't felt a great deal of confidence and the new machine has been slightly intimidating, but I'm starting to feel more comfortable with her and ready to get started making myself some clothes. I'm a terrible clothes shopper, hate going to the mall, never know what size to order on-line, so this seems like a totally reasonable pursuit!

*(Aslan is on the job!)

Animal-wise there is nothing new around the farm. Well, except for Mike declaring all-out-war on the starlings that are determined to nest in our barn and all the farm equipment. He's gone from boarding up every opening possible, to covering the tractors and bobcat with bird netting, trying to shoot them (they are much too clever) to now having a recording of starling distress calls and hawks screaming that plays 24/7 in the barn. I worried that the other animals would be as disturbed as I am by hearing it, but they seem to pay absolutely no attention to it. Even the chickens and peacock seem oblivious (though to be fair, chickens are often oblivious). I'll let you know how this plan plays out!

*(Carson loves napping in the studio bathroom sink)

 Instagram is my new best friend. I nearly always have my phone with me while I'm feeding and I take pictures all the time. They are not beautiful pictures, but do depict every day happenings here. It's a little dose of instant gratification to post something and see what other folks are up to in their daily lives. You can follow me by clicking on the link on the sidebar and see what the animals are doing nearly every day.

*(Carson is also on the job-when he's not napping!)

On the knitting front, I have a few things that I need to take photos of before I can post. Post-surgery should allow me plenty of knitting time, so am thinking of something big I can work on start-to-finish, maybe an aran sweater. I've been enjoying keeping up with Karen Templer of Fringe Supply Co, working on the KAL for her Amanda sweater. Her sweater is gorgeous and is just the kind of sweater I know I would wear forever. Often, I have difficulty staying faithful to a big project, so we'll see how that unfolds.

So, that's a bit of a catch-up.You see, you haven't missed much by my not being here for a while! I'll try to make things a little more interesting before I'm back here again.

*Just in cast you were wondering, none of these photos have anything to do with this post.  I just thought you all might like to see a few of the usual suspects. 

The in-between

(chow time)

We've had the drabbest, wettest, foggiest kind of days this week.  I don't mind it so much when I can stay home and have a cozy fire in my little studio woodstove.  Because I have fewer numbers in the sheep flock, I can satisfy my need to bring everyone into the barn whenever I feel like it, which makes them happy and me, too.  No sloshing around out in the fields, spreading hay for sheep who would much rather be hanging out inside the barn, eating their hay from the hay racks.

(Turkey plate time!)

Thanksgiving was quite the stromash (ah, can't help but let a little Outlander slip into my speech when I have the chance!) We ended up with 20 folks around the tables. There are not so many littles anymore. Atticus is 19 months and Parker is 5 years old.  Mia is next youngest at 10 and after that it was all teenage boys (the two older girls were absent this year). I'm reminded every year of how fortunate I am to have most of my family close at hand and that they are willing to spend time here at the farm. The energy is quite different now that most of the grandchildren are getting older.  There are no worries about little boys being upstairs jumping on the beds or moving the clawfoot bathtub around! (That clawfoot bathtub business is true. A game of hide-and-seek caused the tub to get scooted just a wee bit and next thing we knew water was dripping out of the ceiling downstairs!)

(Tiny tree in the studio)

The Thanksgiving decorative (not the eating kind) turkeys have all gone back into their storage places, but very little in the way of Christmas decorations has made it out.  I'm feeling a little ambivalent about the whole thing in this in-between time.  I have put up a tiny tree in my studio with some of the wool felt ornaments I've collected over the years and am almost wishing I could do something similar in the house.  Oh well, some kind of a tree will appear in the house this weekend.  I'm not quite into the bah-humbug category, just feeling the need for simple this time around. There was a time in my life when decorating for Christmas took on epic proportions. Every room in the house had Christmas baubles. That was mostly when my boys were small and it appears that I'm over that now.  All I want are the most simple and natural decorations, with a minimum of glitter and gaudy.  My friend, Teresa, says if you can't be tacky at Christmas, whenever can you be, but I've somehow slipped into a quieter frame of mind in recent years.

Not so much going on in the knitting department either.  Still working on the Hitchhiker, though it suffered a setback when I discovered a mistake many rows down and my attempts at fixing it didn't work out well.  I ripped back at least 5 inches and that caused some minor discouragement and a time-out for the scarf.  I'm back to it now after knitting a few hats and finishing a set of fingerless mitts. My knitting ADD has reached embarrassing numbers and I'm feeling the need to frog and donate some yarn.  It has come to my attention that no matter how long I live, it is very unlikely that I will knit up all the yarn in my stash. Only if the dreaded world-wide shortage of wool happens will anyone consider that I have been wise to assemble this much yarn in one place. I am embarking on a major cleanout and donate. This mindset could have been triggered by the decision to move my dye room to my storage room in the barn. Cleaning out the storage room (that's a euphemism for the let's-just-dump-it-here-room) is an exercise that can only be described as painful. At this point, if it were legal and all the animals were safely outside, I'd be quite happy for the barn to burn down!  Problem solved. I recently read a book about tidying and organizing your stuff and the advice was to hold every item in your hand and ask yourself if it gives you joy.  Well, all I can say is I'm wishing I had a lot less stuff right now because not much of it feels like joy!

So, onward into the weekend and with Christmas approaching fast, I hope we all can find some peace and joy in the days ahead.

Keeping warm with good hay and chicken pot pie

(This was taken in the approximately 10 seconds of sunshine we had yesterday)

 Winter has come early to the Bluegrass. When we woke up Monday morning we had our first real snow and temperatures in the teens! It caught us by surprise because we rarely have those low temperatures until after the Christmas holidays.

(You might assume that the main cold weather activity here on the farm is eating and you'd be right!)

I've begun feeding the ewes hay and they've been very enthusiastic about it. They have cleaned up every bit I've put out, so I'm thinking we got an especially good load this year. Occasionally, we end up with some bales that are too stemmy and the sheep will pick through it and leave huge piles of stems in the feeders and on the ground. Not that I blame them. I wouldn't want to eat tough stems either. It's a difficult process to get really good hay cut, cured, baled and in the barn without it getting too mature or getting rained on before it gets put under shelter. That's the main reason we buy our hay now rather than try to grow it ourselves. Well, that and the fact that throwing 50 pound bales up on the wagon and the hay elevator is not something I can or want to do anymore.

This cold front began with rain, which turned to ice and then snow, so the girls all got to come into the barn that night. They tolerate the cold quite well because they are in full fleece, but I don't like them getting wet and then being out in the cold. I think we all sleep better if they are tucked up in the barn with bellies full of hay and deep straw to lie down in for the night. Of course, all it takes is bringing them into the barn one night and by feeding time the next afternoon, they are lined up at the gate waiting to come in again. Who said sheep were dumb animals?

Continuing with the theme of cold weather eating - it's been chicken pot pie for the humans. For years I made a recipe from a Lee Bailey cookbook that had a wonderful cornbread crust topping, but it was a lengthy process and when I found this one in the Real Simple Meals Made Easy cookbook, I gave it a try. (You can tell that it was a success just by looking at the stains on the pages of the cookbook! I've made it many times.) I don't always use a store bought rotisserie chicken and I usually substitute baby lima beans for the peas and we like it just fine. It's one of those recipes I can decide on at the last minute because I nearly always have the ingredients in the refrigerator or freezer.

So, what else have I been up to besides feeding sheep and cooking? Well, not so much, really. I did finish a super simple little shawl that I basically made up as I went along. I used some Briar Rose yarn from my stash and wanted something that was basically mindless knitting (which says a lot for my state of mind!). This is one of Chris' beautiful variegated colorways, that she dyes so well. It's squishy and cozy and has already become a favorite.

I have begun a Hitchhiker shawlette with a skein of Miss Babs yarn, also from my stash. (Actually, quite proud that I'm using stash yarns.) I'm at 26 points and counting. I'm thinking I might possibly be one of the last knitters on earth to knit one of these. It is a very popular pattern and also very simple (again, considering my frame of mind). It's an eight row pattern that's easily memorized. I met Martina, the designer of the pattern at Squam in June. One of my cabin-mates (hi Heather!), gave Martina a ride from the airport to Squam back in June and Martina came to our cabin one evening and sat around the fireplace with us. She's a lovely person and we were all very impressed that she flew in from Germany to attend Squam. 

Mike has a birthday this weekend and Thanksgiving is nearly here. It's a busy time of year for all of us. I'm hopeful that it won't be quite so long before I'm back with another post and maybe I'll have more to show for my time away from here.

Having low expectations

(In the setting sun ...)

I seem to be dithering these days, somewhat more than usual.  I can't seem to settle on knitting, sewing, dyeing or battening down the hatches in preparation for winter.  I've knit a little (I actually finished my capelet from the Fiber Craft Studio yarn that I bought at Rhinebeck, though it still needs a good wet blocking), cut out a pattern for a knit dress, washed some linen for a tunic, brought a few pots of plants into the greenhouse to keep them growing through the winter and prepared my collection of pokeberries into a dye solution, but I just can't seem to buckle down and follow through with anything.  I think partly it's because I'm in an uncomfortable in-between place mentally.  I'm feeling, once again, that this disease is getting the upper hand. Last week, my rheumatologist decided to up my medication to something that will require me to inject myself once a week.  In some ways, I'm glad for the change in meds because the one I'm on now is causing my hair to fall out, which is not that surprising, considering it is a cancer drug.  Luckily, I have a lot of hair, but it's pretty disconcerting to see how much of it is coming out every day and I can definitely tell that I've lost a lot already. Besides some continuing issues with joint pain, one of the other side effects is that I feel so tired much of the time.  I had hoped to feel more in control at this point, but I suppose it's just another lesson in learning that control is an illusion.

On a positive note, my sheep are bringing me so much peace right now.  As difficult as it has been to reduce the size of my flock, it's wonderful to now have a whole group that are so gentle and calm.  Nearly every evening, while Aslan is eating his dinner on the outside of the fence, I take my little wooden folding stool into the field and sit down to visit with the girls.  If you follow me on Instagram, you will likely have seen a number of photos taken during my evening visitations with the sheep.  It's lovely to have one or two of them come and put their heavy heads upon my shoulder, lean gently into me and wait for scratches behind their ears or under their chins.  It's a time of meditation for me really, centering me, allowing me to slow my internal dialogue, breathe into their soft fleece and feel their solid presence. It's comforting in a way I can't really describe and a reminds me of why I chose to raise sheep all those many years ago.  I'm so grateful I have them in my life.

So, tomorrow is November.  Time to get my act together and begin thinking about having a sane and peaceful holiday season - one of low expectations and more enjoyment.  The word for this year will be simplify!

Adventuring

(The orchard at Maidenhall Farm)

 Where to begin?  We are just barely beginning our adventure and are already so in love with this place, we don't want to leave!  We're in Ireland, spending a few days with our friend, the fabulous Nicola Brown.  It's so beautiful and green here and deliciously cooler.  Then,  there's the sheep.  The sheep are every where you look.

(Suzanna - the wall surrounds a beautiful garden)

Yesterday we visited Suzanna Crampton's Maidenhall Farm, home to the beautiful Zwartbles sheep.  Suzanna was incredibly gracious and welcoming and spent several hours with us, allowing us time to really observe her adult Zwartbles ewes and the current crop of lambs.  We spent quite a lot of time walking around her beautiful farm, visiting with her Irish draft horses, the farm dogs and while we were having a cup of tea in the kitchen, Bodacious, the famous sheep herding cat, deigned to make an appearance.  It's probably a good thing I've decide I have to reduce my flock and that it is impossible to import sheep from Ireland to the United States.  I'd have been very happy to bring home a few of these beautiful animals. Their temperament is so calm that even as strangers, we were able to walk among them and most didn't hesitate to come in close for scritches.

(Zwartbles are Dutch sheep, originally bred for milking)

Suzanna's farm has been in her family for many generations and the gardens and orchard are so beautifully maintained and yet are so appropriately informal for a country estate.  The stone walls and hedgerows define the pastures, the gardens around the house and the lanes that lead from one part of the farm to another.  I'm having to stop myself from writing beautiful, wonderful, amazing over and over again.

Suzanna's Irish Draft horses were even friendlier than the Zwartables.  They were gentle giants.  I also wanted to bring them home with us.  I tend to think I'm over my horse obsession, until I have the opportunity to be around a particularly nice one and then that pleasant horsey smell brings it all back.

I have an obscene amount of pictures taken at Suzanna's but they will need to wait for another post. It's very late right now and we have an early morning leave-taking.  Both of us are regretting not allowing ourselves more time here in Ireland, but we're already telling ourselves that we have to come back.

Decisions

(Carson being one with the flock - notice the almost photo-bomb?)

 Life has been full of difficult decisions for me lately.  They're ones I knew would come to me some day, I just didn't think I would be facing them so soon.  For many years, Mike and I have had discussions about how much longer I would be able to handle the sheep and for all of those years, my answer has always been, "Oh, I think I've got at least 10 more years of shepherding in me."  I was obviously delusional,  which I sometimes can be, when facing something I'd rather not.  Just last week, we sent all of the ram lambs off to market.  That in itself eliminated a whole feeding group.  I also sold a few of my problem ewes and a few ewe lambs.  Mostly, the ewes were the ones that were flighty and difficult to handle.  They had beautiful fleeces, so I hope they are being appreciated.  We just felt like it wasn't safe for me to risk being knocked down or dragged around by animals that outweighed me by a considerable amount.  In the evenings now, when I feed Aslan his bowl of dog food, I have to bring him outside the gate to eat.  Otherwise, the ewes confiscate his food and gobble it down themselves (and he lets them!).  I use that time to go in amongst the ewes and wait for them to gather around me for scratches and rubs.  Just being able to sit down out in the field with them brings me so much joy that I can almost not feel too bad about selling the ditsy girls.  So, at this point, I've reduced the number of sheep in my flock by half and have maybe half a dozen more that I should sell, if I can find the right homes for them.  I just keep telling myself that this will allow me to be able to keep my sheep a little longer.  I'm hoping I can allow the remaining girls to die of old age right here on Tanglewood Farm.

Lady Sybil (or Sybie as we call her now), coming in very close!

Sybie's no slouch in the fleece department either.  I think it's gorgeous!

As for the little girls, they are getting calmer and sweeter by the day.  Because of a mix-up on dates with the shearer, they did not get shorn this summer, so they already have 4-5 inches of gorgeous fleece.  Soon, I'll be putting coats on everyone and I am already looking forward to shearing day in March!  I can't wait to see what these little ones produce.  They are all at least 1/2 Wensleydale, some of them 3/4 or more, and because of the cross-breeding I've done, their fleeces are soft and silky and beautifully lustrous.

We've had several fox sightings lately and Aslan has been kept on the alert for any who might stray close to the barn in hopes of a chicken dinner.  Our neighbors lost eleven of their hens in just a few days, due to marauding foxes and raccoons.  Raccoons may be cute, but they are death on chickens, as are possums (who are the exact opposite of cute, in my opinion).  Life and death go hand-in-hand on the farm, even when you're vigilant.

We have some exciting events coming up in the next little bit.  I'm heading south this weekend for a very fun workshop and then, within a very few weeks, the dream-of-a-lifetime trip for Mike and me.  More about that next time!

All done!

Maybelline has a nest of lambs!

Lambing season 2014 finished up in a really good way on Saturday evening, Easter eve.  My sweet Maybelline gifted us with a beautiful set of triplets, two white ewe lambs and a black and silver ram lamb.  Often times with triplets, it's a bit challenging for them to be born in the proper presentation (as if they are diving - head down between two front feet).  You can only imagine with 3 heads and 12 feet trying to make their way into the world, things might get somewhat confusing!  Maybelline's triplets were all perfectly positioned and the birthing process went very smoothly.  Out of the 13 ewes we bred this year, 5 of them had triplets and some of those births were much more complicated. Because of my own health issues, it has been trying at times, but all in all, I would consider it a successful lambing season.

My health issues have brought about lots of soul searching.  I haven't been sick, exactly, but nevertheless compromised in how I was able to go about my daily life here on the farm.  The muscle spasms in my neck and pain in my right hand made life, as I normally live it, completely out of the question.  When the blood clot scare happened, I was seriously thinking the time had come to give up my animals and retire (though how one does that, I'm not exactly sure). Luckily, Mike and I made a decision to be much more aggressive about getting medical answers and treatment for my maladies.  I've changed my primary care doctor and now I can say that it only took 3 months, but I finally managed to find the proper doctors!  Last week mainly consisted of a round of appointments with different specialists.  As a result of treatments I received,  I am cautiously optimistic that I'm on the right path now.  So - enough about all that.  Onward ....

Not quite the garden of my dreams - it will look better in a month or so!

It's finally warming up here.  The grass is green (and in need of mowing already), the trees are leafing out and I'm entertaining thoughts of gardening.  The garden is rather forlorn looking right now, but give me a little time and it will be lush.  Right now I'm waiting for the first spears of asparagus to appear and soon after that, strawberries.  Traditionally in Kentucky, planting out isn't safe until after Derby day, but given the weather we've had so far this year, it may be better to wait a week or two longer.  I've decided to expand my dye plants this year and maybe (radical thought) not put out quite so many tomatoes.  What I love most about the garden is being able to stroll through before dinner and pick my salad ingredients or maybe just a pluck a few tomatoes and call bacon and tomato sandwiches the meal!  What I'm slowly coming to admit is that I don't always enjoy having mounds of produce on the counter waiting for me to freeze, can, pickle or make it into jam.  Sometimes it's good and sometimes it just feels like too much pressure.  I still have enough bread and butter pickles to supply us for quite a while, thank you very much! 

These warm sunny days find me not sure where to start.  There is so much to do.  It's the time of year when I'm typically feeling quite overwhelmed by the sheer size of what we try to maintain.  I've been through it many times before and I'll calm down soon!

I hope everyone has checked out all the sweet pictures of my lambs that Sara has taken recently.  Sara is a gifted photographer and I'm so pleased that my lambs get to be part of her yearly Lamb Camp.

Biding our time

Jim Dandy is wearing his spring finery

Oh boy, has this ever been a winter.  Just two days ago the temperature here at the farm was 73 and this morning it was around 15. Back and forth, back and forth.  Just when we start to believe that spring is really going to happen this year, we get jerked back to reality.  That one day of warmth was so encouraging. I wanted to be outside all day, digging in the garden, setting up the lambing pens, straightening up the barn.  Of course, I did none of those things.  My right hand is still wearing a brace and I had to be at physical therapy for my neck at noon. :-(  To say that I'm not happy with the situation would be a huge understatement!  I've always been a person who believed I could just push on through, but that philosophy is not really working for me at the moment and patience is not one of my strong points either, so these last two and a half months have been physically and mentally challenging.  I'm clinging to the hope that warmer weather will bring some relief and then I can get back to normal (normal for me, which I realize is quite abnormal by most standards).

Luna most definitely needs a haircut!

I've had the call from the sheep shearers and they''ll be here in within a week.  I'm excited to see what the girls fleeces look like.  It's a whole year of work for them and me, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they are as nice as they usually are.  Having all that fleece off should reveal the status of pregnancies, too.  Assuming both boys got the job done this year, Gabbie should go first, as she was the first one I put in with the Wensleydale ram and I actually saw him breed her.  Her udder looks as though she'll give us the first lambs in about two weeks.

Aslan will not be getting his summer "do" just yet

I have hopes of getting the lamb-cam back on-line sometime around the first of next week.  Then everyone will have a chance to see the girls, first in full fleece and then shorn with only an inch or so of wool.  It's amazing how much more room there seems to be inside the pens, once all that fleece is gone.  We'll do some rearranging of pens, so that the pregnant ewes can be seen on camera and, if you're lucky, you may even get to witness a birthing!  No matter how many years I've gone through lambing season, I'm always excited and a little anxious until all the babies are on the ground.

While you're waiting for the lamb-cam to come online, check out the workshops we have scheduled for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival this year.  They are really, really good, if I do say so myself.  We've got some big names that you might expect to travel quite a distance to learn from and some very popular Kentucky folks offering a wide array of classes.  Don't wait too long to sign up.  We've already had a good response and you don't want to miss out on the fun.

Happy Day!

 

Yesterday was a really happy day for those of us here in central Kentucky.  We finally saw the sun and the temperature got up to around 60 degrees.  To celebrate, I wore my recently finished happy socks (Kroy sock yarn in Sporty Stripes) and my favorite clogs!

The sheep celebrated in their own way.  Instead of huddling in the barn all day, they went up on the hill and snoozed in the warm sun, most likely dreaming of green grass.  Aslan was on guard duty, as usual, but might have been sleeping on the job just a little  :-)

Buddy always assumes the "large and in charge" position.  You'd think that he and Mr. Bates might pal up, since they are the only males in the group (they're both wethers, otherwise they wouldn't be in with the girls at this time of year), but they pretty much ignore each other.

So, besides a little sunshine and mild temperatures, why is this a happy day?  Because today I'm going to make one of you happy.  Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for Katie Startzman's "Knitted Slipper Book" and two skeins of Cascade 220 to get you started.  It was fun to read all your comments and I especially want to thank Susan Anderson for sending so many of you over this way (and aren't Mary, Millie and Morgan the cutest knitted dolls ever? I'm in love with their clothes!).  Susan is the most kind, gracious and encouraging person I think I've ever met.  She's so generous about sharing information and talent.  She's a gift to the knitting community, for sure.  I'm honored to be considered her friend.

Anyway ...... on to the news you're waiting for!  After going through and eliminating any accidental duplicates, the random number generator picked number 84.  That would be Kathy (aka woolyeyes on Ravelry).  I've sent a message to notify her that's she's the winner and if I don't hear from her within 24 hours, I'll go back to random.org and pick another number. Those of you who didn't win, go on and buy the book!  I promise you won't be disappointed.  If you end up knitting a project from the book, please let us see it.  Send me a message and we'll get your picture up for all to admire.  

Thanks again to all of you for coming here to comment.  We'd love to have you as regular visitors here at Sheep Dreams.  Pretty soon we'll have actual green grass and some new babies.  The lamb-cam will start up in a matter of weeks and you can watch the big girls waddle around til their turn comes to give birth (and sometimes it happens that you get to actually see the birth as it happens!).  Once they start arriving you can enjoy watching the lambs romping around in the barn at all hours of the day and night.  Lambing is best time of year here at Tanglewood Farm and makes all the hard work worth it. 

2014 - Here we go!

Evening of (New Year's day)

Happy New Year to everyone!  It was a quiet one here at Tanglewood Farm.  I was barely awake at midnight (and Mike was already out!).  I can say with certainty that we will never be out on the town, drinking champagne when the ball drops in Times Square!

The weather has been the big story around here, as it has for much of the country.  New Year's day we were gifted with the most amazing sunset.  It had been a very mild and sunny day - very pleasant for working outdoors.  Late in the afternoon, we took a long walk to the back of the farm, exploring the smaller creek and one of the old barns.

As much as I sometimes dislike the old barn that's close by the house, yesterday was one of those times when I was very grateful to have it.  We had a day of foul weather - raining hard until late in the afternoon, when it all turned to snow and ice.  The girls, along with Buddy and Mr. Bates, were more than happy to be tucked in cozy and warm(ish) for the night.

This morning, it was sunny and bright, with a blue, blue sky.  The sheep didn't seem to mind the sparkly snow or below freezing temperatures in the least.

The past few weeks have offered little time for reflection or planning for the coming year.  I'm hoping to clear some time (and space in my brain) in the next little while for setting some meaningful goals to accomplish in 2014.  I've got lots of plans, hopes and dreams and just need the time to sort out the possible from the maybe-not-so-much!  Have you made resolutions, set goals or big plans for the coming year?

Happy hour on the farm

(Mr. Bates loves his dinner!)

Well, it's not that kind of happy hour.  There are no festive drinks involved, but rather the "happy" refers to how the sheep react to feeding time.  It's a once or twice a day (depending on time of year and weather) highlight of the day for the creatures who live here.  When the sun is getting low in the sky, the sheep start keeping a sharp eye out for me.  As soon as I leave the house or studio and start toward the barn, they come running.  We've had a spell of dry weather and they've been out on pasture, instead of being brought into the barn in the evenings.  That means I load the hay bales on my trusty cart and deliver dinner to them.

A few days ago,  as I was spreading the hay flakes out, Mrs Patmore (yes, she's one of those Downton Abbey girls and got that name because of her less than svelte figure!), surprised me by jumping up into the hay cart.  In all my years of keeping sheep, I've never had one who would willing get up on anything with wheels.  She was quite nonchalant about it and it took considerable effort on my part to get her to jump out.  Luckily the front of the cart comes off because there's no way she could have turned around.  As it was, I had to finally push her out.  Just one more occasion of nearly daily surprises around here.

(Lady Edith-on the right) thought maybe she was missing something good)

 Christmas is less than a week away and though I am not quite ready, I am nearly there. We have simplified our holiday season so much these last few years.  I no longer decorate every room in the house and it seems I'm leaving more and more decorations packed away each year, but the decorations that are out are ones that have special meaning.

(Check out those snazzy red heels!)

I know I've been absent a lot around here lately but a new year is coming and I've got PLANS!  There will be a blog anniversary, a sweet little book giveaway (with maybe some bonus yarn thrown in), some knitting projects to show and several other things I've been thinking about for awhile.  So, don't give up on me.  I'm planning to be here on a much more regular basis in the very near future.

Headed this way

(Quite a different picture than the earlier snow scene and the one we'll have tomorrow morning.)

"They" are saying it's coming our way.  Right now it's raining buckets and it's supposed to turn to sleet, ice and eventually snow.  I can handle all of that except the ice.  Please, please don't give us an ice storm!  It's been so warm here the last few days (mid 60's) that I was actually thinking about mowing the grass in the area in front of the studio one last time!  Needless to say, that won't be happening now.

I was reading Heather's blog this morning and have been thinking about her plan to do Christmas knitting in July.  I need to adopt that plan because I'm in failure mode right now.  It's looking pretty bleak for there being completed items inside the boxes by Christmas.  Why, when we know Christmas comes at the same time every year, is it so hard to judge how much actual knitting time is needed to finish gift knitting?  I'm almost always too optimistic about what I can accomplish in a given amount of time.  I'm thinking I'll put a reminder to myself on my 2014 calendar.....big red letters on the first of July Start Christmas Knitting Now!  We'll see how that goes.

Earlier than usual this evening, I put down more fresh bedding and brought everyone back into the barn for the night.  I'd made them all go out for a little while earlier in the day and now they are all walking around like big wet sponges.  Of course, now is when they want to get all up close with me!  I needed dry jeans by the time everyone was tucked into their pens and happily eating hay.  I'll admit that one of my favorite parts of shepherding is having everyone cozied up inside and peacefully munching on sweet smelling hay.  I love to sit down in the pen with them and give face scratches to the ones who will come over for a little one on one attention from me.  I love that.

(Good eaters, every one!)

(Rowdy and his girls-he doesn't know it yet, but tonight is his last chance to get the job done.)

Three of those girls with Rowdy have been bred by him (that's the red crayon marks on their rumps) and I'm hoping the rest were bred by the Wensleydale (who was not wearing a marking harness).  We are now up to a May 1st lambing date and I don't want to go any further into warm weather,  so tomorrow Rowdy goes back in with Buddy.  Neither of them will be thrilled about that!

I'm planning on bringing in the Christmas tree this weekend and maybe a little baking is in order.  It seems like we're a little short on Christmas spirit around here and I want to change that!!  I'm hoping for a snowy (not icy) weekend.  And, I want to know if everyone else has finished their Christmas knitting already.  Tell me, please!