Getting ready

What a weekend! We had a week of rain, topped off by a monsoon on Thursday night. Though I didn't suffer through having a house flooded (we are way up on a hill, thank goodness), parts of our farm lane were damaged and the creek crossing just washed away. Our farm lane is lovely, very picturesque, but challenging, to say the least. It turns in sharply from the paved road, drops down a hill, through the creek and then up a hill on the other side and it's a quarter of a mile long. In the years since we moved here, we've had thousands of dollars worth of grading and gravel work done and we still end up losing parts of it every year (sometimes more than once). Mike has figured out a way to use a tractor with a grader blade to maintain and repair most of the damage. This time was not so easy, mainly because Mike has not been here for the last few days. He has been on a hiking trip in the Smokies, and while I am confident enough on the tractor to mow the fields, I am not adept at using the grader blade. So, I have been having a little "alone time" here at home. I love being here on the farm (see Oh Joy! blog post), but knowing I couldn't leave if I wanted to puts things in a little different light.

Actually, it's been fine because I have used the time to start preparing for the Kentucky Wool Festival that will be happening this coming weekend. At this very moment, I'm really glad that no one can come in to the farm because my house looks like a wool explosion has taken place. I've been dyeing roving and yarn and spinning and weighing and pricing and just generally making one glorious mess. (I am so looking forward to having a studio/work space where I can keep all my supplies and equipment together and can leave work in progress. Construction is supposed to start in about a month.....but that's a topic for later.) I'll be sharing a space with Sylvia Yawn of Shepherd's Place Farm (sadly, no website) and hope to see many fiber enthusiast while I am there.

This business of dyeing roving and yarn in colors that other people might want to buy is somewhat challenging for me. I'm an autumn person and rusty reds, olivey greens, browns and muted golds are what I go for every time. So, I'm having to stretch myself a little here to come up with some different palettes. Otherwise, I could end up bringing everything I take to sell right back home with me! (Which, if it's all in my colors, wouldn't be such a bad thing!)

Friends

When I agreed to take in an orphan lamb many, many (many)years ago, I had no earthly idea of the path I was stepping out onto. Looking back, I don't think I had much of an idea about anything at that point in my life! I had three young boys, one nearly four, one nine and the oldest 11 years old. I lived on a small farm and had the horses I had dreamed of my whole city childhood. That first lamb, Sheba (I know, I know, so predictable), was a Suffolk/Hampshire crossbred and she came to me at the tender age of one day old. I knew nothing about sheep and I mean nothing! It's a miracle she lived through all my learning experiences. (In fact, she lived to be seventeen years old.) I loved her in a way that was completely different from my affection for my horses, dogs and cats. When she was two years old, I took her to a neighbor's farm to be bred. Five months later, Sheba had her first lamb and that was it. I was hooked. I knew I didn't want to raise sheep for meat, but the idea of raising a wool breed and actually using the wool was so appealing. It was a life changing decision for me. I have involved myself in many activities during my adult life....golf, tennis, (anyone out there need a practically brand new pair of ice skates?) just to name a few. None of them worked for me. It's been the sheep and fiber related activities that have been the one constant and the point I'm trying to get to (in my usual round-about way) is that the friends I've made, because I raise sheep, are the true blessing.

Those of you who have read this blog for a while know that I lost a ewe who was very special to me last year. Pauladeen was bottle baby, mine from the moment of her birth. She was such a funny, quirky personality and I still miss her. Not long after Pauladeen's death, my friend, Lindy (locolindy), gave me a plaque she had painted with a likeness of Pauladeen and it was captioned "In my heaven, let there be sheep". Just this past weekend, Sara (thecrazysheeplady), gave me a wonderful needle felted sheep she had crafted to look like Pauladeen and she even created it from some of Pauladeen's last fleece. (Just writing this makes me tear up.) Who could ask for more caring, wonderful friends? Not me, for sure!

So, in spite of the fact that you've just been told a big chunk of my life story, my real objective here is to say thank you, thank you, thank you to my "sheep friends" for being so thoughtful. (And, how lucky am I that my thoughtful sheep friends are also very talented?)

The boy can't help it

Poor Wally. He is by turns funny, sad, ridiculous and endearing (sometimes all in the space of a few short minutes). Yesterday he walked down from the barn and spent most of the afternoon on the terrace, outside the sunroom door. Right away he saw another young peacock, who appeared to be just his size, looking at him from the door to the sunroom. He didn't much care for the way the bird was staring at him, so he flew up against the glass and had a little scuffle with the guy. The other bird was tougher than he thought! After that, he spent nearly an hour straightening his feathers, grooming and trying to ignore that bird who seemed to be looking at him every time he glanced that way. You could almost see Wally's little brain cells working away, trying to figure out what to do about the situation. Of course, in the end, since Wally is a peacock and peacocks don't have much going on in the way of brain cells, he lost interest and wandered back to the barn.

Just another day of exciting events here on the farm!

Fall-ish Friday

We awoke this morning to a soft, slow rain dripping down through the trees and it made me want to snuggle down in the covers and stay awhile. Alas, that is rarely allowed around here. I love rainy days, so I didn't really mind getting up. All the animals were quiet, except for the roosters, who were having a crowing competition. The sheep love this cooler weather and were out in the rain, grazing contentedly.

Back to those roosters----we have two right now. They both were part of the clutch that hatched back in the spring. Remember these? They are Cochin bantams and both quite handsome, but we don't need two, so Sara has graciously offered to take one of them and a companion bantam hen. I have been worried they might start squabbling, but, other than the crowing competition, they don't seem to pay much attention to each other. It's possible that being raised with bigger, standard size hens has kept them in their places, so to speak. The Black Australorp hens are at least twice as big as these boys.

We are in a transition time here at Tanglewood Farm. It's not time to divide the ewes and put the rams in, yet, though I have been considering which ewes should be bred to which ram. I'm thinking that mid-October is plenty soon enough to start breeding. I don't want to have lambs born before the middle of March. Been there, done that, don't need to do it again (at least not on purpose!).

I'm off tomorrow on an adventure to check out "A Wool Gathering" in Yellow Springs, Ohio. They have an impressive list of vendors and at least one of them will surely have something I really, really need. And don't forget that tomorrow is World Wide Spin in Public Day. Thatcrazysheeplady and I are hauling our wheels along, so we can do just that. Hope you have as great a weekend as I'm planning on having!!