Snow, snow, and more snow = mud, mud and more mud!

We have been receiving a record amount of snow here in Arkansas the last couple of weeks. Snow is so beautiful when it is falling and is fresh on the ground, but give it a couple of days of above freezing temps, and you have your own personal slip and slide, well greased with mud.

We are still waiting on Boer goat babies. Molly has her own goat apartment in the little barn, and she has been joined by her Aunt RoseLee. She should have twins at least. When we moved RoseLee to her pen, she didn't like it one bit that it wasn't a private room with a view - she could see Molly through the divider, so we had to block their view of each other to keep from having two goats with sore heads. The temp is supposed to fall to nearly zero tonight, so there is a good chance we may have babies by morning.

I have been combing and spinning creamy white fiber from my Hannah, a Romney/Rambouillet ewe. So far, I have 3 ounces spun into a single, and when I spin another 3 ounces and ply it back, I should have a bulky yarn that will make a gorgeous accent yarn, or maybe the outside layer of a pair of stuffed mittens. I also began washing some white Border Leicester fleece and am well pleased with the softness and silky-ness of this wool. I am still loving my new Spinolution Mach 1 wheel! I can spin at speed demon speeds if I choose to, not that I do, well maybe sometimes..........

~Lori

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I got lots of new stuff put up in the Etsy shop this morning. My favorite is probably the hand processed Coopworth fleece that I purchased as a raw fleece from Indianbrook Farms:

There is 6.5 ounces of this gorgeous stuff, and it was all done by hand. Lots of new rovings have been posted, too, for those of you like me that love pretty colors!

Still no goat babies here on the farm. We are impatiently waiting. The 10 year old goat-whisperer asks everyday as soon as I see him if we have new ones yet. The weather is about to turn nasty after a few days of glorious sunshine, so they will all probably go then.

~Lori

The Waiting Game

I hate waiting. But that is the game we are now playing. We have 3 goats that are getting their poker faces on when it comes to who is going to bring a new baby into the world first. I have been saying for 2 weeks now that there is no way Molly can last another day, and yet she is still big as a barrell. I tried to get her to stand up for this picture, but I guess it was just too much effort!






Then there is her Aunt Rose. Rose is already a bit, um, well, let's just say she can't shop in the misses' section at the goat boutiques. Add 5 months of pregnancy to her package and she looks like she could explode. She had twins last year, and it looks like that may be the case again this year!







And finally there is Tawny. She is a tiny little thing and was just about as wild as they come when we first got her. This is as close a picture as I could get without her running off. Once, I bet the 10 year old goat-whisperer a$1 that he couldn't catch her. I had to give him the dollar. I don't know what the deal is with her horns, but it fits her personality. She is all baby belly now, too.

Then, one more waiting game to play. These are our two new dairy cows. The one on the left is Daisy, a Jersey heifer, and the one on the right is Elsie, a Jersey/Milking Shorthorn cross. It will be a loooooong while before we have any yummies from our girls because they are only 7 months old. But aren't they pretty?