Getting Ready!

We are gearing up for the Arkansas Fiber Arts Extravaganza next weekend! You can check out the info on the fiber show at :

http://www.arfiberartsextravaganza.com/

The retreat is being held at Mount Magazine State Park in their beautiful lodge this year. There are lots of classes to take and people to meet. And don't forget to come see me in my booth if you attend! Registration starts at 4:00 on Friday, with vendors opening from 5-8. The fun begins again at 8:00 Saturday morning and lasts until 6:00 in the evening. Lots of folks come out of curiosity, and others to share time with people who have the same interests.

Here are just some of the things we have been hard at work on:

Hand Dyed Rovings

Hand Blended and Pulled Rovings

Natural Fleece
(I didn't work hard on this, Sweet Pea, the sheep did, though!)

And of course, the beautiful hand spun yarns!

Kate has also been working hard to create several skeins of handspun lace weight yarn, and she will have tiny lace spindles, as well as our gorgeous hand made batts. I am really excited to set up the booth and see it all out instead of stored away in boxes.

Farm News

It is going to be very difficult this spring to decide which fleece I can bear to part with. They are all so pretty and soft! It is hard to believe that just 6 months ago they were sheared. I think the cold weather that has finally arrived is helping the wool growth. We should have 27 fleeces in late March, which is when the shearer is supposed to be here. Hopefully within the next month after that, babies will be arriving.

I am also hoping for a few Boer goat babies early this spring, too. Rosie, our older nanny, looks like she could explode at any minute, but it is because she is part pig, not necessarily because she is expecting. I don't think we will have any Dorper sheep babies, as we did not have the Dorper ram very long before he escaped into the wool sheep pasture, and we found him a new home quickly. Hair sheep/wool sheep cross would be weird and hard to get rid of.

Speaking of escaping, the world's fattest sheep, named Big Mama for a reason, got out of a net wire fence twice last weekend. We could not figure it out! She is too heavy to jump, too fat to crawl under, so we sat on the front porch and watched after we put her up the second time. Low and behold she pulled what I thought was a David Copperfield and melt through the net wire! I thought we were going to be rich with our newly discovered "Magic Sheep", but when we got down to the spot, it turned out that we hadn't fastened the cross fence that creates their pasture to the longer pasture fence. She had learned she could lean against the long fence and squeeze between the two. Smart sheep, not so smart people. Oh well.

Hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving!

~Lori

November 11, 2010

Here are some pictures of the gorgeous fleeces my girls and boys are growing this year. This is Naomi, which is my favorite sheep. She is a Border Leicester/Shetland cross. Naomi loves to be petted and scratched under the chin, and is the most loving animal you will ever meet. She has nice tight curls with the length of Shetland fleece. I am working on her fleece from this last spring, and it is hard to believe it is even wool it is soooooo soft. Feels more like a chocolate cloud!

And this is Princess. She is a full blood Shetland. Like every other Shetland I have ever met, she is wild as can be. She seems to think that the nice lady that has brought her food, water, and hay every night for the last several months is still plotting to catch her and eat her! You can't tell it from the picture, but her fleece is laced with brown and black hairs, which makes for the most beautiful natural colored yarn when you spin it.

A crew from the natural gas company is in the area and they came through this morning clearing the gas line that runs the length of our property. As I sat here and typed, I could see the man with the can of bright yellow paint as he walked out the line and painted fence posts that crossed the it. When he got into the goat pasture, of course Oscar, our wethered Boer, had to come check out what was going on and see if he could be of any help. This big, gruff looking man stood and scratched Oscar under the chin for the longest. What is it about friendly animals that bring out the best in people? Oscar stuck to him like glue all the way up the fence line, and watched him as he left. That man will never know it, but he probably made a friend for life. Knowing Oscar, he will have a lasting reminder of his visit before the day is over. New yellow paint is too good to leave alone!

November 5, 2010

Things are getting busy around the farm! For one, I am working hard to get ready for Arkansas Fiber Extravaganza at Mount Magazine State Park on December 4-5. This is a wonderful fiber show, and it will be our first year to be a vendor. Here are just a few of the rovings I have been dyeing.



We got all of the sheep situated last weekend, which would have been much easier if we hadn't had so many different breeds! Miss Oliva, who is a Border Leicester/Shetland cross will likely be the first to lamb this spring. (insert a shocked face here!) Don't ask me how I know - ladies are not supposed to discuss such things! Here is a picture of her after she was sheared this last spring. Her fleece is sooooo very thick! It is like digging your fingers into brand new, really expensive carpet.



And here are a couple of pictures of the newest sheep. I couldn't get very good pics because they are still skittish and wouldn't stand still very long, so I will have to post the other two later. This one is Joseph, the registered Shetland ram. His wool is soft, soft, soft, and white when you part it. For some reason, though, he is a magnet for everything that could possibly get stuck in wool. Yesterday he showed up with what looked like a bundle of 18 inch long sticks wrapped all in the top of his neck. Turned out they were sticker bush limbs. I have the holes in my fingers to prove it! I don't know where he found those.


Here is Rose. She is gorgeous, and I am surprised I was able to get a picture of her. She is wildest one of the bunch. And, boy, can she move lightning fast. I thought we were never going to get her in the lot the first night so we could lock them up. Problem with sheep is, when one runs, the rest decide they should follow. So we would get all of them in, only to have her run out and the rest of the gang with her. Shetlands gets spooked so easy. We finally got them all in, and she is getting better.