Finally Fall

Fall finally arrived and we got one good rain that has helped regrow a little grass, but not what we really need going into late fall and winter.  We definitely could have used some more rain, but we are grateful for what we did get. The hay stash is going to be important again this year.  At least it's cooled off.

I can't type between the pictures for some reason, so you'll have to identify everyone by heart and memory.  

How about a new puzzle.  This is a fun and easy one :-).

The 2025 Tour de Fleece

Against my better judgement, I'm putting Murphy in as our Team Leader this year.  What could go wrong...

Hopefully he'll just lead us to good grazing and some grand fiber adventures...but he could also lead us into trouble, so everyone should be prepared.  I have a small stash of bail money.  20 knows where to find it.

The Tour de France and Tour de Fleece start Saturday, July 5 and run through July 27.  The women's race starts July 26 and finishes August 3. This is primarily a spinning challenge, but any fiber work counts on our team.  You can officially join our team on Ravelry or just spin along on your own.  Feel free to tag me on IG if you'd like to share your progress.

I think I'm going to once again do a sampler of some of my favorite sheep, but this year I'll also be including some processing as well.  I have several fleeces already washed and ready to card or comb, but I'll be washing a few more and hopefully I'll take some pictures of the entire process from sheep to spinning.  

Air up your bike tires and get ready to ride :-D.

Wolf Moon

Yesterday was depressing with all the slushy melting snow that I knew was just going to melt enough to turn to very slick ice as the temps dropped back down last night, but we've had a nice inch or so of fresh snow this morning that has brightened things up a bit and provided just enough traction that I can once again walk to and from the barn without as much trouble so I can revisit this picture from the other night and turn it into a fun new puzzle.

I've enjoyed the snow.  Even yesterday was a bit fun driving out on a errand.  I know the animals are really struggling and that's depressing.  The horses were finally able to go out into the field yesterday and that surely cheered them up and the chickens made it around the corner and were able to hang out with the sheep in the afternoon.  Everyone is tired of being cooped up.

The tracks in the snow in the picture are where Lancelot did make an effort to go dig through to find some grass last week.  That's how you could tell the Krista was the sheep who'd been eating grass in the last post.  If you look closely you can see the snow on her forehead where she'd dug through and buried her nose deep into the snow.  Ellie's just been hanging out in the barn eating hay ;-).

A Tale Of Two Sheep

Krista and Ellie.  One has been eating hay and the other has been eating grass.  Can you tell which is which?

Also Rans

Here are a few more pictures I liked from the Solstice shots.  It was really nice "having" to take my camera out to the barn.   Thanks for playing along :-).

Ellie

Murphy

Maisie

Mini Moose and Big Moose.  Big Moose is not so big compared to Mini Moose.

Kaala

Levi, Big Moose and Ellie in the back.

Muffin

Biscuit

Tavia

Krista

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Short Round

Short Round only came here because I wanted something good to come out of sweet little Early's short life.  

There had been a screw up in the lambing shed the day Early was born and Kathy thought Short Round was only going to have one lamb so she grafted a triplet from another ewe onto her. She was headed to the other farm when I pulled in later in the morning and she told me to keep an eye on the adoption, but that she thought it looked good.

I made my rounds of the lambing jugs and when I got around to the grafting pen there were three lambs in there.  Okay, I must have gotten confused, so I checked the other jug pens again.  Nope, I had been at the right pen.  At least four hours after she'd had her first lamb, Short Round had a second lamb...and now she had three lambs :-o.

Early wasn't in the best of shape, but we finally got him squared away as best we could and I brought him home with me that night.  I don't fault Short Round for not getting him up and going better on her own.  She would have under normal conditions.  She was a good mother and always raised good lambs.  She could count to two though and she knew she was already taking care of two lambs so I'm sure she just did not understand what had happened.  

Early was a delight in every way.  He was cute and smart and funny and just a corker.  Once I got to know Short Round I realized she was where he'd gotten his big personality.  She's a delight as well and has become one of my all time favorite sheep.

Since we're including treat information about each sheep I'll tell you first that the old flock ewes don't really know anything about cookies and crackers.  They are not pets and they don't really care to be pets.  Short Round and her daughter Ellie hopped off the trailer when they got here the next year and she took one look around and said "No problem, I can be a pet sheep.  Whatchu got in the way of treats, lady?"

Short Round will eat anything.  I mean anything.  I think if I handed her a Big Mac, she'd eat it.  I've never seen anything like it :-D.  One of her favorite treats is bananas.  I'd like to think B. Willard taught her to eat those, but I have a feeling she'd have figured it out on her own.  She also likes oranges and she loves pumpkins too, but seriously, she'll eat anything you hand her.

She's living in Easy Breezy because she's very arthritic, but on good days she still heads out to the yard for a graze.  She and Jared were special friends and I know she misses him almost as much as I do.  They always grazed the yard side by side and when Rocky died, she stayed out in the yard with Jared all afternoon.

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Ellie

As all the cool kids say, "She cute."

She's also a bit of a sass bucket :-).  That ear is frequently cocked back, much like a raised eyebrow.  Ellie is a front and center sheep and always comes over to see what I'm up to, especially if I have my camera.  She's cute and she knows it.

And the smirk.  Don't you just want to goochy goo her under the chin?  If you do, her face is very soft and her facial hair is just a bit longer than most sheep and it's almost silky.  

One night, when she was still a fairly young lamb she chewed on a spring snap and ended up hooking her cheek like a fish.  Actually hooked herself.  Like a fish.  When I found her the next morning, Tim had to come up and work the "hook" out.  Like a fish.  Not the best claim to fame.

The vet came to make sure she didn't need stitches and commented that she'd never seen anything like that before...and just a few weeks later the exact same thing happened on a nearby farm.  I'm sure they thought I was just trying to one up them when I told them the same thing had already happened over here.

Ellie likes saltines the best.  

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Krista

Of course Krista would be closely following her baby boy!  She was/still is a very devoted mom.  She was such a devoted momma that she was still calling those two lambs over to nurse a couple times a day when they were NINE MONTHS OLD.  That all changed when Pinto arrived.

If you'll remember, Pinto was still an intact ram when he got here.  Krista, Short Round and the lambs were living in the side field at the time and we put Pinto in the adjoining paddock we call Del Boca Vista.  Krista took one look at Pinto and acted like she'd never seen those two lambs before in her life...and they were never allowed to nurse again ;-D.

Now, three and a half years later, her brief love affair with Pinto is long over, but she's still taking care of her last two lambs and I'm so glad she got to keep them with her.  Short Round kicked Ellie out of the house as soon as she walked across the high school graduation stage.  Maggie and Christopher are Krista's family and they are important to her.  Sheep do have friends and families.

"Come on you two.  Time to go in."  

"Okay, mom."

Krista loves all treats and even though she's small, she will fight her way through the crowd, especially for a handful of the "good alfalfa".  She also loves apples so I think we'll have an apple party this afternoon.  Today is a sheep work day.  We are checking eye scores, body condition and trimming feet, so a treat after will be welcome.  I'm posting this early because I'm guessing I'll need a treat later, too!

I think that second picture would make a good new puzzle :-).

September

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

For anyone keeping score at home...

Remember the groundhog staring in the back door while eating a pear in the orchard in the August compilation?  Yep, that's him up in the tree after Bea and Possum tried to tag team on him.  A few days later he ended up on the Wool House porch.  Tim has named him Gary.  He is not moving into the house.  I repeat...

Somehow I have once again not blogged about the biggest tobacco plant I've ever seen.  I'll try to fix that tomorrow.  Sigh...

Did I not take a single picture of Archie last month?!?  :-o

Tour De Fleece Wrap Up

Last week I walked out of the Wool House and around my car to find my beloved bike crashed and all the accessories strewn about...and a sassy little tail sashaying away.  Hit and run.  A bit like my Tour de Fleece this year.  If you look closely, Jared is standing up the hill peeking around the back of the truck.  Jared does not like drama.  He lives with Maisie...

I ended up spinning four bobbins of Ellie's lamb fleece.  I had some issues with back fatigue because I was using a not ideal chair in the air conditioned wash room so I could hang out with Pinot while I spun.  I didn't make any effort to change my chair until almost the end.  I'd have probably spun more if I'd done that earlier.  My typical can't get out of my own way strategy.

Removing the chair aspect, Ellie was a fun spin.  The yarn is super soft and just a bit fuzzy and a beautiful creamy white.  I loved it even, or more so, as a single, which is not very common for me.

I did my weights and measures thing and paired up the appropriate skeins for plying and then swapped out to the double arms for my skein winder.

This is my favorite way to ply.  Everything stays nice and tidy and evenly tensioned and by using skeins rather than balls or bobbins, you have a better idea of what each skein looks like throughout and I find I have better luck matching up my singles that way as I'm not a very consistent spinner, especially over a long time frame.

I was able to get most of the plying done during the day with just a little bit left for after evening chores.  The porch was cool and comfortable, even in the heat of the afternoon.

As I was plying I noticed a pretty big spider crawling on a ball of wool off to my left.  Just as I was thinking I needed to remember to watch for that in the morning it took off towards the ceiling and I realized she was building a big web.  That really struck me, the two of us spinning on the porch.  Two Wool House Crafters :-).

I ended up with a little over 700 yards of smushy, cozy, sportweight/dk yarn.

It lost a bit of it's fuzziness being plyed, but Ellie's dad was a Cotswold cross from Nistock Farms so I know if I want it back all I'll need to do is run a soft brush over my finished item.  The pattern I've picked will look pretty either way.  The skein winder is from Nistock's as well - good sheep, good tools :-).

I started knitting a few practice rows with the small skein yesterday.  I'd have more to show if I hadn't had trouble counting to nine, but I've practiced doing the stitches required for the patterning and I'm hoping to get started for real this afternoon or tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are going to go back to In Person Crafters here on the farm.  We'll still be on Zoom as well as we are every Tuesday, but if you are local and would like to come out from 7:00 to 9:00 on the second Tuesday of each month until it gets too cold, the porch is really nice now - spider approved :-).  We'll have to over flow onto the grass so maybe wear long pants if you are a bug magnet.

So Where Are We

I'm sitting on the Wool House porch drinking coffee and watching Pinot mess about being a happy rabbit.  It's been cool this morning and last and he loves that.  I'll be so glad when summer is over.  This has already felt like a long one and it's just the beginning of July.

I've mentioned the Tour de Fleece, Pinot, the woven rug.  The month end compilations have at least included pictures of the gardens, sunrises, sunsets, sheep, horses, cats.  I made a little knitted Maisie, but while I've wanted to start my walnut dyed sweater, I haven't let myself cast on.

It's a good thing Maisie's so cute ;-).

I get beat down by the "can't do something fun until you get your chores done" mentality.  First, I live on a farm.  The chores are never done.  Not only are the chores never done, but I keep adding to the chores by planting too many flowers, getting a rabbit friend, wanting to teach Frankie something new...  I love my flowers and Pinot and I'm proud of what Frankie and I are getting done this summer.  Some rain would be helpful.

Second, if you want to maintain a fiber business to help support your sheep, maybe actually doing something with the fiber needs to be a "chore" if that's how your kooky brain works.  Just because a chore is fun doesn't mean it's not important.  I'm assuming ten years from now I won't remember the blood, sweat, tears and bruises, but I will enjoy looking back at the blog pictures and stories while wearing warm sweaters made from my best friends fleeces.  

I'm going to be 56 this summer.  If I haven't figured life out by now, maybe it's not going to happen.  Or maybe I'm just now getting old enough to start figuring it out.  Maybe I'm just a slow learner...

So, some things to look forward to:

The next post will be about all the building we've done lately.  Mostly for Pinot and some flowers.  Oh, I also put a board back up in Frankie's stall, so I guess I covered all my "distractions" ;-).  Don't let me forget to share the out house as well.  

I've started skirting my spring fleeces...finally...and promptly ran into a nest of very aggressive bees living in guess who's fleece. 

I covered them back up and was trying to find a place to safely stash them (even mean bees are important pollinators and they were just trying to protect their family), but our resident barn skunk cleaned them out last night.  I should have seen that coming.  Slow learner...

Yep, it was Maisie.  You can't make this stuff up...

The Bluegrass Yarn and Fiber Crawl is coming up and I'm going to participate this year.  I'll do a separate post with my open dates and information about what we are going to offer along with some new farm and fiber products.

I finished my first bobbin of Ellie last night and I'm going to carry on spinning her for the Tour de Fleece.  She's a sweet spin and I'm really excited about her yarn.

How's your summer going?

The 2024 Tour De Fleece

The 2024 Tour de Fleece started last Saturday.  I got off to a slow start...but at least I've finally started.  I can't explain why I haven't been doing all sorts of fun fiber work lately.  I love my sheep and I love their wool and I love to do all the fun stuff you can do with wool.  This used to be What I Did.  

I couldn't come up with an exciting Tour plan ahead of time and finally, in a Do. Something. move, grabbed a bag of Ellie.  That was a perfect choice.  She is a perfect reminder of why I do all this work.  She's soft and slightly silky and a wonderful creamy white color and her wool practically spins itself and she's one of my favorite sheep.  Her yarn is going to be beautiful and I'm already thinking about what I'll do with it.

I used to think of Ellie mostly as Early's sister, but now I think of her almost more as Short Round's daughter.  I still don't let myself think about Early very much. When I decided to bring his mom over here when it was time for her to retire, I figured it was the least I could do for him and I thought of her as Early's mom.  Now she's also Ellie's mom and just Short Round herself and has become one of my very favorite sheep too.  

This is why I do all this work.  

Don't forget to enjoy your work.

Maybe don't put in so much garden stuff next year.

Bea and I have been riding our bike a lot this summer.  I took this picture on the evening of the summer solstice.  It was almost 9:00.  I wish I could get the camera to capture the blur of the ditch as we zoom past.  I think that would be a neat picture.  This is nice too, but Bea's shadow in front of the blur of grass would be extra fun :-).  

She does a great job riding in the back basket and I really enjoy riding with her.  She stands with her front feet up on the basket edge and I love feeling her leaning around me to see what's coming up.  I have no interest in riding like the Tour de France, but once again our Ravelry group is enjoying brilliant written commentary about the actual race from one of our long time members. I look forward to that every year.

It's not too late to join in.  You can find us here if you want some team fun and support or just spin on your own.  It's fun!  

It's what we do :-).

Whew!

I've been so busy trying to get myself and others ready for the Kentucky Shepherd's Market this Saturday that I haven't even been posting much on Instagram the last few days :-o.  

I think the market is going to be really fun and I'm excited for all the interest in a new fiber venture, but after the last few years, I am no longer a very good "go out in public" person, so there's some a lot of stress about that.  If I get sick, someone still has to take care of the animals...  That's something to think about before you go out in public when you are not well.

My sheep are why I do these things.  I took a few minutes after I got done feeding last night to remember that and enjoy them and the peace and quiet of being in a cozy barn with your best friends.  I ended up going live for a bit because I figured I wasn't the only one who might enjoy listen to the sheep rustling about eating dinner.  

Exhale...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

I've enjoyed using a few of my pictures to help promote the market.  Chocula and Mini Moose are my favorites, but I have a new Pinto version ready for later today :-).

Will THIS Be The Last Christmas Post?

Probably...

 As I slogged through yet another month of 2023, I was having trouble getting excited about the upcoming Christmas season and even toyed with just skipping it.  I knew that in the end I would have been really disappointed not seeing all my holiday lights and old friends including my 25 year old Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

I set myself up with a Solstice Advent challenge and I made a special effort to find the space to enjoy even tiny bits of joy every day and by the end of the season I'd had one of the nicest winter holiday seasons ever.  As an extra special treat I made a new friend and received a beautiful card with three two and a half of my favorite sheep.  Murphy....

Okay, when I mentioned the Advent challenge, I realized that I never shared the final picture of my daily prizes.  To avoid yet another Christmas post, I'll do that now.

I'd collected a bunch of these vintage lead sheep figurines ahead of time and Auntie Reg wrapped them all up and tucked them into my calendar.  Every day I got to unwrap and place another sheep or two in the window.  I grouped ewes, lambs playing, lambs with their mommas, rams watching over, rams thinking about fighting...  It was grand fun :-).

One day I got surprised by this cutie and there were a couple other fun sheep mixed in as well.  It was a fun way to end each day and to make each day a little special...the way every day should be.  

Knee Deep

We got our first heavy frost last night. Frosted grass is especially dangerous for hefty horses, but I worry it's hard on hefty sheep as well so I don't like to let them out to graze until the sun has melted the frost and hopefully some of the sugar in the grass has receded.

I walked out with them to see where we were grass-wise and what was going to need a fall mowing and what might be best left as it stood.  We usually try to mow off the seed heads so as to reduce weeds re-seeding, but it got so dry at the end of summer that we are just now ready to catch everything back up.

I wish I'd taken my big camera.  What a beautiful morning.

 

Ellie, Maggie and Christopher

Muffin, Pinto and Christopher

Pinto, Maggie and Christopher

I love that the four "lambs" are still good friends.  

Yep, this paddock looks like this could use a little off the top.

Happy Fall, Y'all :-).  And there's a new puzzle, too, just to keep everyone's production high on a Monday morning ;-).

2023 Tour De Fleece Wrap Up

I didn't spin quite as much yarn as last year, but I'm not too far off.  I did spin at least 15 minutes every day, taking the Tour's two rest days when I needed them, and ended up with well over five hours of spinning in total.  I wish I could commit to 15 a day all year.  Or not "commit" to it, but just enjoy doing it without needing the structure.  

I ended up with a whole basket of yarn I really like. 

The red is the yarn from Blaze, my friend's sheep.  The dark gray is Tessa.  The creamy white is Ellie.

I love when the yarn looks just like the sheep.  Ellie is definitely round, soft and cuddly.

Murphy is quite a "sheep with too much character" most of the time, but he grows some beautiful wool.  This light gray skein is especially soft and I would bet most people would pick it as their favorite.

The beautiful medium gray is Mini Moose.  I spun a sample from him last year and it was one of my favorite yarns I've ever spun.  This skein did not let me down.

Another sheep who never lets me down is Muffin.  She's finally starting to get some gray hairs, but I actually like that better than her solid black lamb fleece.  I think it gives her yarn some depth. Can you believe she and Biscuit are six (!).  

I was going to link to the finished black and white sweater, but as I scrolled through the March posts looking for the best post, I decided 20 catching up with us on the trail might be my favorite.  Lots of reminders of what was going on and now that's over and I love my finished sweater, I have to admit it was all pretty fun :-).

I didn't get a great shot of Big Moose (the little dark gray skein), but it's too hot to go back out and try for a new one.  I took some "in process" shots while I was combing it, so he'll (hopefully) get some more attention in a day or so.

We are continuing on spinning this week in support of the women's race.  I decided I'd only spin ewes so I've spun a little bit of Emily and Annebelly for old times sake and am now working on a bobbin of Cheeto so Big Moose could bring his mom along for the ride :-).