Are You Ready To Hug Some Sheep?

(Inter)National Hug a Sheep Day is this Saturday, October 25th (always the last Saturday in October), and we are planning our usual shenanigans here on the farm and virtually on Instagram.

We'll start the day with an early morning virtual Flock Walk on Instagram.  I've done these for several years now and each time I think it's going to be boring and silly and they always turn out really special.  I'll try to save the live video to publish other places so everyone can enjoy walking out with the sheep at a more reasonable time if you live elsewhere ;-).

In the afternoon we are hosting our usual On the Farm Party complete with sheep, horses, chickens, cats, Bea and Pinot.  It's looking like it's going to be cool enough for wool wearing, so that's exciting.  It may be too cool for wool spinning, but bring your wheel or current project just in case.  We'll have a fire going!

Since we are bumping up the time an hour this year, Auntie Reg is going to be cooking up our favorite October wool festival snack, Artichoke French, and we'll have fresh bread, hot coffee, cider, pumpkin donuts...

The sheep are hoping you'll bring lots of cookies and crackers.  Gato will eat most anything too and he's heard some stories about Hug a Sheep/Feed a Pony day and is looking forward to his first farm party ;-).  Pinot loves treats too, but rabbits really shouldn't have many treats, so don't let him trick you.  

We have changed the time a little so that anyone who'd like to go over the Don and Rebecca Saager's fall train run afterwards can caravan over there from here.  It's a bit of a drive (40 minutes), but well worth the trip.  

As always, there is no admission and everyone is welcome here.  I know I'm late getting this posted, but most of the "regulars" know the drill and if you would like to come in from out of town and need some accommodation suggestions or travel direction, just drop me an email.

Are you ready to hug some sheep?  Or a ball of yarn or a squishy warm wool sweater or blanket?  :-D

But First, This...

Before I share the weekend's pictures, I need to share information about Hug a Sheep Day...which is this Saturday!  But before I share that, I want to share a super interesting thing that happened yesterday.  I'll add some farm party info at the bottom of this post.

* * * * *

Do you remember the night before Hank died, Maisie standing out behind the barn, up on the hill, watching out back...and watching over me and Hank as we sat together one last time?  And do you remember Big Moose standing out with her?  Here's a link to a blog post that shares several IG posts and tells more of the story. 

If you want to watch the post dates, it looks like you'll have to click on each IG post picture in that post.  It's really interesting to watch everything develop.  The posts range from 2020 to 2021.  To be honest, I'd forgotten about this.

Yesterday the barn cameras picked up a fox messing around in the barn lot in the early hours of the morning, around 4:00 a.m.  As I watched I saw a sheep walk into the frame and get between the fox and the barn.  

The fox would make a move and the sheep would move to stay with it.  This dance went on for several minutes and finally the fox left.  The sheep stayed out there for a few minutes more before it went back into the barn.

I could tell it was a big sheep...with all black legs...maybe a clean (not wooly) head... Was it Murphy?  Maybe Levi?  It wouldn't be Muffin.  Big Moose?  The face looked solid black though, which was throwing me off.

As I watched, the sheep finally moved into a position that the barn lot camera spotlight caught a better look and sure enough there was some color on the face.  It was Big Moose...and that triggered the memory above.

Big Moose!

I recorded a short video clip of this and will go post it over to IG so I can then come back here to update this post.  I don't know how people keep up with how to use social media more efficiently, but there you have it.  Old people trying to use technology...  

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A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

I just find this so interesting (the sheep/fox interaction, not the SM) and since most of you probably remember the history of Hank and Maisie and then Big Moose joining the security staff, I knew you would as well.  You know that fox was moving quietly.  Did Hank or Maisie wake Big Moose up to let him know or was he already watching, on duty.  Either scenario is comforting for sure.

* * * * *

Yes, there's a Hug a Sheep farm party this weekend.  I hope there are parties all over the world again like there have been the last few years.  I do love that part of social media - watching the #hugasheepday hashtag.  Here we are following the usual format with sheep hugging, cookie feeding, horse petting, picture taking, yarn fun, people treats, wool wearing...with one change.  

The hours this year are 12:00 to 3:00.  We've bumped everything up one hour so that anyone who would like to go over to the train run at The Heavenly Hilltop Railroad can caravan over and ride the amazing hand machined coal fired steam trains around 1 1/2 miles of track with an incredible tunnel and trestle and more good company.  There are also some sheep there, too ;-).

2025 Hug A Sheep Day Farm Party

 Somehow it's already almost the end of October and it's time for Hug a Sheep Day!  

These parties were always so much easier when Jared was in charge.  Sigh...

The Official Day To Hug Sheep

The actual (rather than every day) Hug a Sheep Day here is always a blur.  I never think to stop and take pictures.  Heck, I forgot to post my own hugging picture until the next day...or was it two days later.  

The weather didn't do any favors either day, but a fun group of friends still braved the drizzling, but not cold enough to wear wool, day to come out and visit the sheep.  While the sheep had mostly stayed in the barn and were "dry", wool absorbs water (but still keeps you warm :-) even just from the air and there was more nose patting and cookie feeding than burying your face into toasty warm sheep necks.  Oh well, that's what every other day of the year is for.

I used to try to follow every Hug a Sheep Day hashtag (#hugasheepday) on IG, but I'm sure I missed some this year.  I was so delighted to see so many posts from all over the world.  I guess I'm proud of Hug a Sheep Day, but I think delighted is the best word to describe how I feel.  Sheep are wonderful and I'm so happy people have a fun way to celebrate that.  I hope it carries on forever.

Jared was our all-star hugger.  He came out and visited with every single person.  He met some of them in the parking area, some in the driveway, some in the barn.  He let little kids walk up and touch him, he stood next to folks for pictures, he hugged (leaned into) people back almost to the point of knocking them down.  

Maisie, on the other hand....well, she didn't send anyone to the hospital...so that was good.  Her plan for the afternoon was to come out, eat a bunch of cookies, shake her head at everyone, nip a few pants legs and then go back and take a nap to rest up for the next round. 

The best part of each day was maybe the IG Live flock walks.  Friday, Murphy led us all out and across the bridge, through the lower paddock and out to the back field where we stood for several minutes and enjoyed the grazing sheep, beautiful fall colors, bird songs and peace.

Saturday he headed out and decided to go to the right, up along the Frog Pond.  From there he moved to the dam of the big pond...and then through the gate to the back field.  As he reached each gate, everyone stopped grazing where they were and followed him to the next point.  I have just loved watching them  and to actually take the time to go out with the sheep and follow along was a real treat.

Both videos are posted below.  They are both long, but I'm glad to have them.  Luckily I don't talk the whole time.  It sometimes gets confusing because I'm answering a question that was posted while we were live. I wish I'd remember to repeat the questions out loud before I reply. 

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A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

This was Friday's walk.

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A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

This was Saturday's.

Saturday night Jared looked disappointed that there were no more hugs and treats...so I gave him more of both.  Possum was just happy things had settled back down to normal and it was once again safe to come down out of the loft.  Archie never made an appearance all day because it was raining and he had business in the house...on the couch.  

Betsy on the other hand always enjoys a party and she came out both days.  I remember her very first farm party, years ago.  She didn't hang around the people that much, but we watched her race back and forth across the barn aisle showing off all evening long, just as wound up as she could be.  She does more lap sitting at parties these days.

Happy Hug A Sheep Day....everyday!

2023 Hug A Sheep Day

Thirty-one years ago this month I rescued a tiny lamb born at the local stockyards and, looking back, the only thing I regret about that was that I didn't save his mom.  I wish I could have changed her life the way I was able to change her lamb's...and how he changed mine.

I can't even imagine a different life than I have today.  I cannot fathom not walking out to the barn to check on my sheep each morning.  Standing in the driveway with my oldies, wearing a wool hat I spun, dyed and knit from my own flock. The way it's feeling this afternoon I'll be wearing a wool sweater tomorrow as well, probably Jared's.  He and I will both be warm.

I'm proud I know how to trim feet and check eye scores and what different wools feel like and how they are best used.  And how to move sheep through a chute or work in a pen and how a herding dog is different from a guardian dog and how to prepare my sheep for shearing.

Would I have learned how to take pictures?  Paint folk art Christmas cards?  Needle felt wool ornaments?  I had zero interest in fiber arts and now I can shear (if I have to), skirt, wash, comb or card, spin yarn, knit a sweater or weave a blanket.  

I opened a calendar last night and found Hug a Sheep Day included as a national holiday.  I'd been told a paper "days" calendar had picked it for October 28th, but I wasn't sure I'd ordered the right one until I saw it for myself.

Hug a Sheep Day was based on Punkin's birthday.  He was actually born on a Friday, but when I decided to host the first farm party 15 years ago, his birthday fell on a Saturday so we've since stuck with it being always the last Saturday on October.  This year it's the 28th.

We are once again hosting an on farm Hug a Sheep Day party.  The traditional party will be on Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00 as usual and will include sheep hugging and cookie feeding and visiting with old friends and new.

On Friday, the 27th, we are adding in an extra day for anyone who'd like to come out to learn about sheep, sheep care, wool processing, spinning, knitting, felting...  I'm open to anything!  We could even take some pictures or do some sketching or painting...  I am no expert on any of this, but I'm happy to share what I've learned over the years.  

I'll post some more details as the next two weeks fly by, but wanted to give everyone a bit of a head's up.  Let's get together and have some fun and celebrate all the gifts of our wooly friends, near and far.  

State Of The Fiber Farm Address

I've had some questions about whether we'll be setting up at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival this weekend and sadly, we are not.  Auntie Reg and I had talked about it, but the way this year has gone so far, I'm incredibly relieved we didn't sign up.  There have only been about two weeks all year that I felt like we could have pulled it off...and this one (even though it's only Tuesday) ain't one of them.

Between not having many any 2023 fleeces skirted yet and having done almost no spinning or other fiber work all year and the 7528 hours it took to knit a stupid simple sweater, I'm struggling to even feel like a real fiber farm/fiber artist right now. 

But...the sheep are happy and healthy. I did finally finish that dang sweater and got to wear it quite a bit before it got hot.  I wove a nice shawl during the Iknitarod.  I've taught a couple of new people how to spin.  We had good shearings here and at Tring Farm and I was able to help Annemarie sell a few of her fleeces.  

Our fleeces are safe and sound and will be ready to skirt, wash, process and spin whenever I'm able to get to them.  I've purchased several really fun looking project patterns including a tiny 7" tall fox who needs 29 pages to come to life.  Wait, what?  29 pages?!?  Yeah...I can't get out of my own way.

Wait, one other "win" is that our sweet little group of spinners, knitters, weavers, crocheters, sewers, hookers, felters, punchers, storytellers (and there have been some doozies :-), bakers, and their cats, dogs, sheep, chickens...from all over the country is still crafting right along via Zoom every Tuesday night.  They're getting stuff done :-D.

So, yes, the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in Lexington is this weekend and the Bluegrass Classic Stockdog Trial is going on just down the hill as well.  Both will be lots of fun!  I was talking to one of the local Crafters last week (oh, when I sheared her old sheep, so that probably counts too...if we're keeping score...which I need to stop doing) and we decided, in the spirit of the festival, to do an in person/on farm Crafter's meet up this Saturday.  

This super casual on farm event is open to all the farm friends, not just Crafters.  You do not need to be a fiber person.  If you would just enjoy sitting on the porch or bringing a picnic dinner out to the farm, come on! Everyone and their house cat is welcome...but please leave your dog at home ;-)

I'll be here from 3:00 on on Saturday and would be happy to teach spinning or fiber processing or sheep care...*  You can bring your own wool or spindle or wheel or borrow one of mine.  There are plenty of sheep to borrow who would be happy to teach you how to feed them cookies.

I doubt I'll pull off anything fancy in the way of food or beverages, but I'm sure Auntie Reg won't let us go hungry.  Feel free to bring snacks or a picnic with you or call in a pizza for pickup on the way.  You should probably toss in a chair.

   Update on food - we're going to set up an ice cream bar!  Throw on some nuts and a banana and you've got yourself a nutritious dinner.  Bang! :-D

* * * * *

*I'm also happy to teach fleece skirting, wool washing, barn cleaning, field mowing, flower planting, weed pulling, chicken wrangling, corgi 'wrasslin'... ;-D  

I say all that sort of joking, but if you are interested in buying a fleece, especially if you are new to raw wool, this could actually be a good thing!  I could help you pick one out, we could skirt it (and maybe a few others ;-) together and talk about how to go on from there!

I am also happy to bring out various colors and types of roving, some Lamb Camp Legacy yarn and there are six skeins of Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb yarn left, too, so just ask if there's something you'd like to see.

If you have any questions or need directions, please send me an email.  We are about 35 minutes from Lexington and about 20 minutes from the hotels in Georgetown. 

On Farm Party!

We are once again opening the farm for a Hug A Sheep Day farm party!  While the virtual parties turned out better than we thought they would these last two years, being able to come out and actually hug a sheep (unless it's Maisie, maybe ;-) is always much more fun.  

(Inter)National Hug A Sheep Day is October 29th this year.  This is our twelfth year!  Punkin, my first sheep, who inadvertently started this all, would have been 30 this year.  The original date was picked because it would have been his birthday.  Now the date floats and is always the last Saturday of October.

This year we are not only hosting the traditional Hug A Sheep Party from 1:00 to 4:30, but we are also going to be open on Friday as well in case anyone would like to come out and do some shopping and sheep visiting ahead of time.  Friday's events will be offered virtually (via zoom) as well as in person. 

Both mornings I will be doing a virtual flock walk live on Instagram.  If you'd like to join me, Friday's walk will be at 8:00 and Saturday's at 8:30.  The walks were very popular the last two years.  Being forced to learn to use technology a bit was one upside to the pandemic.  I now love turning the phone on and talking sheep with people all over the world.

Here is the complete schedule:

We hope you can join us!

And That's A Wrap...For Now

This is the last fleece I'm washing for awhile! *

I actually thought I was finished yesterday.  I took down the pre-rinse table, swept the wash room floor, stacked up all the laundry baskets, went into the skirting area just to inventory what was left...and found one more fleece. 

I'd looked at it last week when I was gathering up Ewen McTeagle fleeces, but didn't see a card with it and thought it felt too soft to be Ewen, so I set it aside thinking it was probably Burrnie.  I still felt like it was not likely to be Ewen, but something made me pick the bag up once again and turn it over.  The tag had fallen to the bottom.

Since the tag has a question mark on it, it was obviously not his original tag from skirting.  The Ewen fleeces are old and after several years of cats and chickens climbing in them and wind blowing them around, it's not impossible to lose a tag. When I'd rebagged this fleece, I must have questioned the sheep just as I was again yesterday.

But then I saw this tiny cluster of dark hairs.  That's a great clue, but sometimes stray hairs get picked up from the shearing board.  I dug a little deeper...

...and found this.  If you click to biggify, you'll see a little gray wool with some dark hair mixed in.  It's Ewen McTeagle :-).  This wool and hair was shorn from just around his face, where the dark hair from his head turns into the white wool on his body.  If it had been Burrnie, the only other short wooled sheep here, the hair would have been red.  

As far as the extra softness, I'm guessing this was one of his earlier fleeces.  I sheared him myself in 2019 so I know I didn't save that fleece.  I sent the nicest one of his fleeces off for the Lamb Camp bottle lamb yarn.  There were five fleeces left here.  Counting back I think this might have been his 2013 shear when he was just six years old.  

So Ewen wasn't the softest sheep on the farm.  It sure didn't matter.  I loved that dear sheep just the way he was.  And while he might not make a fancy knitted garment, he's going to be great fluffed into a couple of cozy comforters that we can tuck around ourselves this winter. 

* * * * *

* Why does it sound like I'm tired of washing wool?  Because I might be a little tired of washing wool ;-).

Normally I try to sell as many raw fleeces after shearing as I can.  This brings in some quick cash to cover spring vet work and shearing bills and clears a shelf or two.  With Covid throwing a wrench into that plan, I had a huge stash of wool here.  Some sheep had three years of fleeces stockpiled.  

I knew I needed to do something and decided it would be much more fun to market fresh roving than raw wool so I started washing.  I have washed 34 fleeces this summer!  220 pounds of raw wool, averaging 6.47 pounds per sheep.  11 of the fleeces weighed at least 9.5 pounds.  

While they were all fun to handle, there were a few special treats.  I've never washed some of those sheep before...the ones who get snatched up right away at the festivals - Murphy, Spud, Levi, Rocky, Big Moose, Mini Moose...  I knew they were nice fleeces, but now I know exactly how nice they are.  

Big Moose was so beautiful I couldn't even bring myself to send him off to be processed into roving.  I'll just keep looking at and playing with those curls for a bit longer.  

Of the 34 fleeces, 28 are being processed.  The five Ewen fleeces are going into quilt batting and everyone else will be ready to spin roving.  That's a lot of roving, so if you are thinking about gearing up for some fall spinning, I hope you'll keep our flock in mind.  

I think a fall farm spinning day and sale (in person and virtual) would be fun.  Stay tuned :-).

Ba-roo!

Last week was a bit of a blur between out of town company, in town company, unwanted company, and, oh, it got hot...which is also an unwanted guest who never pays attention to the pineapple at the foot of the bed :-/.

The Evening with the Sheep was just about perfect and we had super fun guests including some folks who'd traveled quite a few hours to come to the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival and visit the farm.  It was nice to talk sheep and wool and see Auntie Reg and Miss B working the farm shop.  It felt almost like we'd gotten the band back together :-).

Monday afternoon brought an unwanted guest to the farm...a coyote hunting in the front field (!).  Luckily I had the ATV handy and I raced after it "barking" as best I could and chased it off the farm.  I locked up the sheep and stayed on high alert, but didn't see anything on Tuesday.  Wednesday afternoon, two different coyotes came through the front field and I once again did my best Hank impressions and chased them away.  I've not seen anything since.

There could be several scenarios at play here.  They've figured out Hank is gone and are getting bold, a neighbor has done some clearing and disturbed their home habitat or another neighbor has terminally cleared the coyotes Hank spent years training to stay away and new untrained coyotes have flooded in the now open territory.  It could very well be all of the above.

I don't really want to get into a long discussion about how we should or should not handle this situation and why we have not brought in a new guardian dog...  These are very complicated situations and situations we are considering very carefully.  Just know that we are working hard to keep the sheep and lambs safe and our biggest concern is probably the chickens.  What I do want to tell is an interesting story about Salt.  

At 16 years old, Salt is in no way able or expected to intensely guard a flock of sheep even on a small farm.  She is very frail and her hearing is gone, but she still occasionally walks down to patrol the creek and make her presence known and her vision and sense of smell is pretty strong.  If she sees or smells  something amiss, she has a wonderful deep "Ba-roo!" that echoes through the farm and that alone is  still quite helpful...and comforting.  

Salt smelled trouble the other evening.  The sheep were all out doing a last bit of grazing before I locked them up for the night.  There were sheep in the lower paddock, both sides of the wet weather creek and back behind the arena.  I was standing at the gate by the barn watching everyone and she came up beside me and asked to go in.

She walked through the gate and stopped in front of the horse stalls looking to the back of the farm, her nose in the air.  She carefully watched for about a minute and I could see her nose working and then she released the first "Ba-roo!"  

It sounded like her normal "Ba-roo!" which is a sort of a down turning sound, if that makes sense.  The sheep continued grazing.  The second "Ba-roo!" kind of rose at the end...and every single sheep immediately came racing back to the barn.

Hank must have had different barks as well because, like Salt, sometimes he'd bark and the sheep would stay put and sometimes he'd sound an alarm and call them all in.  I hated that I could never tell the difference.  When there was trouble he'd bark constantly until he felt the situation had been handled.  Salt's single "Ba-roo!" gives me more time to think.  I hope there are some coyotes out there who are doing some thinking, too.

Oh, look!  Here's a flashback where you can hear both dogs!  

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A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

Possum's Wool Beds

I took this picture yesterday. I really needed to get some fleeces skirted, especially if I'm hoping to find them good homes this Saturday.  It was raining and cold and Possum looked so cozy tucked in on the skirting table that I couldn't bring myself to disturb her.  

As I was starting to type this blogpost this morning, I noticed that she'd moved from her normal morning spot on the washroom floor to a cozy little cubby spot under the table.  That's a felted wool laptop carrying bag.  The girl loves her wool :-).

I WILL have some Possum beds fleeces skirted and for sale at the Evening with the Sheep on Saturday.  I'll try to negotiate a good price for you, but she may drive a hard bargain ;-).  I'll also post them on the website starting next week.

  

In Case You Thought I Was Kidding

Here's one of the chickens (Zelda) fixin' to steal a truck.

Hug A Sheep Day - 2020 Style

The only complaint I've ever received about our Hug A Sheep Day farm parties is that out of town folks can't join in. This year? Everyone gets to come to the party! :-D

National Hug a Sheep Day is this Saturday...which is also Halloween...wink, wink.  While we mostly aren't up to hugging Maisie, you know we are probably going to make her dress up ;-).  As far as hugging goes, we are going to try to do several fun live online events throughout the day.  There will not be an on farm party this year :-/.

The tentative schedule involves a couple of flock walks, a cookie party, a spinning demonstration, a fleece show/sale, a surprise in the Wool House...and Maisie's Halloween costume, which might be our most epic yet.  "There may be no survivors."  That book quote is not just a prediction, but also a clue.  Any guesses?

The live events will be hosted on Instagram.  I should be able to record them and post links over to Facebook and hopefully on the blog as well.  I'm not super tech savvy though, so the safest (and most likely funniest) thing would probably be to watch them live. 

I'll post the firmed up schedule on Thursday.  We'll be doing some live audiovisual tests on Friday, so there may some opportunities to give it a try ahead of time if you need/want to.  My best recommendation is find a kid somewhere that can help you get set up.

Stay tuned!  

By the way, 20 wanted me to assure everyone that he had absolutely nothing to do with 2020 and he hopes no one is holding it against him.

Yesterday Was A Great Day For A Farm Party

Today is looking great as well!  Saturday?  Well...not so much :-/.  Blah, blah, blah...let's talk about yesterday!

After a thoroughly enjoying day that included a really good (carriage) driving lesson, some flower shopping, a short (car) driving tour of some of the fancier horse farms around Lexington and general relaxing in the finally enjoyable sunshine, Karen, Kate and I took a walk back to the pond.

And Hank went with us!  He hasn't done that since back in the spring.  That really made my day.

All the flowers have gone to seed, including the milkweed.  I am planning to harvest some seed pods to spread more plants along the wet weather creek for next year.  They are slowly making their way to the front field, but a little help wouldn't hurt I don't think.

Here's why Saturday's forecast of rain isn't really bringing me down.  Even with the recent rains, the pond level is still as low as I can ever remember.  The low growing brown plants headed up the bank are usually under water.  Yikes.

Our trees just turned brown this fall.  No good colors...except this little seedling I found near the pond bank.  We needed Saturday's predicted rain two months ago. 

Breathe in..............breathe out..............

And follow Hank back to the barn.

You've probably guessed that the forecast for this Saturday's farm party is not looking good.  We toyed with trying to reschedule for another weekend, but next Saturday is out and after that the weather in November gets dicey enough that even a good day...is probably not a great day...unless you are a sheep or a shepherd.

It's a farm party.  Farms depend on rain.  After the hot dry summer we've had, we are still celebrating the rain.  Come January we might be tired of it, but at the end of October we aren't going to let rain keep us from enjoying what we do every day, rain or shine.

The National Hug A Sheep Day farm party is still on!  Dress accordingly and wear your rain gear...and a smile...because every day is a good day to hug a sheep, even a rainy day :-).  See you Saturday!  

A Special...But Not Really Wanted Guest

We've had a fox visiting our farm for the last couple of weeks.  With no lambs here, I'm not really worried about him or her bothering the sheep.  I do worry about the chickens though and I especially worry about Comby, who likes to hunt out in this same field.  

"Yeah, I see you, too.  I think you are beautiful, but you better beat feet before Hank sees you."

If the sheep are out grazing, Hank calls them in to safety.  Doing that usually frightens the fox away, but if not, he races out to escort him under the fence. 

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“Danger!” Hank, calling in his sheep. Such a good dog ❤️❤️❤️. #livestockguardiandog #sheep #redfox

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Oct 20, 2019 at 6:21am PDT

Hank has been much happier since it's cooled down.  I think the fox is probably less happy ;-).

*      *       *       *        *

The Rhinebeck Blues Party was really fun.  We had a great group of sheep and fiber enthusiasts, the weather was perfect and Auntie Reg nailed the Artichoke French!  The sheep all behaved (because we didn't use Maisie for any of the demonstrations ;-) and the only "workshop" we skipped was washing wool.  Karen taught wheel spinning and wool combing.  I taught shepherding, fleece judging and skirting.  Let's do it again next year!

The forecast for our Hug a Sheep Day farm party this Saturday isn't looking quite as good, but that's several days away.  Hopefully they are just wrong.  It will be fun, regardless :-).  Hope you can join us!