All the Fleece

All the fleece. I want all the long and curly fleece I can get.

When I bought my Cotswold sheep I was introduced to the beauty of long wool with curly flocks. It was only a matter of time that I dive into the most luxurious of the long wools.

We took a semi-short drive to North Carolina yesterday to pick up the newest additions to my wooly family.

Teeswater Sheep.

 This is my new ewe named Cracker Jack.
She is very sweet and has a beautiful soft fleece. She was shorn in Feb, so you can see how much she has grown already.

This is the baby whether to Cracker Jack. His name is Sparrow. Born in Feb, he is already full of soft fleece and is very sweet.

We also got this little girl lamb.
Her name is Dani.
Also born in Feb, she is just as sweet and beautiful. She does have a pinch of Cotswold her in her as well.

Then I needed to buy a ram and lucked upon the most beautiful Teeswater ram around!
His name is Hercules and he is a beauty.
I plan to breed all of my ewes to him this fall.

When we got them all home, we put the mama and the babies in one paddock and we put Hercules in with my other sheep.

He is quite happy to be with my Wensleydales and Cotswolds, and they can all get to know the newest ewe and babies through a fence. I didn't want to risk my Cotwolds picking on those sweet lambs.

I have been working on some lock spinning and knitting with curly locks from my Wensleydales. I hope to have a nice project finished soon for a show and tell.

Until then, we have expanded the flock and it promises to be a rewarding decision!

Happy Tuesday Ya'll!

What Just Happened?

It happens.

It starts when you are fixing dinner, doing laundry, reading story books and preparing for the next days' activities. It just happens so quickly.

Your kids grow up. Just like that, in the midst of living life. They are graduating from school and starting their own journey.

When they are babies you can't even imagine what this day would be like because it cannot be tied to any ONE day. It is the accumulation of many days, many years.

Journee graduated from nursing school and landed a full time job in the emergency room. She still has her nursing boards to take, but the girl is done. Homeschooled from the start, never a day in public school, and she did just fine. 

I am still amazed at everything she has accomplished in her young life, not just academically, but personally and spiritually. She has a strong work ethic, a loyalty to others and a sensitive heart. 

Quinn graduated high school. She was also educated at home and finished high school with dual enrollment. This kid has been able to combine her art skills and math skills to jumpstart her goal of earning a degree in mechanical engineering. She works full time as an intern and has classes at night.

I rarely see her around here anymore because she is grown. She's independent. She's a hard worker. 

She also amazes me in her growth and accomplishments.

This last month has been very busy for me with farming and with graduation celebrations. When I am able to slow down I can't help but ask myself, "What just happened?"

One day you are reading bedtime stories and the next you are celebrating graduations. 

It happens.

Life goes on and I am grateful for all of these milestones in my life.

I am also exceedingly grateful to farm. We are currently busy with pastured chickens and honeybees, both are doing really well. 

I have been making cheddar wheels like crazy thanks to an abundance of milk. My cheese cave is housing 10 wheels and each wheel is about 7-8 pounds.

Tomorrow I will drive to pick up more fiber sheep. Tees water sheep.

I have longed for this breed for a few years and now I will have them . I spent a few hours this weekend lock spinning my curly Wensleydale fleece into a beautiful yarn. I am excited for more curly lock sheep.

The farm is growing and that is reason enough to be optimistic, even when things happen, like children growing up.

Congratulations to all of the new graduates in 2017!!

Shearing Day

Yesterday we had the shearing guy come over. Because my sheep are long wool sheep, they must be sheared two times a year.

 With spring weather almost everyday, the sheep were really needing to have their long coats of wool removed. While we have the sheep captured, I also use this as a time to trim their hooves. Everything went quite smoothly.

Even Mary, despite her leg injury, did quite well being sheared. Her wound is healing up nicely and is almost completely closed up now.
The sheep always look kind of funny after having so much wool sheared off. I plan to send some wool to a processor to be spun into lace weight yarn and some into worsted weight.

After a full day outside with sheep, we decided to have a little back yard fire and dinner. Devin surprised us by getting food at the store, and he splurged and bought the kids each a soda.

Despite the sad looking face, Duke even enjoyed himself. He just spent a good amount of time lounging in a cool dirt spot.

My new project now is to move my fiber studio. Devin has a workout room and we have decided to switch rooms. Today I spent some time clearing everything out of my studio room so he can get some heavy duty weight room flooring put down. Once we get his weights out of his current room and into his new space, I will paint the room and fix it up for my sewing and fiber.

I came across a few items that I made and never used as gifts, as I had intended. I think we do a couple of give aways next week and find these items a new home. Stayed tuned!

Happy Thursday Ya'll!!

A Sheep Gone Rogue

So I told the story about my 2 sheep escaping and how we found one dead on the railroad tracks.

Three weeks later, at 8 o'clock , we had a visitor. A local young man had been in his kayak on the creek when he said he saw one of our sheep.

He came straight to the house to tell us he saw the sheep and although she looked to be injured, she was walking and grazing.

Devin, Indiana and Willow went with this young man down the railroad tracks and across the creek. They saw my ewe. She was happily grazing in a field of green grass near the creek.

Because she would not follow them home willingly, Devin carried her home. This was not an easy task for even a strong man like him, as she weighs a good 160 pounds.

Her back leg had a pretty serious injury and she smelled like rotted flesh. A vet visit the next morning revealed she had a sizable wound that appeared she was attacked by something. The vet spent a good hour cleaning the wound of maggots and fly eggs. He washed the area well and used a wound spray on her. Finally she got a shot of a strong antibiotic.

Today she is still limping  some and her wound is draining. I am keeping a good fly spray on her to prevent another maggot infestation, and I plan to clean the wound of dirt next week when she is sheared. Her fleece is a mess and her dreadlocks on front have been torn off, but she is alive and will likely make a full recovery. I am thankful for that fact.

I am hoping that the farm has no more adventures like this one.

Happy Thursday Ya'll!

The Sorrow, The Loss

I always say that when you have great days on the farm, enjoy it. Relish it. Never forget what that great day feels like.
Eventually you will have a crappy day, and you will need those great days to keep you going.

I have suffered my share of losses, mostly chickens and calves, over the years. I have had days when it was too rainy, too dry, too hot and too cold. I have suffered through days of being unsure of my decisions and days of not knowing what the next day would bring.

There have been days when I really missed the easy going neighborhood life, the long family vacations and even the spur of the moment adventures away from home.

Some days I feel completely isolated from the *outside* world, like I have not a single friend with whom I can visit and share stories.

None of those days, however, can compare to the complete devastation I experienced yesterday. Devastation that I am still feeling today, deep in my gut and my soul. I am so sad and so full of despair at times that it is difficult to even breathe. My only solace is that I know farming and caring for livestock has its ups and downs. It is not for the faint of heart, in fact it is for the full of heart.

My sweet ewe, Lila, was not a sheep I wanted to breed this year. She was my most valuable ewe in terms of money value and heart value. Her fleece was a delicious combination of Teeswater and Black Wensleydale , and it had a soft sheen like no other I have seen. She was a dominant ewe in my flock, yet she was very gentle. Her only flaw was that she was not a good mother, therefore I was done breeding her. Her life was to be spent on the farm giving beautiful fleeces and that's it, until she decided to break from her paddock last fall and find my ram.

4 hours with my ram was all it took to make sure we would be watching her closely all spring waiting for lambs, usually triplets. Last week she appeared over due and ready to lamb at anytime, however she experienced a vaginal prolapse. The vet came to fix her up and we determined she was not yet in labor. Since then we kept a close watch on her, every 2 hours.

She was fine. She was grazing and eating and keeping with the flock, until yesterday. I noticed that she finally separated herself from the others about 7 am. She wasn't eating and she had a slight discharge. Finally, she was in labor. I removed her sutures and continued to monitor her every 30 minutes. She never seemed to be in distress and I was happy to finally get the pregnancy over and have lambs.
It only took a 30 minute time frame for her to collapse. To perish. In only 30 minutes she was no longer standing, but on her side and completely dead.
What did I miss? What did we do wrong?
It was too late for anything to be done to save her or the lambs.
Just like that my sweet, favorite ewe was gone. All hope of three babies was gone. Weeks of anticipation were replaced with utter and complete loss. Emptiness.

In that very moment I questioned everything I was doing. The sorrow, the anger, the disbelief instantly makes you wonder if you chose the right life out here on this land.

I need the great days, or at least memories of those great days. Those days when a calving goes perfectly and a cheese tastes fantastic. Those days when all the hens are laying eggs and the meat birds weigh more than expected. The days when all the hay gets stacked in the barn before it rains and all of the milking cows stand perfectly at milking time.

Today I reflect and cling to those good days, the great days, because the sorrow of losing Lila seems too much to bear. Am I being overly dramatic? Maybe, but I am not faint of heart. I am full of heart, much like most of the farmers and horse people I know.

Am I doing the wrong thing by farming? Should I give up? Maybe. You know it is hard at times, and it can feel daunting to keep up with everything at times, but I can't quit.
 I won't quit.
Deep in my gut I feel sad and powerless, but deeper still my will is strong.

Rest in Peace sweet Lila.

Under Pressure

The last two weeks here have been filled with baby chicks, foster dogs and constant attempts to keep chores caught up. Add some homeschooling into that mix and you have very full days.

My favorite ewe, Lila, has been also expecting to lamb any day now. I was not planning to have any lambs this year, but Lila snuck into the ram paddock back in December. I love Lila and her fleece is so fabulous, but she has this one issue that makes lambing difficult. She's not a very attentive mother.
Lila typically has triplets, but she will just drop them on the ground and walk off, hence House Lamb Flicka.
The last couple of weeks have been spent walking outside throughout the days and nights to check on her, to watch for signs of labor.
Lila is huge!! Her belly protrudes out incredibly from the pressure of growing lambs, and each day I think she will labor at any moment.

Just when you think things couldn't possibly get any more crazy, well, things get crazier.

Lila presented with a vaginal prolapse yesterday, no doubt caused by the incredible pressure of the lambs. Sorry for the graphic picture, but it is what it is and farm life can be quite graphic at times.

I called the vet and then proceeded to rub sugar all over it to keep it moist and to shrink the swelling a bit.

Lila didn't appear to be in pain, but she was straining and pushing.

The only thing to do is put it back in and sew her up so it cannot come back out.
I love my farm vet and he promptly came out with an assistant and a new vet grad. Together we got Lila restrained and fixed back up.

Yes, we are smiling. This type of issue isn't a life or death emergency, but rather just something that must be fixed. The youngest kids were standing by watching the vet and also had some lively comments about the procedure.

He used strong cotton tape/string as a suture material. He got it closed up very tight. Nothing will be coming out. NOTHING!

The problem is that she is pregnant and due anytime. (sigh) She has 3 lambs that will need to come out of there. This, of course, can only mean one thing!
I must check on Lila every couple of hours, day and night, to watch for any signs of labor. Mostly I am looking for mucus. Once I decide she is in labor I will remove her sutures.
No big deal, right?

Sleep and sanity are overrated.

Happy Friday Ya'll!

The Quicky

It's wet and rainy here. Very wet and rainy. When you head out to my barn, the ground is so thick with mud and muck that your boots just sink. The weekend is supposed to dry up a bit so that it can rain again mid week. I remind myself that all of this rain is why we will have lots of grass this spring and summer.

With that said, it has been a very busy week, but I am going to cover some of the highlights.

1. Devin and I went to a local comedy club on Sunday night. This club has been in Chattanooga for a very long time, but this was our first time to go. We had a blast.
We saw Joe Machi, who was on Last Comic Standing. Great show and a clean one at that! We had such a good time that I bought us tickets for a show in April!

2.  I sent my dark sheep fleeces off to a small mill for processing. House Lamb, Flicka, had some multi colored fleece when we sheared her last fall. I was excited to see what the mill could do, so I had them make me worsted weight yarn.
WOW! Flicka produced a beautiful gray-tan color yarn that is soft and shiny. I have already crocheted a beanie. In fact, all of the yarns were fabulous so I am making everyone in the house a hat for next winter!

3. I bought 3 new books to read. I picked my steer up from the processor and now I have a freezer full of grass fed beef. This is a great thing, but I felt I needed some direction on cooking the beef. I also want to try and make some bone broth and wanted some direction there as well. Finally, I have a new  pressure cooker. Again, more direction and recipes were needed.
I love all of the books so far and my first batch of bone broth, that was made in the pressure cooker, turned out well. It wasn't gelled up, but it was thick.

4. My house is messy. It hasn't been this messy since I had a new baby! I blame the busy days and the winter snow and rain. I guess I could blame the livestock I have outside and the dogs that run through the house. At any rate, it needs a good cleaning.
I decided that we would spend 9 days spring cleaning. Of course we will have chores and some school to complete in the mornings, but the afternoons are going to be cleaning times! I made a list and posted it in the kitchen on a dry erase board.
Now everyone knows what is coming and I can get through my day knowing we will not always live in filth:-)

5.  I will have sponsored post this weekend. This is the first time for a sponsored post on this blog. I get offers weekly from various companies but I always turn them down. Usually it is for a product I don't care about or it's a company I don't care for too much. This sponsor and I went back and forth a bit the last couple of weeks though and I feel like they might have something useful to offer. They are also throwing in an amazon gift card to a reader. Hey, you could buy those awesome books I just bought! Anyway, be looking for the post. This is a rare thing and will not often happen. I think the $50 gift card would be awesome to win!

Happy Weekend Ya'll!!

Sheep Shearing Fun

Last Saturday we threw a big graduation celebration for Journee, but before the party we had to shear the sheep.
This event is something we do twice a year since I have long wool sheep, and we had postponed the shearing for a few weeks because it kept raining on weekends. Saturday was the only day my shearer could do it, so shear sheep we did.

I was fortunate to have some friends bring their strong 19 year old son to help. He is working towards being a shearer himself and is always loaning himself to help. I was glad to have the extra muscle.

My shearer is a petite woman from the Atlanta area. She's good...really good, but she requires a helper to hold the animals down.

These are not small sheep. My Cotswold sheep weigh in about 150 lbs for ewes and my ram is about 200 lbs.

 

 

I brought him down the night before and kept him locked up in the dog kennel. I always bribe him out with a little bucket of grain and then fasten a lead rope around him. He can be a mean boy sometimes so you cannot turn your back on him.

 

 



Flipping him down is when you really need some muscle.

It was a smooth day of shearing and I have a ton of fleece ready for processing. I am also positive my sheep feel much better with these upper 80 degree days.

I lead the sheep back out to a front paddock for grazing and will bring them back up close in the fall for shearing and breeding. I am also considering investing in another breed of sheep, something with a smaller micron count and can be spun into a softer yarn. There are a couple different breeds I am looking into for that and we will see what is actually available.  In the meantime I will keep spinning my Cotswold, it does dye beautifully and spin nicely.

Of course house lamb was outside observing all of the shearing. It was not her time yet, but she will be getting sheared this fall. Poor lamb, she really does think she is a dog and not one of those farm animals called sheep.

Special thanks to Willow for all of the great pictures! I was not able to take photos due to helping round up sheep so she volunteered and did a fabulous job!

                                                 ***Willow***

Now that sheep chores are done I am busy loading the cave up with cheeses. Yesterday I made 3 cheeses! Today I might spin some wool and chill out on the front porch.

Happy Wednesday Ya'll!

A Week of Farming Fun

It was an exhausting week to be sure. We started some school lessons, Journee started her first full week at Chattanooga State, and the farm animals seemed to need something at every turn.

The weather? Well, it feels like summer has finally arrived! This summer has been mild and wet but this week it was hot, humid, and very humid. The grass still feels damp at noon and the air is thick with moisture. Like I said, hot and humid.

Of course there was a quick scramble by every farmer around here to get hay cut, dried and baled before the weekend thunderstorms started popping through.

We have a neighbor farmer who cuts our hay and we split it with him. Usually he bales it into large round bales but it is difficult to move those bales if you don't have a tractor (I have rolled them around before and thought I would surely die from a stroke). Plus, when you only have a few animals to feed, square bales are just the right amount of hay.

We stacked 470 bales of hay into our old barn. Needless to say, my body aches from the hard labor.

                                                 ***Journee helped with hay.***
                                                
It was a group effort that involved the farmer friend and his kids and grand kids plus me and a couple of my kids. Devin would have gladly helped but he was scheduled to work and work he must. The ER is not an employer you call out on lightly.

My laying hens have been challenged this summer and we have experienced a huge drop in egg production. Some birds are molting and some birds are young, but overall it has been an unusual drop.
I decided that the constant rain and moisture was keeping their health less than fabulous, at least I like to blame the unusually high amounts of rainfall for many farming woes this summer.

I caught the hens and moved them to a drier part of the property, using my pasture chicken tractors for their shelters. I bought some poultry fencing from Premier and ta-da! Instant new home for my ladies. I can monitor their feed intake closely and make sure they stay on dry ground.

I am happy to report that they are happy and have started laying again. We will build an egg mobile type of house soon.
Meanwhile, I cleaned their coop up and spread hay thick to cover wet areas. I am glad too because it seems that the goats have come down with a case of hoof rot.

We are treating the hooves and they are already feeling better. I decided the best place to keep them is in the coop with lots of fresh hay. The floor of the coop is wood and stays dry. The ground around the coop is what gets wet. We are keeping the goats locked up until they heal. Again, I will have to address the wet ground issue.....if it will stop raining:-) This has never been a problem until this year.

My ram poked his eyeball this week and needed vet attention. It's a pretty large scratch but we are now treating him with an ointment medicine twice a day plus some pain medicine. He looks better and is remaining locked up in my outdoor dog kennel while I treat him.
Since the vet was here to look at the goats and ram I also had him look at Mary.

 Mary has a slight stiffness or slight limp to a back leg. I thought it could be a selenium issue but the vet assured me that my area was not deficient in that mineral. Her hooves looked fine so we can only assume she injured or twisted it slightly. She moves fine except when she first gets up from lying down. She also refuses to stay fenced in with her sheep family.
I must say that her fleece is really, really pretty. She has large, soft curls that are very white in color.
The sheep shearer will be here in a week to give everyone a nice shaving. I have a different shearer than before, and I am excited to see her in action. This shearer is a woman from Atlanta  who shears for hand spinners. I can't wait to meet her!



Now that the hay is up I am letting the cows out loose after milking. I decided that the large water trough we keep in the side yard needed to be emptied and filled with fresh water for my bovine ladies.

Surprise!

There under the trough was a cute little rat's nest with a pile of very sweet ratty babies.
I carefully put the trough back down, placing a brick under the corner so as to not risk smashing the nest family.
Yes, I know they are wild rodents, but I believe in giving them a chance. After all, they were outside and with my cats on the prowl they need every chance they can get!

Oh and speaking of nests....

The ducks have made a nice little nest in my covered area where we milk the cows. Today we had 4 ducks eggs waiting for us. I replaced the egg above with a golf ball so the ladies will continue to use this perfectly round nest. I hear folks say that ducks are worthless but I disagree. Not only are they entertaining to watch, but they scratch up cow patties, eat lots of bugs and  lay fabulous eggs!

**************

We started a light load of school work this week and it went really well. I was exhausted every single night and my house was a mess, but it went well and the kids are learning and having fun.
I am also studying and taking notes for my next endeavor .

I have read "Salad Bar Beef" by Joel Salatin a couple of times, but this time I am letting the information soak in good.
I hope that next spring I can turn this pasture into paddocks to start my own salad bar. It would be great for the land and soil with some fresh beef as a bonus. I will keep you posted as it progresses.
Initially I think I will buy jersey bull calves from a local dairy to run as steers.

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend! We have another Rock Skool concert today! Indiana will be singing lead vocals for one song and guitar lead for another song. It should be lots of fun!

Peace!

Meet the Sheep

It turned out to be a very exciting weekend! I found sheep for sale from a very good breeder and so we hopped in the van and drove to Asheville to pick them up.

I wasn't expecting to get them so soon, but the ewe is due to lamb this month and we wanted her settled in before the date got too near.

Meet Whiskey Creek and Sarah.

The ewe has some impressive dread locks, no?
These are registered Costwold Sheep and I must admit they are pretty cool. They are long wool sheep and will need to be sheared twice a year. There is a guy in NC who travels in the spring from farm to farm shearing sheep. I am hoping to make contact with him soon.

So far the sheep are staying with my goats and chickens in our rather large fenced lot. I am using a small coop as a stall and the sheep like to sleep in there on fresh hay.
Once we have a lamb I will need to move the ram out of there, although I am not positive where I will put him.
They are well behaved for sheep and will follow anyone who is carrying a feed bucket so that is good.

Now, one of the goats has taken to head butting and challenging the ram, but so far neither has gotten injured. I assume they will work it out soon. I am amazed at the goat's bravery since she is a fat, short pygmy goat. The ram ignores her, unless he is challenged.

Then there is Lucy. In the evening I bring her in through this area for the night. She is very curious about our two new additions.

Ahhh, two new animals. It's starting to feel like spring and I am very happy for that! I pruned all of the fruit trees yesterday and in a couple of weeks we will have baby chicks. If that doesn't make spring official, nothing does. (Except maybe blooming dandelions and warm temps:-)

Welcome to the farm Whiskey and Sarah!

Hoping your week is full new beginnings~!