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 ;-).

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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!

Got The Rhinebeck Blues?

Next weekend is one of the country's best loved festivals, the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, more commonly known as "Rhinebeck".  I've been several times and it's always an amazingly good time.  Here's a fun link with a good short video.  Go watch!

This year a bunch of my long distance friends are going.  Robin and Julie will be there with the Nistock Farms booth (Building 22D) and a group from the Meridian Jacobs Farm Club are flying in from California.  

I really toyed with making the trip to meet up with everyone.  What fun that would be!  Leaving the farm though is very hard for me.  Even though we have great farm sitters, I worry about everyone, especially with so many oldies now.  Add in the 14 hour drive and how homesick I get...and I've decided to stay home.

That's not to say I'm not really sad about it though.  Rhinebeck is one giant party for sheep and wool people.  Everyone wears their best hand knits, there are sheep galore throughout the barns, the shopping can't be beat, you can learn so much in the workshops, the book signings, competitions and demonstrations are top notch...and there are cider donuts and artichoke french ;-).

If Auntie Reg didn't have such a loser friend who doesn't like to leave home, she'd be on her way to New York next week.  Everyone should go to Rhinebeck at least once.  Instead, we decided it could almost be as fun to have a stay at home Rhinebeck party here on the farm.

• We have sheep! Sheep for breed representatives, sheep that are cute, Livestock Conservancy/Shave Em to Save Em sheep, sheep for selfies, sheep for hugs...

• We have shopping in the Wool House.  There is some roving left from last weekend, plenty of gift items, hopefully the 2020 calendars will be finished!  

• I can teach some informal workshops - maybe a beginning spinning class? Shepherding? Fleece washing?  Sheep to Sweater discussion?  I'm open to suggestions!

• I've got lots of fiber related books I could set out for the "author area".

• Everyone can wear (or cast on ;-) their Rhinebeck Sweaters and I will take the portrait pictures.  

• Instead of a competition area, we can just show off our favorite yarns, shawls, sweaters, hats...

• Reg will bring in cider donuts from that terrible (in a good way ;-) donut shop in Winchester.

• And if we get really ambitious we Reg might even try to make the famous Artichoke French dish.

• The best part?  No pan flute music ;-D.  If you've been to Rhinebeck, you know why that's funny.  I actually kind of like it...but maybe not all day ;-).

So if you've got the Rhinebeck Blues, come out to the farm next Saturday the 19th from 10:00 - 4:00.  If possible, please RSVP via email so we make sure we have enough donuts, goodie bags...  Also, let me know what sort of workshop you'd like.  Or just bring a current project and sit on the porch and [sheep] watch.

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NOT to confuse things, the 9th Annual National Hug A Sheep Day Farm Party is still on the schedule for the following weekend, the 26th.  Yes, that will be two farm parties in two weeks :-o.

Hey, any excuse for donuts ;-).

[Sheep] Business Saturday

Because shopping with Maisie is way more

...um...interesting than going to the mall!

We are developing an exciting new program here in the commonwealth (Kentucky is a commonwealth, not a state), The Kentucky Fiber Trail.  Kentucky is already well known for it's Bluegrass Trail (horse farms) and Bourbon Trail.  Now you can discover fiber farms throughout the state as well!  

Our farm shop (and barnyard :-) will once again be open the Saturday after Thanksgiving (November 30, 2019) from 1:00-4:30 for Small Business Saturday.  We'll call it Sheep Business Saturday :-D.  

We'll have calendars, fleeces, roving, spindle kits, Christmas cards and ornaments, wool sheep pins, a few wool wreaths, maybe some felted sheep and for fun, let's make Maisie Orneries!  I'll have a basket of "Ornery"  supplies set out and teach you how to make your own wool roving wrapped ornament.  

So, come hide out (bring your wheel! :-) on the farm with us that Saturday and take care of all your sheep and fiber-y gift giving needs.  We promise you won't be mobbed by fellow shoppers...unless you have cookies ;-).  If you need directions, just drop me an email.  

Winter Wool Workshop - Part One

We had a great workshop! Everyone had fun, no one froze to death (although little Mira wasn't so sure about that!) and we all learned a lot :-).  This was my first farm workshop and I had the best of all possible students.  Super fun, well prepared, relaxed, patient, interested, interesting...  We also had fabulous wool!

Janbaby came down to help (thank you, thank you :-D) and luckily she thought to grab a couple  of short videos.  Here is a dorky (as always) one of me opening The Big Box from Nistock Farms.

I think this is Nistock Taffy (above) unrolled, but I didn't do a super job documenting everything so it may have been Nistock Freckles.  I should have added note taking to Janbaby's job description ;-). Next time!

How's that for a pretty lock?

On the other side of the spectrum, here is a shorter, finer Ile de France cross fleece.  Another shepherd offered to send three additional fleeces in exchange for some feedback and we were sure glad she did. In total we had six different fleeces from short and fine to medium and long and this super lovely gray fleece in between.

This is the daughter of the white fleece above.  The father was a Bluefaced Leicester and she sent the mother/daughter combo to show how well he'd upgraded the ewe.  And he really did!  

Ooh

Ahh

Nistock Luna was another favorite!

We ended up moving the skirting table outside in the sun after lunch.  It really was quite pleasant and I thought it was so neat seeing the wool out in the snow.  Something crazy that only I would like....except now I have some new crazy friends who'll be right out there with me ;-).

Not sure if you noticed the hay in the earlier picture.  We called this sheep The Boudreaux Cousin...and she actually probably is.  A beautiful long, soft black fleece that was just ripe for collecting everything.  In just a short while, with minimal effort, she was picked clean and ready to wash.  Now, if I can just get them to come back after Boudreaux's sheared ;-).

We pulled off chunks of each of the six fleeces, washed them and set them out to dry overnight. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of how we processed them.  And probably another picture of Miss Mira ;-D.

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Mug Update

Um, you guys, they are sold out!  I don't even know what to say.  Well, the first thing to say is Thank You!  I kept a few as gifts for our vets, sheep shearer, one for me... but there are nearly 100 mugs headed all over the country and one to Scotland!  Our funny little family waking up with our funny big family everywhere just makes me...I mean, how sweet is that!!!

Single mug orders are going out today and multi mug orders will go out tomorrow.  I'm sending quick emails as I copy down your address, so if you haven't received an email by the end of the day tomorrow, let me know.  We have enough mugs to fill everyone's order as of last night.  I placed a second mug order this morning and they should be here on the 13th.

Coffee and cookies for all!

Lamb Camp Begins!!!

We had a special guest at the workshop today. Say hello to Mira :-).  If you don't already know who she is, you can read her story on Sarah's blog, Shepherd Life.  

We had a great day today and were able to get a little wool work done...between lamb snorgles :-).

Ain't Skeered

First off, Holy Moly on the mug orders :-o.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!  With the Winter Wool Workshop this weekend, it's going to take me a couple days to get caught up on emails and probably Monday to start shipping.  I am so excited you like them!  

Speaking of emails, I messed up my email link in the mug post, so if you sent an email and it bounced back, I think the link is fixed now.  I will respond to every email, so if you don't get a response from me by Sunday, definitely re-send it.

And speaking of the Winter Wool Workshop, we won't be having any more of those!  From now on they will be called SPRING workshops as I've apparently jinxed us all.  We are still covered in snow and it's going to be 8 degrees this morning.  We'll be fine though.  We "ain't skeered" :-).

There will be snow ice cream for all!

That we can enjoy while sitting on the front steps.

Or out back.

Or maybe we'll just take a nice nap in the warm sun.  It really felt warm yesterday morning even though the thermometer said it wasn't.

I know we'll enjoy hanging out with our old and new friends.

While we ponder life's mysteries.

And pig out on goodies from the local bakery.

Or just bask in the sun.

We might have to bring out the scissors, because I don't think Rebecca Boone is going to make it to shearing.  She needs some eye holes!

I don't think Buddy's going to make it to shearing either!  "What?  The sun's shining?"

We will NOT be looking smug about having some new punching bags!

But mostly we'll be glad it's not -23 degrees.

Even Kate's excited by what might be in those two boxes of wool :-D.

Back Sunday!

Weekend Wrap Up

Technically it's still the weekend...for a few more minutes.  I'm really trying to keep myself "accountable" each week, so here's a quick post.  It was a bit of a crazy week.

The Winter Wool Workshop is going to be a blast.  We've got four really neat people coming in from four different states.  Robin is sending THREE pretty fleeces for us to work with and Baaxter is looking forward to being the bottle lamb representative because he knows Maisie will just be a Big Fat Brat...and he's probably right.

Speaking of Maisie, her yarn is finished.  I snapped this last night after I plied the last skein.  I was "okay" with it, but still not super happy.  I washed it today and you all can start throwing rotten tomatoes at me.  That yarn is Maisie through and through.

Here's the little darlin' now ;-).  I took some more nice sheep shots on Friday.  Would you rather see sheep or Maisie's finished yarn next?

I'll end with a teefers pic of sweet little Baby B trimming a tree that's growing too close to the fence. Always helpful.  I'm looking forward to spinning his wool this summer ;-).

So how did your week wrap up?

Winter Wool Workshop

I'm excited that there is good interest in a winter wool workshop! I think it will be a lot of fun :-).

Here's the plan:

The workshop will be two days, February 27th and 28th.  That's a Friday and Saturday.  We'll start both days at 10:00 and work through 3:00 with a break for lunch.  After class you are welcome to stay and explore the farm, play with the animals, work in the Wool House, help me with chores...

Friday will cover fleece selection, skirting and washing.  Since all of our 2014 fleeces have already been skirted and processed, Sheepmom is sending us a couple of her award winning Nistock Farm fleeces.  A few of our sheep were a bit crabby about that, but when I explained that someone here would have to volunteer to be shorn early, they quickly said "Send 'em on!" ;-).

Saturday we'll process our freshly washed wool.  I have a couple different types of combs, hand cards, flick cards and drum carders.  We'll spend some time with each method, find what works best with different types of wool (and people!) and by the end of the day have some beautiful ready to spin fiber.

There will be some down time on Friday while the fleece is soaking, so feel free to bring your wheel, knitting...  And if you don't have a wheel or a current knitting project and you'd like to learn, that would be a good time to give it a try!  

Likewise, if you have some of your own fleece (or fleeces ;-) you'd like to evaluate and skirt, bring them along.  Hopefully the weather will be gorgeous and sunny and warm, but if it's not, the skirting table will be set up in the heated tack room inside the barn :-).  

Because late winter/early spring weather can be iffy in Kentucky and we might all end up stuck indoors, I think it would be best to limit the number of participants to four.  The weather could very well be perfect, but you'd want to dress appropriately for how involved in the farm you'd like to be if it's not.  

We have a good bakery in town who will be catering our food so there's no risk of having to eat my cooking.  The B&B at The Old Boswell Place can accommodate several overnight guests and I can promise that will be a treat as well.  There is also a decent small motel in Cynthiana.

Cost for the workshop will be $125 for the weekend and that will include coffee, tea, snacks and lunches.  Please send me an email if you are interested.  I can then send you more information about travel and accommodations...

Sound like fun?  :-)

**I felt like I needed a "wool processing" picture to post with this so I scrolled back through the blog using that label and found the above picture of the sample of Maisie's pretty combed fleece.  The title and first line of the post was Her Fleece Was White As Snow... except for all the grease, dirt, hay, straw, chicken feathers, dog hair, wild flowers, burrs, tree bark, fishing lures and shotgun shells... ;-).

Yep, that's about it :-D.  Eight ounces of singles to go!