Lambing Prequel

Lambing season is due to start in a month, but there were early lambs yesterday, the result of not moving ram lambs out of the main flock soon enough. Yes, some 5 month old lambs are fertile. I saw one of these ewes being bred and the ram lambs were moved that day. So I don't anticipate anymore lambs until late February. When I went to the barn yesterday morning I moved the ewes to the back as I normally do so that I can feed hay without them near the feeders. I heard a baaa. It's pretty crowded back there with full-fleeced ewes. I walked through the flock but didn't see a lamb. Then I heard it again and looked back. This is a poor view of the sliding door at the south end of the barn.This is looking from the other end. This happened once before--a lamb stumbled into the opening between the door and the wall and then couldn't get out. Fortunately it wasn't wet or too cold that night.Here he is with mom, Dazzle, in the barn.

Farm club was here during the day, but that's for another post. Afterwards, Dan continued with his work in the barn. We have new lights in the lambing area!Dazzle's lamb was a surprise although I didn't have a breeding date for her, which was an indication that she may have already been bred. I went back out last night to check the ewe I expected to lamb.She was lambing and had nice big twins.These are some flashy looking lambs, especially the little ram on the right. If he grows up nicely, those markings would make him a very pretty show lamb. Too bad he doesn't have a known father so he can't be in the show. Maybe he'll make someone a nice fiber pet if he's wethered.Ginny was just a baby at last lambing season and wasn't out on her own much. Today it didn't take her long to discover a dog's favorite part of lambing time. I usually make sure the afterbirth is not dog-accessible but when it falls out of the wheelbarrow it's up for grabs.

Random January iPhone Photos

I am getting caught up on my photos and found some to share about life on the farm, life in the shop, and life in general (but not very profound).Its a good sign when the chickens start laying again. That means there is more daylight. I have 5 chickens, 1 of whom is old and the other is ancient. I don't expect eggs from the old chickens, but it's nice to know the young ones have kicked into high gear.Rain. That's a good thing, although I'm never really happy about dealing with the mud on the way to the compost (manure) pile.However, it's good when the manure pile is wet through and through. It will become a compost pile much more quickly. I was going to try these for dye but I went out today and they are all shriveled up. Not very long-lived.My friends came and did a Shop Intervention. I need to drastically change some things and get rid of the clutter. I still haven't dealt with that big box but that is all the newest Timm Ranch yarn. I need to get that on the website and start working with it. After the friends left  there was room......for a Learn to Weave class.Mid-January always means that I'm getting older as my youngest son celebrates his birthday. That isn't the full amount of candles he should have had, but it is bright enough!

Celebrate Hug a Sheep Day

Yes, it is Hug a Sheep Day and we'll be celebrating it here at the farm. Anyone can join us. So that those of you who have never hugged a sheep can get a feel for this I thought I'd share some sheep hugging photos.

The photos above are all of Farm Club members. If you join Farm Club you will have plenty of sheep hugging opportunities.My granddaughter on a visit out here last spring. This is another cute kid, the age my granddaughter is now, at Fiber Fusion. Chickens deserve hugs too. And baby goats. Now we're getting into the archives. This is my son about 10 years ago. Another sheep hug. Running with sheep. I love this photo. A couple of these girls are in college now.While I was searching photos I found this one. Doesn't have to do with hugging sheep, but it's two of my kids waking up in the dairy barn at the State Fair back in my dairy cow days. My mom drying off a newly born kid.But today will be all about hugging sheep.

The Week Following Dental Surgery--rams, Lambtown, Fibershed

Not a very good title... and it doesn't describe what I want to share in this post, but dental surgery was the event on Monday that set the tone for the week. I stayed on the codeine less than 24 hours because I don't like feeling so...well, drugged. I didn't feel too bad on Wednesday and some Farm Club friends came to help me set up breeding groups. It is always a challenge to find enough places to put the groups where there is no fence-line contact between rams.I left Faulkner in his area but expanded it to include the run next to it.

Ringo got the most ewes so he had the pasture.Rotor, one of the lambs born in March, went with his ewes to the horse pasture. We wondered if he'd be able to reach those ewes, but he's had no problem. I don't have a photo of Nash, the lilac ram. He went to the field behind the shop. Crosby and Alex were left in the ram pen.The non-breeding group includes the ewes to be bred in February for lambing at the State Fair, their lambs, some of the ewe lambs that I'm keeping, other ewe lambs for sale, and this year 4 ewe lambs that are sold but haven't left yet. It's a lot of sheep to keep away from the rams but I barricaded them in the area around the barn.Our resident white-tailed kites, seen from the barn.

One of the adult rams, Alex, was picked up by his new owner on Thursday so I put the few remaining ram lambs with Crosby to keep him company for the day. On Friday I took 7 sheep, including Crosby, Nash, and Rotor to Lambtown for the sheep show on Sunday. Normally I am a vendor at Lambtown but this year there was a conflict with an event I had really wanted to attend and where I knew that I'd sell well. So I took sheep for the weekend but attended Fibershed on Saturday. It's a good thing. I probably should have stayed home entirely but at least the Fibershed event was easier than doing a full vendor booth at Lambtown.Here are two of the sheep pens at Lambtown and my meager display.Saturday was the Grow Your Jeans event that was the culmination of over a year's planning and work by the Fibershed team. There are photos and a description of the work involved in growing cotton and indigo in the nearby Capay Valley and the dyeing, weaving, and pattern-making of these locally produced jeans at this link. The Grow Your Jeans event featured these jeans as well as "grass-fed tops", the shirts and accessories worn with them on the straw-bale fashion show runway. The new felt banner was made by FC friend, Jackie, of Sheep to Shop.

Prior to the fashion show attendees could shop at the vendor booths and eat fabulous local food. (At least it looked fabulous. I stuck to my yogurt and cottage cheese.)I brought handwoven pieces, horn buttons, and lambskins. I did very well as far as sales, but, unfortunately by this point, I was not in the best of shape. I just wanted to be home on the couch. These pillows are stuffed with local wool in an cover of organic cotton. They both sold. This is my "grass-fed top" on the left. It is Timm Ranch wool woven in 16-shaft huck lace. The weft is dyed with osage orange from across the road.The fashion show took place in an old dairy barn. Prior to the show, Rebecca and the others involved in creating the jeans told about their parts in the project.I stood just outside to get a photo of the model wearing my shawl.  I stepped back inside to see the last part of the show. Two of the models came out carrying this flag.Along with all of the other aspects of Fibershed that Rebecca spearheads, she has also been involved with the re-introduction of hemp as a valued agricultural crop in Kentucky. It's a long story and you can read some interesting articles here. This is one of five flags to be woven from the veteran-grown hemp project. They use Sally Fox's California grown cotton for warp and Kentucky hemp for weft. The first flag went to Farm Aid and this is the second one. I thought it was a fabulous way to end the evening's program. Kind of gives you chills.

I am not doing justice here to the whole event. Everything that Fibershed puts on is exceedingly well done and the message is so important. I am grateful to be involved in this movement even in a small way.

It was a long drive home to Bolinas that night and then there was still Lambtown the next day. I had a ride to and from so started in on the codeine. On Saturday Farm Club friends had been on the winning Sheep to Shawl team. This is the fabulous blanket that they spun and wove.

After the sheep show I doubled up on the codeine and waited for my husband to come drive the sheep home.