Close to Home...Interrupted by Orange Kitty

I think I've written 9 blog posts about my show, Close to Home. There are more to go but I have to interrupt the series briefly. About five days ago the dogs were barking at something in the yard. Well, Maggie is always barking at the squirrels outside the yard but this time it was an orange cat who had it's back up and was hissing. I got the dogs in the house but the cat was gone when I went back outside.

Monday I was teaching a weaving class and Maggie wouldn't stop with the barking. I brought her in the shop with us but she started to bark when I let her out again. Rusty was no where to be seen which is unusual. I found him in the garden area staring (as only a Border Collie does) under the house. It was evident that the dogs had been digging there and that someone (my guess is Maggie) had been chewing at the wood beam that holds up the house. I blocked off the area so that at least our house would remain intact. Tuesday before the weaving class started up for the day the dogs were at it again but this time in the cellar access. I went down there (with all the cobwebs and other creepy things) and found the orange cat. I donned leather gloves and caught it. The class was going to start so I put it in a crate in the barn for the day. When I went out later I discovered that it was a "he" and he was a young very grateful-to-be-petted kitty. I didn't want to leave him in the small crate in the barn all night so I thought I'd put him in a larger crate in my shop. That didn't last long.  After I got back from a Board meeting at the Artery I brought the crate in the house and the kitty spent most of the evening in my lap while I sat at the computer. Note Ozzie who blends into the darkness on the windowsill.I

 This morning I put up a fence and let the kitty on the back porch where there is a litter-box.  (Did you know that Wordpress corrects cat box to read hatbox?) Everyone watched.

 Ozzie could come and go but remained skeptical. I spent longer than I should have, not watching kitten videos, but taking kitten videos. Later I put the kitten back in the crate while I was outside. Tonight I let him out on the back porch again with the fence to keep him contained.I guess that was a short-lived solution to keeping him in a safe area.

The New Sheep

New sheep have joined the flock. Ingrid and Alan from Puddleduck Farm in Oregon delivered ewes and a ram. The two yearling ewes went in with my yearling ram, Alex.  The flock came to investigate. The two new girls are at the top in this photo. I'm not sure of their names. Ingrid is sending in registration papers and their names will be listed. After everyone else went about their own business Alex continued to follow them around.  They weren't too happy with Alex. "Maybe this guy is better."   "No, I guess not." "I guess we're stuck with this guy. At least he's in the grass." 

Pocket Photos in the Pasture

I like this idea of Pocket Photos. Not pictures of pockets, but just whip the phone out and take photos. These were taken in the pasture yesterday and today. Can you tell what that one is? Look below to see it from the other direction.  That web stands out with the sun behind it. Sometimes these are face-height and you really don't want to walk into that. Yesterday afternoon I mowed three paddocks that the sheep had grazed. I will irrigate tomorrow and I hope that by mowing the  tall dallisgrass stalks that are left after I move the sheep it will give more opportunity for the annual grasses to start growing. The recent rain started some germination but I think that this last irrigation should bring up more. At one point the mower stopped working. Fortunately Dan had just got home. He doesn't usually work on the tractor in teacher clothes--it's pretty hard to stay clean around tractors and barns. Speaking of barns, see that cement? That used to be a wall that created a doorway in the ram pen. This small area with cement walls is the "whiskey barn" because we were told that whiskey was stored here during Prohibition. The only reinforcement in these cement walls seems to be a few strands of barbed wire running through them. No rebar. I don't know if the rams pushed this by rubbing or if one of them hit it when he was fighting. The rams are feisty. This ewe is obviously in heat because she hung around the outside of the ram pen all day. This is the second day in a row that the rams have broken the electric wire that runs around the inside of their pen. That coincides with the second day that the ewes have been directly across the fence here. Tonight I moved the rams to a more secure location. We have to get through a couple more days without mishap. On Friday one of them will go to Lambtown for the sheep show and the other is sold and will be picked up this weekend. After Lambtown the remaining ram and a new one (as soon as I can get him) will be put with the ewes.  

This afternoons's job was to weed-eat the ditches in preparation for irrigating tomorrow. Not only will the water flow better for more effective irrigation but we are working hard with the Mosquito Abatement District to minimize mosquito propagation. That means getting the water off the fields and out of the ditches as quickly as possible once irrigation is finished.  We recently bought a trash pump to help with that as well. This is the ditch at the north end of the pasture after weed-eating the north side of it (looking east). This is after I cleaned up the south side of that ditch (looking west).  This ditch is at the south end of the property before  (looking east)......and after (looking west). I used 3 tanks of gas and had to add more string to the weed-eater to get through this. The sheep don't mind me working while they graze.

Photos in my Pocket

What do I mean by Photos in my Pocket?  From my phone, of course.  These are photos I took in the last couple of days that I took only because I just happened to have the phone with me.This is the time of year when the dallisgrass gets away from me. The sheep can't keep up as it gets taller and coarser. In addition the seed heads get sticky from a fungus and then adhere to the sheep. This is one of the BFL-cross March lambs. Cascade wearing dallisgrass.Yearling ewe named Ears. Everyone recognizes this spider that I saw when I opened the lid of the garbage toter.   We've had some beautiful sunsets the last few days. And in the shop......this is a warp made of yarn in my stash, most of which my mom spun years ago. The weft is Jacob yarn.

New Perspective in the Pasture

I took my new lens to the pasture. I needed to get current lamb photos for the website.Probably not the best place for photos where you can really see the sheep.But I found other things to amuse me. I found that with this lens it's easier to stalk butterflies... ...and other creatures.    I get a new perspective on everything.

Farm Club Helps Again

We had a couple of impromptu Farm Days--these are days when I have a list of things to be done and I e-mail Farm Club to find out who can come on which days. They come. We work. We talk. Everyone gets dirty and enjoys themselves. Win-Win. This time we set up two days. On Tuesday Mary and Dona came. Thanks to Dona for most of the Tuesday photos. I usually forget to take photos when we're all working together. First we cleaned the barn. Three shovels are faster than one! Next I wanted to sort out all the ewe lambs so I could make a  decision about which lambs to enter in the Lambtown Sheep Show in October and make notes about which lambs to keep in the flock.

I called the sheep in while Dona took photos.  An enthusiastic response. There was only a little bit of coercion by shaking a bucket of grain. We took  a little time out for Lamb Cuddling......and selfies.  After selecting our two show lambs and an alternate...

... we started halter breaking. It is amazing the difference a few days of 10 minutes sessions makes.

We had been having a discussion of show prep. One reason that I show Jacob sheep is that most often there is no show prep. You do your best to keep them free of VM (vegetable matter) but they are shown in their natural state without the primping that goes on with other breeds. However, having a show in October pushes the limits of being able to present clean sheep. Not only are the sheep in almost full fleece with a whole summer's worth of dust, but there is the problem of the late summer grasses that go to seed. I coated the two yearlings and the three lambs that were chosen for the show, but I thought we could try a couple of other things too.This is Mae, a yearling ewe letting me know that she really didn't want to be the guinea pig for this experiment. Jackie loaned me a blower. I have seen some people use blowers, particularly on Shetland sheep. There may be potential to remove the superficial VM, but it is not going to remove stickery things like foxtails that are deeper in the fleece. And if it's used too close to the sheep it changes the character of the fleece. It may be worth experimenting with a little more. I don't think it was a favorite of the sheep.

 However, it is fun to make cool designs in the wool! Next we tried washing half each of two sheep to compare the two sides later on. I have been told that cheap hair conditioner used 30 days before the show works well. We chose two non-show sheep for the experiment. Again, the sheep were not impressed and I wasn't either. I think I didn't use enough conditioner and should have used a spray nozzle.

On Sunday, several Farm Club members were able to come. Amy, Stephany, Alison, and Joy were here. There are not too many photos of this day. We started by catching all the ewe lambs again and weighing them. We gave more halter lessons to the show lambs and a few of the others that I am going to keep. After that Rusty brought in the ram lambs.We had only a slight mishap because as we put them in one gate of the barn I realized that the other was still open. They mingled with all the ewes and we had to sort them again. It's not hard at this age because the horns make it obvious which are the ram lambs. We selected two rams for the Lambtown show and discussed which ram lambs to keep for next year's breeding. More on that in another blog post. Those rams had halter lessons and then went back to Ram Lamb Land...away from the ewes.We caught the big rams, looked at their fleeces and discussed the breeding line-up. Then we took many wheelbarrow loads out of the ram pen.

Thanks to all of you who were able to come and help.

Swallow Silhouettes

The last few mornings I have seen a family of swallows on the wires near the house. The photo above was taken through the window. The rest of the photos were taken tonight after getting back from walking the dogs. There were four young swallows wanting to be fed. The photos aren't great, but I enjoy the series.

Stalking Butterflies

I took my camera with me to change the pasture fence this morning. I shouldn't do that if I have things to do. I get distracted by things like dew drops and butterflies and flowers. I didn't realize how many different butterflies are here because I usually pay more attention to warm-blooded creatures.  I thought I'd google "butterflies of Solano County" so that I could identify these. There are dozens on the list (without photos) so I guess I'll just enjoy them without names.  I also didn't know how hard it is to sneak up on a butterfly before it flits away. How do they know? It's easier to take photos of flowers.   Have you seen the rare Wool Flower? It occurs only in fields where sheep have grazed. 

 The sheep were not amused while I was in the pasture and they were not. That's Athena on the left and Phyllis on the right pawing at the gate.

Family Resemblance

Fanny was one of my favorite sheep, not because of personality because she wasn't very friendly. But look at those horns. Striking horns for a ewe.Here is another photo of Fanny.This is Fanny's daughter, Fran. She is 6 years old now.Here is Fandango, Fran's daughter, now 2 years old. I hope her horns continue to grow as well as her mom's and grandmother's horns.  This is Fandango's daughter, born in March.

An August Morning

(Note: I don't know why the photos imported smaller and the spaces between text and photos are so large. I don't think I did anything different than usual. Sometimes this computer stuff drives me crazy.) I have plenty to do but when I take my camera with me life slows down.

View behind the barn in the morning.

Cattle egrets roosting at the edge of the pasture.

White-tailed kites in the tree at the other edge of the pasture. I've been hearing a lot of squawking out of them the last few days. The one on the left with the brown feathers is a juvenile...."Dad, pulleeze let me have the keys."

Views from the pasture.

This is the ewe lamb born last at the State Fair.

BFL cross ewes.

Hay truck whizzing by. Won't you stop here?

One of my favorite flowers because it is so good in the pasture. Birds foot trefoil.

Mockingbird behind the barn.

Phyllis is the oldest sheep here.

Sheep Portraits

The sheep bed down around the barn at night and this morning took their time about moving to the pasture.Here are some sheep who posed for portraits (and, for those of you who care, some ancestry info). 5-year old Moon (bide a wee Yuri x Hillside Luna's Harvest) Yearling, Sophia  (Kenleigh's Matrix x Meridian Jazz) Yearling, Cascade (Meridian Miller x Meridian Sierra) Yearling, Mae (Meridian Miller x Meridian Mary). She must have been looking in the mirror when she wrote the number on her tag? 5-month old BFL cross who I am keeping. No name yet. (Faulkner x Dazzle) 5-month old lamb who may stay here. (Meridian Miller x Meridian Vicki)  5-month old lamb who I want to keep (Meridian Hendrix x Meridian Alison) Someone is hiding behind the dallisgrass.  It's the wether, Jimmy...who I may just rename to Jake, because I tend to call all wethers Jake.This is two year old Onyx, a BFL cross.  This is one of the newest members of the flock. (Meridian Miller x Meridian Donna.) Six lambs were born in July at the State Fair. This is her brother. This is a gorgeous lilac ram lamb (Meridian Alex x Meridian Phyllis), just what I've been waiting for....except those horns on his right are growing together and his horn set will be horribly asymmetrical. He won't be registrable. Out to the pasture. "Mom!""MOM !!!"  

Vacation Interlude - Back to Work

I'm on Day 4 of describing our wonderful vacation to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone last week, but I will insert a post of what I am doing now that I'm back home. This is the north fence of the pasture. This is AFTER grazing. The sheep don't venture in this far once the combination of dallisgrass and blackberries grow so thick. Access is hampered since there is an irrigation ditch just in front of this mess (the left part of the photo).  There is a fence under there.  This was yesterday morning's achievement.  I dumped the branches in the corral and the sheep were happy to work on defoliation when it was easier.However I'm not happy that the branches  get stuck in their wool. This morning's task was to finish the  job.    There are plenty of these still on what is left and they will be easier to get to. With my luck though they will all ripen just about the time that I go to Texas for the birth of my granddaughter. By the way, you'd think that I'd come up with another solution to this problem. See this post from just over a year ago. Maybe some strategic fencing to hold some sheep right at that fence line.

Stay tuned for our adventures in Yellowstone!

Around the Farm in May

I went back through my i-phone shots during May, most of which I deleted. But here is a collection of what I thought was photo-worthy at the time.Sheep on new pasture lining up at the blackberry buffet.Goose on the roof. There was another just out of site on the high part of the barn. Note ongoing wool washing activity. Also blooming bottle brush in the background...…which makes it clear where Rusty was hiding out. Felt flower done by someone who came to my weaving class. Baby wrap brought by another weaving student. I had no idea that baby wraps were in such huge demand and people will pay huge prices for them. I'd love to weave some but my shoulders start hurting just thinking of weaving yards and yards of relatively fine threads, even on my AVL. What I wouldn't give to have joints that were 20 years younger. Playing with the iPad when I should have been sleeping I found this cool app that turns your photos into paintings.  Mom's and babies. This is Laura and twins.Jazz and triplets. I spent a huge amount of time this month sorting fleeces that were beautiful except that they were filled with obnoxious burr clover. A lot had to be thrown out. This wool is finally  in route to the mill. I found this tom cat with a foxtail in his eye, huge ticks on his neck, and very weak and skinny. Through the wonders of Facebook within 24 hours he was on his way to a new home where I hear that a vet has ruled out any severe problems other than starving and he is eating up all the food and TLC he can handle. My latest attempt at gardening in my raised beds that have been gopher-ravaged is to try straw bale gardening. I am in the phase of watering the bale to start it decomposing. Then you add fertilizer, keep watering, and then plant. My hope is that a gopher will not tunnel all the way up through the bale.

Only a Mother Could Love...

There are dozens of baby birds in the barn.  This nest is at the top of a bunch of rain gutters and downspouts that I (with great intentions during  a severe storm) bought a couple of years ago and are obviously not yet in their proper place. Note raw material easily found in around the barn. They remind me of Dr. Seuss characters. "MOM!"  Or maybe more something from Jurassic Park. I think you have to be a mother bird to love this face.

Things I see on the way to the barn

 Pink bottlebrush Look at how tiny this new leaf is.  One of my special iris plants that I got from Pleasants Valley Iris Farm. Another one of the special irises. This rose  looks fairly common but the fragrance is spectacular.Same for this one. These roses were on this property when we moved here in 1999. We moved them to their current locations. They don't get much TLC, but hang in there. Several of the roses also have branches from rootstock growing up around them. I can easily identify those branches when they are flowering, but I hate to cut them off when they are so pretty.Yarrow.Amaryllis (not a flower).

Meet the Sheep

Our annual spring open house on Saturday was a huge success. This event couldn't happen without the help of Farm Club members and, this year, the Davis Spinners' Guild (DSG). Farm Club members were here on Friday for set-up and showed up early Saturday for last minute touches.  There are a variety of sheep related displays.But the biggest attractions are the animals and the demos. Julie's 3-week old Angora bunnies were very popular... 

…as were the lambs. FC member, Mary held lambs for people all day (and suggested that next year we use smaller lambs!).

Jazz, mom of the triplets that were out for people to pet, made herself just as popular, calling to people to come back and continue petting.

As popular as the animals, were the demonstrations scheduled throughout the day.This is Farm Club (and DSG) member, Alison, showing her passion for...cleaning fleece with a fermented suint vat.   Vera, of the Davis Spinners' Guild, demonstrated use of the blending board...

...and spindle spinning. 

Kathleen, FC and DSC member wove with an audience all day.Many people brought their wheels and spent the day spinning.

FC member, Lisa, always has a carrot for Amaryllis.    She and Dona (who took some of these photos) demonstrated needle felting.

Dona, Jackie,and Colleen offered items for sale.   

Of course my shop was open and there were even sheep inside! 

There was much more going on and many more people helping then I have in photos here. Thanks to all of them. There are no photos of Rusty in this post but he wrote his own and you can find out what he thought of the day here.

Spring Shearing in a Big Way

A couple of friends and I went to see shearing on a commercial sheep ranch about 30 miles south of here. We got there in just enough time to see the last part of shearing 3000 sheep in 2 1/2 days.The original flock was made up of Corriedale sheep and over the years was crossed with Targhee and other commercial white-faced sheep. The sheep are gathered at the back of a trailer that is hauled from ranch to ranch with all the gear. They go up the chute with the encouragement of...…Border Collies as well as people.Here is a view from the other end of the trailer. That sheep in front hangs out for awhile in that position because the other sheep are more likely to go forward if they see a sheep in front of them. Notice how the sheep walk on a raised alleyway while the freshly shorn fleeces are shoved out of the trailer below them.Here is a photo of the inside of the trailer. There are seven shearers at work. The sheep walk forward on the raised alley. Fleeces are pushed out beneath.When the shearer is ready for the next sheep he pulls the door down with his foot and flips the sheep off the alleyway into position for shearing.

After the sheep are shorn they are sent out the doors on the other side of the trailer.

 The fleeces are scooped from the trailer and quickly examined by a sorter/classer who determines where they end up. The fleeces are thrown into the appropriate pile. My friends who owns the ranch had requested that the finer fleeces shorn on that day be put aside for us to look at. It turns out that even the not-so-fine fleeces seemed just as nice to us. Last year's core samples indicated that most of this flock's wool graded in the mid-20's (microns) and the finer fleeces were in the low 20's. For reference Jacob fleece ranges from about 25-35 microns and most of mine is probably about 28 to 29 microns. So all of this wool is finer than what I am used to using. The fine fleece pile is the one nearest the table. The pile to the left are tender fleeces (fleeces that have a weak place usually due to nutritional stress or illness). The pile just barely visible behind the plywood is the "not as fine" pile. We chose our fleeces (all of the fine pile and a lot of the one behind the plywood) and the remaining wool was quickly baled.  The wool is shoved into this wool press...

…and compacted... …and sealed into bales that are marked with the pertinent information. I forgot to ask how much these weigh but on-line sources say they would hold 240 to 450 pounds each. Before we left the shearing trailer was pulling out and everyone was getting ready to go to the next job.Freshly shorn sheep turned out to graze.

In about six months I hope to have blankets woven from this wool. They will be available at the Artery and the Fibershed Marketplace.

Moms and Babies on a Spring Morning

 Sweetie  Alison Mud Ranch's Ginseng Kreutzer Farms Kyra Lulu with triplets Mary EarsSonata Some of these ewes are for sale. You can see details on the website.

Fifty Lambs So Far

I talked to a friend of mine today and she asked what has happened since I wrote about Marilyn's fleece in the post about a week ago. Hmmm. I guess it's been about 40 more lambs here for a total of 50. I think there are about a dozen still to lamb. Here are some photos and you can go to YouTube for videos of lambing and lambs playing. Meridian Loretta x Meridian Hendrix Meridian Jane x Meridian Miller Twin to the last one.Meridian Jazz with triplets sired by Meridian Miller.I'm not sure what happened here. This is less than half a lamb at 3.8 pounds. This lamb was up and nursing when I found it and hasn't needed any help. It's the smallest lamb I've ever had here.   These are 5 of the 6 yearlings that I kept from last year's lamb crop. They sure look different than a year ago.

Loretta's lambs

  This lamb is missing his Jacob facial markings, but I still like these photos. He was on his feet and walking in less than 10 minutes. The twin has all the right spots. You can watch their birth in this video.