Thanksgiving weekend means. . .

The rams get to go spend a few weeks of quality time with the ewes.  They've thought they were in Jail.

The ewes were getting a little antsy. . .

And sometimes, cruel.

"That coat is too small. It makes you look FAT, you know."

Warm November

I've been taking lousy photos lately;  maybe because I don't take the camera outside (or myself) until late afternoon, and the danged sun goes down at 5 or so. The light is bluish and gray by 4pm--

But the little new Finn ewe, "TRP Number 20" stood still nicely for me, and I got this one.  My daughter wants to call her Kimi, I believe.  A Finn boys' name, but she likes the sound of it.

I'm trying to make myself part with some more ewes.  I think lambing 20 in spring will drive me crazy, but I seem to have a rational reason for keeping them all.  Next summer I will have to hold a Clearance Sale.

Outside, now, to do pruning and digging/moving some small trees.  We know what weather will soon be here.

New Finn Ewes, Oh boy!

The Finns I can get locally are fine sheep, of Wee Croft lineage, bred at Gale Woods Farm by Tim Reese, the Farm manager.  Gale Woods is a teaching farm park in Minnetrista, MN.  Tim's flock is certified scrapie-free and tested for OPP.  I was thrilled to get 3 new Finn ewes from him.  This black girl with the big white splash on her forehead also has a white foot.  She was sheared last month-- while her "sister", who to my eye looks modified black, or emsket in Shetland terms-- was not.    I was stunned to really see her color today.

You see, I wasn't even going to buy this solid colored ewe, but she came up to me and laid her head on my thigh.  She's a love, and look at that wool!

Of course, it's the spotted cow of a sheep that first caught my eye.  What a splashy look!

They're a little spooky in their new yard.  This lineup was caused when the farm cat walked by!

The Homeless Sheep have Homes

Hooray!  I offered the re-homed sheep on Best Farm Buy Classifieds (have all of you found these?  It's national.) and a young man and his lovely bride decided shepherding was for them.  (P.S.-- if you can teach me how to make a hyperlink within the blog, I would just link to the Classifieds.  Thanks!)
It's fun mentoring someone who's just getting set up to raise sheep.

If you recall, 3 ewes had come back here from a neighbors';  one, who had some possible mastitis? problem  while she was with them, I decided I should keep, to keep an eye on next season.  One, LittleRedOak (LRO) Mallow, went to a farm in New Prague with her sister, LRO Catnip (boo hoo, we will miss her).
The new, young shepherd is taking Mallow's daughter, Mindy, along with Easter Lily, one of the spring orphan twins (I know, how could we do that!) and two more of our little brown ewes.
He will have a nice starter flock.  Also rescued by him was the little black ram who was GOING to go to the butcher-- the one whose photo was shown here a month ago, eating a pumpkin.

I'm feeling fortunate to have the time and money to arrange these pairings.  These sheep are all fortunate.  They will be well cared-for.

NOT Sheep-related. . . well, a little

Today my stepdaughter became a lawyer.  As her attorney-family member-sponsor, I made probably the only appearance and motion to the Minnesota Supreme Court that I ever will.  Here we are before the microphone, in front of the stage at Roy Wilkens Auditorium, St. Paul, where the Justices are seated.  I am the small, gray haired lady with long skirt and sensible shoes, saying, "May it please the court, my name is Gail ______ and I am a member of the Minnesota Bar.  I wish to present Shana_____, my stepdaughter.  I move that she be admitted to practice law in the state of Minnesota."

Or some such words as that.  To which Chief Justice Magnuson smiled down and said, "Counsel, your motion is granted."  It was a big day for Shana and admittedly, for me! 
I remember it was Justice Alan Page who said those words for me, in his deeply resonant voice, 9 years ago.   Slightly less than 800 new lawyers were sworn in today in Minnesota.
After a celebratory lunch with our little family, her grandparents and another lawyer-sister-in-law, we all went  back to our regular lives.

I came home, peeled off the suit jacket, skirt and nylons, put on farmer jeans, and said, "ahhhh".

Okay, I guess I will close on a sheepie note:  I believe that the unnamed ewe lamb in my last post, and a few more  ewes have found a new home;  we'll meet the prospective new shepherds tomorrow.  And-- Emily liked Mindy for the little ewe's name.  All's well that ends well.

Mallow's ewe lamb needs a name

I was a little anxious about settling the sheep back in that we had sold last year to my neighbors-- but it's going well.  While Abby and Mallow were away, Mallow had this little ewe lamb-- pretty girl, but she doesn't trust us yet.  We did not help matters when we descended on the quarantined girls with hypodermics (annual CDT shots) and icky white Valbazen for worming.  PLUS we sat them on their behinds to check for hoof trimming-- and found dozens of burrs matted into their long wool.  We cut out quite a few.  They hated this, of course, so we limited the trimming to biggish felted mats and burrs on the belly that the ewes would lay on if they weren't cut away. 

We hoped they appreciated that.  We also saw that Abby's udder looks/feels fine!  So the question of her having mastitis in May remains a mystery. 

As I said, the ram went to the freezer--his hide is drying in the pole shed.  I trimmed and salted it;  I plan to send it to Stern's in Milwaukee to make another sheepskin rug if his fleece  is useable.  I think Stern's can make his wool a "shearling" pelt,  trimming his burrs out.

This little girl. . . has no name.  A wildflower, like her mother, Mallow?  We'll have to think about this.

She is available to go to a new home. 

Mallow's going to live with Lori & Norm in New Prague, with her full sister, Little Red Oak Catnip.  Catnip is my brown and white spotted ewe who's seen on these blog pages a LOT.  Lori has Polypays who are NOT friendly and she decided she needed some sheep who love their shepherds.   We love Catnip, too, but trust that she will do well with Lori.  And we have so many ewes from Catnip's line, now.

It's raining again in Minnesota.  I'm getting quite sick of this-- maybe I DON'T want to retire in Washington, where it rains so much!

I had a load of gravel and sand hauled in yesterday and spread in the old lean-to so the sheep have a dry floor.  Good thing-- today it's rained all day long.  You know my rusty, trusty shed (see Feb. 16, 2009 blog entry for a photo).  The bobcat / excavation guy who did the spreading said that he's usually asked "how much?" to knock down a shed like that.   I was not insulted.  I hung Christmas lights in and around it after he left, spread straw inside and invited the sheep back in.

Someone Else's chickens, free to a good home! Cheap Sheep, EDITS incl.

Buff Orpington Roosters, two.  Beautiful, shiny feathered big boys, hatched last spring under the neighbor's granary.  Seems their rooster dad does not know or care that they are kin and won't let them into the henhouse at night.  Free to a good home, says my neighbor-- but I, personally,  don't want to offend my resident rooster.  I told them I would post here looking for a home.
We are near Norwood Young America, look that up.  And Google Buff Orpington for a chicken picture, I didn't take one.  (Though my golden hen, the mama of Baby Duck girl, in past posts, is a Buff Orp). 

On another note, I called a different neighbor, the one who bought a little flock from me last year, to tell him I had homes for his little flock if he didn't want them anymore.  I knew he'd lost his full time job and thought he probably didn't have much time for them, working two part-time jobs to make up for the job loss.
He said yes, and I am thrilled to have my sheepies back again. Though not the ram, who has big nice horns-- LRO Anders is out of  LRO Amy and FirthofFifth don Telmo Bourbon.  He threw spots all over his harem last year, though he is moorit.  You know my position on  horns, and I have my breeding groups made up already 
EDIT HERE:  Anders went to Taylor Meats this morning.  I learned on Saturday that he was a basher, and I didn't think there was a lot of hope for him since he was so inclined.

 EDIT here:  I DO have a good home for at least one of the sweet, moorit girls.
There is another 2009 moorit girl, pretty, crimpier than her mom, wavy long fleece-- Anders and LittleRedOak Mallow's.  Her twin was spotted.

This spotty is LRO Abby, b. 2007.  I'm afraid her interim shepherd left a case of mastitis untreated, so I worry about her udder.  I'll check it when I can-- she has only thrown singles in two seasons, now, so at least that bodes well, if she's bred again.

Oh yeah, Clean Sheep

On one nice day last week in our otherwise wet and cold Midwestern fall weather, I strolled about looking for model sheep.  In the week or two of rain-- hardy sheep steadfastly waiting it out outdoors-- the sheep's fleeces got so nice and clean!  It was a pleasure to see.  A visit to the big boys-- only 3 remain for this fall's breeding:
In front, Kimberwood Leonardo, a polled Shetland ram.
Behind him, LittleRedOak Shawn, a scurred mioget Shetland with crimpy fleece that I've only seen on BFLs (Bluefaced Leicesters) and my own Finnsheep,
and behind him, Osmo the finn ram, from Tim Reese's flock at Gale Woods Farm.  Osmo is 1-1/2 times the size of my Shetlands, and hornless-- a pacifist, a sweetheart.

The other rams who will winter here are White Pines Parker, a scurred musket Shetland I got from Sabrina at Boston Lake a few rainy cold weeks ago.  Behind Parker is LittleRedOak March, a son of Kimberwood Leonardo and Minwawe November.  He has button scurs, and we are trying for polled rams all around.  Hmm, I just realized, all the rams are brown in one form or another. . .  Oh well, we have different colored girls.

This is little LittleRedOak Elise, whose mom (Bramble Elsie) moved away this summer.  Her fleece sample was the finest of all the lambs I tested.

And my old friend Twin Brooks Palisade, whose fleece is still jet black after 5 years or so.  If ONLY she'd give me a ewe lamb-- Always rams!  With big horns! I would let her retire or move to another farm and I'd keep her lamb.  I don't really want the super nice horns she throws on rams, but I want that black, glossy fleece.

Maple certainly cleaned up nicely.  Note the sheen on the wool-- reflecting sunlight-- on the wool on top of her back:

And her baby, Linden:

And finally, what you get when you tell your young ones to go out and take sheep pictures for you:

Ducky and Mama break free; Clean sheep & Barn

After the rain, but before the snow-- we let the chickens and ducks free range again. All summer they must stay in a biiiiiiggg electronet-fenced circle around their chicken house, so the fox doesn't get them (again) and then they also leave my garden alone.

Well, the garden is history.  Mama Hen and her adopted daughter, duck hen, went out scratching the garden frostbit leftovers with all the other fowl.  Ms. Duck still follows her mom, but is on friendly terms with the strange ducks she's getting to know.  She's behind Mama Hen, here:

Poppy the bottle dog sheep lamb wondered about these funny creatures, chickens:

My neighbor, Jeremy, did a few hours' labor for us in exchange for many big round bales of grass hay we've let him take for years, now.  He's a mighty bobcat operator, and the old sheep leanto hadn't been cleaned out for these 4-5 years.  He made quite a  compost mountain for us. 

Farm-wife wanna-bes, I do think he's still single. ;-)  (He'd kill me for this, I think.)

Okay, I think I reached my photo limit, again.  Coming up next, you guessed it, more sheep pictures!

October?

It snowed today, and stayed on the ground all day.  'S'okay with me, I have a LOT of apples, squash, peppers, you get the idea. . . that all need attention, Indoors.
We knew it was going to freeze last Thursday, so we cut all the squash from the vines and brought them in:

So does anyone know the name of this type?  I think that green polka dots turning tan was its final stage;

I can't find its type online anywhere.  We had bought a lonely potted seedling at a nursery labeled "Winter Squash". 

If you recall the giant pumpkins in the lambing barn-yard, here's "the morning after".  Three are in my laundry room now, waiting out this week of freezing weather. 

All the rest went to the sheep.  This guy got a haircut in advance of going "on the truck" to the restaurants.  His fresh black pelt is SO black. 

One of the 5 boys kept here kept his fleece; he's going to have a new job adding color to some Polypay girls in a flock-- they've produced 2 black ewes already.
 

In the freezing weather, fiber-friend Angie and I set up a sale booth at a Harvest and Fiber Fair event at Gale Woods Farm Park, a beautiful teaching farm near here.  We got to set up free if we were teaching, so we spun all day and talked to children, mostly, about it. 

It's a good thing we did that, as sales were about nonexistant.  The food and company were great, however. 
I'm afraid I went to look at their Finnsheep and ended up ordering two more ewes.  I had to!  Beautiful ewe lambs going to the butcher!  Pictures in a week or more--

I'd better cut this short, I think I'm limited on how many photos I can put on one post.  To be continued!

Fall busy-ness

Every season has its busy-ness, except winter.  Settling sheep in new homes takes first priority now, as the number of sheep remaining for winter tells me how many bales of hay I'll need -- about 20 per sheep.
So far, I'm a hundred bales short--maybe--two more sheep may go to a pet home soon.  Oh why didn't  DH get the phone number of the nice lady who said she'd be back for those 2 ewes after their barn was finished . . .  I'd better have an extra 40 bales.
See how that goes?  40 bales takes up a lot of barn space, some cash-- we don't make our own hay anymore, and have to buy some. 

Simultaneously, I'm canning, freezing and giving away all the garden produce;  apples now, too.  I'm drying a lot of apples in the little dehydrator.  Better snacks than pretzels, I think!
We've also been cutting and cleaning up limbs from a big tree.  Two weeks ago a young man came out to cut curly willow for his wedding decorations. We have these curly willow trees, I advertised it on Craigslist. . . he happened to be a tree trimmer by trade.

I have had a  Huge, dying ash tree--

We both got a very good deal, there.  Love those country trades.

Today I had a visit from some fiber-friends met through this blog.  They drove 2-1/2 hours in the rain to show and tell wool crafts-- Candy and Connie were here most of the day.  And a cousin and her husband whom I've never met stopped by on their long trip from CA to CT.

We petted sheep in the cold, slow rain.  Well, I bet they won't forget that experience.

Boston Lake Newcomer WITH PHOTO!

Did I tell you I traded sheepies with Sabrina on Sunday? In the rain, in a Dollar Store Parking lot in Long Prairie, MN--?

And that we were very lucky that a helpful citizen decided to watch us and our antics, pickup-to-pickup-tailgate, managing animals in crates-- until he burst out of his idling car and offered his help (and then, his wife's!)

Aw shucks, I'd have liked to have turned him down-- NOT!

We do-si-do'd the 2 ewe lambs and 2 rams, thanked the couple profusely, talked sheep over the tailgate awhile, and then drove off to Northern and Southern MN.

Little Boston Lake Niav came home to the lambing barnyard, where we placed a few nice local girls as roommates. She is a very pretty gray katmoget, and dear--a follow-you-around lamb.

Notice also the mioget color of roommate LRO Belle. The third ewe roommate (hidden)  has a little of the modified gene, but Belle is really golden!

White Pine Parker, the ram Sabrina traded me, was also given a few roommates here at home, young rams with young horns. Parker is a yearling, but has tiny scurs-- I didn't want him duking it out with any bigger-horned rams (though there's only one left!). So much scuffling ensued, regardless, that I didn't get a single good photo of him, so later with that.

I'm delighted to have some new bloodlines in this flock, and delighted to share some of our polled genetics from this flock with Sabrina.
Breeding for specific outcomes keeps the whole shepherding-thing interesting.
EDIT:
(Hooray-- I finally figured out how to get the add photos option back on my blog.  It's changed, a little, and I could only find the photo button if I used the Compose tab. )

Last of the lambs leaving. . .

...At least I think so! Tara, from Wisconsin, is sending her husband and son to pick up these 3 girls tomorrow to begin her new flock. She's taking one of the little rams I showed you on the last post, too-- and has another at home for genetic diversity. I think it's great that I had a white, a black and a brown ewe left for her. The katmoget ewe lamb, January, is going "up north" to Sabrina Wille on Sunday. She and I are both breeding for polled stock, and we're trading ewe lambs and a ram lamb, each, to increase the blood lines in our future polled flocks!

Dang, that sets my voluntary scrapie program status back, as Sabrina's not enrolled in it, and I'll start with a new date on Sunday. I decided it didn't matter that much to me; I think people appreciate knowing your flock is monitored for health, but most shepherds aren't in that program anyway. I'll be happy to meet her little Niav and White Pines Parker, a scurred yearling ram of hers. The fleece photos I've seen on both look great! Sabrina's blog (among the favorites I list here) is Boston Lake Farm, in case you are interested in looking at her pictures. Niav and Parker are in there. (I sound a little excited, don't I?)

Here's a blogger quandary: so, having now figured out how to show my fave blogs at the right, with info as to when those folks update a post, why isn't it working?
I've been seeing the same posts listed by name and time for several days. In reality, I go to their blogs and see that they've written several new posts! It doesn't show on my blog-roll that they've changed.

Stuck in time. (no one wants to be. . . )
I must be tired. Good night!

Ducky updated, etc.

Just a few weeks later, she's a teenager! And definitely a she, not a drake.
Her grownup voice came to her-- instead of infantile peeps, she quacks-- and drakes don't quack, DUCKS do.
Mama hen is still acting like a mama to her.
These are the gi-normous pumpkins I planted in my lambing barn yard. The first five got eaten by Lily and Poppy the naughty bored twins who were quarantined in that yard after their county fair adventure. (Did I mention that they came home coughing from that fair? It never fails-- it makes me want to keep 'em all at home!)
Anyway, we threw the five pumpkins to the big sheep flock, and now these next five are big-- but will they ripen this month?

Here's some little ramlings who're quarantined by the pumpkins this week. They are all horned boys who are looking for homes; I think one or two is about to get lucky!

Little brown rams & Easter Lily

Remember Lily the orphan twin? She regards this mounting block as her little home, I swear. I had to get a snap so I'd always remember. When she was tinier, she slept UNDER it.

Handsome horned ram lamb and his polled cousin, Little Red Oak Ash.
I think Ash will be going to a breeder who wants polled rams; I'm afraid April's horned boy will go "on the truck" in a few weeks. Sigh.

Not a terribly flattering picture of Ash--

And here he is, wondering if he really wants to walk away.
He just wants to be petted, always.

Back from Jefferson, micron counts

At the WI Sheep and wool festival, I took spinning and felting classes with my friend; looked at other people's Shetlands in pens and in the show ring; felt and saw the soooffffttt fleeces in the judging area (way to go, Champion Shetland fleece Tori Gygi); looked at the Other Breeds of sheep there (NO FINNS, darn it)and had a nice dinner out with Shetland people and their friends.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to see much of Shetland show judging-- I thought it started earlier, but no, Noon; my second class was at 1pm.

This is a felted bag I made at my Friday class-- it got a little wild. The brown and white locks are from my own sheep; I do not have blue mohair animals!
It was quite fun to wet felt this bag and get it done in one workshop. The teacher, Mary Wallace, and other students were all so funny and kind.
It was a wonderful, three-day weekend, talking wool, sheep, felting, spinning, everything with many, many different nice, knowledgeable folks.
I got home and found fleece micron reports from Texas A&M on 8 sheepies I'd caught and sampled.
I have not been "into" this in the past-- it's just more work-- but it seems so many breeders are measuring fleece samples now, and a few asked about some of my lambs.
No great surprises, but the reports were still interesting.
Six of seven lambs were in the mid 20s, good-- my one older ewe sampled was 30 or 31?, and the one lamb I KNEW felt NOT Soft came in at 30-- while her twin was 24. So now I know that SHE goes to the pet home that wanted a lamb, and her twin stays here.
We're talking about Smudge, of Splash and Smudge, LRO Catnip's April or May lambs. Nice little brown girls, both, but Smudge is friendlier.
Good thing a pet home came up over the weekend at the local University of MN Small Farm Expo we exhibited sheep at.

(This is wool from my own Yarrow)

Will someone email me to tell me how to add to Blogger the "links to posts I like" item IN ORDER Of RECENT activity? I really want that, and spent a LOT of time trying to figure it out today.
Edit: THANK YOU VAL, I'VE GOT IT NOW!

Now, there are a million tomatoes and peppers that need attention in my kitchen!

Fairs and more fairs

I'm going off to the WI Sheep and Wool festival in Jefferson this weekend. I'll drive with my spinner friend, Angie, take some fiber classes, look at other people's sheep and visit with shepherds. It should be fun.
My family is staying here, and will bring lambs and ewes to a University of MN Extension offering "Small Farm and Rural Living Expo" at a fairgrounds nearby. I would have LOVED to stay here to show off our sheep in their Aisle of Breeds, but we were asked to bring the Shetlands AFTER I'd signed up for the Jefferson classes.
That's alright, others in the family know a great deal about the sheep and can promote them well.
I only feel sorry for them loading sheep without me.

I leave you with pictures of our Carver County Fair in early August:
Do you see that little Shetland among the (not gigantic)Southdowns?

My daughter took champion in Lamb Lead. This younger fellow was very cute with his sporting hat and the sheep's tie!

Piggies in repose.

Birds to Market

Actually, to the processors in Hector, MN. I'd heard of the Hector chicken processor, but I hadn't had 50 birds (their minimum) and a date reserved with them, until this year's batch of birds.
So on Tuesday, we loaded 50 nice, 8-week-old cornish-rock-cross roosters into the bed of the trusty Ford Ranger farm truck (with topper).
It was a chilly morning: the birds crouched together for warmth and moral support as they took the 43 mile drive down Hwy. 212. They steamed up the windows--
and I'll spare you the events that took place at the business we arrived at.
Today I picked up 50 frozen, packaged chickens and ran them 43 miles back home again, to grace our supper table all winter long (as well as that of a few friends and relatives).
I arrived in Norwood Young America a little late for my 2pm haircut, but the funniest thing happened: after chatting in the salon chair with the stylist about why I was late -- she said she'd love to have 2 chickens as pay for the haircut!

Mama hen and Ducky

We did it again; asked a broody hen to set duck eggs.
We got too impatient, though, and ended up with only one duckling. (After a month of setting on that nest? Poor hen!)
But she loves her duck.
Takes him outside in view of his relatives (could be his real mom in the background!)

She teaches him to dig for yummy dirt, bugs, whatever it is they like in there:

And takes him back to the barn.