The "fruit's of his labors - - -

Most of the time you think of "harvest" on the farm as being in the fall.  Not so with sheep - your harvest is the fleece, that comes in the spring with the shearing.  The "crop" you have worked on all year - keeping good nutrition, TRYING to keep them clean, etc.

Elliott's fleece is fluffy and soft, and comparatively clean, in regards to what he's been up to lately -










 As you can see, he's taken a little dislike to the "ramada" on his little barn.  None of the other rams we have ever had have bothered it - they seemed to realize it kept the rain and the heat of the day off  of them - but this little  stinker banged on the 4" support post until he broke it, then proceeded to run and jump up at the roof - further deteriorating the particle board that was under the shingles - covering his fleece with it.  Luckily, while The Shepherd was waiting for the shearer to arrive  a few weeks ago, he had some one on one time with Elliott and was able to pick a lot of that crap out of his fleece prior to shearing. 





This is a sample of Vanessa's fleece - it will  wash up a real pretty honey color, I'm sure.

Another sample of Elliott on the left, with Donna on the right - Donna's fleece has really lightened up this year.  It has nice crimp to it though.











This is the sample that really made me swoon - which I was already doing from the lovely smell of the fresh fleece and the grease from the lanolin on my hands - This is Sandy's fleece - look at those crimpy locks.

The ends are kind of sticky with the dirt/lanolin "gunk" that gets out at the tips of her fleece and The Shepherd was going to take a pair of scissors to it and cut off those ends.

"Wait a minute!" I said - "let me try washing out a bit of it!"

Here is part of her fleece after a little soak in a "hot tub" of hot hot water and wool wash.

Oh, yeah -baby - look at that - and you should feel it.  I think any spinner would love to get his or her hands on this fleece, don't you? 

Here's a close up of the washed locks -

Very nice. 

And of course, an obligatory Kitteh picture of George, that I managed to nab while he was out tearing up the nursery the other day. 

Speaking of Cats - A "sweet 16" side note - The Shepherd was beside himself this evening - do you root for your "home team" - in this case the Arizona Wildcats - from his home town of Tucson, or for the "home team" - the Gonzaga Zags - the local team from Spokane.  I think he ended up rooting for his Wildercats - they won pretty handily.   Go Wildcats! 

The Caturday Report!

 Hello effurry body & effurry kitty!  Its ME, George & I get to do this week's Caturday Report!

Not much nooze here -  Mummy is always gone to The Salt Mines and The Shepherd has been busy scaring up pruning and winter clean up work for his customers.

As you can see from the blu skies in the background, it was a very beautiful sunny day here at the farm.  Mummy went to her spinner group and The Shepherd had to work, so we had the farm all to ourselves.  When Mummy got back home from spinning, she pulled her camera out of her basket and became the "Dredded PaWperatzi" -

She follows us around and snaps and snaps and snaps.  Mummy said this picture makes me look VERY handsome though, so I didn't mind it too much.  ! 

Truth be told, we spent most of the day snoozing inside, until Mummy came home, then me and Bella chose our favorite sun puddle spots - on Mummy's car.  One of her friends at work said he knew she had kitties, because there were muddy footprints all over the hood and big chunks of furs (now, Bella, where would that come from???) all over the top of the car.  I think it's time for her to put her car through the car scrubber, don't you? 

Gracie was practicing her Yoga and making cat shadows on the side of the house.

Then, we all went out to the barn to see the woolies.

Yes, as you can see, they are all still wearing their winter wool coats.  They were supposed to get haircuts last Thursday, but there was a "scheduling snafu" and the shearer man couldn't come up.  He's promised The Shepherd that he will come hell or high water this coming Thursday.

Personally, I don't think The Shepherd will want  to shear if it's high water.  But, around here, you can never tell.

Mummy says to say thank you to everyone who said what pertty fleeces our girls have on.  









The Shepherd had moved a bunch of his little potted plants out of the greenhouse so there would be room for the new fleeces.  Since the weather is supposed to be pretty good, he's going to leave them out on the bench outside. 

The Shepherd and his little sheep Sandy have a new trick.  When he is done dumping the little bucket that he carries out to the sheepies big water bucket, Sandy has decided that she needs to inspect and clean out the little bucket.

It is pretty funny to watch so Mummy took a movie for you to see.... 

 

Good to the last drop!

Effurry body have a great new week.  Til' next time.  George

We wish you a Merry Christmas.....

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

(now get these stupid hats offun us)

Our new addition -

Since The Shepherd  didn't find any sheep to bring back from Black Sheep Gathering to keep company with Sandy, he went looking locally and our friend Nancy had just the ticket.

And I got to name her -  This little lady's new name is Stella.  

Walking on the lead was not going to work, so The Shepherd scooped her up and off they went to the pasture and her new friends.  

Isn't she a cutie?  

Surprisingly there was a minimum of "bashing" and setting up pecking order - she just seemed to fit right in.   Since she hadn't been weaned yet, there was a fair amount of crying and carrying on the first night. 

And the "peanut gallery" wanted to know what all the carrying on was about -.

Nosey old ladies...

Here we are, a week later and it's like she's been here all her life.  She will make a nice addition to our flock. 

Welcome to Marietta Shetlands, Stella. 

We call your laser eyes

Hey cat, we call your laser eyes and raise you eight...

Farm Report

Hi - my name is Vern and I'm feeling a little cranky because The Shepherd and The Food Lady have me all tied up so I can't bash on my brother.

It always makes me nervous when they put me on this leash and tie me up - it either means I'm going to get stuck full of holes by the V.E.T. or shaved naked by somebody with loud clippers.





We know what you mean Vern - the minute that barn door bangs shut, we know we're in for something -








Well, this time it was Dr. Amber - to "stick them full of holes" - and do a "well sheep" visit. Here she's checking out Little Eva's "tum-tum" - hmm - maybe you need to lose a few pounds there Eva...


The V.E.T. came out the same day that I picked up the Mrreows, but I haven't had time to show you the pictures yet.






Don't worry girls - it will all be over soon and you'll get to go back out to the pasture.











Plus we get to look at everyone's fleece - this is Wendy. It is a soft and lustrous fleece.









Don't they just have the cutest little ears?





The Shepherd likes to have Dr. Amber come out and see the sheep when they are not in a "sick or stressful situation" so she knows how they are "supposed" to look.


OK everyone- Dr. Amber has given you a clean bill of health - you are free to go.

Shearing Day!

We had the sheep sheared last week.

It begins with an intricate dance of getting everyone into separate catch pens.

Vern & Galloway have to be "babysat" because Vern (the ram) occasionally takes umbrage to being shut up in a small pen with his brother -




"Maybe if I just twist it one more time...."










Thankfully The Shepherd did some halter training with Vern when he was younger, so he is very good about being on a lead, because that's were he went after his attempt at a jail break.

Our shearer, Zander, was due anytime between 11:30 and noon - so he had about 15 minutes on the lead.











While the girls and Wicket were all penned up in the barn

Keep these fluffy girls in your memory bank...











Vern, in a "look how handsome I am" pose.










He does have quite nice wool, don't you think? It is very soft for a ram fleece.

I think The Shepherd will be taking this to Black Sheep next summer.








Zander arrived right after noon and got straight down to business.

He had very good control of the sheep - even Vern didn't wiggle around. The Shepherd and I were speechless!

The fleeces came off in beautiful straight clips - I was concerned that they had started to "roo" (where the fleece of Shetland sheep comes off naturally with the warming of the spring weather - not all breeds of sheep will roo - mostly only the primitive breeds) Rooing makes it harder for the shearer to get a good clip and often the sheep will look like "lumpy Lizzies" afterwards because it is hard for the clippers to get through the fleece.





And here is Luna's baby bump....Not quite Natalie Portman, but it will do for us.















After each shearing the fleece is laid out and then folded and rolled.










Then they are all put on a tarp in the greenhouse to cool down.

The Shepherd has already skirted out Galloway and has started on Vern. Vern's fleece completely covers his 4 x 8 skirting table!








Everybody got pedicures and worming medicine.











Remember all those fluffy sheep from before? Well - here they are after their haircuts - trying to figure out who is who - there was quite a bit of head butting going on for a while.

The four "little girls" (our yearling ewes) were just that after shearing -little! Zander seemed very amused that he could just pick them up and tuck them under his arm to return them to the barn -

So, the temps were not as bitterly cold (in the teens and 20's that they were the week before - mostly hung out around 40-45 degrees - so The Shepherd took pity on the ladies and put the heat lamp on for them for a couple of days - it is supposed to get below freezing tonight, so I think he shut the barn door and turned it on tonight too.

Lambing is next - probably a couple or three weeks to go. "Christmas time" for The Shepherd.

Hair today, gone today

Sinda has heard that the vishus sheeps were getting their furs clipped today - she has come out to snoopervise.









Life as you know it is about to end H.B. - you will suddenly be a scrawney looking rascal.








Whoa, I was right!











Our friend Margot came with her son William and daughter Emily, who is our goddaughter.









Marsha Adams has been shearing our sheep for many years. This was her last shearing for us. She is retiring. We are sorry to have this happen. She has become a good friend.




Margot is trying out her new video camera while the kids looked on.

It was really sweet, when Marsha was shearing Moni, who is very pregnant, she stopped and asked the kids if they would like to feel Moni's belly. She thought the baby/babies had been kicking at the sound of her shears - but they apparently had stopped - just soft and warm tummy to be felt.




While The Shepherd was otherwise distracted, our friend Diane, who had also come to watch, snuck into the feed bin and offered H.B. a little handful of sheep kibble. He gladly accepted - she now has a friend for life.






















Marsha is showing off Violet's fleece. It is really beautiful and incredibly soft.

Eight fleeces - two of them are pre-sold. Pearl & Luna were just 6 month fleeces, so they were very small and will be combined with the rest of the white alpaca that we blended their fleeces with last fall. Taylor's fleece will be featured at the Spindrifter's Sheep to Shawl at the Skagit Highland Games in July and Moni's fleece was sold last fall at our spin-in.


Danny's fleece will be blended with an fawn colored alpaca cria fleece that he bought last fall from our vendor neighbor - they are very close in color and it should make for nice spinning.





Hope you enjoyed your little slice of a "day on the farm"