Punkin's Patch

Nine Lives?

2008-07-25T07:21:00.007-05:00

Well, using my best Jethro cipherin' skills, I figger that Sunshine has to have used up at least four of her lives so far. Between nearly dying when she was first born, two bouts of pneumonia and yesterday wedging herself somewhere that no lamb should possibly been able to go and getting stuck in the blazing sun in the middle of the afternoon next to a black barn, it's a miracle she's still with us...and ornery as ever - probably the only thing that has kept her going.

Her latest crisis du jour (see, I'm still speaking french ;-) is that between her being weak and sickly so much of her almost three weeks, her momma has stopped producing tons of milk. Heidi's doing the best she can, but I can tell Sunshine's hungry - she tries to nurse anything that she can put in her mouth. The logical thing would be to get her started on a supplementary bottle, so I headed over to a friends to get some goat milk.

First off though, let me tell you this story. I built a small creep feeder in her ICU stall last week. She went in there immediately (her own idea) and started munching lamb feed. Oh good I thought, this will work perfect. Later in the day when I was making yet another check on her, I stuck her in there myself. Oh brother. "Don't you tell me what to do!" and she hasn't gone back in since.

So, I've made three or four attempts on the bottle over a couple days. Tried different bottles, nipples, buckets... Again with the attitude - ears back, head up, defiant tilt to the jaw.

Interestingly, I've only had one other sheep that belligerent - Punkin - and he too was a sickly lamb with at least nine lives who probably should never have lived to maturity. Here she is (via camera phone) taking a nap in one of her other feed tubs this morning.

Her idea...obviously.

Sheep-wrecked!

2008-07-23T15:26:00.006-05:00

Why must I always end up being the good example for how not to do something. Sigh.

To give myself a little credit, I did do a couple things right. I did measure the yardage of my Tour de Fleece spinning and compare it to the pattern I had picked before I started knitting. Well, maybe that's the only thing I did right. This is where I discovered the flat tire, broken spoke, or possibly the wheel fell straight off the bicycle - a major wreck. I was 180 yards short. I measured it twice. 180 yard short. I'm still a beginning knitter, but yikes, that seems pretty much way. too. short.

I had spun by weight and assumed that would be fine - lesson one. And yes, I did a sample yarn, liked it and kept it by my wheel for the entire time I spun. All I can guess is that maybe one shouldn't be spinning for specifics when one is either worrying about sick lambs or listening to coverage of the Brett Favre un-retirement saga - lesson two. The yarn is too short because I spun it too thick and tight - my worsted is more like heavy worsted. It took a couple days to fully embrace the "opportunities" this has created.

While I do have a little of those fleeces left and could get some more of that blend mixed and carded, I would be nervous about not exactly matching the color. Also, there is the weight issue and not ending up with exactly what I wanted. So, luckily the second favorite pattern in A Fine Fleece is a vest that calls for heavy worsted. Perfect. Also, the advice that a textured or cable pattern would be better for that darker yarn anyway is correct and the trinity stitch is dead easy and almost mindless, which at this point can only be a plus.

So, I'm not sure how I finish for the Tour de Fleece, but I did spin up the entire amount I'd pulled out of my stash for the challenge. I did not get the yarn I wanted for the pattern I had picked though. I did, as always, learn a lot, and I did get a pretty yarn that will work just fine for another project that I'll enjoy working on...and again, most likely, learn a lot.

And, as the Wednesday Is Knit Night ladies have finally instilled in me, "It's only knitting."

Stop, Drop And Roll

2008-07-22T07:20:00.004-05:00

What do you do when it's so hot and humid that your panty hose are melting and your hair's all afrizz?

Stop.

Drop.

Roll.

Meet Attie, Aria's new buddy. In all her life, Aria's only had one other girlfriend, Indy. The rest of the time she has either lived by herself or with the Ass Brothers, who boss her around and pick on her unmercifully. We are happy to welcome Attie to the farm and if she never pulls a carriage, she's earned her keep by being kind.

You gotta' stick by your girlfriends.

Tour Update

2008-07-17T21:59:00.004-05:00

'Round The Orchard

2008-07-14T21:09:00.009-05:00

Definitely the hardest working peach tree. Brushy and Weaslie? Not so much.

Plum beautiful.

Apple pie anyone?

And what do we have here?

The end of Stage Two of the Tour de Fleece :-D.

Branching Out

2008-07-14T06:00:00.005-05:00

Yes, the white stuff all over Sunshine's little bottom is diaper rash cream. She's still having some urinary issues and we are trying to keep her skin protected. However, this is not just any diaper rash cream. This is....

There is no telling what else that boy is up to, and only Saint Tim could come home from the grocery with a find like this.

Wheeeee!!!

2008-07-13T21:19:00.007-05:00

Pretty little Sunshine had a couple bad days, but has rallied over the weekend and even got to join a play group this evening and meet her cousins.

"My name is Sunshine. What's yours?"

"Wheeeeeeeee!" I wish this picture wasn't blurry, but it made me so happy to see her playing with Caspar Belly I wanted to share. I also like the two moms staying close behind when you know they'd much rather be relaxing.

Tour de Fleece - Stage Two

2008-07-12T14:08:00.008-05:00

I don't really follow the actual Tour de France, but as I understand it, the race is done in "stages".

So, stage one of my Tour de Fleece being the trip across the river to have my "stash" prepared for spinning, stage two must follow as some actual spinning, and look, I am well underway.

I have four bobbins of about 4 1/4 oz singles that I have wound off into center pull balls.

My spinning is not as consistent as I'd like, and I've decided I am going to match each ball up with an appropriate plying partner -say one too skinny with one too fat - when I'm done so that each skein should be just about the same. I hope. Currently 1 and 3 and 2 and 4 are paired, but the standings might change as the race continues.

And, since I am still a learning spinner, here are some observations along route so far.

1. Nice commercially prepared roving is sweet.

2. When it's nine million degrees and so humid you want to kill yourself, no one can spin perfect. Turn the AC up or wait until nightfall.

3. If you are exhausted and bleary eyed from caring for and crying about a sick lamb, for God's sake go make one last check of the barn and go to bed!

Babies Everywhere

2008-07-10T19:56:00.003-05:00

As rough a go as little Sunshine and Heidi had, Emily and her new baby hit the other end of the spectrum yesterday. Saint Tim checked her at 7:00 p.m. and saw no signs of impending babies, and in true Jacob fashion, by 8:00 she'd had her baby (a single thank goodness), had her all cleaned and up and nursing and they were both headed back outside when we got there.

"Can I go play with my cousin Clover Belly?"

"Okay, let's play!"

Down for a nap.

And look who's up and running here! Our little Sunshine is getting stronger every day.

And She's Off!

2008-07-10T09:57:00.004-05:00

Not "off" off (take it easy!), but off to the races. I signed up for the 2008 Tour de Fleece. My challenge is to spin the B&B yarn for the sweater I picked out from the new A Fine Fleece, knitting with handspun yarns. If you already have the book, it's the "Harriet" pattern. If you don't already have the book, run out to your local yarn shop and grab one. It's fabulous!

I realize I'm starting from behind the pack, but I already had the appointment at Ohio Valley Natural Fibers on the 8th, so I decided I'd just have to work hard to come back from behind. We had a great time running up there and Saint Tim aka Two Sheds and aka mapboy even came up with a route that involved taking the ferry across the river at Augusta!

The folks at OVNF were fabulous to work with and were kind enough to let me go back and watch some of our fleeces being processed while we waited. The two colored wool in these pictures is the B&B mix - 75% Boudreaux (black with the faded tips snipped off) and 25% Buddy (white Cotswold). I'd saved Buddy's lamb fleece from his first shearing back in the early summer last year to go with Boudreaux's lamb fleece shorn this spring. The solid white in the other pictures is the rest of Buddy's lamb fleece combined with Woolliam's lamb fleece shorn a couple weeks ago.

So, in 25 words or less, you blend in the appropriate ratios of colored wool and put it in the magic cave,

it picks it's way up the spikes,

into the next bin,

onto the carding rollers

and then out the side

where it's hand stuffed into a box, taped up and then practically explodes when you open it when you get home. It just does not get any better than this!

I'm going to spin this on my Jensen Production wheel,

and if I didn't have a new baby last night (oops, spoiler for the next blog entry ;-), I'd already have my first 2 ounces spun. At this rate Saint Tim thinks I'm going to need some performance enhancing drugs. Can't figure out if that would be wine, coffee or good chocolate.

I might use the "shotgun" approach and try all three.

Sunshine

2008-07-08T05:13:00.006-05:00

This sweet little lamb is the newest character in our story.

She's had a rough go of it, but is doing us quite proud and when I went out this morning to check on her, she was already standing up, ready to face the day. This is a big improvement from her first 36 hours when she was so weak we had to help her up to nurse.

This is not her or her mother Heidi's fault. Completely ours. We should never have trusted that the 1/2 ram who is her father - and also her older brother (!) - was safe to leave in with the ewes. According to the books, and even our vet, under normal conditions, he should not have been able to get anyone bred. Things are never normal around here.

So, Heidi and I are working hard to give her the best chance we can, but she has a spinal issue and possibly a urinary problem as well. However, when I saw her standing up looking at me as I walked into the barn this morning, I couldn't help but smile and say...

"Good morning Sunshine!"

B & B

2008-07-05T10:53:00.006-05:00

After last night's storms and through-the-night lambing checks, I could really use some bed and breakfast, but around here, B & B is known as Buddy and Boudreaux.

I just love this picture, with Buddy showing off his "hops".

I trimmed off the brown ends of Boudreaux's fleece, and spun by itself it was surprisingly matte and, of course, dark. So much so that it was hard to even see the stitches enough to knit a sample, much less to go to the trouble of adding any design elements. I wanted something more interesting than a straight knit sweater, so back to the drawing board.

I blended in some of Buddy's shiny Cotswold curls and bingo.

This is the sample swatch with a portion of the test pattern. Here is the delimma. While held up to the light, the pattern shows quite nicely.

Here it is on the off-white carpet, closer to what it would look like worn over a white turtleneck. Still too dark?

See What I Have To Live With?

2008-07-04T07:11:00.006-05:00

I'm not going to bother with a time line. Just suffice to say that this lasted ALL DAY. No, we do not have a hundred cats. These are all the same cats. They just staggered into new places and positions ALL DAY.

That would be Comby, the new cat, sleeping on his back. I told you he'd settled right in. Good grief.

I, at least, finally caught up on some spinning. Two of the small black sample skeins (that you can't really see, I know) are a blend of Boudreaux and Buddy's lamb fleeces. I knit a swatch last night for the sweater I want to make and it was beautiful and measured dead on. I'm so excited!

Garden Guardian

2008-07-02T11:46:00.005-05:00

I have planted the last of my spring garden. Or, should I say, RE-planted the last of my spring garden. There is a roving band of birds that have taken great delight in eating off all my tender plants this year. This is the third re-planting. I'll probably be the only person in the neighborhood without an overabundance of squash this summer.

While I know it probably won't really help - these are pretty cheeky birds, what with 3 dogs and 4 cats hanging about in the yard (sleeping under a shade tree most of the day) - I decided to have a little fun.

She definitely looks like someone I'll enjoy having help me in the garden. Her spindle is made from a recycled CD, which is actually an easy way to make a drop spindle. I'm hoping the reflective properties scare away a few of the birds.

The yarn she has spun is some genuine Punkin yarn (because what better guardian could you find...well, IF you kept him fenced out of the garden ;-), and look, she even brought along her knitting needles.

Like she thinks she'll ever find any spare time to knit.

Why So Quiet?

2008-06-30T15:50:00.007-05:00

Boudreaux's fleece is still out on the hammock "dryer", but he's the last one. Everyone else is washed and picked and ready to go to the mill. The washing machine and I are both ready for a day off! I have a few fleeces left from last year, so in all, there are 28 bags of wool in this room. The picture really does not do it justice. I just couldn't stand back far enough to include them all.

Whew!

This year I'm having some of our wool processed into quilt batting. There is a really nice quilt shop in town, Zeppelin Threads, who wants to carry locally grown products, and she is also working on an actual quilt of our painted barn quilt. Won't it be nice to snuggle under the Frog Pond stuffed full of Peabody wool?

Far Away

2008-06-24T14:19:00.005-05:00

I'm far enough away from spring shearing that we can all laugh about it now. When you're in the middle of it? Not so much.

Woolliam got his first hair cut this morning. I would have liked to let it grow just a bit more, but he's so hot and the forecast is for 88 tomorrow. He did just fine for a wee lad getting his first trim, but when he tried to climb into my helper's lap like a scared puppy, I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite Far Side cartoons.

That would be Woolliam, fainted dead away in the back of the class.

Spend The Afternoon...

2008-06-23T10:15:00.003-05:00

Springtime is just so busy on a farm. Sometimes it seems we don't even take time to eat dinner, and if we do, it's 9:00 at night. We've had a rash of cool weather though (and we know how rare that can be in the summertime) and a friend and I decided to take an afternoon and canoe a small part of the Licking River.

We used an outfitter north of Cynthiana, Setter Ridge, and were treated to a nice boat, a shuttle six miles up the river and instructions on where to leave the canoe when we were finished. The route was estimated at 2-4 hours depending on how the water was running and how quickly we paddled, but we were encouraged to take and enjoy the whole day.

My friend had packed a fabulous lunch and we set off at around 11:30. Knowing how much I had to do that day, I got in the boat and mentally clicked off 2-3 hours depending on our lunch break, plus travel time, and figured if I was lucky I could be back to work by 3:30 or so.

Here's the thing.

WHY?!?

What on earth couldn't wait until that evening, or better yet, the next day? Who in their right mind would trade spending an afternoon with a good friend, listening to nothing but birds and the sound of paddles dipping in the water, trying to see if you could sneak past a heron without it flying away (not even once!), or watching a deer come down the bank, swim across the river and climb back up the other side without giving us a second glance?

I've used this quote here before, but it certainly bears repeating or re-pounding into my thick head.

"Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you." Annie Dillard

Nest UN-building

2008-06-18T10:05:00.004-05:00

I watched a tiny house wren demolish an existing nest in one of our bird houses yesterday. I hope it was an abandoned nest, but it's hard to say. Pool season has just begun and I'm still trying to get up to speed with the yard "soaps".

I noticed that most of what she meticulously picked out all afternoon was wool, mixed with a few feathers. As it seems that most of the birds here actually like our wool in their nests, I was a bit disappointed.

Today, all is quiet on the bird house front, so I snuck up and took a picture of the remains of the demolition and then peeked inside to see what she chose to line her new nest. It was wool.

I suppose it's no different than us moving into a new house. What is the first thing you (or at least I) do? Clean.

Silly birds ;-)

Attention Please!

2008-06-15T07:27:00.004-05:00

Saint Tim has proclaimed himself to no longer be Saint Tim, but now prefers the more (or less) descriptive, Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson. But, we already had two sheds, and now with the two new sheds we have four sheds, so wouldn't he really be Arthur "Four Sheds" Jackson?

Another Mouth

2008-06-11T19:20:00.004-05:00

I was at a spinning guild meeting the other night and my phone rings (well, actually it "baa-a-a-a-a's" ;-D). "There's a really skinny cat on the porch and I think it's Brushy's brother. Should I feed it?" asks Saint Tim.

"Well, of course, if it's Brushy's brother."

I get home and the cat looks nothing like Brushy.

"His name is Comby." he says. Oh brother.

So, meet Comby.

We got him tamed down enough to catch him and get him vaccinated and 'tutored', and as soon as he got home from the vet, I suppose he understood he was adopted and settled right in.

I now have a new faithful companion to accompany me to the barn every morning, so I guess he might be a little related to Brushy.

Just Shoot Me

2008-06-10T08:32:00.004-05:00

We are trying to get two run-in sheds built, one in each small paddock, and the usual contractor "issues" are slowing things down and making me crazy. It's way too hot to be out there with no shade!

So, as of last night, one shed is basically finished. The horses have access to both paddocks. Which shed are they standing in this morning?

Oh. You. Know. It.

To make things worse, I go to feed the babies and this is what I have to look at.

Could you be any lazier?

Apparently so.

Names Update - Just In!

2008-06-05T17:20:00.004-05:00

William was suggested (thanks Charlie Dog!) and it immediately clicked - Woolliam! Get it? :-D

Now all we're lacking is the little red ewe lamb.

Clover Belly

2008-06-05T08:43:00.007-05:00

Saint Tim comes up with all the good names: Ewen McTeagle, Boudreaux, Tilly Bobby, Weaslie, and my personal favorite, The Ass Brothers (Fat and Dumb aka Handy and T-Bone). Sometimes the names just come to us and sometimes they are earned.

The little Jacob ewe lamb seems to be Clover Belly. Not only did it just come to me, but I also found this while I was out taking pictures of her yesterday.

We are still working on the NY sheep. I've gotten some great suggestions - Rusty for the brown ewe lamb is on the short list for sure as I have another special friend with that name, but nothing is sticking for the Cotswold ram lamb.

Keep the suggestions coming!

New Lambs....part two

2008-06-03T14:55:00.004-05:00

There's nothing better than a sheep to make you look stupid. Well, besides my own pea pickin' self. Look what I found when I went out to feed last night.

I know how it happened (a ram lamb from a few years ago didn't get completely castrated), but as he'd not gotten anyone bred in three years, I sure didn't expect it to happen now.

The momma is one of "the belly's", Emily's family line beginning with Annabelly, aka Anna Big Belly, our very first baby, years ago. Baby Belly is a first time mom, had no pre-natal care other than lots of good pasture, was out in the big field with the whole herd and managed to have this little lamb all on her own and knew just what to do.

I'm looking forward to trying to catch some better pictures, but as a proud (of the sheep, not myself) grandmother, or I guess great-grandmother, I couldn't wait to spread the news.

We also need another name!

New Lambs....part one

2008-06-03T05:06:00.005-05:00

I was so excited to post pictures of our new lambs from Nistock Farms in New York, but, as always, the fates are laughing at me (read I am most always the butt of someone's joke) and so this is our new lambs...part one.

Look at these cuties. The white lamb is another Cotswold like Buddy, and the moorit, or reddish brown, lamb is a cross, bred especially for her color.

Isn't she about the sweetest thing you've ever seen?

Neither have names. Any ideas?