Lambs love grass...

The sheep are loving the May grass, and the lambs are growing quickly.

We've decided to keep five of this year's lambs - four ewes and one wether.

Above: Robert Stafford (the wether) and Crystal

Mocha's ewe - Edna Beard

Kira's twins: Ram lamb and Maddie

Clover's ram

Maggie has turned out to be quite a lovely sheep. This was the one ewe that was born last year.

Yarn!

After two years of storing wool, we finally decided to get our bags of wool spun into yarn. Two weeks ago I drove over to Richmond, Vermont where I dropped off fleece from seven sheep sheared in 2010. Today I got an email from the spinnery titled "7 Shades of Shetland", and that's exactly what we got! Without realizing it, I had neglected to skirt the black and white fleeces, and so we start with an assortment of browns and grays.

Hampton Fiber Mill sent this photo along with the email.

Pictured from top to bottom is yarn from:

Poa

Xavier

Mocha

Clover

Otto

Mac

Wynona



What surprised me the most was how dark Xavier's fleece turned out. I also wasn't expecting Wynona's to be as dark. Otto has such a rich red color that it was easy to identify that skein's origin.

Now I have 14 more fleeces to skirt and send off. I'm anxious to see what kind of yarn Buckwheat, Crystal, Kira, and Maggie produce. When those 14 are clean I'll be able to pick up the 16 lbs of yarn that are waiting in Richmond. I guess I'll have to get out to the barn and start skirting!

Lambs have Mothers too...

They're almost as big as their moms, or so it seems!

Here's Clover and her ram.


Poa's twin ewes thought it would be nice of them to stand on her back while she was trying to nap. It looks like Poa really likes being a mom!

Crystal and her twin rams also decided to nap together this afternoon.


Kira's ewe really loves attention. She climbed into my lap this afternoon and took a nap with me!

This year we plan to register our lambs with the North American Shetland Sheepbreeders Association (NASSA). Our flock prefix is Old Home, meaning that all of the sheep born on our farm will have names beginning with "Old Home". Above is Old Home Madeleine Kunin.

Clarina Nichols and Annette Parmalee

Old Home Edna Beard and brother

Clover's ram is coming along nicely. He's got an excellent ram personality, great fleece, and classic katmoget markings. Unfortunately his tail's a bit on the longer side. We may use him for some of next year's lambs.

Turkeys!

All 18 turkeys arrived safely by mail on Thursday. We ordered two each of nine different breeds from Murray McMurray Hatchery. In the mix we have Bourbon Reds, Black Spanish, Chocolates, Giant Whites, White Hollands, Standard Bronze, Broad-breasted Bronze, Royal Palms and Blue Slates.





I love the colors and the variety. I've identified all but the Blue Slates, which may actually be white. I can't wait to see what these little birds look like in full feather!

Pigs in the Woods

The pigs were moved to the wooded lot on April 27th. They have been very busy rooting up shrubs and grubs.

The pigs enjoy being outside during the day and love to cuddle in the calf hutch at night.


Pigs especially look forward to dinner.

It's been very entertaining watching the pigs interact with the other animals on the farm. Gus wasn't sure what to do with them at first, but he's slowly getting comfortable with them.


The sheep are especially curious about the pigs. They are often seen sniffing noses through the fence. Buckwheat was really interested in this pig until it tried eating his ear!

Pigs!

On Easter we brought home our five piggies for the freezer. If you look closely you can see one trying to squeeze out from under the black spotted pig. We have two gilts and three barrows in the bunch. These pigs are a Tamworth-Hereford crossed with one other breed, but I can't remember if it was a Yorkshire or Hampshire that made up the other quarter.

We started them in the barn for three days, and on the fourth day we let them into their wooded lot. They are fantastic rooters, and they seem much more vigorous than last year's piglets. They really are fascinated with Gus and the sheep and goats. Some of the lambs even got to sniff noses through the fence with these little piggies before they moved out to the big field. Sometimes you can even catch a sheep's tail wag during a pig kiss - how strange!

The turkeys should arrive by Friday. I'll try posting pictures of the variety poults and update the lamb photos this weekend. Hopefully I'll have a chance to plant more of the garden by then, too.