Month: July 2011

Blasted Fox

Sheeps & Peeps9 Comments

We are saying “Farewell to our dear Miss Erma this morning.  Sadly the blasted fox killed our lovely girl last evening.  No more cute, polite ‘Mr. Foxey Loxey’ references for him.  Her was too bold… too cunning.  Jonathan was brush-hogging the field at the barn when he saw Samson take off down over the hill.  He followed, but neither he or Samson could get to Erma in time. 
We will miss our lone survivior.  We will miss the way she ran through mud, as if holding up her antebellum skirt so it would not touch the ground.  We will miss the way she bonded with the sheep and they with her.  We will miss the way she loved to use the window in the barn door as a mirror.
Most of all we will miss Miss Erma’s “buck…WHEAT” greeting.

Weaning Day

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We weaned the lambs on Monday.  We did FAMACHA tests on all the lambs and ewes, and weighed all the lambs.  Only two lambs were somewhat pale but we gave all of them wormer because of the stress of weaning.  We only had to worm a couple of the ewes.  A great improvement over last year *knocks on wood*. 
As always, we had a lot of help… Erma insisted on coming in with the sheep and helped with inspection.

Spot and Muffy helped move watering troughs.

The ewes went out one door into a paddock and moving lane,

and the lambs went out another into the corral and then on to the graveyard field which hasn’t been occupied since early spring.   The ewes were moved in the evening because another task awaited us.

After lunch we hit the field and made 586 bales of hay.  We are over 1,400 bales and not quite finished.  It has been a good year for hay.  We probably won’t have to buy any this year if the 2nd cutting is as good as the 1st.

A very hot, long day but very productive… think we are still recuperating.

Fairy Lace

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Fairy lace abounds on this damp, misty, really sort of dreary morning.  Grandma Lena always told us that these were little fairy tables left behind from the wee folks party during the night.  From this morning’s evidence we can only guess that last night’s party was indeed wild and wonderful (because… after all… this is West Virginia and even fairy parties here are wild and wonderful).  The spiders also seemed to be in on the fun as this beautiful spider web was left hanging from the bumper of the truck.
Here’s hoping that the fairies will visit your neck of the woods… have a lovely weekend.

Lambs Wool

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Cassidy’s girl

Lucy’s girls

The lambs are growing beautifully *knocks on wood* although looking a little bedraggled from all the storms we have had.  Weaning is on the schedule for early Monday morning.  It is always a big day for everyone.  The lambs always seem to develop more of their own personalities after moving in to their own pasture. 
As you can see in the picture below, their wool is also becoming quite lovely.  We are really looking forward to a wonderful wool crop come fall.

beautiful locks – click – to make bigger

Glimpse of Natural-Dyeing

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Our natural-dyeing season is officially in full swing.  It is easier to do it in the summer when windows can be opened because some of the dyestuff (marigold for instance) smells very strong when boiled.  We also make good use of the sun’s energy whenever possible by soaking the dyestuff in either a pot or jar in a warm spot for a couple days.  This year we have also been using gallon jars to do some solar-dyeing.  We have a batch of Daisy going at the moment. 
Everything shown was pre-mordanted with alum except for that dyed with walnut hulls.  We will probably use mordant the next time especially when we do locks as they came out… although pretty… very light.
There are lots of books out now about natural-dyeing but we tend to turn time and again to three old standbys for good, basic, detailed information – “The Dyer’s Garden” by Rita Buchanan, “Craft of the Dyer” by Karen Leigh Casselman and “Indigo Madder and Marigold by Trudy Van Stralen.
 

walnut hulls, dried marigold flowers, cochineal (from l. to r.)

walnut and cochineal (back) marigold flowers (front)

Rotating Pastures

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Summer is a constant cycle of rotating pastures… trying to minimize parasites and get the most out of each paddock.  The ewes and lambs were moved to the barn pasture a few weeks ago so this weekend we moved the yearlings and wethers to the knoll paddock after it had been brush hogged with the Squealer (love that name).  Then we brush hogged the paddock that the yearlings vacated, encouraging new growth and disrupting the life-cycle of any paraistes they left behind.  In a month of so it will be ready for new tenants.

We also set up temporary fencing in a section of the barnyard that we neglected avoided mowing for a few weeks, and loosed the bio-mowing ewes and lambs.  This, in an attempt, to stretch the barn pasture for a couple more weeks when we will wean the lambs.  We are trying to prevent the added stress of moving them twice… in two weeks… in this heat .

Speaking of heat… this weekend’s hazy, hot and very humid weather had us all seeking the shade whenever we could.