Author: denisemor

Out of the Stash

Was just cruising around in the wool room this weekend when I was reminded that I hadn’t yet done anything (besides washing) with the amazing BamBam fleece that I brought home from Schoonover Farm shearing day last year!

So I dove in and started carding some up. Just a couple of ounces to satisfy my urge to give it a test-drive.
It’s really soft fine- and I left a little bit of lanolin in it (just a personal preference thing for spinning).

It’s still hanging up to dry, but here is a photo I took just after plying.

2018-03-25_06-19-45

Should fluff nicely once it’s all washed up and dried.
It’s the most beautiful rich golden brown.
Good Boy, BamBam 🙂

Counting Our Chickens Long Since Hatched

It’s been a while since we’ve checked in with the chigs here on the blog, so I thought that I’d take a minute to catch up with the crazy girls now that the sun is shining and egg production is on the rise.

We currently have 20 girls & 2 roosters. Here is the roster:

5 “new girls” -last year’s surprise chicks. 3 amerucana-ish, but a bit more red/orange

DP3M2737

1 speckled sussex, and one really interesting crossbreed who is hard to get a picture of because the other girls are always running her off!

IMG_20180318_155907193

3 Amerucanas and 3 Specked Sussex from 2016. Amerucana girls are small and a little shy,

2018-03-19_07-24-36

and the specked sussex are big, broody and very opinionated 🙂

2018-03-19_07-25-47

2 partridge rocks and 1 barred rock from 2015. The partridge girls are kind of the honchos in the coop,

2018-03-19_07-25-16

and the little black and white barred rock girl is one of my favorites. She’s kind of spunky and funny.

2018-03-19_07-24-03

Sometime I think back in 2014 I adopted some older girls looking for a new situation from Bellingham. Of those 4, two girls of indeterminate age remain- Grumpy Orange Chicken,

2018-03-19_07-24-53

and Big Black and White.

2018-03-19_07-31-43

3 Buff Orpingtons– 2 from a friend in 2013, and one I took in from a friend at work who couldn’t keep her in town because she was crowing! The buff girls are really easy-going. Early on they showed a tendency to be broody, but that seems to have passed now that they are semi-retired.

2018-03-19_07-33-35

1 guinea we raised in 2015 (used to be two)

2018-03-19_07-39-04

And our two roosters Bertrand (Amerucana) and Tre (Specked Sussex) both from 2016

DP2M0610

They are a pretty cool gang, providing lots of entertainment out in the pasture for the sheep, and amazing pink-brown and green eggs for us.

IMG_20180318_161226586_HDR

Livin’ the Dream

Amazing the difference a little sunshine can make.

It was a really productive weekend- I feel good about getting spring sheep maintenance (CDT, hooves, deworming) done

IMG_20180312_170557503_BURST000_COVER

and the big apple tree pruned. And that feels really good.

2018-03-12_05-37-39

I know it still looks kind of crazy, but trust me- it’s pruned! (I should have taken a “before” photo)

But I’m pretty pooped. So it’s time to take a break.
Just sit and breathe.
And knit. 🙂

2018-03-12_05-32-38

SuperGreen looks pretty amazing in the sunshine. All that yellow-green in the blend just seems to glow from within.

IMG_20180312_170247716

Sweatering Along at a Goodly Pace

IMG_20180304_182910964_HDR

SuperGreen is coming along nicely. I’m about 4 inches below the arm holes, working some waist shaping decreases.
I’m enjoying the knitting, and am really pleased with how it’s turning out. So at least that’s going according to plan.

In other areas, I’m a bit behind. Managed to get some of the fruit tree pruning done over the weekend, but the sheep must have known that I had hoof trimming on my list, and never gave me an opportunity. So, pushing that agenda item to next weekend I guess.

I’m just glad to have left February behind. March might still have a bit of winter left in it, but it is a step in the right direction.