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Just a Little Off the Top, Please

denisemor 2 April 9, 2018

The most unlikely of walk-in customers approached me this evening about getting a little trim

Yep, that’s Dottie.
Last year she was a bit of a handful at shearing time. Bucking bronco/jumping bean type of thing.
But this year she was all about getting rid of that heavy coat so I could give her some good scritches 🙂

I wasn’t really prepared for the shearing, and so didn’t have anything on hand to put the wool in as it was coming off- so I just stuffed it in my jacket as I went. Here is me afterwards-

And here is Dot with her partial haircut

Lookin’ pretty sporty, girl!

Kitten in the High Tower

denisemor 5 April 1, 2018

I’ve been looking for a while, and just this week I finally got my hands on a shelving unit with great Kitten Tower potential!

I found it on this auction site, which I’ve found is a great way to get ahold of all kinds of random things that are being surplused from state agencies.

I liked how this unit is nice and open, and has shelves that are easily adjusted to permit a lot of different configurations.
I’ve got the litter box down low, but high enough off the ground to keep Gus from gaining access.

Up top is a a nice shallow produce box that makes a very luxurious kitten bed when outfitted with a thick and toasty felted sweater.

On the tall side I’ve rigged up a rolled jute rug that is a perfect scratching/climbing wall- this is the most adventurous route up to the penthouse!

And on the other side is her regular scratching post, which can also be used to access the middle level-

I’m also playing around with the idea of a hammock for an alternate lounging area- the current version is a deconstructed canvas tote bag.

I’m so pleased that she seems to like the new digs. She’s a good girl and I’m happy to share my wool room with her- we bond over our shared love of knitwear 🙂

Out of the Stash

denisemor 2 March 25, 2018

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.

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

denisemor 0 March 19, 2018March 19, 2018

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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,

and Big Black and White.

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.