Sometimes, this place really and truly is a zoo. Today, we had to give some of the sheep shots and others got larger coats, which they need every 3 months. We didn’t have enough coats the right size and so will order more and 4 still need to be sheared plus the alpacas. And our ram has decided that at least one girl was missed and he should take care of her.
But look at this heavenly wool. It is a dream come true and hand spinners love it. This and the enjoyment we have from watching the sheep make it so worth the little troubles.
Do you remember these sweet potatoes that I put in water. Today I was able to take the starts off them and put them in the water. There are probably 12-15 starts in this jar
We went to the feed store today to get a couple of these feeding troughs for the sheep. We needed two troughs instead of the little dishes we had been using. There are actually two in this photo with sheep surrounding each. This is a much easier way to give them their grain. Below are some photos of the babies. They didn’t want to come in tonight – too fun in the sun.
Yesterday morning, I thought spring might be on the way. Today, it definitely is not.
Here are 3 sheep photos. This last one you can see one of the dogs with the big fluffy tail. It appeared they rounded the sheep up and were counting them. Of course, we don’t really know what was happening, except they touched noses, then the sheep wandered off to eat.
This has been a big project. (I did hire help). The boxes were moved a bit this winter and another trellis was built. Then we had lost so much soil because over time as one pulls weeds or food out, a bit of soil comes out. So we used 6 bales of peat moss, 18 bags of sand and 3.5 bales of perlite to fill all the boxes again. This time the dirt is only on the bottom, so hopefully we won’t have the weed problem and the food will come out cleaner. It’s the Mittleider method if you are interested. So tomorrow, I absolutely MUST start the veggies seeds so they can be transplanted and I also need to get this fertilized and thoroughly watered this week. I’m a bit late, but the forecast is for freezing nights every night this week and rain through Wednesday. Then if the forecast is correct we’ll get 3 days of sun or partial sun, then more rain.
This is hours upon hours upon hours of work though it doesn’t appear that way. It is 2 plies of dog hair -about 60% and 2 of sheep wool. I’m not sure what I’ll make yet, but the yardage estimate is 285 yards if 4 ply.
By 1 PM, I was ready for a rest. I spun another 30 inches of roving (I tore the roving into 30″ lengths – just 28 more of this particular one to do at one a day). When the roving is spun, I’ll ply it and look for a sweater pattern
I was looking for something else, but this is what I found. Somehow, they were put in a tub and the tub was put on a shelf and though I knew I had them, I didn’t know where. I don’t even remember how old they are. The giraffe is the only one open so far and the pattern date is 2002, although, it probably was purchased in a later year. They are kits, so the fabric is with them. They are reasonably small – the giraffes are 25 x 23, the owls are 36 x 42 – and the elephants 25 x 33 I may just make each of them into a baby quilt. The instructions are a bit scarce and the giraffe pattern is only of the three giraffes, but they include fabric to make legs, hooves, and faces. Too bad, they didn’t create the pattern that way. These will be next on my list, if only to get them done and out of a box. I can at least get them to the flimsy state, which is where I seem to be stopping this year. Maybe that’s a good thing as I’m supposed to be able to see better after the April cataract surgery.