another day, another million dollars

The days seem to be running together here at Beauty Farm. Our Indian Summer seems to be at a close, the rain is here. The days are colder, the nights are longer. Old Tonto pony has graduated from his cotton fly rug to his waterproof rug. Not yet at a Winter weight. Just water proof to keep him a bit warmer. I do feel sorry for the poor lil man, his joints object to being subjected to the cold cold nights. It's only going to get worse.

I spend a vast majority of my days observing the animals as I go about my jobs. The lambs, now almost fully grown, make me laugh. Horrace wants to get friendly, if you know what I mean, but the girls wont have any of it. I can almost hear them in my head. "Mmm, nice grass...(munch, munch)... wait, what was that noise?... RAM! OMG THE RAM IS BEHIND ME!!" as they quickly sprint off and away. I fear we will not be having any little lambletts this Spring. I am considering haltering the girls and holding them still so that Horrace can get his job done. Mum and Dad think this is insanely funny. Booger heads.

My knitting is coming along, I have finished 1.5 squares. I can knit and purl stitches now. Hooray. The current square is a basket weave pattern. No swearing to be heard either. I am very proud of myself.

I have felted another project. A scarf, of course. Next felt project; a largish piece of felt to be used as a baby blanket. Fingers crossed it works out nicely. I do have to get some more wool tops before starting this project. Then it will be time to get some patterns and start making "things", rather than just "felt".

Meet the sheep

Let me introduce you to the wondrous wool, meat and (hopefully) milk producing sheep of Beauty Farm. I am hoping that the girls will allow us to collect milk from them to help us to raise a couple of orphan lambs, in addition to the lambs they will be raising. I have been informed that sheep produce colostrum for the 24 hours following the birth of their lambs. If you milk this colostrum you can freeze it to feed orphans.

Let us start with our hand raised orphans from Spring 2009. We had 5 lambs, 2 ewes and 3 weathers. All the boys were called Bruce, although they all collected names from discerning features. They are all destined for the freezer. The girls, however, are a different story. Haidee and Heidi, originally known as pee-bum and poo-bum as these are the bodily functions they performed in the car, are the beginning of our breeding stock.

First we have little Bruce, he was very sickly and took some extra care, but we managed to nurse him through.

Next we have the girls Heidi and Haidee, with LJ. Plus a close up of baby Heidi's cute little nose.

In the process of yarding lambs for a friend ready for slaughter we arranged to swap a Bruce for one of their Ewes, now known as Heedee. Heedee was flock raised so has little understanding of what people are, although we have noticed that she is becoming more curious and accepting of people.

Last, but definitely not least, the piece de la resistance, Horrace. Lambed Spring 2008, a Wiltipoll Flock Ram. Wiltipoll do not produce wool, but we are hoping to have enough orphan lambs come through to supply us with the first cut of lambs wool, along with the fleeces from our 3 ewes.