Happy Easter April 20 2014

Our Easter was festive with apple blossoms and homegrown and hand-dyed Easter eggs. 

Our homegrown eggs - pink dyed with homegrown beets, yellow dyed with turmeric, and green/blue naturally colored.

Fingers crossed we get some apples this year despite the cold weather, especially from our Almata apple.  Pink-skinned and -fleshed, it makes the most beautiful applesauce!

Happy Easter!

- Kelsey

Packing Day March 20 2014

The fleeces are all skirted and sorted, so today we packed them up to be sent off and processed into roving.  It's a lot of work, but very exciting to know that this year's crop of fleeces will soon be back and ready! 

 One of our Navajo Churro ewes, Amber, had the most amazing staple - 14" in length or so.  That is why it is so important to send our wool to a mill who won't cut the long-stapled wools. 

Happy spring, everyone!

- Kelsey

Shearing Day 2014 March 18 2014

It was a cold and windy day this year for shearing day.  We all bundled up as much as possible and had Abby (our toddler) sit in the dog house out of the wind.  Our friend, Susan, came and helped us, thankfully!  Nick, our shearer, did a great job as usual.  I didn't take as many photos as usual, because my fingers didn't want to work in the cold.  I felt a little bad taking the sheep's coats off on such a day, but I think they're a lot tougher than I am! 

 I was excited to see my moorit (brown) Shetland ewe, Claire, hasn't faded.  This is her second shearing and her fleece is definitely dual, but soft and wavy. 

Caprica, our shaela (steel gray) Shetland cross ewe, had another gorgeous fleece.  I thought she would coarsen by her second year, but her fleece is still soft, crimpy, and has great staple length.  Hers is a single-coated fleece.

 We were please with our Shetland ram's (McIntosh) soft, wavy, pearly fleece.  Shearing day is like Christmas!

 Take care and stay warm!

- Kelsey