Maaaaa, Maaaaa

The most recent additions to the farm are small, brown and white, they eat everything in site, and they have an insistent call of maaaaaa, maaaaaaa. If you guessed Boer Goats, give yourself a prize!



The small one on the left is Cybelle, and the whether on the right is Dinner. He was named so that there would be absolutely no confusion about his ultimate purpose on the farm! Hopefully Cybelle will be around a little longer, producing little goats for us.

They are very friendly and Cybelle especially likes to have her head scratched. Dinner is a little shy, but he is getting more comfortable with us. They have quite a job ahead of them, clearing out the hillside for us. You can get an idea of how much forage there is in this picture. But they are making good progress with it. They have certain plants they like better, such as multiflora rose, and so those are getting eaten first.

In other news, I posted some quilts over on my Etsy shop -- click on over and check them out!

Forecast Stormy

They hit it on the nose -- stormy has been the weather story here all summer long. I think the sump pump has been running for the entire month of June, and on into July.



But sunny days and stormy afternoons/evenings make for lush pastures, and the critters are eating it up! Get it, eating up the pasture...I crack me up!



Ahem...moving right along...the point is that even though the weather is crap during the hours that I am actually home and could enjoy the weather, it has brought back the east pastures pretty quickly. And they were definitely beat down while we were desperately dodging raindrops getting the fence strung on the east pastures.



So, when we found this beautiful grey and white fiber boy for sale, what else could we name him except Stormy! This is not the best photo, but the boys were not very cooperative for the shoot.

He is settling in pretty well -- I think he would have done better if we had brought home two that day, so that he could have a buddy while trying to socialize into the herd. But I think that five is our limit for now. At least until we can get the micro pastures set up.

Where Have I Been

This has been a crazy couple of months around here.

1. The shearing is done, the fleeces picked and they are at the mill now. (that should count as three!)
4. We have added to our herd -- an additional alpaca (Stormy) and two boer goats.
5. The Angoras have been cut down.
6. We have had two sets of chicks hatch, and started two more in the incubators this week.
7. The Lops and Angoras have been bred.
(Wait, not to each other...thats Lops to Lops and Angoras to Angoras.)
8. The Etsy shop is updated -- woo hoo!
9. I am getting bids on my fabric on eBay -- triple woo hoo!
10. I got a My Space page!
11. I am getting wool carded and ready for my Etsy shop.
12. And I opened a new Etsy shop exclusively for my roving and batts. (did you look? nothing there yet -- see #11 above!)

Obviously, the biggest time sucker here has been the fleeces -- getting them picked and ready for the mill takes quite a while. And even with a drum carder, it takes a while to get a batt ready. But I am having fun with it, doing a lot of blends right now with the alpaca, angora and some mystery sheep wool (I think corriedale.) And I love the scarves I dyed that are in my Etsy shop now -- gorgeous!!

Pictures later this week -- promise!

Random Wednesday

1. Gave shots and vitamins to the alpacas over the weekend. They are loving the warmer weather and the grass growing in the pasture.

2. No progress on knitting works in progress -- instead cast on a new pair of socks.

3. Etsy update -- felted bags. Pictures later this week. In the meantime, click on that sidebar link to go to my shop.

4. Tribble is having his fur plucked this week. Plucking gives longer fibers than shearing and he seems to not mind at all. Other than looking bald in patches. Besides, I was more than a little nervous to shear him off.

5. We are fiercely on the trail of a girlfriend for Tribble -- I can hardly wait for fuzzy babies!

6. Fence progressing slowly, and will be interrupted by the start of spring turkey season.

I Heart Garter Stitch

I know, I know. I've heard it all already. Garter Stitch is boring. There is no challenge to Garter Stitch. Garter Stitch is for beginners. And even, Garter Stitch is for "knitting wussies."

I can't help myself. In a beautiful yarn, garter stitch creates a beautiful fabric. And even that annoying curl at the bottom can be taken care of with a row or two of ribbing. (At least I hope so, because I have a lot of curl at the bottom, and only one row of ribbing. I'm definitely relying on the blocking for this one!)

And for me, a person who is undertall for her weight class, simpler is always better. Details at the top of a garment draw the eye up and away from all those troublesome areas down around the middle. Case in point, this will be a sleeveless top, with criss cross straps in the front. From Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer of 2004.

Settin' Fence Post

What comes first, the fence or more alpacas? My theory is that if I buy the animals, the men around here are much more motivated to get that fence up. However, cooler heads are prevailing, and so, more fence!


Just posts so far...

The fabulous Mr. D helps out with his tractor to pound in the posts...

Yes sir, we just love puttin' in posts and stringin' fence! (I truly mean to write "stringin" and "puttin" although my mother will not appreciate it. Adding the "g" only marks me as having spent way too much time in grad school!)


Well, maybe not everybody...

Another Etsy Update

Now available on my Etsy shop...

Pictured is 1 oz. of true black alpaca roving. Right now I have about 8 oz. carded and ready to sell, with more still to be carded.

This fleece has been wonderful to work with. We got it last summer at Magical Farms in Litchfield, OH when we visited. It is very fine and was super easy to sort and clean. It has carded up to be as light and airy as any fleece I have worked with.

So I am looking for a new home to send this beautiful fiber to...if you would like to spin and love this fiber, click here to go to my Etsy shop.