Blackberry winter

Every area seems to have its descriptors for weather. What exactly are the "dog days of summer?"

Here in the Ozarks, we have "Blackberry winter" every few years. That is the freeze that comes when the blackberries are blooming. This year's blackberry winter was mild, just a frosting on the tops of the hay stacks and the sheep shelters.
The blackberries from Leesa; elderberries from Melody C; day lilies from Linda W.;  and on around the garden are all fine. I love that my garden is growing into a passalong visit with my friends..

Lamb games

Lamb watching takes up a big part of chore time in the Spring. Laughing at Lamb-pedes as the lambs race up and around the hill while their mom's eat grain; watching the little cliques challenge each other; watching the new babies learn the ropes of lamb play.
This is one of the best reasons for having a farm. Enjoy!

Red mohair

The swirls in the dyepot as the colors blend

Lucious reds in mohair, drying on the porch

I rarely take custom orders or commissions any longer. I stress over them too much. I also tend to work on what I'm enjoying a the moment. Sometimes, I really want to weave rugs on the big loom, other times, I love the fiddly-fuss of weaving shawls and frequently I just want to sit at my wheels and spin (yarn).

But, I tell people, I will take suggestions and inspirations. Then, when they check back with me at Off the Beaten Path Studio Tour, or Christmas Showcase or look in the Common Threads etsy store or visit our Shearing Days Open House, maybe, just maybe, they'll find just what they've been looking for.

During our Shearing Days open house on March 31, someone mentioned that she'd been looking for a quality yarn for a Christmas project. She needed a red and white candy striped yarn. Well, that stuck in my mind. I'm spinning a super soft white lamb's wool fleece (Poncho's) on my Louie Wheel at work and I just sheared a very shiny, if not quite the softest white mohair from Tillie. Hmm, dye that red, spin the yarns, ply the two textures... gotta try it.

So, I cranked up the dyepot yesterday and did several versions of red, ranging from bright red-red to purpley-pink. Give it a few days to dry and I'll be spinning the red at home. In the meantime, I've just finished Lefty's lamb's wool fleece into 4 skeins of nice two ply Jacob wool yarn and I've started spinning Fritillary's divine cloudy mohair. It must be a Spring for spinning.

The sunny side of spring shepherding

Yesterday was a gorgeous bright spring day. The sky was intensely blue, the hills were soft spring green, the birds were chittering and the sheep were enjoying perfect weather.
We sheared the last of the yearlings and the last angora goat. The last lamb of the season was born healthy and easy.
A perfect day on Havencroft Farm.

Beautiful four-horned Hester's eyes are as blue as the spring sky.

Yearling Helen had this exquisite little ram lamb Sunday morning. He's the last lamb of 2013.

Nilly is enjoying the sun now that her winter coat is off.

Lucious mohair! We sheared the last of the angora goats this weekend. Gamma Rae's gun metal gray fleece inspired a felting project.

How to safely store fresh fleeces

In and around snowstorms we have been shearing here on Havencroft Farm. The sheep and goats have warm shelters in their hoop houses and the mamas have to be shorn before they kid or lamb. It's a busy time of year, so I have to have a good way to store all those fleeces until I can spin them into yarn or weave them into rugs.

Fleeces waiting on the desk to be tied and stored.

Our system is simple, yet has worked well for years. I buy lots of pillow cases at the local second hand store. They sell them for $2.00 for a bag full. I can reuse them for many years.
As we shear a sheep or goat, we put their fleece in an individual pillow case. Some of them we have to pack into a king sized case, others barely fill a regular pillow case. Then, with a sharpie marker, I write the name of the critter, the date and my intended use for the fleece - rug or spin. Sometimes I will put other notes like "good lanolin", "lots of vm" or "Mine!" for any fleece I really want to spin.

Fleeces stored on the shelf with chunks of cedar.

We bring them into the house and toss them on my sewing desk. Then, when I have a few minutes, I check their labels, make sure they are dry, tie the end of the pillow case with a string and tuck them into the fleece shelf. The cubbies on this shelf are 2-foot by 2-foot, a great size to store about 6 of our fleeces in. I put chunks of cedar in with the fleeces to keep moths away. We always have lots of cedar around.

I can easily store 30 to 40 fleeces in my shop. When I have more, they get stacked in the corner. This storage system works great, as I use up almost all the fleeces we shear each year spinning yarns, weaving shawls and making rugs.

I store finished goods in tubs on top of the shelf, with bags of cedar shavings in the tubs. Yarns and finer goods I store in ziplock bags in the freezer.

Shepherding takes passion, dedication and a support network

Spring is a busy time on any farm. Here at Havencroft, where we raise Jacob sheep, dairy goats and angora goats, we know we won't get much sleep the end of March. But even planning on that, this week was a little extreme.

First time mom Greta does a great job with her little ram lamb

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During lambing season, we check everyone well at evening feeding. If no one seems to be in labor, we only do a two a.m. check on everybody. But, if a ewe or doe is close, then we check every two hours, especially with the first-time moms. Lena and I switch off on these checks, which helps.
Greta, a two-year-old Jacob sheep ewe labored hard to have her rather large ram lamb (by Canoe Lake Sonic Boom) about 10 p.m. Sunday night. He did fine and is now debating with Hocus's Incantation about who rules the sheep pen.

Then, Tuesday evening, Lena's very special Demi sheep, (and the sheep who grows those incredible dark gray, silver tipped fleeces for my best Fleecyful Wool Rugs), went into labor. By 9:00 it was obvious she needed help and by 10:30, I knew that I couldn't handle the problems. We found our new vet in the middle of the night. Dr. Jill Baird in Clinton is a god-send!

Dr. Jill Baird of Van Buren County Vet Clinic labored for more than two hours in the middle of the night Tuesday to save Demi and her lamb.

She labored more than two hard, physical hours to save Demi and one of her beautiful lambs. Lena and I had driven Demi over to the vet in Lena's car. Clinton is more than an hours drive, over some pretty twisty roads, so we made it back home with Demi and baby by 3:00 a.m. for a bit of sleep for all of us.

At the 6:00 a.m. check, Demi was in trouble. I tried our local vets, hoping to save Demi and lamb the stress of the drive, but by 10:00 a.m., I was headed back to Clinton, after arranging for many wonderful friends to cover things for me at work!

Dr. Jill gave Demi IV fluids and did surgery to patch things up inside. The wonderful staff at the clinic helped hold the lamb, who cried if she was put in a crate. After all was finished, we tucked momma and lamb together to wake up. Demi was so happy to see her lamb when she came to.

Demi and baby resting after surgery on Wednesday.

 In an hour or so, she was up and wanting to know where they kept the food in this joint. Demi does love her feed. She helped clear the chickweek and a weed tree out of the livestock yard at the Clinic. I tried to thank Dr. Jill, and we were on our way!

Demi after surgery, ready to head home with her ewe lamb.

Demi and Ipswich (Jill) home after Demi's surgery.

 Then, after Spring came dancing in last weekend, it blew back out with a big snow storm Thursday night. We got about 6" of snow here at Havencroft, before it started raining on top of it at 3:00 a.m. Luckily it was just warm enough that the rain cleared the roads, instead of icing them. It also washed away some, but not all of the snow.

The sheep and goats were all tucked in their shelters, except for Henna, one of our Lamancha dairy goat yearlings, who was in labor and insisted on being outside. Every two hours, I went out and put her back in the barn. I tried to move her to the milk shelter, but the entire herd broke out of the gate I hadn't locked tight (at 2 a.m.) and so I did good just to get everybody back in the goat pen.

The goat kids playing in the barn after Thursday night's snow.

Spring in the Ozarks

Mouse, Bones and Dapper Dan want breakfast.

Our mountain, shrouded in fog on Friday morning.

 Finally, at 8:07 a.m., when I had called in late to work for the 2nd time this week, Henna had a lovely little doe - in the snow bank. Lena and I penned her in the barn and I went to work. When I got back home at lunch to check on everyone, I found the second little doe. Mom and both babies are fine.

Henna, our Lamancha dairy goat yearling and her twins, born Friday morning about 8 a.m. (after I checked her every 2 hours all night long!)

Shepherding takes passion, dedication and a whole village of folks to support the effort. I want to thank Dr. Jill and Dr. Ben; Lena; Shawn; Missy Epperson; Josh; Melody and the whole rest of everybody who helped out this week!
We have 2 more angora goats and 6 more jacob sheep left to have babies. Last year, two of them had lambs at our Shearing Day open house. Who knows what will happen this year? This year's Shearing Days Open House here at Havencroft Farm is March 30 from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Leave a comment if you need more details.

Dr. Jill saves Demi-sheep

Demi, our lovely Havencroft Farm crossbred ewe, who grows those incredible silver tipped gray fleeces for my best Fleecyful wool rugs, went into labor last night around supper time. This is her fourth set of lambs, all sired by Dapper Dan. While we cover most health care items on our farm, this day showed how important a good vet is to the sustainability of any livestock enterprise.

By bedtime it was obvious Demi was in trouble. I checked her out-and it was beyond me. So, at 10:30 pm, we put calls out and found a wonderful young vet in Clinton. We arrived there before midnight. Dr. Jill Baird of Van Buren County Animal Clinic labored intensely with Demi for more than 2 hours and managed to save her and one of her babies- a huge white ewe lamb.

Demi and her lamb resting comfortably after surgery.

This morning Demi needed help again, and after calling our local vets, it was back to Dr. Jill. I told her I hope she likes sheep, because she's obviously our new vet. She just smiled, but she did have a glow about her (and she did take lots of pictures with her phone of little Jill lamb).