Sheep Farming - A Labor of Love

I am a shepherd.

Havencroft Higgledy-Piggledy (Higgs) grows fleeces for
some of my best wild rugs, has awesome lambs, and loves
to get scratched under her wool. She wags her tail when
you get the right spot, just like a dog. She passes that
unique trait on to her children.

My heart, my soul and my passion are -

• the land that supports my sheep and goats; 
• the healthy flocks that greet me every time I look out the window or step outside; 
• the milk, wool, mohair, alpaca, llama and dog fiber they provide for my fiber arts; 
• the spinning, weaving, felting and crochet that I do with the fleeces from my animals; 
• the cheese that I make from the goat's milk; 
• the connections I make with the people who buy the things I craft; 
• and the relationships that those folks build with our animals and land.

It's a lot of hard work, and it is truly a labor of love.

HF Hocus Pocus is mildly annoyed at her son for climbing on her.
HF Finesse ("Nessie" - Thyme's last lamb and Canoe Lake Sonic Boom's first
on our land), is on the right is with her two 2018 ram lambs. We retired her
with those two boys. She's only nine, but she had trouble lambing.
Our retired sheep, now six of them, ranging in age from 9 to 16,
live in a big paddock with trees and a deep bedded shelter
on the west side of our land.

I frequently get asked if I make a living farming. I have learned to school my expression and not laugh maniacally at the question. There was a time when I thought I could live sustainable as a farmer, and there are people who do. I don't. As my tax preparer says, "You have a hobby farm." It's a lot of hard work for a "hobby". It is a labor of love.

So, it's tax time again and as I was figuring things up, I thought I'd share some numbers. Every farm is different and costs vary every year. The weather is also a big factor. Some years we can graze seven months. Some years we feed hay all year.

These numbers aren't meant to prove anything. They are just some business numbers from Havencroft Farm in the Arkansas Ozarks.

Like many Americans, we have a mortgage, utilities, gas, groceries, medical bills and insurance. We are lucky enough to have jobs to pay for all of that. Our jobs and help from our folks cover infrastructure like roofs, fencing, and barns; and equipment upgrades like my new Spinolution Firefly, an electric production spinning wheel that allows me to keep spinning the yarns I love as my body ages.

I love this picture of the sheep grazing out front fall of 2018.
Left to right are HF Judith, HF Hester, HF Ipswich (Dapper Dan's last daughter),
HF Magic, HF Nexxus, and HF Natalie.

Our flocks of 25 adult Jacob Sheep, 4 angora goats, 3 alpacas, and five dairy goats mostly pay for their own food, supplements and medical bills.

This last year, expenses were

Hay - (thanks for wonderful friends in a very weird growing year), $1,350

Grain - $4,680

Supplements - salt blocks, kelp, selenium - $800

Vet - (supplies like wormers and visits - and we have an awesome vet. Thanks Doc Nixon!) - $900

Total expenses  - $7,730

This year my goal is to weave all my

shawls from yarns spun out of 

fleece grown on our 

Havencroft Farm by our beloved

sheep, goats, and alpaca.

That's part of the reason I've 

enjoyed dyeing so much this winter.

Income from sales of products I make by hand from milk and fleeces from our animals -

Goat's milk - $384 (family drinks most of it, or eats the cheese I make from the milk, this number is just direct sales to customers.)

Sales from the Havencroft Farm etsy store, $1,200 (I hope to build that back up this coming year)

Sales of Fleecyful rugs, Havencroft Homestead Handspun yarns, and handwoven shawls - $4,300

Sales of ram lambs and extra ewe lambs - $1,500

Total income - $7,384

So, the cost to our homestead budget of having the sheep and goats that I love so much is $346, this past year.

They're worth it, to me, and I hope to those of you who love the things you treasure from the fleeces they grow. Its truly a labor of love.

I love to spin yarn from the fleeces of my sheep, and to be able to watch them
playing out the window as I spin. I love how the yarn seems to have the
characteristics of the sheep or goat who is growing it, sometimes sweet and
soft, sometimes michevous, sometimes elegant. This yarn is
HF Luna's (Moose Mountain Jacob x HF Imbri)
spun as a whole fleece, right from the pillowcase we put the fleece in after
shearing. Luna started out shy, but she has grown to be one of our boss ewes.

Each Fleecyful rug that I weave is from the whole fleece
of one of our Jacob Sheep, angora goats, or alpacas.
I usually weave with the raw fleece, right out of the bag
it's put in a shearing, letting the natural colors of the
animals design the pattern of the rug. 

Dyeing Days - Winter in the Havencroft Farmstead Kitchen

Havencroft Homestead Handspun Art Yarn -
Grown and spun with love.
This wool (purple and yellow), mohair (hot pink) and alpaca
(natural white and berry) art yarn was all grown by critters here
.on Havencroft Farm and dyed by me, before being
picked and spun into this wild art yarn. I was concerned
that my goal of using only fleeces grown on our farm
in my fiber art might be limiting my color and texture
palette. I'm not worried any longer. 

Life and work on the farm is seasonal.There are the obvious things. Most planting is done in the spring. Hay is harvested in the summer. But there are many other tasks that may make total sense for those who live the homestead life, but may not be so apparent to others. Right now it is winter. Winter in the Ozarks is unpredictable weather-wise, but it always brings shorter days and forests without leaves.

Washing dyed mohair.
In the winter it can't be confused
with kale, chard or collards from the garden.

So, winter is the time we harvest broom handles. The sap is in the roots of the trees. We can cut sassafrass without harming the thicket. We can see the handles we want. And best of all, there are far fewer ticks and bugs in the forest in the winter.

Winter is also the time I run my dye pots. Colors are more subtle in nature in the winter, so I love to add some bright vibrant color to my life, my fleeces and my yarn during this season. Also, dyeing takes heat and water. While I do my dye mixing on my back porch, I do heat my dye vats on the kitchen stove. It helps to heat up the house in the winter. I do much of my washing of fleeces to prepare them for dyeing in the bathtub, which also heats up and steams up the house, which is appreciated in the winter, not in any other season.

I also have the time and space to dye in the winter, because I don't make cheese in the winter. Goats are seasonal breeders, as are the sheep. So even if I manage to stagger their breeding dates so that one or two of them are always milking,  in the winter there is only enough milk for me to drink, not the gallons I need to make cheese. My cheese pots and dye pots look similar, but are stored in very different areas and are not mixed in any way. However, it is good to have the two activities separated by seasons, too.

My back porch is where I mix dyes and dry the dyed yarns and fleeces.
It doubles as my potting shed and plant starting room.

Winter is the time we are increasing the feed to the ewes and does as their fleeces grow long and their baby-bellies get bigger. We are looking forward to lambing and kidding. That means shearing season is coming soon. I need to finish weaving, spinning and dyeing the rest of last years fleeces to get ready for this year's on the shelf. So I'm weaving, spinning, washing and dyeing what's on the shelf. 

After it is processed, washed, picked and dyed fleece is stored in cedar trunks for use through the upcoming seasons for spinning and weaving.

So, I'm off to start a fresh dye pot. I've been dyeing natural stone colors for a project, so I think I want something bright. How about more florescent pink?

For practical matters, I do use some natural dyes, but I mostly use acid dyes from Dharma Trading. I've been buying from this company since before there was an internet. 

If you are looking for any of my Havencroft Homestead Handspun art yarns for your next project, check out our Havencroft Farm etsy store.

Leading today's music playlist in the Havencroft Farm Fiber Studio.

To Everything There is a Season

adapted from Ecclesiastes 3, 1-8, by Pete Seeger

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late

Havencroft Homestead Handspun Yarns

Just a few of the Havencroft Homestead Handspun Yarns off my spinning wheel. Many of these are listed in the Havencroft Farm etsy store.

I love to spin. I enjoy the feel of the fleece in my hand. Watching, petting and cuddling the animal friends who grow the fleece makes me happy. I love deciding what I want to ply the single yarn with and the unique beauty of each skein as it winds off the bobbin and on to the niddy-noddy, ready for washing.

Spinning is also what I do to relax. People often ask me how I keep up with the pace of my daily life. I have built in relaxation in my spinning, weaving, crochet, animal care, and sometimes, writing.

I spin lots of yarn, I love the challenge of sitting down to spin a whole fleece. But, it is all one - or maybe four or five - of a kind skeins of yarn. Many people like to follow patterns, and set guages, and predictable results. They want to know the item they are spending all these many hours making will turn out to be the item that they liked the picture of and wanted. I understand that, but my world is one of creative directions, happy accidents, design elements and excitement in seeing how the latest project turned out. Yep, I'm a double gemini in a house full of gemini's. Life is endlessly entertaining.

To that end, I needed to figure out how my one-of-a-kind skeins of yarn, grown by my wonderful Jacob Sheep, colored angora goats, goofy alpacas and guardian llama fit into the greater world of fibery fun so that I could connect them with people who would like to use them in their projects. That's where the concept for Havencroft Homestead Handspun Yarns came in. All of my yarns are from fibers grown on our homestead, with a few accents like dyed silk (don't raise silk worms), star fire or angelina, and metallic thread.

A skein of Luna's Jacob Sheep wool, all natural colors.

Havencroft Homestead Handspun Yarns are one-of-a-kind, individual skeins of yarn, grown by pampered critters, spun and dyed with love in the Ozarks.

These yarns are great as accents for scarves, shawls, hats and many other projects. Also, I'll be working on developing crochet patterns for small skein projects and have a few pattern testers lined up.

If you'd like to check out some of my yarns, they are listed in our Havencroft Farm etsy store; we are on the Off The Beaten Path Studio Tour, if you want to come meet the critters, too. We also do the Arkansas Craft Guild Christmas Showcase in Little Rock.

I have several goals for this year, one is to work only with our homegrown fleeces in my fiber arts. I worried about that one, because as much as I love the natural colors of fibers our critters grow, color is what sells. But then I spun the yarn below, all from wool, mohair and alpaca grown on Havencroft Farm and dyed by me. I'm not worried about having novelty yarn any more!

Havencroft Homestead Handspun Yarn, an art yarn skein of wool, mohair and alpaca.

Why I love to spin raw fleece

I love to spin yarn. The flow of the fleece in my hands, the twist of the fibers, the tug of the wheel. It's my meditation, my relaxation, my joy. I spin almost every night. It's how I unwind, pun intended. Rough days at work, worries on the farm, health issues with family and friends - these all wind away onto the bobbin. 

This Spinolution Firefly 32 oz bobbin holds most of Havencroft Luna's 2018 Jacob Sheep wool fleece spun into a 2 ply, 5 wpi yarn. It was spun raw - unwashed and uncarded, right out of the bag.

But I have a dirty little secret. 

I love to spin raw wool. Yep, unwashed, uncarded, with little bits of vegetable matter (vm) to pick out on the way. 

There are many reasons for this.

• I weave and crochet with my finished yarns. I love the unique texture that spinning unprepared fleece gives the yarns. 
• I love the feel of the lanolin. It makes my hands soft. 
• I love the heathery look of random color blends from each of my spotted sheep's fleeces.
• It gives my spinning wheel a nice patina. (yes, I do have to clean it periodically)
• I hate washing fleece.
• I feel like it helps me connect to and appreciate my sheep and angora goats and goofy alpaca boys.
• Strong, healthy sheep equals strong yarn. If there are health issues, problems in the yarn are one more way for me to find them.
• I learn first hand what weeds are hidden in our hay or pasture.

A few of our Havencroft Jacob Sheep ewes grazing on the front pasture, summer 2018. From left to right, Judith, Hester, Ipswich, Molly, Nexxus, Nebula.

It's still quite a process to go from sheep to yarn.

My daughter and I do all our shearing by hand here on Havencroft Farm. We shear each sheep up on a stand, and put the fleece in a pillow case after it rolls off the sheep. We skirt out the really dirty bits as we shear, they don't go into the bag. After shearing, and after the sheep has had her toenails trimmed (mani-pedi with her hair cut, the full beauty salon treatment), the sheep bounces off to scratch and enjoy not wearing her full wool blanket, then I label the bag with the name of the sheep, the date, and the intended use of the fleece. The soft, buttery, silky fleeces are destined for my spinning stash. The coarser fleeces are woven into Fleecyful Rugs.

Each fleece goes into a pillow case for storage after shearing.
I spin right out of the pillow case

I've always loved to spin an entire fleece at a time. I've enjoyed doing that since I started spinning about 2001 or '02. Jacobs are small sheep, so a spinning fleece, which is often a lamb fleece, will net 400 - 1,000 yards of 2-ply worsted or bulky yarn. Spinning in the evenings, it can take me a month to spin and ply an entire fleece. 

Luna 2-ply Jacob Sheep wool yarn, 5 wpi. Spun right from the bag.

After spinning, then plying, winding the yarn off into skeins, and tying each skein securely in four places - Then I wash the yarn. It takes seven water baths to wash most yarns. I wash them in warm water in my kitchen sink. I handle the yarn gently to prevent felting and allow lots of soaking time to ease out dirt and vm. For soaps I use Orvus or Dharma Proffesional Textile Detergent. In the past I have used Dawn or people shampoos and creme rinses.

Raw spun yarn washing steps

Always fill the sink first, and take the yarn out of the sink for draining and filling. 

1. Soak the yarn in a sink full of warm rinse water for about 20 minutes, to wet the yarn down.
2. Remove yarn from sink, squeezing out the water. drain and wash down sink
3. Wash - Fill sink with warm water, add 2X normal amount of detergent after sink is done filling. Disperse soap completely before adding yarn, one skein at a time. Make sure the yarn can move freely. Do not try to wash too much at once.
4. Let soak for another 20 minutes, turning, swishing and squeezing gently every time you walk past the sink.
5. Pull yarns from water bath, gently squeezing out the soapy water.
6. Rinse - Drain and clean sink, and refill with warm water.
7. Again, one at a time add skeins to sink, gently swirling and squeezing the yarn. GENTLY is the key. Wool, alpaca and mohair yarns are very happy to felt.
8. Repeat the wash and rinse cycle one more time, or twice if the yarn is still dirty. 
9. I usually do a double rinse at the end, the next to the last rinse has 1/4 cup of white vinegar in it to remove the last of the soap. 
10. Then I finish with one more plain water rinse.

Luna's washed skeins of yarn, ready for listing in the Havencroft etsy store.

Crafting Felted Slippers

I've had a hankering to make felted wool slippers for a very long time. Now, I've made crocheted and felted slippers, even had my pattern published in SpinOff. And I've crochet amazing woolly slippers from raw fleece. But I wanted to learn to make felted slippers from wool, just by felting, without any needle art in between the fleece and the wearing.

That's been a long involved learning process! I've failed, I've learned, I've succeeded, I've learned, I've practiced, I've learned and now I'm wearing a pair of alpaca and kid mohair slippers that I just love.

So, I'm ready to share a quick pictorial of my process. I use only fleece from our animals- Jacob sheep wool, mohair and alpaca. Through trial and error, I've learned the fleece must be washed first to felt well. This is a pair of alpaca and mohair slippers I made for my mom.

1. First you draw out and cut the pattern/resist. A cheap textured plastic placemat works well. Cut about 1/2 inch wider than the person's foot.

Weigh and prep your fiber. Don't skip this step! Lesson learned the hard way.

Lay out your under towel, your super heavy duty bubble wrap, your netting and your soap. The soap matters. This is handmade soap from the Village Apothecary Shop at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. It works well.

Lay your resist/pattern on your bubble wrap and cover with your first layer of fluff, fibers mostly going one direction.

Layer your second layer of fiber over the first, going the opposite direction. Build up five layers of lightly fluffed fiber.

Put netting over pile of fluff.

Pour boiling water in a spiral over fluff.

Rub soap over netting being careful not to shift fiber sideways.

Pat, pat, pat.

Flip.

Wrap the loose fringy edges over the resist.

Repeat.

Once you have all your fiber for that slipper wrapped around your resist, roll it up in the bubble wrap and towel and roll, roll, roll for 8 minutes. Set a timer ('nother lesson) it's longer that you think. 

Decide where you want the opening on your slippers and cut. Make sure you felt the cut edges immediately. More lessons. 

Make a last for further shaping and felting. Duct tape and old socks on the person's foot whom the slippers are for. Very bad English!

Finish shaping, embellishing and drying your slippers on the last. 

Cut a leather sole using the original resist as a pattern and stitch to bottom of slippers. 

Wear and enjoy!

Using Small Sheep and Goats to Reclaim Land

This is the outline of a program I recently presented at the Ozark Folk Center State Park Farm to Table event. It's a concept I've been developing for two decades, but I'm starting to put our practices into words. 

Using Goats and Sheep to Reclaim Land

Jeanette Larson, co-owner Havencroft Farm, Mountain View, Arkansas, jenonthefarm@gmail.com

Small ruminants are not just for weed-eating and brush clearing. They can be used to help turn marginal land to into productive pasture, woodlot and garden. Sheep and goats provide fertilizer and other soil nutrients. Their hooves break up soil crust but don’t compact the dirt like heavier animals. The attention the shepherd pays to the animals also pays dividends in improved care to the land.

Any amendments you put in the animals, you ultimately put into the soil. Hay, grain, minerals, water, all cycle through the sheep and goat’s digestive system and pick up life-giving natural bacteria along the way. Many plants thought of as weeds provide needed nutrients to the animals. It’s a beneficial, natural cycle.

Good fencing is a must for this process to work. Goats especially need good fence. While some sheep will jump, goats are known for that ability. Sheep tend to respect a fence, goats see it as a challenge to puzzle out. You need to confine the animals to the area you want to reclaim. You need to keep predators out. Being able to rotate grazing, strip graze and rotate species will all help with this process. Goats are browsers. They eat the brushy, woody plants and coarse weeds. Sheep are grazers. They like grass and soft weeds. The two species complement each other when used in a rotation.

Use mobile shelters to terrace land and build soil where you want it.  We use cattle panels and tarps. Deep bed with waste hay in the winter, then move the shelters in the summer.

You must adjust your stocking levels to the carrying capacity of your land – and your budget. You can buy hay and grain to feed animals on smaller parcels of land, but that can be cost prohibitive. 

Caring for animals is a commitment that you need to consider before taking it on.

Choose your species based on your interests.

• Meat goats like Kikos, Boers and Spanish goats do not necessarily need daily tending, though like all animals they need access to feed and water.
• Dairy goats need intense management and daily milking –every day and often twice a day.
• Fiber goats, such as angoras and cashmere goats need regular shearing or combing for their health as well as optimum fiber production.
• Sheep have similar categories. Hair sheep are raised for meat, wool sheep for fiber and dairy sheep for milk.
• Camelids such as alpacas and llamas can fit into this species mix and find their own niche as fiber animals, guardians, pack animals or pets.
• Free range chickens are also an important part of our land-management. They turn the waste hay and keep insects pests at bay.

Winter Gear

I'm four fifths of the way through my five days off work for the holidays and starting to panic about not having time to finish all the things I wanted (needed) to get done. 

Some people have the impression that things slow down on the farm in the winter. The work doesn't, we just change gears. Each season has its own jobs, demands, workflow and pace. 

In the winter, I dye fleeces and yarns, because in spring we are too busy with lambing, kidding and planting and in the summer, it's too doggone hot to heat up the house with simmering dye kettles. Yesterday, I dyed turquioise all day, maybe trying to fill the need for a sunny sky that has been long absent. So, with that in mind, I started with yellow today. I'll run the yellow, orange, red, brown spectrum today. 

The new porches, under the new metal roof on the house, are nice dry places for drying fleece. But everytime I go out, it's a reminder that we need to put up porch rails, and I want to screen in one of them before summer. Front, back, we're still debating. At least painting can wait until its warmer.

We mostly have the critters in dry shelters now, though the bred angora does are not sharing well. We'll add another hoop house to their pen today, giving added shelter and a extra space for when kidding starts in March.

Hay is under cover and supply seems to be holding out well. I need to catch up on registrations for the Jacob sheep and dairy goats. That's a winter chore that I haven't tackled yet this year. 

I like to get ahead on my rug weaving in the winter, too. Weaving rugs is much more fun in the winter, when wool is warm and comforting, rather than in the summer when its hot. Two nice new mohair rugs done this week and I'll tackle finishing the beast of an all-farm rug today.

I've been spinning through Mo's alpaca fleece most of the year, off-and-on. I want to get it done. The bag is almost empty now, and I did get the warp on the loom this week for the blanket I'm weaving from the the fleece. Almost through the first 20" of natural, then I'll weave 6" of turquiose and recreate that band on the other end. 

Winter is the time of year when we are most optimistic about our gardens. The plans, research and dreams take up our evening conversations, but much of the stuctural work is done in the winter, too. Yesterday my folks came over and my dad helped put up the framework for our hoop house cold frame. We'll plastic it on the next sunny day... which I hope is soon. We are going to start greens, maybe cabbages right now. The baby plants under lights in February. In the summer, we'll strip off the plastic and use the hoop to grow green beans.

Lena and I tight fenced a little area in front to do a flower garden. I'm thinking herbs and dye plants, along with strawberries, but we are also looking at flowers just for pretty. We both want climbing roses for the front porch and are researching fragrant, disease resistant, drought and shade tolerant hardy climbing roses. She likes the peach and yellow, I like dusty purple.

But right now, I need to take mohair out of the dyebath and go fix the angora does shelter before the next round of rain.

Maybe I'll even find time this season to do some more blog updates. If you want to follow what's happening here on Havencroft farm, like the Common Threads Facebook page. I update that off my phone on the run. Happy winter!

Playing Tourist - Arkansas State Capitol, Little Rock

The Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock

My mother has an incredible curiosity. No matter where we were in the world, she'd go find interesting things to see, people to talk to, natural places to visit and culture to explore. I have memories of grasshoppers in Germany, tulips in Holland, blueberries and boulders in Alaska, forests in Alabama and so much more.  Where ever we went, she'd find place for us to explore and beauty around every corner.








And my mom loves pretty rocks. I remember having the back of our old Chitty bang-bang station wagon full of pretty rocks we picked up on a camping trip in Alaska. We just enjoyed them for being pretty. I don't know about my brothers, but I never even tried to identify any of them, I just enjoyed the rocks for being pretty. That family attraction to pretty rocks continues to this day. Just last night, my daughter Lena brought me a pretty rock, that might be a chunk of a geode from the sheep pen. It surfaced in the last rain.But I dye grass (family word for wandering off topic - that's a whole 'nother blog post).

Very large pretty rocks

Yesterday I was in Little Rock at central office for a work meeting. Over the lunch break when I am there for meetings I love to go explore the Capitol campus. There are monuments, interesting trees, things that could be art and lots of pretty people. One of the things that amused me yesterday was the number of large rocks with bronze plaques attached. It made me think of my mom. The people who collected the pretty rocks on the Capitol lawn needed more equipment and support than three energetic kids!

The bronzes are incredible.

If you want to explore the Arkansas State Capitol campus in Little Rock, they have a nice tour guide you can download at the link above and an audio tour that you can download to your phone and follow




.

Tech! - grr - and maybe I did need a new ram

It's been a beautiful summer here, enough rain to make the garden grow well and the lambs, kids, alpacas, angoras, Jacob Sheep and dairy goats are doing well. Lena and I have moved shelters to the best summer spots and fences for better grazing. In the garden I have hundreds of green tomatoes on the vine, have frozen a couple gallons of black berries, am watching the potatoes and garlic almost ready to harvest and enjoying the moderate temperatures. It has not broken 100 degrees yet this summer.

Early on in the summer, I was shopping for a new Jacob Sheep ram to breed our Canoe Lake Sonic Boom daughters to, but I decided that we could wait another year. Just like I've decided that my dairy goats are for giving milk, not for making more dairy goats, I have the sheep for their wool. Lambs are nice, but I don't have to breed the girls every year to get wool. I was ram shopping on the new Jacob Sheep facebook group - a modern way to find new bloodlines to keep our heritage breed vibrant.

I love to tell people in my work at the Ozark Folk Center State Park that we use and keep the traditional methods of making things by hand, but we also use and enjoy modern conveniences of internet and vehicles. We cherish our history and our unique culture. History and culture didn't stop in the past - we are living and creating both today.

My broom maker partner, Shawn Hoefer, was twice named champion craft broom maker at the Arcola, Illinios Broom Corn Festival. He and my daughter Lena (second place broom maker at the Arcola festival!) make and sell more than 4,000 hand-tied, hand-dyed, hand-carved brooms per year. Broom making is Shawn's vocation. And his other vocation is tech. Broomsquire by day; Geek by night. He designs awesome web sites for more than 30 clients. He swears he really needs all those tablets, computers and handheld devices to make sure his sites display correctly cross platform.

I, on the other hand, am a manager and interpreter by day. I have an awesome, creative job working with lots of people who I really enjoy. And, as you know from this blog, I am a shepherd, dairy farmer, fiber artists, cheesemaker, gardener and cook with the other 118 hours in a week that I'm not at work. I use a computer at work and I depend heavily on my handheld for many, many things. But I am not a geek.

Shawn offered to update the ram in my little Acer Aspire One about a year ago. I said I didn't need it. I like my little computer. I would be perfectly happy to keep using this same computer for the rest of my life. But over this year, it became so slow that it wouldn't accept software updates. So I'd open it and couldn't use it. (That's why I've gotten away from writing blog posts). So it sat in the pouch on my chair.

Finally, about two weeks ago I gave it to Shawn to try and get the updates installed. He fussed with it, cussed it and ordered a new ram chip, which he installed last night. I guess I did need a new ram, just not the wooly kind. My computer does seem to be faster, though now it doesn't want to save my pictures where I want them. Probably something to do with the updates. Several people have told me that my photo system is too old school and not supported any longer... but I like it and know it and it works fine for me!!! Or it did... that is one of the things that I wish we could figure out how to add to the tech world. I have a perfectly good 90 year old loom that I use daily, why do I have to quit using my beloved handheld device after less than 4 years?

So, I seem to have a working computer at home now, and should be able to go back to sharing updates with you from Havencroft Farm. I'm a little better a putting updates on our Common Threads page on Facebook as I can do those from my handheld.
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And now I'm headed out to milk and weed the blueberries. When I come back in after chores, I'll see if I can't find a way to get pictures to post here.

Gardening and cheesemaking

Those of you who follow my blog know that last year I made the decision that my dairy goat herd was for milk production, not for raising dairy goats. To that end, I found someone who would take and raise the kids for their own use, and I have all the sweet, creamy milk from my four does. 

Right now I'm getting about four gallons a day. And I'm making cheese daily. 

I got a Dutch style cheese press for my birthday, along with molds and followers. I've made some delicious cheeses. I have yet to be able to save any to age. My family loves cheese. 

Yesterday I made a cheese with some fresh Greek oregano incorporated into it. I got the plant from the Ozark Folk Center State Park Herb Shoppe and it is doing well in my garden. 

Between making cheese, doing chores and gardening, I seem to be having trouble finding time to weave this summer. 

Cheesy Day

I thought I'd take my own advice and start keeping a cheese notebook, as I have several cheeses in process today. But, I couldn't find a blank notebook and didn't want to drive to the store, so, I thought I'd try this. 

Shawn got me a Dutch style cheese press for my birthday, so I can make some hard, aged cheeses. 

To that end, I made two recultureable cultures starting with New England Cheesemakings Mesophilic culture and I started a culture of the "fresh" culture whilst I was at it. I sterilized two canning jars with lids in boiling water, then poured in this mornings fresh milk and put the two sealed jars in a boiling water bath about an inch over the lids for 35 minutes. 

When the timer want off, I ran cool water into the pot and when the milk temp was down to 86 degrees I added the fresh culture and put the jar atop the freezer. When the milk temp was down to 80 degrees, I added the Mesophilic culture and put that jar above the fridge. 

Tomorrow, I'll put the two cultures in the fridge until I can divide them out into ice cube trays to freeze them. 

I also started a cheese in the crockpot with this mornings milk. At 90 degrees I added 1 cup of sweet homemade goat's milk yogurt ( made with New England Cheesemakings sweet yogurt culture) and then I let it set at that temp for 3 hours. The keep warm setting on the crock pot was too warm so I unplugged it, but the temp seemed to maintain. I added 1/2 tab of dissolved Marschalls rennet at 12:20 pm and the temp was still at 90. 

Today is humid, raining off and on and the outside temp is 76 degrees. I have the house windows open. The weather app says rain will start again in 51 minutes, so I'm going to go feed the bottle baby lambs and work in the alpaca fence while the curd forms on the crockpot cheese. 

Homesteading economics

"But don't you like meat?" queried the young woman as we talked about my goat flock. I had just given away the last of my crossbred goat kids to a family who raises them for their own winter meat supply. 

"Oh, I like our own farm-raised meat well enough." I replied. "Just not well enough to spend my milk supply raising meat."

I'd far rather have my milk for putting in my coffee, making cheese and sharing with my friends and family. Homestead economics. 

C is for Craft

Merriam Webster - Craft

 noun \ˈkraft\

: an activity that involves making something in a skillful way by using your hands

: a job or activity that requires special skill

crafts : objects made by skillful use of the hands

My life is devoted to the perpetuation of the skills of creating things with your hands. I work with more than 50 independent craft artisans at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. When I'm not at work, I'm at home on our farm in the Arkansas Ozarks, spinning, weaving, dyeing, felting, crocheting and finding other ways to create beautiful things from the fleeces from my much loved angora goats and Jacob sheep.  

Crafting has always brought peace and relaxation to my life. And I've watched learning to create things with their hands light a spark in young people's eyes and lives. This is an idea that I'd love to develop into a full essay, but I need to go rinse the purple wool I have in the dye pot...

B is for Boys

           B is for boy. Boy sheep and boy goats.

Lots of fuzzy little critters running around in the alleyways between the fences.

2014 has been a slightly boy-ish year here on  Havencroft Farm. 

Out of nine lambs on the ground, we have six boys. We only have four ewes left to lamb. A few if those boys look to be ram quality if you are looking for a new herd sire, let me know and I can send you pedigrees. 

Hester's lilac boy is very nice. We'll see how all their horns come in before we decide who remains a ram.  

Out of five angora goat kids, three are boys and we're done with babies in that flock. 

Happy B-day. April 2, 2014. 

Blogging from A to Z - April Challenge - April, Angoras & Asparagus

I've joined the Blogging from A to Z - April Challenge to get me back to writing here. In the busy days of February and March I've found I do all my chronicling on Facebook, posting quick and easy pics and posts of new lambs and kids and happenings in the garden.

So each day in April, skipping Sunday, I'll do a post featuring the next letter in the alphabet. Today, April 1 is A.
A is for April, I love this month, with flowers and garden work and lots of baby lambs and kids to entertain us as we work.
A is for angora goats. I love their personalities - and their fiber. I've just finished a fantastic Fantasia rug and am working on a rug from Ishmael's fleece. I dyed more of Tillie's most recent clip in some pinks for spring.
A is for asparagus... I think that's what we'll have for dinner. Asparagus with goat cheese and fresh eggs from our wonderful hens.
Life on the farm is full of delights, from A to Z.

Jilly and Juxty, Tillie's new kids, love their mama Llama.