Busy, busy, busy!!!

In 3 weeks we've put almost 2300 miles on my van shearing

all over NH. The second week in April we were in the White

Mountains once, and then fairly local. Hillsboro, Newport,

Weare and then down to Strafford. The third week we were in 

Epsom and Bow. The fourth week of April we were in Bow,

Newport, Chester, Weare, and the White Mountains on 4

different days. I am getting tired on all the road running.

But, I do love hubby's shearing customers!!

We brought home Corriedale, Alpaca and Mohair, as well 

as a bunch of nice mixed breed wools.

Some will be available for purchase May 13 and 14th

at the NH Sheep & Wool Festival.

http://www.nhswga.com/nh-sheep-wool-festival

This is one of this year's newest ventures.

These pigs will be ours and my daughter and son-in-law's.

We will be picking up 3 more Tuesday to raise with 

ours for other people. They are so funny.

The pallet pen was built by my daughter and her husband

for us. I had shoulder surgery for a rotator cuff tear and 

still can not lift my arm up to the side nor reach out forward.

So, I will take all the help that I can get.

 The broken pallets in front need to be moved to the 

burn pile, by someone other than me. I took them

out of the original pig pen well before I hurt my shoulder

and never got back to it. The pallets in this year's pen

are all new to us. Thank you LaValley's in Newport!

 Since there will be 5 pigs this year, we knew that they would 

not all fit under the truck cap. So, I decided on using the cattle

panels that the sheep have used numerous times as a hoop house.

The pigs are quite content, and dry, under it.

Hopefully they will come out and enjoy the pasture

for a while tomorrow before we head out to shear

goats and pick up the other 3 pigs. Then, these pigs

can teach the newest pigs about the pasture and the house.

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The Corriedales.

And one Corriedale X Texel.

We've been shearing these sheep for years.

We have their wool not only in raw form from this 

year, but in roving and yarn, and a couple of knit items.

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The Icelandics.

Their fiber will be at NH Sheep & Wool with us, as

well as the lamb's rovings and Lopi yarn that we had made.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We squeezed in shearing our own sheep amongst everyone

else. The first is Carl the Cow, a Dorset/Romney wether.

I do not know if I am selling his fleece or not as this is

his first shearing.

 Stormy awaits his turn. He is a 9 year old Romney

and father to Carl, Ted and Jeremy.

 Jeremy is a 3 year old Dorset/Romney.

He is a black chocolate and hard to photograph.

 Ted is a 2 year old Dorset/Romney wether.

His fleece, as well as Stormy's and Jeremy's

will be at the festival as well.

 Noggen (white alpaca) and Nea (dark llama) 

were not on this year's shearing schedule.

We lost Noggen Easter Saturday. :(

He was at least 19 years old.

She is at least 23 years old.

 Enough from me. Hubby should be home soon and

we are to Weare again to shear. It would be nice if we

could do all of the towns in one day, but when animals

are wet we have to reschedule. In a perfect world...

TTFN

Winding down on the homefront and picking up elsewhere.

We had 27 lambs born between mid-January and mid-February this year. All but a few that we are keeping as replacement stock were sold right away without advertising. They were all supposed to go to the meat man for Easter lambs, but they were all privately sold. Thank you to all our customers! And, thank you God!!

The 'boys' were finally sheared this past week, and if it ever stops raining here I will skirt and photograph fleeces. Shearing off farm is finally starting to pick up. Between the rain, snow and cold farmers have been putting it off. Right now we are booked through mid-May. Again, thank you to our customers, and thank you God!!

Some of you may know that I had shoulder surgery on February 24th of this year. The USPS has denied my workman's comp, which means I have NO income coming in. I will need to hire a lawyer eventually. 😡 So, every penny coming in from the sale of lambs and shearing is going right back to the farm for hay and grain. And with 27 lambs, 34 adult sheep and an aging llama and an aging alpaca, we are going through a LOT of hay and grain. Hopefully this year we will not have to buy hay. That would be a major blessing in itself.

36 days from today is the 41st NH Sheep & Wool Festival.
http://www.nhswga.com/index.php/events/190-2015-nh-sheep-wool-festival
The booklet is up on the website, and I will tell you up front that it sucks as trying to find vendors!! Unless the vendor has an ad in the booklet, or you know their name and what they sell, the booklet is useless!!! It lists our business names alphabetically and tells you the building location and booth number, but NOTHING else. After 18 years of doing this festival, first with my friend Anne (Barrett) Mitts, and then on our own, I am not sure how much more time we will be doing this. At least until Hope Thomas retires from her Shetlands. If all goes well, she will be in our booth with her raw fleeces and maybe some yarn.

We have a triple booth again this year at NH Sheep & Wool, and a double at the VT Sheep & Wool.
 http://vtsheepandwoolfest.com/  Vermont is by and far our favorite festival, followed by the Wool Arts Tour the next weekend. http://www.woolartstournh.com/

Come check us out. We will again this year have our fleece sale area, some new yarn lines, and some angelina/fire star for mixing with your fibers. We have a few new rovings as well including only a few pounds of 2 different colors of 6 month old LUCIOUS Icelandic lamb fleeces that was made into roving for us, as well as the Pygora cloud. These 2 spun together (or alone) would make something soft enough for baby wear, but long lasting as well.

Okay. Even with a break, my shoulder has had enough with the typing. Now for some pictures of this past week's shearing of the boys.

 This is Carl the cow. My great niece and great nephew

saved him last Easter from being sold as meat. 

He is a yearling Dorset/Romney.

I believe his fleece will be processed on farm. ;)

 Carl after shearing.

He is about 1/2 his original size.

 Left to right-Candace, a 9 year old Horned Dorset,

Cloud, a 14? year old Romney and 

Cassidy, a 9 year old Dorset/Romney.

They are being kept in out of the weather and fed

extra because they are old and a little feeble/needy.

 Stormy. My 9 year old Romney waits his turn.

 Stormy is such a gentle giant. He just lays there 

and lets Jerry do his thing. Stormy is the ram that

visits other closed farms in the fall to do his thing.

 Rain and mud.

Springtime in NH.

 He still looks great for his age.

 Jerry is shearing Stormy's 3 year old son Jeremy.

He is a black chocolate Dorset/Romney.

If his fleece doesn't sell off farm,

it will be available at NH Sheep  & Wool.

 Carl (also Stormy's son), Jeremy

and Stormy (left to right)

Stormy is really only interested in scratching 

himself on the wall. Not in messing with his sons.

 Ted E Bear

Another fixed Stormy son.

(Carl is also fixed)

 Scratching his butt on the wall.

'Wow!' He says,' this feels great!'

Ted E's fleece is a brown with gray. 

All of the boys wore coats from the time they

were sheared last year. When it stops raining, 

I will wash their coats and we will put them back on them.

The ewes will get their coats after the last lamb leaves.

The weatherman is calling for nice weather

and high temperatures next week.

Hopefully between shearing jobs this weekend

I can get Jerry to set up the skirting table for me.

And, then I will see if I can get a volunteer, or 2,

to come help me skirt and photograph fleeces.

It is going to be a while before my shoulder is fully

healed. But, I am doing much better than expected.

I guess it is a good thing I have a high pain tolerance.

TTFN.