Columbus Day weekend

Come see us at the Wool Arts Tour. We will be at our usual spot in Deering, NH at Spinner Farm.


http://www.woolartstournh.com/

http://www.woolartstournh.com/locations/SpinnerFarm.htm

Come out to see us this weekend in Tunbridge, VT

http://vtsheepandwoolfest.com/



http://vtsheepandwoolfest.com/directions-2/

Where we are located on the fairgrounds.
http://vtsheepandwoolfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/vendorpavilion.png

http://vtsheepandwoolfest.com/schedule-of-events/

http://vtsheepandwoolfest.com/festival-program-2014/

This should bring you to a $1 off coupon for admittance. If not, it is also on the front page on the far right, part way down the page.
http://vtsheepandwoolfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/discount-coupon.pdf

Stop by and say hi. We will have llama, alpaca, mohair and LOTS of breeds of wool for sale at $5 per pound. Buy 1/2 pound or the whole bag! Your choice. We will also have whole fleeces available, as well as roving, yarn and knit goods.

Hope to see you this weekend.

TTFN.

My boys

 Christopher, my 3 year old Horned Dorset ram in front.

He would not stay still for a picture...

 Stormy Weather, on the right. Registered black Romney.

His 2 year old son, Jeremy, a Dorset/Romney.

Behind them is Cloud. A very OLD Romney wether.

Out in the hay field

My only job in the field is driving the truck. John & Pam Wylie drive their tractors.  Occasionally Jerry drives them as well. Then Pam & I drive our hubby's trucks and the 'boys' pick up and stack the hay. This was an awful light hay year. We will have to find some place to buy hay this year. Still very disappointed in our long time hay guy in his deciding NOT to hay for us this year. Getting round bales is so much easier!!!!

Some different spinning techniques

What is Navajo 4-ply?

http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2008/01/what-is-navajo-4-ply.html#.VfC7_hFViko

Now, I have do the Navajo 3-ply, but never the 4-ply. Yet. Hope to do this soon with my one ply fractal spinning and one ply of a solid. I like the looks of the yarn she posted on her blog!!

In case you need to see it actually done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmKYPwe1rps

How to Navajo ply on a drop spindle-

 http://rosemaryknits.blogspot.com/2008/06/tammy-rizzos-navajo-ply-on-fly.html

Now do this and add one more ply to run alongside the chains....

http://www.simplynotable.com/2012/navajo-plying-on-a-drop-spindle-tutorial/



If you have time, take some time in this blog...http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/

Check out this blog post!! How to felt a rug from raw fleece

The English version is further down.

http://zararooke.com/2015/08/21/hur-man-tovar-en-fall-av-raull/

 We have a BUNCH of Icelandic fleeces that are pre-felted and would be great for this.

Eventually I will try and I will post pictures.

Demonstrating at the Craftsmen Fair

A good time was had by all. And, we made the Manchester Union Leader.

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150809/NEWS02/150809347/-1/mobile&template=mobileart

After the thunder storm

 Sky was still gray enough that only parts of a rainbow were visible.

 My soggy bee balm and lilies poking out from the weeds.

 Stormy and Christopher

 Nea and Noggen

 The girls are just as happy to be fed and put in for the night early.

 The 5 lambs we kept from this year.

4 ewes and 1 fixed ram.

Barber pole worm

We almost lost a lot of our sheep a number of years ago to this. Farming magazine has a very informative article about barber pole worm.

http://www.whitecloversheepfarm.com/prl-articles/FarmingMagazineTheDeadlyBarberPoleWorm.pdf

How much meat can you expect off a 40-60 pound lamb?

NOT 50 pounds!!

 I told the potential customer that I would sell them the largest 3 month old lambs I had and take them to the butcher. These 2 were close to 60 pounds. That is ~30 pounds dressed. The husband shows up at my husband's work to pay for them, but when he finds out that they will not be 50 pounds, he cancels the order. Meantime, I am over 1/2 an hour into a 1 hour trip to deliver them to the butcher for them. Hubby calls and says to bring them home. Order cancelled. Now, I am totally ticked off!!! I wasn't going to charge for transportation because I shifted some things around and was going to run my errands on the way home. Win-win for both of us. But NO! I can't run any of my errands because I have 2 screaming lambs in the back of my van, and now I am out gas money that I don't have to spare.

 I WILL NOT do this again! You want our lambs, you will need to buy them and provide your own transportation. We sold lambs this year to a very nice family in Maine, a high school senior in NH and an older couple in northern NH.

1/2 of next year's lambs will go directly to the meat man for Easter. The rest will either be private sold, or shipped to the meat man for Greek Easter.

I generally like people, but today I am thoroughly annoyed. First the shipper (for taking animals to auction) is a no show, no call. And, then this. I am glad though that the shipper did not come today as now I can add 2 more lambs to his trailer and make more money to pay more bills!!

Off to take another Vicodin and rest for a while. It has been 4 weeks since inguinal hernia surgery, and although I am getting better and better each day, moving 2 60 pound lambs and driving for more than an hour with them screaming behind me has taken a toll on me.


THIS will tell you how much meat you can expect to get from sheep, pig, cows and goats.
http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/asc/asc179/asc179.pdf

And, this.
http://www.stonebarnscenter.org/images/content/1/6/16438/Know-Your-Meat-Handout-Lamb-A.pdf

Skirting a fleece (or what I hope to be doing tomorrow!)

As explained by Spinderella's Fiber Mill.

http://www.spinderellas.com/skirting.html 


 


We separate alpaca at shearing tim. Same  with llamas.




Goat.




And, she tells you how to build an inexpensive skirting/drying table.

How to contact us

The quickest way to get in touch with us is through email!! eweifarm@msn.com

The next way is through our phone. But, since we are often not available from 5 am to 9 pm, you may not hear back from us in a timely fashion.

So, email us if you are interested in lambs, wool fleece, roving, yarn or shearing.

Have a wonderful day all!

TTFN

Loads of lambs for sale!

Horned Dorset, Horned Dorset/Jacob (1 white ewe, 1 black/brown and white ewe, 1 white ram, 1 black/brown and white ram), and Dorset/Romney lambs available. Born March 11 to April 13, 2015. $150 each. We also have 3 Horned Dorset/Jacob yearling ewes available. 2 white, 1 brown/black and white. Also $150 each.

Whatever is not sold by the end of June will be going to auction. And, no, I will not summer them over at our place. We need to move them on in order to have enough grass for the adults.

 Aren't I a cute ram lamb?

 Tallulah. Not for sale. The mother is some of the Horned Dorset/Jacob crosses.

 Socks, on the left, is NOT for sale.

 Lots of perfectly good grass and it wants hay...

 Horned Dorset cross ewe

 Yes, there is as much fleece around as there are lambs...