Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Open House & Exploring Lambs



The first visitor to our Wild Rose Farm Spring Open House was our friend Margaret. She usually comes with friends or with several children to see the farm. This time, everyone was booked into birthday parties, etc., so she made the yarn expedition on her own. Too bad for the kids! This year we actually have 2 lambs that are being "bottle supplemented". Our 11 year old Rambouillet ewe #806 had twins (!) and we decided to help out with some additional milk. Thankfully, we don't usually have bottle babies. Most people want to pet lambs, but unless they're bottle fed, they run away from people as fast as they can ..... just try & catch one in an open field! Bottom line, no kids to feed the lambs. Of course, adults like to help too, so that works out.


Here's a look at some of the yarn that we had on display. The gorgeous blue/green skiens above were sold first thing. They were still drying, but we just had to have them out. You can see why we like the colors from natural dyes. The 2nd picture shows dark brown from walnut, deep gold from onion skins, magenta & pinks from cochineal, & blue from indigo.

During the open house the garden was being plowed. It's been several years since we had a garden. After the open house was over, the ewes & lambs were moved back to the front paddock. The lambs just "flocked" over to the plowed ground. One of the Dorset yearlings joined them too. They sniffed and pawed the soil and just jumped around over the clods left after plowing. Don't they look so intent poking around in the dirt? It's just like having deer around. The morning after a field is plowed, you'll see deer tracks all over it. They probably also pick up some minerals nibbling on the roots & soil.

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