Just Routines!

Wild Rose Farm - Done Grazing Here!

The ewes & lambs have settled into a routine now that everyone has been processed with ear tags and they're out grazing. They spent the evening & overnight in the "hospital pen" near the barn to graze it down. When you do a graze with high stock density in a limited area, they say it's a third, a third, a third. One third eaten, one third trampled, one third remaining.  That looks about right, lol, and now we'll mow off the stems & seed heads.  The sheep were off to the pasture on the other side of the Loafing Shed ...
Leading up to the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest, I noted that we were running low on our Rambouillet combed top and needed to have more made. We quickly skirted and took 20 pounds of raw fleece out to the Great Lakes Sheep & Fiber Show in Wooster, Ohio over the Memorial Day weekend. We dropped it off with Zeilinger Wool to be processed ... yay!  They make a lovely combed top for us and we'd sold a bunch at Waynesburg.  

Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest Wrap Up

Very Cool Sheep Signs!

Finally, a report from the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest LAST weekend! Have I told you about the sheep signs before on this blog? They are sponsored by businesses and gather contest votes for favorite sign prior to the festival. Prizes are awarded, but that's not my area so I'm not up on the details, lol! They all have a little dry erase board on them and they're used all over the festival for directional signage.

Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest - Fleece To Shawl Contest

The Fleece to Shawl Contest had 3 teams entered for the competition on Saturday.  Each team has a different theme and you can see the results above. The Loyalhanna Guild has a sea theme and here they are at work!

Loyalhanna Spinners & Weavers Guild - Fleece to Shawl Competition

There were also a lot of entries this year in the fiber arts contest and here are a few in pictures from the hand-spun skeins category.

Best Of Show

Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest - Handspun Skeins

Overall, the weather was good - no rain to speak of until about 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, and then it cleared up as the vendors were packing to leave.  Even the sheep signs weren't having any trouble with the weather and the alpacas were working the crowds!

Couldn't Have Matched Better If You Tried!

Lippencott Alpacas Visit The Vendors ...

More pictures in the next post ... after a week of t-storms and lambing chores here at home, it's off to the Great Lakes Sheep & Wool Show in Wooster, Ohio tomorrow.  We have Rambouillet wool to drop off with Zeilinger Wool to be made into our Wild Rose Farm combed top ... just spent most of the day in the barn skirting fleeces. 

2017 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Festival

2017 Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest

It's time for the 14th Annual Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest this weekend, May 20th & 21st! We're all tagging and packing up our "stuff".  We've got a great group of vendors this year - it just keeps getting better.  New this year is a Maker's Space on Sunday manned by the Washington County Spinners & Weavers Guild in Building #10 --- come join in! 
Wild Rose Farm will be bringing our new Rambouillet 2-ply Bulky Art Yarn.   Be sure to check it out ... it's so soft.  Thanks to Ruth & the crew at The Mill At Meadowlands! 
We're wrapping up the lambing and the grazing is good. The picture below shows the dwindling group of ewes waiting to lamb grazing with Snow White and the 7 yearling ewe lambs.  We've been brush hogging daily to try and keep up as we graze each section.

Grazing Background, Mowed Foreground

Wild Rose Farm - Snow White & Her Charges In A Sea Of Grass!