A Bright Spot!

Michigan Fiber Farm!

Wild Rose Farm went to the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival today.  Part of our mission is to drop off the "Save The Date" cards for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest.  Our real reason is to go, shop, and see what's out there for the fiber folks!   The show was really crowded this morning and it took about 15 minutes of cruising the hotel parking lot to find a space.  I met up with an old friend, Linda, and we took in the show together.  She had arrived early and had taken 2 classes.  I also ran into Susan, another farmer friend who lives out near WRF.  She had taken a triangle loom weaving class and was spotted leaving with a bag of fiber goodies!  She had the great good fortune to aquire a big "barn loom" that is going to be put back together one of these days .... can't wait to see it!

The yarns, accessories, fiber, books, etc. are really the cure for the winter blues if you need to get out .......

Needle Felted Jacket - Wow!

Really Cold ...........



Ewe Lambs Coming to Feeder

At this time of year, Wild Rose Farm is really glad that we lamb in late April/early May.  Temps have been in the single digits the last few nights.   Brrrrrr.  The sheep are fine, but we're glad we aren't hauling water buckets to lambing pens now! 

This picture above was taken in the wooded area where we are clearing brush & cutting firewood.  It's one of many deer beds that I passed while walking around.  Most were like this one ..... back to a tree and looking down the slope.  Click on the picture to enlarge & you can see the "droppings" .....  we wouldn't make this up for our readers!  :)

Festival FYI

A quick note for anyone in the Pittsburgh area or the I79 corridor ...... the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival  is next weekend!  It will be crowded & admission is charged, but it's worth a visit if you NEED yarn & accessories!   Have cell phone number in hand and planning to sync up with my old friend Linda somewhere in the crowd!  

Time For Paperwork

We don't take anything for granted around here at Wild Rose Farm.  Now it's time to renew our membership in the American Rambouillet Sheep Breeders Association and get these ewe lambs registered.  They're past most of the things that would cause us to "lose" (!) a lamb.  We have a ram lamb to register this year too, out of our 12 year old #802 ewe.  The big ram is in the ram pen now and the little ram is in with the breeding ewes.

Keeps On Snowing .....

There's nothing unusual about snow this week on the East Coast, but we're really more of a Midwest location.  Wild Rose Farm managed to miss most of it - especially what got dumped just south & east of us.  The snow of late last week shown above with our ewe lambs had melted down somewhat, but now you can see that the breeding ewes & ram are in another round of flurries.

I don't envy anyone who has been lambing in the cold temperatures. 

Hey - more snow in the forecast tomorrow & on the weekend! 

Winter Chores

The latest project at Wild Rose Farm is clearing some of our lightly wooded areas.  It's been several years since our last go-around with opening up some more area for pasture.  This work isn't as bad as some of our original work clearing down over the hillsides to put in high tensile fencing.  At least we're not dealing with a 20' wide clump of multiflora rose!  The stumps are left high enough to be easily pulled by a backhoe.  The tops are put into brush piles and are burned, while the good wood will be split into firewood.
Most of the trees in this area are locust & wild cherry trees.  There is also a huge sumac tree - a weed tree as far as we're concerned.  It came down today.   
You can see the barn over in the background ..... 

Applications Coming In!

Well, I'm still wrestling with getting everything back up to speed on my wonderful desktop PC, so that's the excuse for disappearing over the last month.  The Holidays were busy as usual, & with some vacations at work, the PC took a back seat.  Recent pics coming soon ...... the sheep sure are enjoying the cold weather.
Meanwhile, vendor applications & requests for the Waynesburg Sheep & Fiber Fest are coming in at a nice pace.  Several returning vendors and some great new vendors so far!   We've been distributing our fabulous "Save The Date" cards for this year & we also had a winner on the raffle for the "Alpaca Extreme Weather" gift basket, just in time for Christmas.  Thanks to all who supported the festival by buying tickets and a big thanks to Lippencott Alpacas for donating the gift basket!