Black Friday At Wild Rose Farm?

Wild Rose Farm Ewes Waiting To Be Processed!

We didn't celebrate Black Friday at the farm, we celebrated "Bum Friday" ... yes, this is the day that we put the ram in to kick off breeding season. This means that we process the ewes first by trimming hooves and cleaning up back ends (bums!) as needed.  We check for any missing ear tags and also do a little clean up of any burrs that we might find in their fleeces.

Wild Rose Farm Dorset Yearling Ewe #117 - Daughter of "U"

 Most of the ewes are very clean and in good shape. Check. We note that #99 needs a new ear tag. Check. We needed to trim hooves on about 10 in the flock of 38. Check. As we handle each ewe, we spray paint her ear tag number on her right hip. Check. Oops, I painted 135 on ewe #134! Not a big deal ... #134 is a horned ewe and we recognize her by sight. Whew ... that worked out. See how complicated this is?  :~0
It's much easier to tell who has been bred by reading a large number, rather than trying to get close enough to read the ear tag, especially at dusk!

WRF Rambouillet Ewe #410 - Wonderful Fleece
& Our Largest Ewe

We had perfect weather in the 50's today for this chore. We ran the ewes and the ram into the hospital pen to settle down overnight ... the ram races around for a couple of hours checking everyone before he finds a ewe that is interested!  You can spot the ram in the picture below ... click to enlarge & you can see his breeding harness.

Ewes With Ram In Hospital Pen

 Meanwhile, back in the barn, we've put Snow White in with the ewe lambs. They haven't seen her since July, so they are curious, but jumpy as she walks around in the pen. The feeling is mutual ... Snow White is humming every so often.  That means that she is a bit stressed after being separated from her flock of ewes and put in a pen with these strange little lambs again. It's not easy being a llama or a lamb! :)

OMG!  What's That Big Thing?!?

Warm If You've Got Wool!

Enjoying The Shade At Wild Rose Farm!

If you're wearing wool, it's still warm out there! Here we are in the low-50's, but the flock at Wild Rose Farm has settled down in the "shade" to chew their cuds. Shade is a relative term now that the leaves are gone ... sort of like a "too warm" spring day when there's no good shade to be found.

Snow White & The Dwarfs At Wild Rose Farm ...

Cooler days are ahead with the temps dropping below freezing for a couple of nights!  :~)

Red Squirrel Caught In The Act!

Wild Rose Farm Evening Feeding

I had just taken the photo above from the house when a flash of movement near the bird feeders caught my eye.  There he was, the busy red squirrel stashing away walnuts at sunset ...

Red Squirrel Nibbling On A Black Walnut!

He ran across the rail fence and stopped to chew off the walnut hull.  Then he scampered to the ground and busied himself digging a hole and burying the nut.

Digging To Bury The Walnut ...

Wonder what a boiled walnut tastes like?  He was picking up the spent boiled nuts that had been used for a dye bath. We dump them onto the mulch under the spruce trees when I'm done with them.
Yes, he's a quick little fellow ... I thought that I lost him in the glare, but it's just that my focus was a fraction of a second too late.  I never noticed the mourning dove, but that's him in a blur on the bottom left! :~0

Uhhh ... Which Way Did He Go?

That Raiding Rodent!

Sunrise Surprise - Who's Stealing My Walnuts?!?

My stash of black walnuts was being pilfered by a busy little red squirrel! When I let the dog out first thing in the morning, I saw the remains of a walnut - the nut was gone, but the hull was in a neat little pile.  Huh? We didn't spot the culprit until later after the morning chores were done. He/she was a busy little rascal as evidenced by the picture below ...

The Walnut Raid Continued!

The walnuts were being carried from the bucket on the porch over to the stone wall, leaving a trail of evidence along the way. Easy enough to fix ... I just put a pot over the bucket and ended the fun. The rest of the walnuts are now soaking and the first batch of yarn has come out of the dye pot.

Fresh Out Of The Dye Pot

The yarn is really a nice deep color. The second batch of yarn is soaking in rinse water now & it's time to put in another batch ... perhaps a lighter shade from the exhaust dye bath?  Love the way this looks.  See the little piece of walnut hull next to the yarn?

Wild Rose Farm - Black Walnut Naturally Dyed Yarn

Warm & Breezy November!

Wild Rose Farm Dorset Ewe Prancing In The Breeze!

We had a lovely Indian Summer here this week.  The flock is enjoying their fall grazing and with the temps in the 70's we had a nice breeze to keep them cool. The only color in the woods now comes from the oak and hickory trees.
Here's a fine point of farming, but if you look at the picture below, you can see that the rear section of the pasture is a darker green.  There is a distinct line.  The back section is where we spread composted manure in August.  

Snow White & The Grazing Flock!

We've had a couple of soaking rains since then and you can see the result. That area had been grazed too, it's just much greener.

Close-up Of Compost At Work ... Whoo-hoo! 

The Week In Review ...

Dr. Larry Goelz of Pipestone Veterinary Services
2015 PA Shepherd's Symposium

Last weekend found us at the Pennsylvania Sheep & Wool Grower's Association Annual Meeting & Shepherd's Symposium with sheep owners from all around the state. Over 50 folks of all ages were in the group.  Great presentations & demos by Dr. Larry Goelz of Pipestone Veterinary Services, Pipestone, MN ...

Dr. Goelz Demonstrates Splinting A "Broken Leg"

We had good food - lamb of course - and the association hosted the 2016 PA Lamb & Wool Queen Contest.  We followed with a silent auction & an annual meeting, but keep in mind this broken leg demo. You guessed it!  On Monday afternoon, I got called out to the barn at feeding time. One of the ram lambs in their group pen had a broken rear leg. We haven't had a broken leg FOR YEARS, so what were the chances?!?  :(
Needless to say, with the demo fresh in my mind, we cut a piece of PVC pipe and fashioned a splint. The Pipestone site also has a great video of the process if you need it.

Wild Rose Farm Flock Moves To The Back 40!

Mid-week, the ewes were moved to the Back 40 for some fresh grazing.  We even got Snow White along with them on the first try. She occasionally manages to scoot around or lope off in another direction. Yours truly is bringing up the rear & hazing the crowd ...

Wild Rose Farm - Munching Fresh Grass! 

Weaving Boot Camp!

First Weaving Project - Tabby & Twill!

Well, I've returned from a class that others have termed a "weaving boot camp"! Five days of beginning weaving at The Mannings in East Berlin, PA taught by Thomas Knisely - it's a big deal! :) The cotton dish cloth(s) above represents my very first attempt at weaving - lots of room for improvement, but we all came out with a bunch of towels to be finished at home. I have been wanting to take this class because I have a 1946 Sears & Roebuck 6 harness folding floor loom here at Wild Rose Farm collecting dust in a spare bedroom. It was last used by my Mother-In-Law in the late '70's to produce rag rugs. So ... I signed up & off I went last week!

Classmate Amy At The Warping Board For Her Scarf 

 There were 5 of us in the class and by the middle of the week, we each had projects in process on 3 different looms. Yep - 15 looms in use at one time.  We did a sampler and also a scarf of our own design.

The Mannings - My Beginning Weaving Class Sampler In Process!

We all felt that we learned quite a bit and Tom was an excellent & patient instructor. We had all kinds of "learning opportunities" ... broken warp threads, crossed heddles, treadle tie-up cord breaking, etc. ... you get the picture. "OK, everyone come down here and look at this" was the phrase of the week!

Tom Knisely Teaching Our Warping Lesson

Wool Scarf Project On Warping Board

My personal experiment was to work with a commercial warp to see if it was suitable for use with WRF fine wool yarns or if I should have our own warp thread made.

Tom Knisely Demos Direct Tie On With Wool Warp

Scarf Project On The Loom

My classmate Amy was very artistic and inspired me to flick bits of blue yarn into the scarf to break up the solid green on blue heather ... very subtle, but of course still regimented for those that know me! LOL

Weaving & Using The Warping Mills

What's next? I found the original manual for the 1946 loom and now we need to set it up and hope nothing is missing ...