Catching Up ...

Annual Vaccinations Before Lambing Season

Wow ... where have we been? Lots of activities going on and since the sheep routine is "so routine" at this time of winter, I just fell out of the habit of posting. Unseasonably warm weather has given us the opportunity to do some brush clearing in the pasture and pruning in the yard. Boring stuff!
We took several of what I refer to as "tail-ender" lambs to the auction this week just ahead of the Easter market.  These are ram lambs that were just too small to be picked out by buyers in the fall holiday season ... Now the only lambs left here are the 7 ewe lambs that we are retaining for our own flock. Of course, that means that the barn is ready to be cleaned out in anticipation of shearing and lambing. This weekend we vaccinated the ewes (and the llama - hey, she was just standing around anyway!) with their annual CDT booster. We're mostly concerned with the "T" portion - tetanus - resistance in the ewes being passed on to the new lambs.  The picture above shows the barn book where we record everything about the sheep, alcohol pads to clean the injection site, the vaccine bottle, & the spray marking paint.  We learned a long time ago to mark the sheep as they are being processed ... "in case" something goes awry and they get scrambled up again, they can easily be sorted without reading ear tags. :~0
Every time we go out to work with the sheep, this tackle box with scissors, hoof trimmers, alcohol pads, assorted sheepy first aid stuff, and the barn book goes out with us!

Daffodils Blooming ... Ewes Heading Back To The Loafing Shed

We also sent Snow White out with the ewes now that the ram is no longer with them. She was delighted to leave the lambs behind and join the ewes for a bit of nibbling on the grass on the way over to the Loafing Shed.

A Quick Snack ... 

Timber Harvest Done At Wild Rose Farm

Log Landing Mulched

The timber harvest was completed and we now have a couple of neighbors who are cutting firewood from the big pieces left over around the log landing. Looking at the picture above, there are still plenty of trees left ... not like a clear cut operation would look. The rest of the tops, or slash as it's called, are left to provide wildlife cover and rot down returning nutrients to the soil.

Tops Left To Decompose

We also quickly put in a new gate just off of the road at the entrance to the log landing. We permit hunting on the farm, but we're closed to motorized vehicles, as the sign below says. Quads & dirt bikes would rut the trails and cause compaction & topsoil erosion.  We'll also walk over the trails in a month or so and do frost seeding in addition to the mulching done by the timber company.

New Farm Gate!

And ... there must be something in the air with escaped livestock around here.  We no sooner had this gate up, than a neighbor on the back road stopped in to report that he had 2 Holstein calves on the loose!  He said they were about 300-400 lbs. At that size I'm afraid that they'll be spooky & fleet like deer and will take a while to settle down and come in with someone else's cattle.  We'll keep an eye out, but ...

Wild Rose Farm Snow White & Ewe Lambs

Meanwhile, back in the barn, Snow White has been keeping company with the ewe lambs while the ram is out with the ewes.  That intent look means that she's waiting for me to hand over a treat!

"Timber!" At Wild Rose Farm

Wild Rose Farm - Logging Started Day One

After doing some research this fall, we found that a portion of our wooded acreage was ready for a selective timber harvest. Over the years, Mr. WRF had seen some nice timber harvest work done on land where he frequently hunts. We got in touch with Tom Anundson, their consulting forester, and had him do a survey of our timber and put a select area out for competitive bids. The winning bidder has 15 months to take the timber off and they also follow best practices which don't allow work in the late winter/spring mud season.  They got started last week and put down 2 tri-axle dump loads of heavy stone for the short access road and log landing.

Trees To Harvest Marked With Blue Paint

A sustainable harvest overseen by a forester ensures that trees remain for future harvest in 10-15 years and on.  If you enlarge the picture above, you can see that the left, center, & right trees are not marked. They will put on healthy growth once the canopy around them is opened up. If you sell timber and the logger marks all trees greater than "x" diameter, it's called "high grading" and that may not be what you want for your woods.  I'm amazed at the size of many of the trees left behind for a future harvest.

First Log Trucks Leaving Wild Rose Farm

We looked around the log landing and then walked along an old timber road that isn't being used this time. As we walked, we spotted some cattle hoof prints where there shouldn't be cattle hoof prints! What was this?  We found out early this week that a group of cattle had escaped from a farm several miles away and had been roaming around in the woods. Apparently, during the night last week, one of them was hit on US Route 30 in front of our place near where you see the trucks above! Somehow we missed the excitement - can't believe the hounds weren't barking up a storm - and the police had to put down the steer.

View From Old Logging Road

We Saw Hoof Prints On Old Logging Road! 

Wild Rose Farm Sneak Preview At Old Economy Village - 2015 Christmas At The Village!

Old Economy Village - Feast Hall Decorated For Christmas At The Village

Wild Rose Farm will be at the 2015 Christmas At The Village this weekend at Old Economy Village along with a great diverse group of vendors. The hours are Saturday 2PM to 9PM and Sunday 2PM to 9PM. Here is a sneak preview (cell phone pics!) of a couple of vendors who were in setting up Friday afternoon.

Wild Rose Farm - Naturally Dyed Yarn, Wool Quilt Batts, Combed Top, Santa Beards

One of the vendors has a great selection of paintings, small ornaments, & primitive painted wooden cut outs. I love this reindeer scene!

Christmas At The Village - Reindeer Painting & Ornaments!

Here's an unusual booth - Clean Creek Products. They are marketing products that use metals recovered in the acid mine drainage stream clean-up process. Proceeds go back to fund additional restoration efforts and to maintain existing treatment systems. Click on the image to check out the cool pottery wildlife & fish replicas!

Christmas At The Village - Clean Creek Products - Wildlife Replicas, Pottery, & Jewelry

Who else/what else did we see setting up? Some really nice, up-to-date crocheted hats, scarfs, finger-less gloves, & whimsical figures set up in the Feast Hall hallway. Patty of Pine Knoll Herb Shop was setting up in the Rapp House, and by extension, it follows that husband Dorrin, the resident Horologist of Pine Knoll Clock Shop, will be there (!) with clocks of his own design and perhaps some restored antique clocks. Miss Kitty was setting up her packed table of jellies, jams, & spreads. Kim will be there on Saturday with her detailed punch needle art. Birgitta of All Strings Considered will be set up next to Wild Rose Farm with her hand woven rugs & place mats. Those are just the folks close to the WRF set up in the Feast Hall & Museum Building ... there were vendor tags on tables for fused glass, jewelry, baked goods, & hand made wreath bows ...

Natural Dyeing Binge!

Wild Rose Farm - Camomile, Black Walnut, & Cochineal

Finally, some pictures of the Wild Rose Farm natural dyeing extravaganza! We last left off on the raiding rodent and the black walnut dyebath. The walnut does not require a mordant to bond to the yarn, so the dark brown skeins above are out of black walnut on a superwash yarn. After the natural dyeing workshop a year ago at The Mannings, I decided to try some superwash merino yarn and add to the color range. They take up the dye differently and the results are wonderful. The lighter khaki colored skeins are chamomile and they did require a mordant, so I transitioned to the other natural dyes - adjective dyes, they're called - for those keeping score!  :~0  The saturated magenta, raspberry, & pink from cochineal turned out great. Plus, I finally remembered to mordant & dye the collection of felted hearts I had languishing in a bag. They were part of a needle felting demo using our combed top ... next step, embellishment?

Wild Rose Farm - Logwood Colors

We moved on to a logwood dyebath and then did some over-dyeing in the cochineal "exhaust" dye bath and got some lovely purple & lavender on the superwash yarn. The single violet skein is a homegrown WRF Rambouillet wool worsted weight skein. Different wools, different tricks & formulas, so the variety is endless! 

Wild Rose Farm - Walnut Dyed Curly Locks!

Meanwhile, we soaked more black walnuts to make another dyebath to dye our wool locks for crafting & beards. We'll keep some of the walnut & logwood concentrate for "painting" yarns this winter.
Next up - Wild Rose Farm will be set up at Old Economy Village in Ambridge, PA on Saturday 12/12 & Sunday 12/13 for 2015 Christmas At The Village along with other unique vendors. See you there?

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!  :~)