Off To A New Home!

Wild Rose Farm #557 - Loaded Up & Leaving! 

The first Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet ewe lamb sold this season headed off to a new home over the weekend.  She leaves comfortably ensconced in a large Rubbermaid tub tucked into the back of a Jeep!  There was barely enough time to remember to take a picture as she thinks about jumping out ... I'm sure that she enjoyed looking out the back window during her air conditioned ride home.

I Brake For Wool!

Auction Find - Drawer Box of Wool Tapestry/Needlepoint Yarn - "Before"

Many of our followers know that Wild Rose Farm has a little vintage or "up-cycling" wool goodies sideline.  It started several years back when folks were asking for wool fabric or blankets for felting or crafting. I occasionally found wool items at auctions or estate sales and offered them for resale. A sideline was born and now it seems that I see wool everywhere ... yes, I brake for wool!  One woman even gave me two Norwegian wool sweaters knowing that I will find a good home for them ...

Auction Find - Sorted By Dye Lot - "After"

 This big box of wool yarn came from an auction last weekend ... it was in a large closet full of acrylic yarn and scads of cotton crochet thread stashed in plastic tubs. Guess who won the bid & choice of boxes? :)  Seems that the Amish ladies at the sale were after the sewing & crochet thread ...
But there's more!  My travels over the last 2 months yielded these lovely finds:

Eastern Pennsylvania Stash of Wool Yarn & Corriedale Sliver!

Central Ohio Thrift Shop Collection of Wool Yarns!

I've even stumbled across some G.C. Murphy's wool yarn recently at a random yard sale. You just never know what's hiding in a nest of acrylic yarn. Granted, I've picked through stacks of yarn and found no wool, but here's a funny one ... a mothball scented chest full of acrylic yarn ... uh, what's up with that?!?

A Look At Our New 2-Ply Rambouillet Yarn!

Wild Rose Farm - 2-Ply Rambouillet Wool Yarn

Here's a glamour shot of our yarn finishing up the process at The Mill At Meadowlands. We have ~200 yard skeins of this 2-ply, but I don't have a total skein count or wpi on it at the moment ... details, details!  Rumor has it that it's soft & squishy too ... a lovely farm yarn.  You'll have to stay tuned for the details on this batch!

Yarn Processing Continued ...

The Mill at Meadowlands - Skein Winder

Wild Rose Farm 2-ply Rambouillet Yarn

Here's another picture of our Rambouillet 2-ply yarn in process at The Mill at Meadowlands. The skeins will be ~ 200 yards. The bobbins below will be wound off next and turned into skeins ...
It's interesting to see the process and Ruth makes sure to keep you posted every step of the way as we make decisions on the final product.  Or, as she likes to say, "what kind of yarn the wool wants to become", lol! :)

More Yarn Coming!

The Mill At Meadowlands

Ruth Processing Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Wool!

 

Wow! We had a chance to view our Rambouillet wool processing at The Mill At Meadowlands a couple of days ago. We visited family in the Chester County, PA area and then took a ride to the mill in Maryland to see our wool being processed. Thanks to Ruth, owner of the mill, and Brianna for taking the time to explain & show off the process.  Brianna was operating the spinner and here is a sample of what our current batch of 2-ply looks like ...

The Mill At Meadowlands

Wild Rose Farm - 2-ply Rambouillet Yarn Sample On The Spinner!

We picked up our finished 3-ply "sport/DKish" weight yarn while we were there. It's currently resting and releasing the moisture from the mill spinning process. All in all, a great visit and we've gotten some really soft, squeezable fine wool yarn ... can't wait to gather some natural dye materials as the season goes on and start dyeing some yarn!

Out For A Morning Stroll!

Two Wild Turkey Hens & Their 5 Little Ones Tagging Along!

Just before we went out to do the usual morning chores & feeding, these 2 wild turkey hens showed up at the stream crossing in the pasture field.  This is the second time in a week that we've seen them at that same spot. Today they decided to walk across the paddock & come up on the driveway.
You can just see four of the five little ones next to the fence. A couple of them had hopped up onto the fence rail, but I wasn't quick enough to get the picture. The picture was taken from the kitchen window that was opened very carefully so that the hens didn't get spooked. They are experts at detecting motion & noise!

Rambouillets In The Barn

Wild Rose Farm Ewes & Lambs Heading To The Barn

We're getting ready to sell some lambs, so we started the weaning process. Every Rambouillet ewe lamb this spring was born as a twin to a ram lamb. So ... if we want to sell a ewe lamb, we end up weaning both the ewe lamb and the ram lamb off of their mother. We now have 12 lambs in the barn. Registration papers have been filled out & sent in for 5 ewe lambs and 1 ram lamb. We'll wean another group of lambs once we give the last newborn lambs their booster shots and move them out of the barn.
Final lambing update: WRF #143 had a ewe lamb, the last lamb of the season, on the 4th of July!