New blog

Since my blog has been having problems on blogger, my new blog is at http://schoonoverfarm.wordpress.com/

Please check it out there.

The Day after Christmas

So it is time to get back to life again. We started off by moving the two adult rams back together. They are now in a pen with tires around fence posts to limit the damage they can do to each other. So far, so good. (I hate this time of the sheep year.)

Then we got to work finishing putting up the first set of barn doors. It is hard to work with tools when you have goats around.

But despite the goats "help" we were able to get the doors hung. You can see the long shadows starting already at 3:00. I guess we'll call that a day.

My Christmas

So, Christmas is about a lot of important things to a lot of people. For me one of the important aspects is getting together with the people I love and exchanging gifts. I hopefully gave nice, thoughtful gifts, and I definitely received them as well. Four of the gifts are somewhat related to my farm (the fiber actually) so I thought I would showcase them here on my farm blog.

There’s my new cool sheepy knitting bag:


There’s two new books, one about wool and the other about textiles in history:

And there’s my new minispinner. I read about this in a newspaper when I was on the Olympic Peninsula as it is made in Chimacum. It seemed like a really cool device that would be easier to use while watching TV and travelling.

I spun this up in about 2 hours while there was a concert and then news on TV. It is really easy to learn to use. It is quiet, and because I do not have to concentrate on the wheel at all, I can concentrate completely on the fiber I am drafting. I chose a difficult fiber to start with- a baby camel down and merino blend roving. But despite this I think I did OK. I think this will give me more flexibility and opportunities to spin that I do not have with my Ashford wheel. Hopefully I can start making more progress on my stash!

New sheep and breed

Meet Dete

Unfortunately since it is still breeding season (until the 26th) I do not have a pen free to keep my new Cotswold ewe Dete in quarantine. So she is put in with my skinny old Shetland sheep. This is the introduction. Ebony (our incredibly skinny old sheep) is bashing her, but I do not think Dete can even feel it. She just looks a little confused. I am not sure Ebony’s going to be able to show Dete her place in the flock.

I purchased Dete from Nancy Wilkinson. She’s been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and is trying to cut down on her flock of Cotswolds. I have always wanted either a Lincoln or Cotswold, and Tom had already agreed to let me get one so it all worked out. I went over to Nancy’s fully expecting to get a colored one. I am not planning on breeding so wool and personality are more issues for me. But Dete’s wool is SO nice and she’s quite friendly that I chose her instead. And since I have only one other white sheep, it makes sense. I think it was hard for Nancy to stay “bye” since she’s one of Nancy’s favorites too, but Dete’s not breeding quality, and Nancy has to cut down. It is sad though, but Dete gets a nice new flock, I get a nice new sheep (with lovely wool), and Nancy has less work to deal with.

New farm blog

Hi all!

Sorry to play musical blogs with you, but I have been playing around with a wordpress blog site. And since I have a cute Christmas theme going there, I thought I would unveil it sooner, rather than later. So it is at:
http://schoonoverfarm.wordpress.com/
Let me know what you think. It is still in its infancy.