Kalwa Taure Shetlands

Sally it is!

2011-03-23T18:46:00.001-07:00

Thanks for the name suggestions everyone.
I've decided to call her Sally. Somehow the name just sticks with me.

Sally - as in Sally Forth! Tally Ho and so on.

Thanks for the suggestion Kelly.

Well - Sally gets a rest in today's storm - as it was mostly very wet snow - and freezing rain.

Isn't it pretty. I just love it when we get a late snow like this - and the pond isn't frozen. The water looks so black.

Today, we were visited by 3 wood ducks on the pond. As well - 4 cardinals came to the feeders, along with several cedar waxwings, juncos, woodpeckers, blue jays and mourning doves. I thoroughly enjoy feeding the birds. Next year I have plans for a new feeding station to accomodate all of my little feathered friends - more work!

Where Have I Been????

2011-02-06T13:04:00.001-08:00

Where have I been ? I've been asked that a lot lately and by more than one person.

Well, as you know - life gets busy. Everything gets in the way these days - work, housework, the farm, pottery - but really, I must confess.

I have a new best friend.

That's right. I have a new best friend.

And really, she does take up a lot of my time. Well, at least a lot of my time these past few months since we met.

We've been spending a lot of time together lately, going for long strolls - morning strolls, evening strolls. Strolls in the snow.

She's actually quite helpful though as a friend, and I am very appreciative. Because without her help this past little while - I' have been in real trouble with the chores around here. She's helped me manage the barn chores, and she's helped me getting hay and grain out to the deer in my back pasture (who are starving to death with all this snow).

She's helped me work through a lot of obstacles unfortunately no one else has been able to help with lately. My husband is away frequently with work, and my daughter lives in Newfoundland, and my son, well, he's 18 now - and although he's here for me sometimes, more often than not, he's off with his friends, and I'm here alone (well - if you can count a dog, 9 cats and 27 sheep as being alone) - so she's been a big help especially when I'm here alone.

Well anyway, as I said, she has taken up a lot of my time this past few months. And she has been, like I said - a huge help here. I'd like you to meet her:

That's right - we are drowning in snow. Every week - it seems we get at least another 6 - 10 " dumped on us - so I have been spending a lot of time with my new best friend.

By the way - she needs a name - feel free to send me your thoughts in the comments box (be nice).

She's a very hard working young lady - and I don't know how I'd have got through the past few months without her.

And yes - it's a she. Always ready to work whenever I ask - I never have to ask twice or nag.

OK - let's not go there ;-)

Backing Up before we go Forward

2011-01-16T18:09:00.001-08:00

I meant to put this post up before I put up the last post - but got so excited about Cate's news that I forgot.

Anyway.....

Way back in August......

Or - let's go even further back:

If you will recall - back in June of 2010:

Kalwa Taure Blizzard (my favourite ewe) - blessed me with twin ewe lambs (both White) - and I named them Princess and Duchess in honour of my good friends Cate and Al at Earendel Farm.

(Evil Laugh Here) - Cate and I started to scheme...........

Al and I almost share a birthday (2 days apart).............. Hmmm. (and I LOVE to surprise the special people in my life).

So - on Al's Birthday - I set out:
I had a ram to deliver to one customer in the back of the truck, along with a ewe that was going to Cate and Al.
And in the front seat (in a little cage beside me) - I had Kalwa Taure Princess.

3 hours later (with Princess chattering all the way) - we arrived at Earendel Farm.

Surprise!!!!! Boy - was Al ever Surprised!! When I walked into the house with Princess in tow.......

Al thought I was bringing in a cake.....

He was clearly "Floored" by the gift:

Yes - she has on a pink (dog) halter - and leash - both with lots of sparkly rhinestones.
And a little pink tag on her neck - engraved with her name.

As you can see - she is clearly hypnotizing Al in this picture. As he gazes into her eyes - she is willing him to do "Everything" and "Anything" that she wants.

By the way - before I brought Princess over to Al - I made sure that I spoiled her "Royally" in any way that I could (insert evil laugh)....

And so - after introductions, and placing the sheep in the barn for the evening, we went in for dinner.
We enjoyed a lovely meal, followed up by Al's Birthday Cake: A wee white sheep made by a friend of mine with a wonderful artistic touch.

All in All, I would say it made for a great Birthday surprise for a great friend.

Oh - and as a little post script to this blog.
I was recently over for a visit to see Princess (and Al and Cate). Princess is doing just fine - and has everyone totally bent to her will. She has everyone eating out of her hand...er paw.
I couldn't imagine a better home for this little lovely.

I FEEL THE NEED TO CROW!

2010-11-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

I am just so excited and proud that I have to tell everyone the news:

My very good friends Al and Cate entered 2 fleeces from their shetland sheep in the

ROYAL WINTER AGRICULTURAL FAIR in Toronto, Ontario recently (this is one of the biggest Agricultural Fairs in Canada).

Earendal Kinwulf (Out of Kalwa Taure Esme - and Cherrington Merlin) - took 3rd place in the
Natural coloured wool class. Kinwulf is a 3 year old wether (shown below).

And -
Cherrington Sarah (Molly) shown below - a 9 year old ewe that I sold to Cate a few years ago - took 5th place! She's 9 years old!!! Wow - a 9 year old ewe against yearlings!

1st, 2nd and 4th places went to yearling icelandics. There were dozens of fleeces entered in this class - and so this is a wonderful accomplishment for shetlands.

You can read more about this in Cates post at: Earendel Farm

Of course - In my Humble Opinion - this reinforces a lot of what we've been working on for the last several years. I will take a moment to tell you a bit about: "The Cherrington Project".

The Cherrington Project - An Overview:

About 16 years ago - I set out in search of some little sheep to cut the grass in my large 2 acre back yard. In Harrowsmith Magazine - I came across an article on Shetland Sheep and the Dailley Farm - Oh boy - little sheep! And so I set out to find the little Shetlands (the Dailley farm is about a 2 hour drive from my farm).

I was introduced to a lady "Dale" - who owned the farm with the prefix "Cherrington" - and I purchased 3 sheep - 2 ewes and a ram.

I knew very little about sheep - but I was excited to get these great little sheep.

Fast forward about 5 years. Dale has sold her farm - and has decided to disperse her flock - which has grown to about 30 sheep.

Knowing that I will offer them a good home - she gifts me with about 15 lovely "Cherrington"
Shetlands - with the promise that I will love and cherish them - and always give them a good home.

Around this time - I am starting to learn about fleeces, spinning and genetics.

For those of you who don't know about the Cherrington Shetlands.

All of the Cherrington Shetlands and the Skerryvore Shetlands are directly bred back to the original sheep brought in by Colonel Dailley. Dale and Chickie (the owner of Skerreyvore Shetlands) selectively picked sheep to breed for the softness and handle of the fleeces - both of them were spinners.

Back to the Future.

About 5 years ago - Cate and I met and became friends, and she started to raise shetlands as well - in Particular she wanted to work at preserving those lovely Cherrington Shetlands.

Together - we have been working very hard to maintain the remainder of the Cherrington Flock. Many of the Cherringtons that I have - are now residing at Cates farm - and together - we have been very selective in the breeding of our sheep - for a single coated - fine, even crimp.
Most of our sheep are directly bred out of the original Cherrington flock with very little outside genetics. We maintained 3 lovely Cherrington Rams - Cherrington Charles (who died about 5 years ago) - Cherrington Merlin - a lovely ram who passed away last year, and we still have Cherrington Harry - who is now 10, and arthritis is starting to take over - so this past year, Cate and I purchased a lovely white ram from Carole Precious (Dailley Pachino)- with a stunning fleece - and wonderful conformation and horns to help carry on the genetics.

We are still working on selective breeding of the remaining Cherrington ewes - and offspring.
We selectively breed only 2 - 3 ewes every year - and scrutinize the fleeces - not only by us - but by a group of several spinners. Sorry folks - we haven't microned the sheep yet - but that is coming. So - that's kind of the story about what we're doing and how we're doing it. We're trying to maintain this lovely little island sheep and their beautiful fleeces.
Cate and Al are very proud to have done so well at the Royal - and I'm so proud of them as well.

We think this is wonderful for our little breed of sheep. Sorry that I have rambled on on so long, but wow - I don't get to crow very often.

Note:
Just a little addendum to the above:
Cate tells me that the Sheep to Shawl Judge purchased the 3rd place fleece during the fleece auction.

Physio Therapy

2010-08-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know - I have a serious shoulder injury, which has been getting progressively worse this last couple of years.

The pain has been so bad - that I have been forced to give up some of my favourite activities - like playing the violin, various sports, and it has seriously hampered me being able to look after my flock. Thus - I have had to reduce my flock so that I can reduce my work load. This has been very distressing to say the least.

However - there is hope on the horizon.

Earlier this spring, my physician suggested a different form of excercise to help strengthen my shoulder and try to put me back in shape.

KAYAKING!

My wonderful husband - ever supportive of all my endeavors, has embraced this sport with me:

And so:

Recently - we travelled to see my daughter in Gagetown New Brunswick (a two day drive):

We of course wasted no time in renting kayaks and heading out onto the
St John River for a day cruise. We spent 5 hours out on the water - and I took some absolutely
beautiful pictures.

This one is a particular favourite -
(click to see larger), as we are heading up the
river and under the Fredricton Bridge.
That's my husband (Kevin) and my Daughter
Brittany up ahead in their kayaks - I stayed behind in my kayak to get the shots.

We had a great time - and more on that vacation in another post.

We try to get out at least once a week - and for
a minimum of a 2 hour paddle - but prefer a 4 - 5 hour paddle. Surprising - when you are out there - you lose complete track of time.

Last week - we managed to get out twice - which was a real treat.

So - on Wednesday night - we loaded up the car
with the kayaks and all the gear.
Yes - I get lots of funny looks:
(The kayaks are actually Longer than the car).

And after work on Thursday - we headed straight
out to The Pinery - which is a local
Provincial Park about an hour from here.

Here's a picture I took as we were heading up the
main channel. This channel was dug out in the 1800's to help drain the local farmland - it is about 100 ft wide - and 10 km long (6 miles).
It's not very deep - probably only about 8 feet.
This was a very relaxing paddle - we probably did about 4 kilometers in each direction - or a total of 5 miles. For part of it we were paddling into a decent headwind - so on the way back - we were able to relax a bit and drift.
This is a great way to relax after a hard day at work.

And - lucky us -on Saturday - we
were headed down to Leamington - which is on the north shore of Lake Erie (near Windsor, Ontario) - so - we left the kayaks on
top and after completing
our business at the kayak store - we headed
off to Point Pelee - which is the southern - most
mainland point in Canada.

We decided that we would keep to the marshes because the lake was quite choppy.
There are several small lakes - and trails throughout the marshes that you can canoe or kayak in - and so off we went. In the middle of one of the lakes there was this HUGE - probably about 2 acres in size patch of water lillies.
Here is a picture of Kevin as he eases his kayak in close to the water lillies. Look at the size of the lily pads - they were about 2 feet in diameter - and the flowers were about 8 - 10 inces across - many of them on stocks that stuck 3 feet above the water.

We played on the marshes for about 3 hours in the 95 degree weather before packing up and heading home.

So far we've discovered that we LOVE kayaking (yes - those are our kayaks in the last 2 pictures). We have taken the plunge and gone out and purchased a couple of sea kayaks - and all the gear - expensive - but worth it.

And is it helping my shoulder you ask? Yes - the short answer is yes. It's been great therapy.
I'm hoping that this will strengthen the muscles - and help out with all the pain.
So far - no complaints from me. Besides that - it's great excercise, and quality time spent with
my husband and children. I highly recommend it.

New Arrivals

2010-07-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

While I'm waiting for this sweltering heat to subside, so I can go out to work in my studio.
(by the way - it reached 36 degrees celcius here today - something like 96 degrees farenheit).

We have a few new additions to the farm roster.

On June 22nd (as I was walking out the door to attend a dinner meeting) - I notice Blizzard, my absolute most favourite sheep in the whole wide world - laying under the willow tree by the
barn.

That could only mean one thing.
So - I dashed back in the house and changed - and ran out to help her (it was 87 degrees farenheit out).

After about half an hour of standing up, laying down, pushing, standing up again, coming over and putting her head in my lap then going and laying back down - I decided I would chance going to the meeting. Blizzard has always been very good at delivering on her own.

So - off I went and got changed and washed up, and off to the meeting.
Of course - I left instructions with my son and husband - and every 15 minutes, I got an update call.

At 8 pm - just as I was getting ready to present my report - I got the call that her water broke.
Sorry guys - gotta dash.

Blizzard was bred to Dailley Pachino - a
beautiful white ram that I co-own with my very
good friends Cate and Al at Earendal Farm.

Here are her two white ewe lambs about
15 minutes after they were born.
Aren't lambs amazing - just born - up on those wobbly legs looking for food.

Of course - in my opinion - they are absolutely
stunning (but I'm very biased).

And........................

Here are Kalwa Taure Princess, and Kalwa
Taure Duchess today - less than 2 weeks later.

Don't you just love white lambs - they are the cutest.

Also - not to be forgotten - and along our
royalty lines (it's an inside joke)....

Before I hurt my neck and shoulder so badly last month (which is now causing me to greatly reduce my flock).........

As part of our flock improvement program - we brought this little lovely in from Carole Precious:

Dailley Tiara
A lovely yearling ewe from the Chassagne Farm
(I think that's the name of Carole's new farm).

Again - with the help of my wonderful friends
Cate and Al - as I had to be out of town at a meeting (again).
They went over to see Carole, and picked out
Tiara for me. Her fleece is like butter - and oh so
curly.
Tiara spent a couple of weeks in quarantine at
Cates farm before coming to our farm for a couple of more weeks of quarantine - poor girl.
But, she is now in with the main flock and seems to be doing quite well. She's fattened up a bit, and, although still a bit skittish, she knows her name, and is coming over for treats.

We're hoping to not have to sell off the entire flock - but to only reduce it down so that I can manage a bit better once my son leaves for University next year. Until then - these 3 will remain here.

Well - I'm hoping it's cooled a bit out there now - looks like a possible storm moving in.

Haircut Time........Or

2010-07-03T18:28:00.001-07:00

How to Get your Sheep to Lose Weight Fast:

From This:

To This:

I sure bet that feels better.

We sheared late this year for various reasons,
and I don't think my sheep really appreciated it.
But I'm not hearing too many complaints right
now - especially since it's been
31 - 32 degrees Celcius (88 - 90 degrees farenheit) this past few days.
At least it's dry right now - so it's not too muggy.

Tomorrow - an introduction to our new babies.

Flock Dispersal Sale

2010-06-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

Well - after more than 15 years raising shetland sheep - we have decided to sell off the flock.
Our lives are becoming more busy - and we are finding it more difficult to find the time to spend with the livestock.

Kevin and I have decided to sell almost all of the sheep - and chickens and ducks - and we are going
to also look at selling the farm and moving to a smaller property that is more manageable.
We work in a family business - and with both of our children going to be away on the other side of the country within the next year, we just feel that we need to fix our priorities and downsize a little bit.

It also hasn't helped that I have a shoulder/neck injury - and this last several months, I have been suffering terribly with migraines.

This picture is of Windwater Rosie - and two of her 3 lambs from this year.
She is for sale for $250, and each of her lambs is
for sale for $200 - but you can take all 4 for
$650.

To see the other sheep I have posted, go to my
sales blog at:

http://kalwataureshetlandssalespage.blogspot.com/

There are only a few listed - but I will post more in the next few days as I get a chance to take pictures.

I Almost Forgot

2010-05-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

I feel so remiss. I have been so busy lately that I almost forgot to post this.

A while ago - I implored upon a friend of mine to weave me a shawl. Not just any shawl mind you, but a special shawl - special to me.

Nina took the challenge (even though she was moving). I sent her a quantity of rovings - and she went to work - spinning and weaving.

Much sooner than I expected - she called to say that the shawl was done.

Here are the results.

A beautiful shawl - made from the wool of all my
sheep.

I call it my "baby blanket". I wear it every night when I am watching television. It is so soft and warm - and surprisingly - it isn't scratchy next to the skin.

And the most important part - it has wool from almost all my sheep - past and present in it.
This means a lot to me - and it is so cherished.

I can't remember the weave that she used -
here it is up close.

Unfortunately - I find that the flash kind of washes out the colour.

I am so pleased - and grateful.

Thank you Nina!

Spring Lambs

2010-05-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

Well - after raising shetland sheep for almost 15 years.

This past week, we had our first set of triplets.

These little darlings were born to Windwater Rosie (mioget, krunet, sokket markings) and were sired by Thistlecroft Thomas (solid white - no markings).

The two little white ones are ewes, and the black one is a ram. Unfortunately, another ewe took the liberty of cleaning up the ram lamb while Rosie was busy with the other two lambs - so she won't accept him. I am supplementing him
twice a day with a bottle - and it seems to be doing the trick. He is smart enough to know to sneak in when the other lambs are feeding - and he is able to get a bit of nourishment.

This by the way was an unplanned breeding. I hadn't planned on breeding any of the ewes last year, but Thomas had other plans. I came home from a meeting late one evening last fall - and found Thomas in with the ewes.

Needless to say - he wasn't finished with just Rosie. Later the same evening last week - this little cutie was born to Kalwa Taure Trinity.

He's a pure white ram lamb. He is a little darling.

Both Trinity and Rosie are excellent mothers.
They are both trusting enough that they will allow you to handle their lambs without freaking out on you - yet protective enough to keep a close eye on them. (Well - except for Rosie rejecting the little guy - but that really wasn't her fault).

So - thankfully - these were the only lambs to come from this pairing. We do have more lambs coming in about 6 weeks from a "Planned" late
breeding to Dailley Pachino, the white ram that Cate DeSantis and I jointly own.

Now - while we're waiting - there's shearing to be done, and deworming, and hoof trimming,
pastures to be fertilized, and stalls to clean.
(sigh) - It never ends.

What a Fabulous Surprise!

2010-02-17T15:49:00.001-08:00

I was just floored!

I was at work today - and went to get my mail
at the front office. There was a nice puffy envelope waiting for me - when I opened it -

I found this:

A Beautiful - handspun - hand-dyed and hand knit scarf and hat from my friend Kim.

I had left a message on her blog a while back about a beautiful skein of shetland that she had spun up (her son Jared dyes the rovings - he is a wizard) - "subtly" telling her that it would be a beautiful scarf for my daughter.

Kim - you are a darling! Only problem - now I want one for me!

She also put a bar of handmade soap from
Maggie in the package - and oh - it smells so good.

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful friend as Kim. By the way - Kim has a fabulous
online fibre shop to feed all of your fibre addictions - check it out at:

Cornerstone Fibres

Getting Back into Blogging

2009-12-30T17:21:00.001-08:00

Sometimes it's hard to get back into the habit once you've gotten out of it. Tonight, I found that I really had to force myself to sit down at the computer and start writing. There always seems to be so much to do. My studio beckons - it's an absolute disaster - and I have new students starting in the next few weeks. I have renovations to do in the barn , sheep to tend to, - my house is a disaster.....
and need I go on.

So for an update.

It has been crazy here - absolutely crazy.
Of course - with the regular 40 hour per week job - and the pottery (which is quickly turning into a 40 hour per week job).
Let's add Christmas to this (it was a lovely Christmas by the way) - and then there's Max.

Max - I want you to meet Max:

Do you like the Dreadlocks?

Sorry - I couldn't resist the pirate hat.

OK - so, here's a real picture of Max:

And the story behind Max.

He is a VERY energetic 10 month old pug puppy.
As you recall - in early November, I lost my beloved elderly companion Penny.
I decided that I would like to have another dog - and that possibly - I was ready to tackle having a smaller dog again.

My sister had a pug when we were teenagers - I had a pekingese.

I had forgotten how much work a puppy was/is.

Max is only 10 months old - and we are his 3rd owners (other than the breeders and pet shop).
The last few owners didn't feel up to the task of an energetic pug puppy. So - Max is confused - and a bit insecure - but he is lovable - and energetic.
We are trying very hard to break some bad habits - but he is progressing a great deal.
The cats are NOT amused - but Max is.
The biggest problem so far, has been that he likes to chase the kitties. They turn tail - and he has a heyday. We're working on it. But - we all love him - and I'm sure this will be his forever home.

My Daughter is also home for the holidays. She flew in from Newfoundland on December 20th.
She leaves again on January 5th. We are so happy to have her here. It was early August since we last saw her, and 2 weeks just isn't long enough to enjoy her company. But we are so happy she could make it home for Christmas - and we are enjoying our time together.

Other than that - all is well. Knock on wood. The sheep are well - the chickens are well. The weather is cold (we need more snow). We all have jobs - and family to love, good friends to
spend our time with - what more could we want.

I'll post again soon. I promise.

Presenting: Dailley "Pachino"

2009-11-23T11:53:00.000-08:00

"Kalwa Taure Shetlands and Earendel Shetlands, are pleased to introduce our new ram from the Dailley Flock.

Pachino is just over a year old. He has the classic shetland conformation and fleece quality so consistent with his heritage.

He will be a beautiful additional to our selective breeding program.

Heartfelt thanks to Carol Precious for all her advise in helping us select him".

When one door Closes - another opens.

A Sad - but HappyTale

2009-11-05T20:25:00.000-08:00

I've been desperately looking for my picture box so that I could find a good picture of Penny - our dog.
Let me tell you about Penny:
We think she's about 16 - going on 17 ish. We adopted her from the local Humane Society 15 years ago. I was actually looking at another dog - a white collie cross - but when I got there it had already been adopted. As we were walking through and looking in all the pens - Penny was sitting quiety facing the corner like she had been a bad girl. I asked the attendant what was up with her.
"That's "Bonus" she said - she's due to be euthanized tomorrow. When I asked why - they said she had used up all her time. She was about 2 years old - had been brought in because she "kept having puppies". Well - you know dogs - "Bonus " looked at me with those big brown eyes - and I melted - not on my watch!
We dutifully filled out the applications, went through our interview and brought her home.
At the time - I had a 2 year old - and a 5 year old (Children that is). My parents freaked when they learned that I was bringing a Rottweiler/Lab dog home with the children - especially with all these children being attacked by dogs.

My daughter called her "Penny" - and she soon settled in. But Penny - wasn't about to have an easy time of it.
Being the responsible dog owners that we were - we took her in to be spayed.
The vet opened her up - and out popped "Kidney Worms" - some as long as 3'. I just happened to be working out of town that day - and was tracked down. Did we want to save her - of course.
3 hours later ($700 poorer) - they had cleaned out all the kidney worms. She was actually the first known dog to have survived this horrible affliction. In the process - the worms had already eaten through one kidney. She was weak - but alive. We'll spay her another day.
The worms were sent to the University of Guelph - Vetrinary hospital for the students to study.

4 months later, we dutifully brought her back to the vets to be spayed. While there - ahem, the vet decided to do her blood test for heartworm (do you see where this is going). Uh-oh.
Unfortunately - Penny had never been cared for - and she had heartworm. It was decided that she was not a good candidate for the standard arsenic treatment for heartworm - and now we had to get special government approval to bring in a new treatment from the States. In this treatment - they take 2 long needles - insert them down between the shoulder blades and into the heart and inject a medicine that kills the worms. She spent 2 days at the vets office - and then had to come home for 6 weeks (and be kept quiet). The heartworms die - form a blood clot and then are passed from the system. If she was to get too excited - the clots could kill her.
Keeping this bundle of love and energy quiet was a chore - but hurrah - we managed.

Smooth sailing from here. Penny loved us with all her heart. She played frisbee with the kids.
She guarded all the animals. If an animal was on the property that wasn't supposed to be there - we knew about it. She loved to walk in the woods. We did go through a spell where she kept slipping her halter/collar and taking off into the woods for the night - but she always was right there the next morning. She was a truly amazing dog. She never ever harmed a chicken or sheep - even when they came and shared her food in her dish. We even had her go after a raccoon that had killed a chicken once - scare it off - and then bring the dead chicken back up and place it in front of the garage till we got home. She was a truly remarkable dog. She was afraid of thunderstorms (until she went deaf).

This last year we noticed that she was starting to slow - her eyes were fogging over with cataracts, she walked slower - but she still went on walks with us. About 3 weeks ago - she decided she didn't want to eat anymore. I tried everything - she would nibble at the canned food. I called the vet - who came out and gave her a couple of shots of B12 - and some massage and herbs. She took blood and checked her all over. "She's old" - but not her time yet.
We soldiered on - special food - and lots of love. Lots and lots of love for a dear old friend.

On Tuesday morning, I opened the barn door to find her lying silently curled up in the straw by the door - right where we had left her the night before. She had quietly slipped away in the night. The way it should be. We were happy that she didn't have to endure another long cold winter here. We were happy that we could give her 15 years of love - and she gave us nothing but love back. That rottwieler/lab never once growled or spoke back to us. We never once had to raise a hand to her. She was possibly the best dog anyone could ever have.

We buried her up in the corner of the barnyard (My husband wanted to bury her in the woods).
But I knew that even after she was gone - she would want to be close to us. I can look out and see where she lies - and know that she was always there for me.
I have to go now (because I am crying so much it's hard to type). I'll find those pictures this weekend and put one up on the blog.

Good-bye my dear friend - we will meet again.

A Walk in the Woods

2009-11-01T19:24:00.000-08:00

Autumn is here - I love autumn. I love to walk in the woods - and smell the fallen leaves.
There is so much to see.

I actually took these pictures last Sunday on my morning walk.
It was a glorious sunny day.

I took about 50 pictures - but I'll only show a few of my favourites.

This is one of my favourites:

I love the ferns sticking up through the leaves -
the contrast is so striking. And the stump in behind
with fungus growing on it - well - I just think it's
an interesting shot.

This is another shot of leaves.
Again - with the moss showing through.
I really like moss. And in this picture - you have the green moss - and the leaves all around - all the different types of leaves. It's just interesting
to look at.

This next shot - I took in the spring.
This is an area in our woods that floods most
years in the spring. I actually had this picture
done up into an 8x10. It almost looks like a lake
in the woods - but what I really love - is the reflection of the trees - and the sky in the water.

I showed this - so that you can see the contrast
in this next picture:

This is exactly the same area - taken last week.

The water has all dried up - and the area is covered with a thick carpet of leaves. You'd never know it was the same area.
What a difference. But still an interesting shot.
The long shadows of the trees - the open - but enclosed space. I find it to be a very serene
picture.

And lastly - my backyard - framed by the trees
as I come up from the woods.

I love nothing more than to see my lovely little flock of shetlands grazing in the back. The sheep haven't noticed my presence yet - or else they'd all be standing at the gate trying to get into the woods.

I have to take a walk out into the woods again tomorrow - I love to document the changes
each week as autumn progresses.

And - I want to see if there was any wind damage in the storm we had on the weekend.

As My Flock Ages

2009-10-31T19:38:00.000-07:00

It's not really unexpected that this will happen.
And it never, ever gets any easier.

Earlier this week, we said good-bye to
Cherrington Elizabeth - born May 20, 1996.
She quietly passed away in her sleep. She had been slowly getting thinner, and this last few weeks - really didn't want to eat. We tried just about everything, but she just wasn't interested.

As a consolation - the day before she died - she went outside and spent a glorious afternoon in the autumn sunshine - she was still quite agile - although very arthritic. I was a bit surprised to
find her dead the next morning - as I was hoping she was going to rebound for us.

At right is a picture of her taken a few year ago (she was terrible for diving head first into the hay).

Bess (as she was fondly called) was one of my first
three original sheep that I got when I started into shetlands way back in 1996. Her sire was Skerryvore Corby, and her Dam was Cherrington Queen Mary.

She was one of those lovely Cherringtons - one of the earliest flocks of Shetlands in Ontario.
And true to the Cherrington Black sheep - even at 13 years old - she still didn't have a white hair on her body. Her fleece wasn't quite as soft as her mothers - but it was still quite soft and crimpy. We are certainly going to miss her in our flock.

At this time, my next oldest sheep are now Kalwa Taure Beatrice and my last Cherrington - Little Dog- who was born in 2000.

Although I've been raising shetlands now for 13 years - it never gets any easier when we have
to say good-bye to one of our beloved flock.

Hopefully my next post will be a bit more cheerful.

New Babes in the Barn

2009-10-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

Technically - they are in quarantine in my studio.
However - in a few weeks, they will be moving out to the barn.

These babies are my latest Avian aquisitions.
For those not in the know - they are LIGHT
BRAHMAS.

And if you've never had the chance to get up close and personal with one - they are BIG birds.

This trio that I picked up today - were born in
May of 2009. They are huge! They make my standard size cochins look like bantams. The two hens weighed in around 5 pounds each, and the cockerel was around 9 pounds. Remember - they are only 5 months old - they don't fully mature until they are around 2 years old. Right now - the cockerel stands almost 18 -20" tall - the hens are probably around 16" tall.

When I move them from quarantine to regular quarters, I will get some pictures of them with some of the other birds to compare the size.

So - why the light brahmas? Well - I'm slowly building up a flock of the different birds that I'm interested in raising. While researching the different types of chickens - I kept coming back over and over to these birds as one of the types I'd like to see wandering my barnyard.

I spent quite a bit of time searching for light brahmas, but because they are such a large bird - not a lot of people want to raise them. A few months ago, I posted an ad on Kijiji, and was contacted by - David Stuart- who just happens to specialize in Standard Light Brahmas - and surprise - he only lives about 30 miles away.

What a treat it was to go to his farm today and learn about these wonderful birds. He was very patient and informative on how to choose a good quality show bird, what to look for in the feathers and colouring and structure.

Then, after much deliberation, I came away with these 3 show quality birds. I haven't named them yet - but that will come.

I also have some other new birds in the coop - I will have to get pictures and post them in the next few weeks.

Until then - I'll leave you with this picture that I took last weekend out in our woods.
It looks like fall is here. I'm sure that winter isn't far behind.

What's New?

2009-10-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while. I have been busier than usual - as a matter of fact - too busy.
Work has been crazy - and I have had had to work a lot of overtime to keep up.

I also have 5 pottery sales coming up in November - so in the evenings, I have spent a great deal of time at the wheel and in the studio. This hasn't left much time for anything else - other than sleeping.

The good news - we did have one of our silver laced cochin chicks survive. I moved the last two survivors up to the brooder box - and one of them died - but this little guy is a survivor.
I call him/her "Peepers" - just cause when you walk into the garage, he starts peeping at you.
(I think it's a rooster - don't ask why - I just think it is).
He's looking really scraggly right now as his feathers are coming in.

This picture was taken in his brooder box - which he really is getting too tall for - when we walk into the garage - he sticks his head over the top and looks out at us - like an ostrich peering at you over the fence.

The other bit of good news is that my friend Alina, has managed to hatch out several silver laced cochin chicks in her incubator in July - and, next week, I am going to get 6 chicks from her.

So Peepers won't be lonely too much longer.

We have some new arrivals in the coop as well.
I will have to get pictures soon. But for now -
at least this is a start.

That's all for now.

And Now for the Sad News

2009-09-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

So - it's not all exciting and fun in the farm world.
In my last post, I was so excited about my new silver laced cochins. 7 beautiful little chicks hatched after waiting so long.

Sadly - this past week, we had and outbreak of CRD in our barn/coop - and 6 of my 7 chicks died.
Finally, on Thursday, I took the last two and moved them up to the brooder box, where, at this moment, the last chick appears to be recovering. I have been medicating, and it has a heat lamp - no one is allowed into the area for fear of contamination. Chucky is devastated to have lost her entire brood.

For those of you who don't know a lot about CRD (chronic respiratory disease) - let me fill you in.

It is an insidious "mycoplasma" bacterium that invades the air sacs of the lungs of chickens. In itself - it is not a really bad disease. It is much like the common cold is in humans. However - what it does, is weakens the bird - and secondary infection will often jump in - take over - and the weaker birds will die very quickly.

It is Chronic. Meaning - the birds that survive will be carriers - and will continue to infect your flock forever.

What can you do? Most vetrinarians recommend either destroying and burning your entire flock, then scouring the coop with disinfectant - wait a month - then you can start over with a new flock - which is reasonable if you have a meat or layer flock.
The other option is to live with it (as I am doing because I love my chickens). Try not to stress your birds - treat it when it rears it's ugly head - AND - quarantine any and all new birds arriving at your farm for not One, not TWO - but FOUR!!!!! weeks.

I got it on my farm when a friend gave me some lovely little birds last year - which looked healthy - and I stupidly didn't quarantine them long enough. I introduced it to my flock - and it didn't rear it's head for 2-3 months.

Why did I lose my chicks? Well -they have NO immunities at birth - and it typically takes 26 weeks for young birds to develop their immunities. I had brought in a new group of birds (which I am quarantining for a month) - and we had a little extreme heat wave here, which probably stressed my flock out and another outbreak occurred. This outbreak is currently running through my flock - and will take about 10 - 12 days to subside. Some birds are completely unaffected. Any new birds in my flock that have never had it before are currently ill. I have lost 2 of my cuckoo marans. Everyone that shows signs of illness goes into a "hospital" cage up in my studio and receives extra care.
I have been in contact with a vet and instructed to treat with "tetracycline" based medication.
It works. Most birds who show symptoms are clearing up within 2 days of treatment.
I am also giving the birds crushed garlic to help build their immunities - most of them love it.

So - this isn't meant to scare anyone. It is just a cautionary message to say:
Be Aware! Ask questions when buying birds (is this in your flock? have your birds been sick?)
And don't be afraid to walk away if you don't get the answers you should, because although it is a nuisance - it can also cause a lot of heartbreak. Up until last year - I had never had a single sick bird in my flock - it just takes one lapse in judgment to change everything.

So - now - Off my soapbox.
In the next week or so -I will post some pictures of some of the new birds we do have (that are in quarantine).

New Chicks!!

2009-08-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

This is very exciting news!

Well - if you're into chickens - it's very exciting news.

Last night and this morning - Chucky, my standard silver laced cochin hen hatched out 7 of her 10 eggs.

I am so excited!!!!!

For those of you that have been following.
(I'll fill in the blanks here).

Standard sized silver laced cochins are not all that plentiful around here yet.

Last year, I bought 2 hens from a lady (I shall keep my sources anonymous for selfish reasons).
She had imported them from the United States.

Unfortunately, and a long story - we had an illness hit our coop - and it killed off a great number of my prized hens - including one of the silver laced cochin hens. I was devastated, because these birds are so hard to find in Canada.

So - the search was on for more cochins - no luck. Finally
- after several months, my source called to say she had
found a rooster for me. I purchased him
(named him Romeo) - and immediately
proceeded to let him woo my little Chucky. That's Romeo in the picture.

I was concerned - as Romeo sounded a bit raspy last week. What a tragedy if I should lose him as
well - then what?

But Chucky didn't let me down!

21 days ago (to the day) - Chucky proceeded to set her eggs. Romeo was sent out to the coop to bother the other hens - as I fretted and worried - until last night when I heard the first little peep.

And this morning when I did my chores -
here's what I found:

They are so cute - and Chucky is the best mom.

The chicks all seem quite relaxed - when you go
near - they pop their heads out to see what is
going on. And they aren't in the slightest concerned when you pick them up.

This is going to be so much fun.

Of course - I have several people wanting
chicks in this area (it's going to be very hard to part with any of these little darlings).

But I am so happy - and excited - and much less worried now, as I have at least grown my little flock a bit - and hopefully will have some more silver laced cochin hens to keep the line going.

Stay tuned for more chicken news in the next few weeks - as I am expecting some more new additions to flock (not chicks) - but some much sought after breeds that I am finally able to get.

Until then - try to stay cool in this heat!

Got the Frizzles?

2009-07-12T06:04:00.000-07:00

I said Frizzles - not Frizzies.

I have to say that these are possibly the cutest - and funniest looking chickens I have ever had.

I brought home 4 bantam cochin Frizzles in May as day old chicks. Now - Frizzle is a gene that causes the feathers to curl.

Two of the chicks are definitely displaying the
frizzles - two of the chicks are not - but will be carriers. I'm thinking that bot of these are hens - but I'm still not too sure about the white one - it might be a rooster - in any case - it's very shy.

I can't wait to play with these chicks - and do some cross breeding onto my other birds.

I might even try something like this guy:

He's a polish X frizzle bantam.

I'm still not sure whether to laugh or just feel sorry for him.

Last Lamb of 2009

2009-06-30T08:07:00.000-07:00

This morning - the last lamb of 2009 was born at Kalwa Taure Shetlands.

I arrived at the barn at 8 am to find this lovely little ewe lamb born to Kalwa Taure Trinity and sired by Cherrington Harry.

She was already up and feeding - all cleaned up and ready to go.

Trinity is a first time mom - and very attentive, especially since she was in the ewe pen with 5 other ewes and their lambs.

So - lambing is done for 2009. Lucky for us, it was a ewe year.

Totals: 6 lambs - 4 ewes, 2 rams.

Let the races begin!

A Surprising Turn of Events

2009-06-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well - we've had a little surprise in the turn of events surrounding Merlin.

Merlin was to have been euthanized late last week, or early this week given the nature of his spinal injury.

However - due to circumstances - we held off for a few days.

Yesterday - my good friend Cate - who works at OVC, contacted me to say that another option had been presented to medically manage Merlins symptoms, which we have decided to try.

So - as of yesterday afternoon, Merlin went home to Earendal Farm with Cate and Al, where, she informs me he is resting comfortably this morning and is bright and alert.

We know that of course - this is only management of his condition, and that we can't prolong the inevitable forever - however, we are hoping that in this non aggressive environment, he may be able to rest and regain enough strength to possibly enjoy his time here a little bit longer. And, we are hoping to possibly (this is a huge hope) have him sire some more lambs for us before the
inevitable happens. He is just such a beautiful ram to lose his genetics.

So - fingers are crossed - and let's hope for the best. Good luck Cate, Al - and Merlin.

New Life

2009-06-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

I want to thank everyone who offered kind thoughts over the loss of our Merlin.

He was such a grand gentleman, and we will miss him terribly.

Although this week has been very sad for us with the loss of Merlin - we have also had some great happiness as well:

First on the list is this little cutie. A little ewe lamb was born to Kalwa Taure Jillian and Cherrington Harry. Both Jillian and Harry are gray - our little ewe lamb (as yet nameless - will
also be grey - like her mom).

We have one more sheep to lamb - at least we think she's pregnant (she may just be fat). We aren't so sure as she was put in with Merlin, and now, given his condition, we are quite understanding that she may not be pregnant.

Another source of great joy this week has been:

ROMEO!

I think I'm in love :-)

I have spent many months searching for a
silver laced cochin rooster to go with Chucky -
and last week - an aquaintance of mine e-mailed to say she had found me a rooster - and only a half hour away.

Romeo weighs in somewhere around 10 - 12 pounds - he's a BIG boy! Currently, he's in quarantine - and we all stand around and ogle him in the evenings. The silver laced pattern in cochins is still fairly rare - around here at least. I am just over the moon with this guy.

And - then we had a little miracle here on Wednesday night - the same night I brought Romeo home. As I was bringing him into the barn - I noticed a lifeless baby (just born) chick laying on the concrete just inside the barn door.

Obviously - a bantam Old English Game Hen of mine that had nested in the hay loft - had lost one of her eggs - and when the chick hatched - it fell down along the wall - and onto the concrete floor below - poor thing. Momma hen wanted nothing to do with this chick - she already had 10 others. So - my darling Chucky was sitting on an empty nest - I slipped the chick underneath her (figuring it would die).

There is a higher power out there - a few hours
later the chick was peeping away underneath her new mommy.

Chucky is Ecstatic with her new baby - just look at that size difference! (Click on the picture to make it larger). I was going to take it away from her and put it into the brooder - but I don't have
the heart. Romeo - you will have to wait until
Chucky is done raising her "brood"

All together now: AWWWWW!!!!

A Grand Old Gentleman

2009-06-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well - this seems to be a year of losses - and sadness.

Unfortunately - this Friday, we will be euthanizing one of the best rams that I have ever had - or seen.

Cherrington Merlin: 2001 - ??? (see post dated June 23rd).

Sadly - Merlin has suffered a spinal cord injury that has left him very weak, and it has been decided that the most humane treatment will be to euthanize him.

I suspected problems earlier this year, when I noticed that he was losing weight - and staying away from the other rams. After shearing in early May, we noticed that his condition had deteriorated - and he was holding up one leg and curling the toes (not a good sign).
This past weekend, we transferred Merlin to the Ontario Vetrinary Clinic at the University of Guelph, so that he could receive the very best care possible from the top veterinarians in
Ontario. My very Good Friend Cate works at OVC, and has been a super help - both with setting up the arrangements - and explaining all of the tests and results to me.

Sadly - the diagnosis that came in today was that there was damage to the spinal cord (most likely from "Ram Play") - and that it would be most humane to euthanize him - as he was only going to lose complete mobility in his hind end.

So - sadly, this Friday, we will be euthanizing Merlin.
To his credit - he had a most wonderful Blue Gray fleece - a gentle demeanor - and gorgeous horns. He also gave us some wonderful lambs - for which we will be forever grateful.

Good-bye to a Grand old Gentleman

Duckling Update

2009-06-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

There's been nothing new on the lambing front. Jillian is starting to bag up - so she should be ready to lamb sometime in the next few weeks. I'm still not too sure if Trinity and Gabriella are just fat - or pregnant. Although my shearer said that he was pretty sure that Gabriella was pregnant. I don't see any signs of an udder forming yet.

So - I thought I would give a little update on the ducklings.

They are growing like little weeds. It's unbelievable!

Just look at the size of them. They continue to be incredibly endearing - and I realize that I am
soon going to have to put them up for sale. That is going to be difficult.

The "Moms" haven't wanted to take them down to the pond just yet - so we have a little pond up in the safety of their own cage - all ready for them.

Click on the picture to make it bigger - they are so hilarious. Everyone goes up the little ramp to the left and hops into the pond. They really enjoy themselves while the moms look on. When they are done swimming - everyone hops out onto the platform at the right (see the little ramp we built and put in the pool for them) - and then back inside the barn they march (there's another ramp just off to the right that goes into their stall in the barn.

Tomorrow - I will have to post some pictures of the chicks - they are growing like weeds as well.
Today we moved them from their brooder box over to a large cage. They are in heaven.

More later.

Surprise! Aren't Genetics FUN!

2009-06-04T17:58:00.001-07:00

Not exactly what I was expecting when I got
home tonight.

I had to work at a pottery sale today, so
I stopped in at 2:30 on my way to check up on
Bella. She was not in labour - and was
quite contendedly relaxing in her stall.

So - on my way I went.

I got home at 8 pm tonight to this little surprise.

A lovely little yuglet socket EWE lamb.

She's not quite what I expected - since Bella is
a boring old yuglet (not my words) - and
Bernard is a black ram with a white krunet.
I was kind of expecting possibly a gray yuglet like her mom.

Oh well - surprises are nice.

By the way - Bella did a lovely job and presented me
with not one - but 2 lovely little EWE lambs.

This is more like what I expected.

What is it with all these kissing lambs!!

Anyway - the count stands at:
2 ewes - 2 rams.

2 down - 3 more to go.

We aren't expecting more lambs until around the 15th of June - so we have a little break in the action now.

And while we wait - I'll leave you with a picture
of my absolute favourite chicken.

This is "chuckie" - she's a silver laced cochin.

And she's mad at me - cause I just took her off
the nest - hence the major fluffy look.

Now - does that look fierce to you?

Ducklings and Lambs

2009-06-03T16:53:00.001-07:00

OK - First the Duckling update.

They are growing sooooooo fast!

And now - they have two moms.
Seems they pestered the Welsh Harlequin hen that was sitting on a nest in the corner so much, that she finally got off her nest - and is now helping with mothering duties.

Look at how long their legs are getting.
I have spent a ton of time in the barn - just watching them as they swim and drink.

This weekend - I will be letting them outside for a bit of fresh air with their moms. It could be interesting.

And here is one of my favourite pictures.

Just look at the rapture on this ducklings face as
it gets a drink of water. I had just refilled the watering tubs.

By the way - for anyone thinking of getting ducks - they are very messy.

OK - and I saved the best for last.
Lambing has started here at Kalwa Taure Shetlands.

Windwater Rosie (or Windwater Caramel - they are identical, and I have to check the tag),

delivered this set of twin ram lambs this morning.

It was almost a disaster.
I put the pregnant girls out in the front pasture
this morning - and noticed that Rosie was standing around just bellowing. She's normally very quiet. Based on that - I decided to come
home from work at lunch time just to check up.

Sure enough - I arrived - just in time to catch
Kalwa Taure Blizzard, licking the little mioget
ram clean. I scooped the lambs up and rushed
them into the privacy of the barn with Rosie and
Blizzard in hot pursuit. After dragging Blizzard, kicking and screaming out of the stall - I left
Rosie to bond with her two boys. Blizzard spent the afternoon outside the barn - bellowing like an old fishwife - but at least Rosie is accepting both of the lambs. By the way - you can't see it in the picture - but the little mioget ram has 2 white feet.

That's 1 down - 4 to go.

Ducklings

2009-05-26T16:45:00.001-07:00

OK - as per Nancy Krohn's request, here are a couple more photos of the ducklings.

I can't really get into the stall and get
too close to them, or the mother freaks
out and tears off the nest to the other
side of the stall - leaving scattered
ducklings in her wake.

So I took these pictures with my zoom lens from the doorway of the stall. She did calm down a little bit.

The babies came out to eat some of the duckling
starter that I put on the floor for them by the edge
of the nest.

Then she calls them back to her - and stands up
so that they can get underneath her

-too cute!

If you look closely - you will see the little pom poms on their heads - just like Mom.

We also have a Welsh Harlequin Duck sitting on a nest in this stall - but man she's a B----!
You get anywhere near her nest and she starts hissing and freaks out and bites you.

We'll just leave her alone.

For now - Norman and the other Drakes are locked outside in the cage at night so that they leave the new moms alone.

The Awwww Factor

2009-05-24T17:58:00.001-07:00

Here's what I found when I went to the barn this morning.

Awwww! That is so cute.

I don't think there's anything more to say.

GOT SHEEP??

2009-05-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

I do!

I just finished glazing this flock.

I had a bit of fun with them - lots of great
colours here :
because we all know that Shetlands come
in such a wondrous variety of colour.

This picture gives you an idea of size.

The black ram is the largest at about
2" long - to the
little lamb - just a bit larger than a penny.

And lots of in between sizes.

So - I took my little sheep to a shearing
party today at one of my friends places.
Dawn Teetzel owns Thistlecroft Shetlands
Nassa Flock #1179.

This is her 3rd year holding a shearing party.
I bring my pottery and rovings (there are other
vendors as well).

I took this picture as I was trying to get into the
barn.

I believe there were well over 200 people
there today - a great showing.

And well - I sold most of my sheep (uh - the potteryones that is). Any that aren't sold will
be going to my friend Kim, who is taking them to
the Sheep dog trials in June - and another friend is taking a flock up to Haliburton this summer when she goes on a spinning course.

Keep an eye on my pottery blog - I should have another batch ready to go in the next few weeks.

Oo - and before I forget - an award! For me! I am very excited - this is my first award.
Thank you Jenny for thinking of me.

Jenny Holden of Wandering Gecko Fame: nominated me for this award. Check out her blog.
Hers is one of my favourite blogs. I'd love to nominate her back - but that would be redundant wouldn't it. So - here goes. I'm supposed to pass this award along - and nominate 10 of my favourite blogs for this award.
Since most of the blogs I watch have already received this award - I'll go with 5 of my favourites.

1: Nancy Krohn's: A Shepherd's Voice is a fantastic blog. I love to read about her adventures in Shepherding.
2: Cate DeSantis: Earendal Farm is also one of my favourites. Cate doesn't post often (I will have to give her heck about that)- however, she is incredibly interesting. Her and I share a lot of the same interests - and definitely the same breeding goals in sheep.
3: Kim Parkinson's: Fibre on the Hop is a great blog for the fibre enthusiast. Kim also owns an
online Fibre store (which is where we initially made first contact).
4: Nina's Bates: Odette's Obsessions is another great blog. Nina is also among a circle of aquaintances and has some interesting hobbies - among them - dying fibre with natural plant materials - and some great weaving.
5:Antiquity Oaks is also a wonderful blog, and one of my favourites to read.

OK - that's all I'm going to nominate - I know that's breaking the rules a bit. But there are so many blogs out there that are fantastic. Check these ones out - I hope the links that I inserted work.

Until next time.

Shearing is Done!

2009-05-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

Well - shearing is all done for another year.

Whew! It's a lot of work - and now I have to start sorting and skirting and cleaning fleeces to go to the mill. Most of the fleeces will be processed into rovings for the handspinning community. This year, we are looking at doing something a bit different - we have several weavers wanting our fleeces as well - so we are
going to be looking at offering shawls and throws that are hand woven.

That will take a while - since I won't get my rovings and yarn back from the mill until at least early October.

Anyway - this is Jeff, our shearer working on
Vivien. Jeff has been shearing since he was -

believe it or not - 8 years old. He comes from a long line of shearers.
Jeff is wonderful with the sheep and really knows his stuff.

I'm impressed with him.

In July - he will be heading to England for a month of shearing - and then this December - he's off to New Zealand to join one of the large shearing groups for a month.

I could do an entire blog about Jeff.

Here are some of the girls out on pasture now that they are sheared. I'm sure they are feeling a bit better without all that heavy fleece.

We did have a couple of surprises (sort of) during shearing. One night in January - our little ram lamb (who is now a wether) - Bernard, slipped under the gate and got two of my ewes pregnant. Little devil.
So - I have 5 pregnant ewes - due to start lambing in the next few weeks.

I'll start introducing them to you now:

This is GABRIELLA.

"Kalwa Taure Gabriella" to be specific. We call
her Gabby - or Gabby Goose.

She's one of my favourite ewes. She is out of Cherrington Alice, who we so sadly lost the day after Christmas this past Christmas.

Alice was my absolute favourite ewe, and her daughters are just like her. Gabby is now 2 years old, and after losing Alice, we decided that the
genetics were too precious to lose, and that
we should try to carry on that line. Besides, we have so many handspinners wanting our white fleeces, that we need more white sheep.

We bred her to Cherrington Merlin, an emsket ram, in the hopes that the white genes will give us some white lambs. In particular - we would like a white ram - so - fingers crossed.

Gabby is very friendly. And she has a fleece that is awesome!! Her personality is just like her mom's. I can't say enough good about this ewe. I just love her to bits.

And this has been a busy week as well. We went to Carrying Place to pick up a load of chicks yesterday. Carrying Place is about 5 hours from our farm. So Kevin and I went down on Friday night. We stayed at a great B&B called "Timberhouse".
It's a huge timberframe house set in the woods - beautiful. I didn't really want to leave.
Saturday, we picked up our chicks - and orders for several other people, and set off back home.

We had 170 day old chicks and ducklings in the back seat of the truck. With several stops along the way to deliver to various people, we finally made it home safely with our brood. There are quite a mix of breeds in there. More updates as they grow.

And lastly, I took this picture out in the woods last week.

It's in the same place as the week before.
The water has receded a bit, and the pollen is covering the water. What I really love about this picture is the light filtering through the leaves as they are starting to open. The colour of green. This is one of my favourite times of year - when everything awakens. But I love the colour of the leaves as the sun shines through.

That green is so hard to describe.

Until next time.

A Walk in the Woods

2009-05-03T14:20:00.001-07:00

This morning, after doing the barn chores,
I thought I would venture out to the woods for
a walk.

I took my camera, as a friend of mine
had asked if the trilliums were out yet, and
well, because, I always forget my camera.

I was surprised at how warm it was - really didn't need that coat.

There were actually lots of mosquito's,
but they weren't biting yet. We've had such a wet
spring, that it's going to be a problem with the
mosquito's soon.

Needless to say - the trillium's didn't
disappoint me - they were quite stunning.

The second picture is actually of a pink trillium.

There were also lots of Jack in the pulpit - but
they weren't in colour yet, so I will have to go
out in a few weeks and take more pictures.

Lots of wildflowers were out.

I think my favourite (other than Trilliums)
is the wild violet.

We have lots of them. I just love how delicate
they look.

We also have an area of the woods, it
kind of sits half on our property, and half on
the neighbour's property. This area is almost
always flooded in the winter. I have never seen it as large as this - so I decided to go and investigate.

Click on the picture - it is worth seeing large.
I actually walked over into the clearing - and was
up to my knees in water (thank goodness for
wellies).

I love this picture, and actually think I'm going
to have it done up in a large photo and framed.

The water is probably about 2 - 3' deep in the middle.

By mid summer (if it's dry) - this area will mostly dry up - and then these most amazing green plants with little white flowers will grow in the middle of this "pond" - it is almost ethereal looking when the sun is shining down on it - like you've walked into a dream. I'll have to try to get some pictures of it this summer, as we are planning on selling in a few years.

And this is the trail back up through the pine
woods to the back pasture. It's still looking
a bit dingy in this area.
But I love this trail - all
you see is the light .......
at the end of the tunnel.

I'll have to take my camera out there with me
again when I go out in a few days. Things change so fast.

Spring has Finally Sprung - I Hope!

2009-04-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

OK - so last time - I spoke too soon. But today - well - it's 75 degrees Farenheit - here's hoping!

So, earlier, I thought I would take a little wander around the pasture, take a few pictures, etc. etc.

I very quietly opened the gate by the pond and went in (all the sheep were up by the barn - and I didn't really want to be mobbed).

Guess I wasn't quiet enough - here comes the gang: Stampede!

Well - after much petting and scratching, I was able to resume my walk (when they discovered that Mom didn't have any cookies).

Anyway - you'll remember our tree that
came over by the pond - well - here's what's
left of it.

Kevin went out last week and cut it up.

We left the fallen tree out for the sheep - guess it
was yummy!

Peggy thinks there might still be a few leaves at the top.

This is Jillian - she's starting to look just a
bit raggedy. Jillian was bred in January - and
is due to have her lamb(s) in mid June.

I think it's time to give my shearer a call - see if he can come out for Mid-May.

My daughter gets home from University next week
- just in time to help out. I bet she'll be thrilled!

You can see how dry the pasture is getting.
We are supposed to get some rain in the next few days.

And in leaving - I'll leave you with a picture of "Fawkes."

Fawkes is a Red Phoenix rooster that I got earlier this year. He's still quite young.
He's quite a striking dude - don't you think? His tail is coming in quite nicely - and can grow up to 6 feet long.

I've put another picture here showing a phoenix with a longer tail.
I'm hoping we can get Fawke's tail quite long - but he will need a special
perch for this.

More soon.

Oops - I spoke too soon!

2009-04-07T16:45:00.001-07:00

Umm - I think I should have kept my mouth shut about spring finally being here.
Hopefully this won't last too long.

My Apologies

2009-04-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy this past month. Getting ready for pottery sales coming up in May, getting ready for lambs coming in June. And baby chicks coming in May as well. It has been crazy. I've also been away taking several pottery courses this past 6 weeks - but you'll have to visit my pottery blog to check out: http://greendragonflypottery.blogspot.com/
If the link doesn't work - I have it on my sidebar in links.

I've worked a lot of overtime this past month as well. As you know, we are in a recession, and I
have really been packing in the overtime this last month to keep the work flowing at our business.
It seems to be working somewhat - but darn am I tired.

The good news is - winter seems to have finally taken it's leave. The snow is gone, the days are warmer.

The bad news is - we are now into the season of mud. So - I've had to be very selective of how many sheep could go out onto the pastures - and when.

Yesterday - we had some pretty gusty winds here - they took down the old honeysuckle bush out by the barn (I confess it wasn't in very good shape, and was dying anyway). Unfortunately - we also lost this wonderful "Huge" cedar tree out by the pond.

It split a couple of weeks ago, and we chained it back together - but the water in the pond has been so high this past year, that all the earth has eroded around the roots.

At least the sheep are enjoying it.

We've had a tremendous amount of wind damage in our woods this past winter. There have been some ferocious wind storms over the past few months - and huge trees are coming down every where. Mother natures way of changing the landscape I guess.

Well - I hope to get some good pictures of my sheep in the next few days, so I will have to post them, and I will try to keep posting a little more often. At least now that the weather is a bit better - it's easier to get outside.

Until next time.

It's March Already!

2009-03-02T17:13:00.000-08:00

I Can't believe it's already March! And to be honest - I'm not sad to see February gone. It's been a dreadful month - cold and snow (I mean that's what February is all about) - but enough is enough - and I'm tired of it. Of course the month couldn't have ended much worse here.
On Friday, I had to make the dreaded vet call, and he had to come out to euthanize my poor old
Cherrington Queen Mary.

This is actually a terrible picture of her (she would
never stand still for a picture) - but it was the only
one I could find of her.
Mary was going to be 14 in May. She was still as black as black could be - not a white hair to be found. And
her fleece was like butter. So incredibly soft - almost
like a lambs.
Last year, Mary went blind, and we moved her into our
special needs stall, where she was quite content to spend
her time - and be lavished with lots of attention and
treats. However - age, arthritis and this darned persistent cold took its toll, and by last
Friday I knew that her time had come. She could no longer get up or down easily - and several
times she rolled onto her side and couldn't get back up. I spent a lot of time with her last week, just petting her, and reassuring her that her new world would be free of pain and warm - and the grass would always be green there - and all of her friends would be waiting on the other side of the rainbow bridge. Adieu my friend - for we will meet again.

So - February is gone -- thankfully. It was a busy month - I logged a lot of overtime at the office - and many evenings at home till midnight. I was also away a few weekends for pottery workshops.

Now - I'm trying to get some work done around the house (this seems to be a real losing battle).

Pippin loves to help:

And we wonder why we can't get anything done
around here.

One thing my DH did get done in February was this:

This - is a square bale hay feeder.

(They aren't painted yet).

The great thing is that they break down into 4 easy to move panels - that probably weigh about 50 pounds each. The panels set up around the bale of hay - so no need to move the bale to the feeder with a tractor - you can bring the feeder to the bale.

As the animals eat the hay - they push in on the feeder - which causes 2 sides to move inwards and compress the bale. They work quite nicely. We built this set for a friend who has goats, llamas and horses - and they really like them.

I'm debating whether to have the bars running
up and down vertically for the next set to try that out with the sheep. Of course - any of my
rams won't be able to use these as we would worry about them getting their horns stuck.

I also think they would work great with the small square bale (or large square bales) - you could stack the small square bales - probably in a group of about 8-12 bales (removing the strings first of course) - and then the sheep could work their way through them. I'm going to test this out in the large stall next winter to see how it works.
I think it would beat the heck out of throwing down 2-3 bales out of the loft everyday.

I may tweak the design a bit to see if we can make it work along one wall as well.

Will it Ever Melt??!!

2009-02-04T05:45:00.000-08:00

Well - I got a call from the office this morning - telling me to stay home for a few hours. So I thought I would take the time to update the blog a little bit.

Last night - we were supposed to get about 1 cm of snow (just under 1/2") - however:

I got up this morning - and there is at least another 6" on the ground - and it's still coming down.
In Sarnia (where I work - about 15 miles to the north) - they tell me that it's closer to a foot of snow on the ground. I think I'm gonna become a weatherman - I mean really - where else can you have a job where you are wrong most of the time - and you don't get fired.

Just as an aside here - that birdfeeder post is 8 feet high. This morning I was standing on the snow drift (yes - standing ON the snow drift) - and I was eye level with the top of the post - I'm only 5'4" tall. Will we ever see the grass again?

They are forecasting that the temperature is going to rise to about 45 degrees farenheit on Saturday - and rain. Do we believe them? Stay tuned.

Well - I had been wondering about where my remote control kept going:

I think the picture says it all.

It's a Good Thing!

2009-01-20T17:08:00.001-08:00

That I like snow!

INUK is getting a bit tired of shovelling this white stuff.

We were supposed to get about 4" on Saturday night. We got somthing more like 10" - then another 3-4" last night and this morning.

Like I said - it's a good thing that I like snow. It's the dreadful cold temperatures that I don't like.

Johnny doesn't like them either - he wouldn't even lift his head for the picture - no way - if I hide under here - it might all go away.

The birds are happy though. I filled all the feeders for them last night. The dolly cart tipped up is actually protecting a ground feeder that keeps filling up with snow. So far this winter, we
have blue jays, cardinals, piliated and downy woodpeckers, juncos , sparrows, turtle doves and
goldfinches to name a few, along with deer, possums, raccoons and squirrels all frequenting the feeders.

On another note - we have been working on my studio/garage this past few weeks. It's starting to come together nicely. My husband and I worked through this terrible cold snap to get the
old garage door taken down - and the doors and windows on the front put up.

It's starting to come together nicely. The door and windows are recycled from a friend's house when he did renovations. I also have some more windows and another door from him - they will go into the back wall so that I can look out at the pond while I'm working. The glass in the door and windows is all bevelled - it's from a 1920's Arts and crafts house - gorgeous stuff.

It's much warmer in there now (notice the kitty door in the corner for the stray cats). I scored a wood pellet stove online last week - along with 30 bags of wood pellets - so we have been working to get the area finished that the stove will go into (the stray cats will love that).

When it's done in the spring - there will be an area for my pottery studio - as well as an area for washing and cleaning fleeces.

I'm going to be out of town for the next few weekends at pottery workshops - but will get back to it as soon as I get the chance.

Oh - and stay tuned for my new pottery blog. After many requests - I hope to have it up and running sometime in the next few weeks. Until then......... think warm!!!

Moving On

2009-01-04T19:40:00.000-08:00

I find that when I am sad, the best medicine is to keep busy to help keep my mind off of my sadness. So this past week, I have been very busy.

We buried Alice last week in the rain. As the day wore on, the rain steadily grew to a downpour accompanied by high winds.
By the next day - all of our snow was gone. There was flooding everywhere.

In the early afternoon - as the winds howled outside, there was a knock at the door. When I opened it, a young couple greeted me with an unusual request. They were to be married in a few days, and the site for their wedding pictures was flooded. They requested permission to have pictures taken in our woods, and in the field alongside our property because it was so beautiful.
Ah - young love - how could we resist?
And so, On Saturday afternoon, they came out and had their pictures taken.
I was trying to stay out of the way, and took these pictures from the kitchen - the first is of the bride - with her photographer, and the second - is of her groom approaching. They lucked out - the sun was shining and there was very little wind - unlike the previous day when the wind was really driving and cold.

I've asked them if they would send me a picture of the two of them taken in the woods.
I think they had fun - the wedding party spent most of their time in their cars in my driveway - trying to keep warm. I also made a large pot of hot apple cider for them to warm up after pictures were done - and had a plate of cookies as well. They were all so very cordial and thankful - and who says young people have no manners?

We have a few new additions around here too.

I had a friend come by this weekend for a visit - and she brought me a little gift. Actually - it was an exchange.

This is Gustav (the grey fella on the left).
He is a splash silkie rooster.
Isn't he just the cutest little guy?
I am smitten with him.

My friend Erin, brought Gustav to me - and I gave her a lovely buff brahma rooster in exchange.

She also picked up some golden phoenix chickens for me (2 hens and a rooster) and brought them down with her. The rooster will get a very magnificent tail when he matures. The hens are kind of dowdy looking.

This last few months, I have spent working on my flock of chickens - trading, selling and buying
little feathered friends. I have had chickens for about 18 years. I find that they are as a rule -
hilarious pets. Most of the time - they plainly - make me laugh. This next few months should see some great new additions to my chicken flock. Part of the fun is in finding the breeds and colours that you are looking for. I'll keep you posted.

And finally -my beautiful little girl has left me again to go back to University in Newfoundland.

Here she is at the airport - we are separated by glass as she is in the passenger lounge and I'm outside the window crying.
Tara has been home since the 19th enjoying some well deserved time with her family and friends. We are so proud of her - and we are going to miss her so much. Depending on some upcoming news - she may not make it home again until next Christmas.

Cherrington Alice 1997 - 2008

2008-12-27T09:24:00.001-08:00

Rest in Peace my little Ali-baa-baa.

Sadly, after a brave battle, Alice passed away on December 26th, 2008.

I write this as a tribute to the wonderful ewe and mother that she was - and to help make me feel better. I always find writing to be very therapeutic - but, as I write this, I can't stop crying.

Alice (or Ali-baa-baa as I nicknamed her), was a most gentle and loving ewe.
She loved to eat, she loved attention. She was a wonderful mother to her lambs -and had a very friendly personality. She was never skittish, and thus her lambs were very friendly. She was totally trusting.

Ali was not the most correct shetland I've ever had. She had a jelly belly because she loved to eat - however - her fleece was the most amazing - white, single coated, crimpy and soft fleece I have ever experienced. We never sheared more than 3 pounds from her - but what we got was a treasure. She never complained during shearing, and willingly submitted in exchange for food.
A couple of times, Alice spent the evening in the back pasture alone - under the pear tree, because she was too busy eating pears to join the rest of the flock.
In the autumn - she knew where the good stuff was - and always led the flock out to the pear tree for wind fall pears.

Alice had a most unusual and Deep Baa - she could have sang baritone for the opera. She had the ability to let out a deep baa - and hold that note for a long, long time. At first, when we got her, she drove me crazy with her baa - then, after a while - I found it soothing, reassuring. I knew that everything was good in the pasture or the barn when I'd walk in and hear her. Someone once asked me to sell her to them, and I declined - based mostly on the fact that I would miss her baa in the mornings - what am I going to do now?

I bred Alice 2 years ago, as a final breeding before I retired her. I noticed that she was having a hard time keeping the weight on, and last winter moved her over to my special needs group so that she could get a bit of extra grain and mash every day, and she rebounded.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that there wasn't a baa when I went out to the barn.
I had been busy getting ready for Christmas - and away tending to several pottery sales. I hadn't been spending the time with my sheep that I should have.

We pulled her from the flock to the special needs stall, but she really wasn't all that interested in her food. She was content to sit under the heat lamp and look around - loving the attention - chewing her cud.

Although we treated her aggressively, in the end, we knew that it was best that we spend as much quality time together as possible. I spent a great deal of time just talking to her and petting her and scratching her ears - which she loved.

We aren't sure, but do suspect that she may have had pneumonia, although she
didn't show real signs of respiratory distress until late Christmas night. Yesterday morning, I knew - and I hugged her one last time. When I returned to check on her a few hours later, she had slipped away.

Silly - but we buried her with a pear to nourish her during her journey. Many people will tell you that animals have no souls - I beg to differ.

Alice isn't the first sheep I've lost - and of course - she won't be the last. But we will remember her fondly as one of the best sheep we ever had

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T19:05:00.000-08:00

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas - and a happy and blessed New Year.

Sorry - there will be no pictures with this post - but I will have more pictures with my next post.

As 2008 comes to an end (and many of us will be happy to see it go), we all hope for a
wonderful, happy and healthy 2009. May it bring us all better days.

I seem to be playing catch up an awful lot these days. It seems that Christmas crept up on
us without warning.

So, here's what has been happening around here:

This past week, we have had 3 snow storms - and 18" of new snow on the ground. That's 18" of snow on top of the already 12" of snow on the ground. Then, on Christmas Eve day, we had rain - pouring rain. Now - we have lots of ice. We still have lots of snow - but under it all is Ice. This week is forecast to warm up a bit - but we're supposed to get another 2" of rain on Saturday - at least it may melt some more of this snow.

Luckily, my daughter was able to get a flight in from Newfoundland last Saturday (hundreds of flights were cancelled due to a storm the previous day, but hers managed to get through) - we changed her flight at the last minute - otherwise she would still be in Halifax. It was so wonderful to see her again - since she's been away at university in Newfoundland since September. It appears that for the next few years, we may only get to see her at Christmas, as she will be doing her officer training with the Armed Forces in New Brunswick during her summer break (more on that when we get confirmation).

On the sheep front - my poor sheep are all barn bound - and a little bit stir crazy. We have had horrible cold weather, snow storms, wind storms, rain, freezing rain, you name it. They have all been locked in with very little time outside. I am able to get them outside on a bit of a rotational basis when we have the odd nice day, but that hasn't been very often.

Unfortunately, one of my favourite ewes "Alice" is down - and it doesn't look good. She
is 11 years old, and since breeding her last year, I've had a hard time keeping weight on her. I noticed that other day that she was looking really skinny, and when I pulled her, she's not well at all. I suspect pneumonia - and am drenching, giving shots and treating her agressively, although I don't hold out much hope, as she really is refusing to eat. My vet will be back out on Monday to re-assess the situation. At that time, I will have him also look at my oldest ewe Mary, who is now 13 years old and is having great difficulty getting around. Mary has the most wonderful and soft fleece - even at 13 years of age. She is very arthritic, and this past year has been rough on her. I've noticed with this last cold snap that she is having a really hard time getting up and moving around.

As far as family goes - luckily, we are all healthy. I currently have a nasty cold, and feel quite blah - but other than that, all is well. We feel blessed that our daughter made it home from Newfoundland for the Christmas break. Our wonderful son, who has just turned 16 has been a wonderful help here on the farm. Both him, and my husband have both been wonderful in helping with the barn chores in the evenings while I have been so busy with work, pottery sales, and getting ready for Christmas.

That's all for now - hopefully, I won't get so busy again that I can't post for 6 more weeks.

Overdue Thanks

2008-11-20T19:02:00.001-08:00

While we're waiting for the next snowfall (8" predicted for the next few days), I thought I should send some overdue thanks to a wonderful friend.

A few weeks ago, I opened the mail and found this little gift:

My wonderful friend Kim
made this little purse out of a silk cap. If you read her blog, she explains how she made them.
I e-mailed her and told her how much I liked them. I forgot all about the e-mail until a few weeks ago when the purse showed up in the mail. THANK YOU KIM - you are a wonderful friend - and very talented too.

I've also been busy getting ready for a few more pottery sales coming up in the next few weeks.

The other day when we had all the snow - I spent a few hours making mini bird house ornaments for the sale. These are about 2" high. I'll fire them in the kiln this weekend, so have to get them dried before Saturday. I have to also make some fridge magnets and spice balls - then fire it all up - and glaze them for next weekend. I can see now that I'll be spending lots of late nights in the studio this next week.

After all this is done - I'd really like to clean my house and get ready for Christmas - I haven't even started shopping yet.

So much to do - so little time.

We are NOT Amused!

2008-11-18T19:58:00.000-08:00

OK - here's the update on yesterday's snow.

It stopped snowing around 3 pm in the afternoon - the final amount - 18". Thank goodness for the wind shift - it took the snow streamer off to the east of us.

That's my car under all that snow. It took us 4 hours to shovel out the driveway - and to shovel paths out to the barn.

All right - the really UN-funny part of this whole thing. They (the weather experts) are calling
for another 4" to 8" of snow for us on Thursday, and then another 4" on Friday - but - first we're going to have some Rain! Yippee - I can hardly wait (note the sarcasm).

I REALLY, REALLY hope they are wrong!

If I get home before dark - I will try to take some more pictures and post them.

Still Snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-18T09:37:00.000-08:00

This is just an update..

It's Noon - we are supposed to get at least another 6" of snow today.

I just took this picture a few minutes ago in my backyard - this is in INCHES! This has fallen since 5 am this morning - 16".

It is snowing harder than ever. You can see the birdfeeder on the right hand side - there's at least a foot of snow on the roof. Most of it slid off because the roof is plexiglas.
The plows are not out, so I guess I get the day off of work. Ah - to live in the Great White North.

By the way - this is a localized snow squall - it is about 20 miles wide x about 40 miles long.
Everywhere else - the sun is shining - and they aren't getting ANY snow at all.

The good thing about this - it's fluffy - so it will probably compact down to about 10" in the next few days. And the ground isn't frozen yet - so it will probably melt within the week - famous last words.

Oh - and my sheep - they're all safe and sound inside the barn today. However - my ducks are out in that pond somewhere - refusing to come inside.

I'll try to post some pictures later - after the snow stops.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like.....Winter!

2008-11-18T05:27:00.001-08:00

This is what I woke up to this morning:

6" already on the ground - and another 6" forecast for today.

I'm going back to bed!

It's That Time of Year Again

2008-10-31T16:37:00.001-07:00

Ram Sales Time.

We are going to start a slow dispersal of our flock in anticipation of moving to the East Coast of Canada in the next few years.

The rams are the first to go, as we no longer plan on breeding. So - these 3 lovely boys are available for sale - or trade for something other than a ram.

I took these pictures in the spring right after shearing - so if anyone wants to see better pictures, just let me know - I can go out and take some more pictures tomorrow.

First up - this stunning boy - is Woolly Pedro "the clown" - I call him that - because he looks like a clown. He has a very nice personality - and is definitely the boss ram here. He's actually a
black/iset, yuglet, flecket , socket - but those of us shetland aficianados affectionately call these markings HST (head, socks, tails) - the term was coined by Nancy Krohn of Bluff Country Shetlands. Pedro is 3 years old - has a nice, crimpy, dense , single coated fleece. His horns are perfectly balanced and wide set. He also has a sweet personality. We used Pedro last year for breeding - and got lots of great spots - and some emskets.

After that, we have Ewenique Spencer. He is 1 year old, a mioget, flecket - I think. Spencer also has a crimpy, single coated fleece. His horns are wide set - but one is curling slightly inward. I don't know if that is because he has been butting heads with a much larger ram since he was small - or is a genetic trait. Spencer is still quite small - and we have never used him for breeding - but he should throw some nice spotty lambs.

This last little guy is Kalwa Taure Bernard. He was born June 2008 - so is still very small.
His fleece appears right now to be open and wavy. He is a black krunet. I really have to get a picture of him outside - not behind bars. So far - his horns look to be clearing nicely. I do think he is going to stay black.

I also have some ewes for sale - I will try to get around to posting them in the next few days.

I also have about 20 fleeces for sale - I haven't even had a chance to skirt them this year - it's been such a busy year, so I will sell them quite reasonably.

Remember - the border going into the USA is still NOT open - for sheep that is :-)

Playing Catch Up

2008-10-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

Seems like I'm always playing catch-up these days. Barn chores, pottery, housework (especially housework), blogs - everything.

So really, I apologize to everyone who checks in regularly, but doesn't find anything new.

Two weeks ago, (Canadian Thanksgiving Holiday), we decided to take a few days and go up to Tobermory, Ontario for the weekend.

The picture at the top is of the ferry leaving port, heading over to Manatoulin Island. I snapped this picture while sitting in the dining room of our hotel having breakfast.

This next picture - although unusual - is of the rock at the lighthouse at Tobermory. I call it the drum rock. If you look closely you will see thousands of holes worn in the rock - probably from thousands - if not millions of years of the water rushing in and out around these rocks. Now - when the water comes in - it rushes through all these holes - and it sounds like drums - all different pitches of drums - some high - some low - long rumbles. It's quite fascinating - and soothing to listen to.

So my husband and son spent a couple of days at Cyprus Provincial Park, which is just a few miles outside of town. On the first day - they were rather rushed. See the picture of the guy walking on top of the rocks - well - that's what they did the first day. As a matter of fact they were so rushed - that they missed the cave underneath the rocks. It's a fabulous underground Grotto where you can go swimming. So - that evening while I was going through some travel brochures - I came across some pictures of the caves - the next day they went back - and these are some of the pictures my DH took of their day. Here's the cave from the outside:

This one is of my son sitting inside the entrance to the cave (there are 2 entrances):

This on is taken from inside - looking out at thewater through the other entrance to the cave/grotto:

The next picture is of my son standing on top of a cliff in the same area of the grotto:

And here he is again standing "under" the overhang of the cliff. He's such a good sport about
getting his picture taken (for a 16 year old boy):

It was an enjoyable weekend - oh - for the record - I did not join them on the walk. I have a bad knee and hip from a childhood disease - and can't handle the rough terrain - so - I have to be content to look at the pictures - and amuse myself by going shopping. Next year when we go - I anticipate being able to kayak to the area - and then enjoying a short walk to the grotto.

And so - when we got home on Monday - we were greeted with this:

If you look closesly - you will see a gray kitten cuddled in. This is one of our stray cats that has been hanging around - we knew she was pregnant - but she left for a week to have her kittens.
She came home with the two kittens a few days after we returned. Sadly - the little black and white kitten died - we don't know why. I am looking for a good home for this little girl and her kitten. She is just a kitten herself. Do I need to get back on my spay and neuter soapbox?
I am currently looking for a good home for 4 young cats (that includes this one).

Well - I'd better get going - it's going to be a crazy week around here. More later.

What do You do with your Wool?

2008-10-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

A lot of people ask me that question. Sometimes I spin it -
but mostly I sell it to spinners, weavers and hobbyists.

I'd like you to meet Blizzard and William:

(OK - so this is Blizzard and Williams fleeces) - it's really Nina
wearing Blizzard and William. Nina is shy - so she cut off her head.

Anyway - This awesome grey dress was spun from the fleeces of two
of my sheep. Then Nina proceeded to weave and
make this dress from the wool. Nina is a member
of a re-enactment group - thus the medieval design.
I was super impressed to see what she had done with the fleeces.

Surprising - to look at the fleeces unwashed: Blizzard looks
quite dark grey - William looks quite light grey. However, Nina
said that when she washed and spun them - they were both,
very close to one another in colour.

Nina is also very much into dying with natural plant fibers - it's
quite fascinating to read about it. If you follow the link to her
blog - you will see some of her work.

I will soon be sending Nina some more fleeces - little does she
know - I'm going to ask her to weave me a shawl.

Coming into the Light

2008-10-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

That kind of means out of the dungeon - which is my basement. I've been so busy lately - I have
several pottery sales coming up this next month or two - and I have been busy throwing and getting ready to fire and glaze. Every night after work - down to the dungeon till about 11 pm.
I've finally started to fire some of my stuff this last week - so - there is light at the end of the tunnel (I just hope it's not a train coming)!

Well - do you remember a little while ago - I talked about a new lamb I had bought, and if I should call her Gwen - or Wren. Well - since her mom's name is Greta - we decided to stay with the G's - and we called her Gwendolyn - Gwenny or Gwen for short. Here she is - she is just a darling wisp of a little lamb.
However - those of you who liked the name Wren - don't despair. I'd like you to meet "Wren",
She's a lovely little fawn katmoget who came to visit, and decided to stay. She's still very shy - I may have to break out the cookies, but we're working on her.

And, just for a little something different:

This is my new Inuksuk - I got him for my birthday. Don't be fooled - he's almost 5' tall - and weighs somewhere around 300 pounds - I know - I dismantled him, moved him, and set him back up again at my house. I'm going to move him again - I just haven't decided where, but I feel he's just a bit too exposed where he stands - and I'm worried that the winter winds may topple him.

Well - back to the dungeon.

Here a Chick, There a Chick!

2008-09-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

I must say - I do enjoy my chickens. Most of the time - they make me laugh. Sometimes - the roosters really tick me off when they won't leave the hens alone. But lately - these two little devils have made me late for work every day. (It's a good thing I'm pretty much self employed).

Aren't they just the cutest little chicks. They are bantam cochins. I've been raising them since they were a few days old. They are incredibly friendly little hens. Every morning when I go out to the barn , they come running to see me, then have to be picked up and put on top of the old dog house (where I keep feed and water). Then they want to be petted and carried around and talked to. I spend entirely too much time playing with these chicks - pretty soon - they'll grow up to look like these two hens here.
These two white bantam cochins aren't quite as friendly. But I really like the cochin - they have a friendly personality - and are just the cutest darn things.

This beautiful black cochin is probably one of my favourite hens. She is so incredibly friendly. She also loves to be carried around - and in the evenings when I go out to do barn chores - she comes running across the barnyard to meet me - then walks along with me into the barn. I love the way her feathers are so black - with the green sheen to them. My friend Cate has another of the black cochins, and she's going to give her to me - hopefully next week when we get together.

This is a buff cochin. She's a bit on the nervous side. Her tail feathers are finally starting to grow back - but she is a nice little hen. She's terribly funny in the evenings when she's trying to get up on the roost - a bit bottom heavy - and she has to fly over from the water trough to the edge of the ram stall. Looks a bit like a lead balloon floatin g through the air.This last picture is of a Brahma hen. I picked these up from my friend Jesse a while back. Brahma's are a new breed to me. She's a bit stretched out in this picture (afraid of the camera), but they are very much like the cochins in many ways - they have the feathers on the feet, and the little fat bodies - they have lovely feathers around the neck - and the tails are like a little puffball of feathers - very cute. The two Brahmas that I have were obviously not handled at all, as they are incredibly wild - this picture was taken on zoom - and she was still pretty nervous.

When I got back from Newfoundland last week - I was greeted by 21 new chicks in the barn - hatched out of 4 different nests. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to get some good pictures of them. We've put them in a separate stall so that the roosters don't bother them. So that will put me somewhere up around the 40 mark for chickens - lots of eggs around here. In a few weeks, Cate and I are going to a sale up near her place - it's called the fur and feathers sale, and it's held 2X a year. People come from all over to buy and sell chickens, ducks, peacocks, dogs, cats, sheep, llamas - you name it. I'm hoping to find a couple of full size cochin hens for my flock - and possibly a few more welsh harlequin ducks.

I'll also have to get a picture of Wren for everyone - and maybe the kittens as well - they will be leaving next week for their new foster homes.

It's Been a Long Journey

2008-09-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

But now I'm Back. I've just spent the last few weeks travelling to Newfoundland and back.
My Darling daughter is going to Memorial University in St. John's Newfoundland. So - being her first year - I drove her all the way out, settled her into her apartment - and then drove all the way home. Total kilometers clocked: 8200 (for my American friends: approx. 4900 miles). That doesn't include the ferry crossing each way.

While we were there - we stayed in beautiful Petty Harbour. It's a beautiful little fishing village right on the edge of St. John's - with the houses all perched on the rocks.

Here's a picture I took at the entrance of the harbour coming around the bend .

We stayed with some very close family friends for a few days. We were socked in by fog for a
few day, so I couldn't get out on the boat to see the puffins and whales. This next picture is of the view from the front living room at my friends house. This is just outside the entrance to the harbour - and lots of times whales come in chasing the caplins, and frequently - seals and sea otters come up and bask on the rocks. Reluctantly, after 3 days, I had to leave.
However - I did make a bit of use of my time there. We did go out house hunting, and did find a little farm up near Cape Spear (which by the way is the most easterly point in Canada).
Negotiations are in progress on the farm. More Later.

AWWWWWW

2008-08-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

Here's our first pictures of Kitty and her kittens. They were born on Sunday evening - in the garage - during a thunderstorm. Awwww - aren't they so cute.
Kitty is a little stray cat that has been hanging around for a few months. She was terrified of people at first - and now - she just loves human contact. She had the babies behind some sheets of plywood that were leaning up against a wall - on top of an old towel that had fallen on the floor. Tonight I went out and moved the kittens to a box with a nice clean towel. Kitty was totally relaxed as I picked each one up and examined it - then put it into the box. Then I picked her up and set her in with them. She didn't even mind the flash on the camera when I took the picture. I will be contacting ARF to see about adopting them out - and then, we will be having kitty spayed and keeping her for our little garage kitty. And at this time - I would like to get on my soapbox about the spay and neuter of cats and dogs - PLEASE spay and neuter. It stops the explosion of unwanted animals out there. So many are put down each year at shelters - needlessly - and many, many more are killed on the roads - or starve to death from neglect.
Please spay and neuter - sure it costs money - but it is the most humane way to deal with animals. And don't ever believe that every female cat should have a litter of kittens to be a better cat - I have 7 female cats here - not one of them has ever had a kitten - and they are all the most loving and gentle cats ever. Ok - off my soapbox now.

Well - a few posts ago - I promised to put up pictures of our new lambs. I know - you thought I meant little lambs. No, no.

On August 1st - I went to Ottawa with my DH and took some sheep to a friend who is just starting out with Shetlands. I took my daughter back to work in Ottawa - she was home on leave for the week. Then we stopped at another friends farm who is downsizing her flock, and we came home with 3 shetlands - 2 of them lambs, 1 was a mature ewe that I had sold her last year. This first little cutie is Galya. She's an all white little butterball. I need a few more white sheep in my flock as I am having so many calls for white fleeces that I can't fill all the orders. So hopefully she turns out nice. Her fleece is quite dense - she does come from Whistlestop Lerwick genetics, so I am quite hopeful. She is still quite shy, but we're working on that.

This next little darling is still unnamed. I'm thinking of calling her Wren, or Gwen. I haven't decided yet. She too is shy. She is out of Greta - the ewe that I brought back - Greta is a mioget - so she also carries mioget genetics. I love her big moorit spot - and her pink nose.
I have a soft spot for pink noses.
That's her mom Greta standing behind her in the picture - she is a cute thing. If you talk to her - she'll bleet back at you. She's got a very soft fleece which I have high hopes for. Her mom has a long, wavy - but very soft fleece. This little one has quite a bit of crimp in hers - but also very soft.

What do you think - Wren - or Gwen?

More Fowl

2008-08-12T18:14:00.000-07:00

This post is about the male fowl on this farm. As I stated in my previous post, I have been raising chickens for about 18 years or so. We started out with a few chickens at our first country property, just for eggs. We have had as many as 40 chickens, and been down to as few as 2 when a raccoon got into the coop once. At times, I have debated getting rid of all of the chickens - as I did earlier this year. However, right now, I find myself enjoying them once again. By the way, I am allergic to feathers - only mildly though - as long as I don't stick my face in their feathers - or sleep with them - I am fine.

As far as roosters go - I try not to have too many at any one time. However - sometimes it's hard not to have several at one time. I find that if you have an average of 6 hens per rooster, then there is less fighting amongst the roosters, and the hens don't suffer as much from overly-eager roosters. In other words - give them all their own little harem - and they're happy.

So here goes: This first fella is our largest Rooster on the farm. He's a dorking - which is an older breed. If you notice - he is standing beside a couple of regular size Hens. "Cuckoo" stands about 18" tall. He also has 4 toes, which is a distinguishing character of this breed. I am currently looking for some dorking hens for him - as he is doing a number on the feathers of my much smaller hens.
This next rooster is an Americauna - which is a cross of the Aurucana. He is my last Americauna rooster that I have left. At one time, I had 14 of them. I'm also down to only one Americauna hen, so I am looking for some more of them as well. Although he is smaller than the Dorking Rooster, he isn't much smaller. He stands around 14-16" tall.
This little fella is a bantam rooster. Like the Sebrights - he is small - and feisty. He's probably about 6 years old now - and doesn't mix it up like he used to with the other roosters. I do like the bantam roosters as they are very proud little birds.
This little buff Silkie rooster has just left us. No, he didn't die. I sold him to a young fella just outside of London, Ontario who also likes the silkies. Note , he has a lovely walnut comb. He was a feisty young fella. One night as I was gathering eggs - he came up behind me and just nailed my hand so hard I thought he had broken it. I wasn't really sorry to see him leave after that incident.
This old guy is my white silkie rooster. This poor guy is notorious for getting tangled up. If there's a piece of string anywhere in the barnyard - he will find it. He has deformed spurs, so string does get wrapped around his feet easily. He's getting old, and is relatively gentle. One thing I find is that the silky roosters don't engage the other roosters at all - but the others will pick on them.
This little fella is my favourite rooster. He is a buff cochin bantam. I just got him from the young fella near London. I hadn't planned on getting any roosters from him - but this fella just caught my eye. He's very docile and loves to be petted and held. I like him so much that I am going to pick up his brother this weekend.
And last - but not least - and not a chicken - is Norman. He is a Toulouse Gander. In my last post, I mentioned that Norman is getting attached to Alice. Norman came to us 4 years ago after his parents were killed by dogs. His current owner noticed our nice pond and asked if we would like him. I just happened to be looking for a guard goose and said yes. Norman is my pet, and will follow me everywhere - when he's not following Alice. He will walk by your side and chat to you as you wander through the woods or the pasture. He does on occasion get angry and mix it up with one of the sheep. But for the most part - he gets along well with everyone.

That is it for the male fowl - oops - I'm wrong. We do have some drakes on the property as well - but they didn't want to come up for pictures tonight, so I will have to talk about them another time.

Just in General

2008-08-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

The weather has cooled considerably, and life is much calmer here. It's been busy. We've been delivering and picking up sheep, sorting sheep for shipping, and getting ready for the cross Canada trek to Newfoundland in a couple of weeks.

Yesterday, I went to Fergus (actually, I went to IKEA in Hamilton), and met a friend, Shauna Gray. She has sold her farm, and is moving, so she gave me a couple of chickens that she had left.

These little guys are Silver Sebright Bantams. They are very tiny 6 - 8" tall (there is also a hen in behind one of the roosters). They are feisty little devils. I came out to the barn this morning to find all of my cochins sitting in the aisle outside the chicken stall - with the 4 Sebrights guarding the entrance. The cochins are very docile gentle chickens - so we'll see how this works out.

I have been raising chickens for the last 18 years (even though I am allergic to feathers). I will post some pictures of my other types of birds soon.

While meandering through the barnyard today with my camera - I just couldn't resist taking pictures of a few of my favourite fleeces on the hoof.
This first fleece is Jillian (click on the picture to make it larger). She is a medium gray .
Lovely single coated with lots and lots of crimp. I'm looking forward to spinning up her fleece next year.
This one is Gabriella, a beautiful soft white, crimpy single coated yearling ewe. Both of these girls are super friendly - and really love to be cuddled. That's what I love about Shetland sheep.
They are cuddly.

OK now, and for the completely bizarre (and where was my camera)??? I was walking out to the barn tonight to put the ewes into their stall (yes, my sheep are spoiled) - but we are dealing with a black bear on the property right now. I did a double take as I walked out - Norman - our Gander, was very gently grooming Alice, my elderly white ewe over by the fence. I watched in amazement as he picked at her wool. I called her over, as I thought he might be intimidating her, and she calmly walked away - obviously she was enjoying this. I went back out a few minutes later to see him at it again. I must try to get pictures. Very bizarre.

By the way - Norman has in the past also been very attached to one of our female llamas, and our rottweiler dog. I'm sure he's deranged.

Stay tuned for updates on the new lambs.

And Funnel Clouds

2008-07-22T15:34:00.001-07:00

I was walking up from the barn tonight after work - when what should appear:

So - I quickly dashed into the house and grabbed my camera and snapped an entire series of
pictures as we watched the funnel cloud forming - and ultimately fizzling. This was just over the
town that is to the south of us - about 1/2 kilometer away. It was ultimately scary - and very transfixing at the same time. I was standing just outside my back door about 20 feet from the house taking these pictures. There were actually 3 funnel clouds all in a row - this one was the most pronounced.

Oh - and don't think I was overly calm. I was yelling at my son between shots to get the cats downstairs into their cages in the event it came down. I am a storm watcher - they fascinate - and terrify me at the same time.

And now - the main portion of the storm is approaching - I guess I'd better sign off before our house gets struck by lightning - again.

Here There Be Dragons

2008-07-17T18:57:00.001-07:00

As Promised - I am posting some of my most recent raku pots. Click on the picture to make it larger if you'd like to see more detail. The first picture is of one of my dragon pots. Now - with raku - it is a low fire glazing technique which gives lovely lustres.
The fun thing about raku - is that you never really know what is going to happen. See the green dragon pot below.

The funny thing about the green dragon - and the red dragon - is that they are supposed to both be the same colour. They are the same glaze - Turquoise. Everything depends on the heat tempurature, the location in the kiln - and the reduction process. I was surprised to say the least - however - very pleased.

This pot here with the dragonfly was an oopsy. The picture was very hard to take - the flash
keeps making the dragonfly too bright. However - if you were to get a good look - the dragonfly is a very lusterous red glaze. The rest of the pot is supposed to be a black and white spot called naked raku. When you quench the pot - the glaze is supposed to crack and fall off - it didn't.
However - if I could show you the pot - because the glaze stayed on - and only flaked off in small areas - it has the look of being very old and fragile. Sometimes oopsies are OK.

These last two pots I picked up in early June while on a pottery run. They are by a small pottery shop in Miller Lake , Ontario - about 4 hours from here - called, what else - Miller Lake Pottery. Funny thing - the guy who makes these pots used to live just down the road from me - and we do know his family. It's a small world.
Rob Nantais (the potter) - makes these pots loosely based on the Lord of the Rings. They are a big seller. The jug on the left is a wizard (Gandalf) - the jar on the right isn't really based on any of the characters - but he does all of these faces in pots, mugs, jars - they are quite captivating.

That's it for pottery tonight.

It's still crazy busy here - we have sold several sheep - and deliveries will start in the next few weeks. I also have to start preparing fleeces for the mill, and I have several pottery commissions to get done as well. Let's couple that with a trip to Newfoundland in August - and it's going to be one busy summer.

And I said I was going to take it easy this year - Yeah Right!

Lambing is Done

2008-07-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

Lambing is all done here at Kalwa Taure Shetlands this year. Now, you'll remember that I said, due to surgery, I wasn't going to breed any sheep this year - and I didn't. However, I am babysitting some sheep for my friend Shauna - and well - 4 of them were pregnant.

This first little darling - is our first ever bottle baby. In 13 years of raising shetlands, we have never had a bottle baby before. It's very heartbreaking to watch a baby that's been rejected. So, you'll forgive me for not posting this past week - but I have been busy. This is Windwater
Bertram. He's a beautiful black spotted gulmoget out of Willow Garden Latifah, and Verilaf Silver Streak. Bertram has a twin brother, Bernard.

This is a picture of Bertram and Bernard together. Bernard is all black and has a large white krunet. He tries very hard to spend time with Bertram - against his mothers wishes. At least the other lambs haven't rejected him. For the first 2 days he screamed bloody murder. Then I figured, he may just want to be cuddled. Sure enough - after 30 seconds wrapped in the blanket and rocked - he calmed right down. Now, he follows me around like any lamb would follow their mom - and he's as quiet as
a mouse. What a sweetie. He will be going to a good home near Ottawa some time in the very
near future.

And last but not least - Windwater Flower was born on June 25th. I came home to find this little
lovely laying with her mom in the barn - no issues with her. She's very delicate - all black with a little white krunet. We also lost one lamb - a beautiful mioget ewe lamb. Unfortunately, she was born during the afternoon when I was at work, and her mom started to clean her from the wrong end. She suffocated with the sack over her face. By the time I got home it was too late to save the lamb even though she was still warm - I tried everything - cleared all the passages, tickled her nose with straw, swung her around - nothing worked. It was a heartbreak to take this lamb from her mom.

So - along with Rose, we had 5 lambs - 3 ewes, 2 rams - 4 survived. I have to say that I do enjoy watching the lamb races, so I'm glad Shauna did give me an opportunity to have some lambs here this year.

And finally.................................................

Last week I arrived home with a very unusual flock of sheep :-)

Scroll down to see my newest members

I went to a raku bash (no- not a raccoon bash) - and made up these little guys.

Raku is a type of firing that is done in pottery - in Japanese is means "Just Right".
These are so fun to make - as with raku - you never know just what you will get - it all depends on the intensity of the heat, where they sit in the kiln - and what you do during reduction.
I actually have several more that I have to photograph yet. But keep in mind - these are all about 2 inches long x about 1 1/2 inches high. The hardest thing - is not losing them in reduction.

I did some more raku last Saturday on my dragon pots. I will try to get pictures and post them in the next few days.

First Lamb(s) this Year

2008-06-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

We had our first (and so far only) lamb here at Kalwa Taure on June 3rd. A cool, rainy day, I decided that it was OK to let the mioget group outside. I came home to this little lovely:

Windwater Lipstick Rose (hey - I didn't name her). We will call her Rose. All the lambs born here this year will carry the Windwater name, because they were bred by Shauna Grey at her farm - they are only visiting with us. So, I'm kind of like a Gramma this year - I get the enjoyment of the lambs, and get to spoil them - but I don't have to worry about selling them in the fall. Kind of a sweet deal if you ask me.

She's a little darling - as all first lambs are. She's very tame. Oh - and she's also a black, smirslet, gulmoget. Her dam is Windwater Rolo (hey - I didn't name her either), who is a mioget gulmoget.

Here she is with her mom "Rolo".

Now - Rolo is just staying for a visit till next year, along with Windwater Caramel. Their owner, Shauna Grey, (Windwater Shetlands), is selling her farm, and I have offered to keep these two for her this year, and a few of the lambs until she can get the other farm up and running.

Shauna is going to take Rose back to her new farm with her as well (this will probably be difficult - because I'm getting attached).

Needless to say - we brought the lamb inside and warmed her up. For the first time, we had a retained placenta. It was a bit disconcerting, but with no intervention from us, she did drop the placenta on Saturday with no other assistance.

I tend to take a very hands "off" approach to lambing. Shetlands are very hardy, primitive sheep, and usually can handle everything themselves. For the most part - I dip the navels in iodine, and watch to make sure they are sucking well. If feeding appears to be a problem - I will supplement some colostrum. Selenium shots are also given - and that's about it. We also tend to keep them in the barn - and separated for a few days, just so mom and lamb can bond. In this case, we are going through a heat wave right now (34 degrees celsius, 93 degrees farenheit), it's very muggy - and the sun is scorching, so I am keeping Rose and Rolo in the barn where I do have a fan going to circulate the air. Besides that - we're having a lot of thunderstorms right now (my poor border collie is going crazy) - and little lambs in thunder and lightning and torrential rains is not a lot of fun.

Yesterday - I went on a pottery run - I'll post about that tomorrow. Enjoy your day - hope it's not as hot as here.

All Sheared for Another Year

2008-06-04T16:46:00.000-07:00

Well, we're all done shearing for another year - whew!

It wasn't the best shearing we have ever done.
We used a new shearer - who is more used to doing
commercial flocks than our shetlands, although he has done shetlands before with little problem.

I think most of the problems were that the weather was cool - and those fleeces were sticky. We had lots of little nicks and splits, even though he tried to be extra careful.

So - ignore the bluespray on the sheep in these pictures.

In the top picture - is Ewenique Spencer - he's a yearling ram.
I'm pretty positive that he's a mioget flecket judging
by his colour. He's still quite small.
I love the look of just sheared shetland rams. They look like
goats with long johns on.

The second picture is my group of miogets.
There are actually 6 sheep here - but only 5 are
mioget. The ewe on the front left is a moorit
flecket. These miogets all belong to my friend Shauna Grey of Windwater Shetlands. I am babysitting them for her because she is selling her farm, and needs somewhere to board her
sheep until she gets set up again next year. Two of the ewes will be going back to Shauna's new place, and 3 will stay with me. 4 of the ewes are pregnant - so we will be having lambs at
Kalwa Taure this year - they will just all have the name Windwater in front of them.

This last picture is just of some of my ewes
standing around in the middle pasture - waiting to come inside for the night.

I'm sure everyone is so happy to have all of those
long hot fleeces off now. I see lots of happy scratching going on at the fence posts.

Soon - an update on pottery sheep - and lambs. Until then - stay posted.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

2008-05-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Last night, I spent the evening in
Chatham (a town about 45 minutes from my home),
setting up for a pottery show and sale that will run
for 10 days.

Tonight, I spent the evening putting my
tiny flock on strings - and making them
into mobiles (see the fuzzy pictures at the right).
I've got 4 mini-mobiles finished now, and will
take them with me to the event that I'm going
to on Saturday..

On Sunday morning, we will be shearing
the flock - and lambs should also
start arriving within the next few days.

Nothing like being super busy all the time.

On Sunday afternoon, my darling daughter is leaving
for Ottawa for her summer posting with
the Army Reserves. She will be spending the entire summer
as a ceremonial guard at Parliament Hill - In August she
will come home for 1 day - and then head out to
Newfoundland for University.

Of course - I still have a commission of wine goblets for a local
winery to keep me busy through June - and I have to start washing
fleeces in preparation for processing, oh yes, and we are in the process of revovating one of our garages into pottery/fleece studio for me................ and somewhere in there - I'd really like to clean
my house.

Oh - I'm getting tired just thinking about it all.

Anyway - just a heads up - I am going to start making pottery sheep again next week - so - if you are interested - now is the time to contact me and put your name on the waiting list. There will be a limited number available this year.

Getting Closer to Being Done

2008-05-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

It's been so incredibly busy here - but I am getting closer to being done. That's a good feeling.
I have 2 pottery sales coming up this weekend. On Sunday we are shearing sheep and my Daughter Brittany is leaving for her new posting in Ottawa. After that - it will hopefully slow down a bit - and I can concentrate on getting a few things done around here. Here are some pictures of
my pottery. First of all - sheep.

These are the larger sheep - they are about 4" long. There were more - but we had a little accident - involving my clumsy husband - and a few of them are now shall we say - pushing up daisies in the shard pile. They are getting there - but I still want to experiment with some more
glazes to get better colours.

Now this second picture is of the miniature flock.
They are so cute. They are only about 1 1/2" long each. We unfortunately lost several of them in the clumsy accident as well. And I dropped a section of fence and broke it while taking it out of the kiln (so I can't totally blame him).
I especially like the little ram out front - and the
border collie. I plan to add string and turn these guys into little mobiles - I'll try to post a picture before they go to the sale on Saturday.

And last - but not involving sheep.
The pictures don't do these mugs justice.
These mugs are black clay - with a bas relief of dragonflies. Then I have lustered over the dragonflies with either Mother of Pearl - or
real gold. The mother of pearl (on the left) - actually picks up the background colour - and makes the dragonfly look pewter in colour.
The gold is also very stunning. I envision doing a few more of these - I've had a great reaction from everyone that has seen them. I actually plan on adding some sheep mugs to my collection - so keep an eye out - as soon as I get the first batch out and glazed - I'll be posting them for all to see - and ahem - blatantly for sale.

More later.

Time To Catch Up

2008-05-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been positively hectic around here - some good, and some bad.

I thought I should take a few moments to update my blog a few days ago. Then the batteries in my camera died - so I had to wait until today to get new batteries and get started.

I've been super busy with pottery shows and sales. I've just finished one show locally and have 2 more shows in the next few weeks. I've turned down 4 shows this summer, as I will be too busy, but then I have 3 more shows in the fall. Add onto that - several commission pieces to do, and a local store has just put in an order for goblets for the summer wine season. I'm going to be very busy indeed this summer.

Oh - and everyone who is waiting for sheep - they are almost all ready. Pictures should be posted in the next few weeks.

But first - some fun. Look at all of these gorgeous Shetland rovings - all dyed by Jared - the 10 year old son of my friend in Kingston - Kim.

Jared has a way with the dyes that's for sure.
I'm taking some of these with me to a shearing party in a couple of weeks - they should go over well. Jared has no fear of mixing colours - and in many cases here - he has over-dyed grey and moorit rovings to achieve some of these fabulous colours. If you want to see more of his work - just click on "Cornerstone Fibres" under my favourite blogs.

On To Other News.

Isn't this young lady just beautiful! This is my baby girl!
She will be 19 years old this week - I can't believe it - 19 years old!
It seems like only yesterday she was born.

This picture was taken April 26th as she was going to the
military dress ball for her regiment.
Unfortunately - no flowers were
in bloom at the time - but she still
looks stunning anyway.

She had a wonderful evening out. Since she missed her
prom last year (she was away at a training camp for the weekend blowing things up), I thought that she should have a chance to go all out just like the prom. Her boyfriend Chris wore a tux - and they were a very stunning couple.

But now for the really exciting news..............................

In 2 weeks time - my little girl leaves for Ottawa - the
capitol of Canada. She has been posted to Parliament Hill from June 1st to August 30th as a Parliamentary Guard. Yes - she's going to wear a bearskin hat and wool coat all summer - and basically - entertain the tourists. (Just like in this picture below).

And she's going to get paid handsomely to
do this!

Now - don't get me wrong - Brittany is in the
Canadian Reserves. The only way you can get
this job is to be in the Canadian Military - either full time or reserves. She's quite excited, because (oh - life is difficult) - when she's not
entertaining the tourists, she will be going to
the Governor Generals Garden Party, and
has to take a course in (get this) - white water
rafting and kayaking. Then - if she's a really good little soldier - they are going to fly her to
Norway to participate in some sort of function over there (I told you life was rough).

I'll keep you posted as the summer progresses.

After she returns from Ottawa - she has 1 day, and only 1 day at home - and then it's off to
Newfoundland where she will be attending Memorial University for the next 5 years (one of these years will be spent in England) studying English Literature in preparation to hopefully one day become a high school english/history teacher - or something like that.

So - it will be a busy summer coming up for us. I'm sure - without a doubt that we will be going to Ottawa to visit my little girl - and other relatives, and then, it's off for a cross country journey to get her to school.

What else is going on? More later.

Contrary to Popular Belief............

2008-04-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

I did not fall off the face of the earth. And thank you Nancy and Michelle for caring enough to ask if everything was OK. I have just been too busy to blog. Work has been a madhouse. Hours have been crazy. I shouldn't complain, because I am self employed, and I have worked very hard to get to the point we are at. I've been coming home in the evenings, and I look at the computer, and think, I should update - I'm too tired, I'll do it tomorrow. Enough moaning and complaining.

I have been working on my pottery every spare chance I get as well, because I have a big sale coming up in two weeks. Below, I have shown pictures of the first 3 sheep I've made. The first one here is a little one that I've made into an HST.

I do have to reglaze these 3 sheep, as I encountered an unexpected problem with my clear overglaze - and it's flaking off.

I also have an order of new underglaze colours coming this week. The range of browns is not
the greatest, I'm not happy with the brown on the face of the ram - it's too muddy. I've placed an order with a company in Western Canada for several new colours of glaze, unfortunately, shipping can take forever sometimes. I have 5 more of these sheep in the bisque kiln right now. I also have 20 of the tiny sheep in the kiln too. My next bisque load should be done in a few days. I'll glaze them after the pottery sale, then they'll be posted on my blog.

On to other business. There will be lambs born at Kalwa Taure this spring after all.

A friend and fellow shepherdess, Shauna Gray, has sold her farm. Until she gets another farm up and running, I am sheepsitting a few of her mioget ewes. They have all been exposed to the ram - so - in Mid-May, we'll see what happens. I will try to post a few pictures of these girls this weekend. Until then...

My LITTLE Flock Grows

2008-03-05T18:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I thought it was time to do a little bit of blogging. I've been away for the past couple of weekends, helping my elderly aunt and uncle after my uncle had surgery complications.

The night before I left, I had made up 15 sheep bodies in clay. Unfortunately, they got too dry while I was away - and I had to trash the entire lot.

So - I thought that I would start my mini flock. As you can see - my mini flock is growing.

The thread spool on the right should give you an indication of the approximate size of these
little guys. Once the flock gets up to 30 - I'm going to break them into little groups - and turn them into mobiles - or windchimes - I'm not too sure just yet. By the way - that is a dog in the front of the flock (I should have turned him around).

This weekend - I will throw the bodies for some more of the medium size sheep - then I can get back to work on them. In the next few weeks - I should have about 20 of them ready to fire.
Glazing will start in the next few weeks.

Johhny Watch: Seems Everyone Loves Johnny.

While I was away visiting my aunt and uncle - my daughter snapped this picture of Johnny and Greyling snuggled up together on the chair. Note the arms around his neck. Either she really loves him - or she's trying to strangle him. He's going to be a big boy. I frequently think he's part snowshoe rabbit - he's got the biggest feet. We'll have to wait and see.

More Pottery Sheep

2008-02-10T11:11:00.001-08:00

I have been working away at my pottery sheep this past week. As you can see - the flock is slowly growing. If you click on the image - it will enlarge it.

I now have 3 small sheep done - and 2 larger sheep. The larger sheep, will be available with - or without your flock name added. As you can see in the picture below, I can shear the wool on the side of the sheep - and add a name. This one is for my good friend Cate (but if you know her, don't tell her - it's a surprise).

The first 3 small sheep have now been bisque fired, and are ready to be glazed. I will have to make a trip to Waterloo, Ontario next weekend to pick up some glazes. I will probably paint them up next week, and then get everything ready for a glaze firing. This is a time consuming process, as we never fire the kiln until it is full - with the cost of energy these days - just can't afford it.

I have 2 more of the larger sheep to complete for pre-existing orders this next week. I also have 6 small sheep to complete for other local orders.

This next few weeks, I will work on making several more of the small sheep - and then I will start taking orders for specific colours. I will have to work out the details for these orders.
I may just make several sheep - and then post them and sell as is, or take specific orders, and
you have to wait while it's being completed. Many little details to work out.

Also - Nancy Krohn (Bluff Country Shetlands), has graciously offered to post a link on her page, to my sales page - thank you Nancy.

Well - I'd better get back to it.

An Update

2008-02-02T14:11:00.001-08:00

Yes - I know I've been remiss, and haven't posted for three weeks. I've been busy - and tired.
I'm back to work full time, and finding that I have been tired in the evenings. Most evenings I come home and sleep for a few hours to regain my strength.

As well, most of you don't know that I am also a potter. I have 2 major sales coming up in the end of April, so, I have been spending a lot of time at the wheel, coupled with additional time in the carving stages.

I've been asked by several people, to do something along the sheep line in pottery.

Now - I'm not a hand builder (that is - I throw my pottery on the wheel, as apposed to rolling and molding it by hand). Last week - I decided to give this a try, and came up with this little fella here:
In perspective - he's about 3" high and 4" long. I was rather pleased with this effort.
Next week, he will be bisque fired, then glazed, and then fired again.
I will post pictures when he is complete in a few weeks.

The down side of pottery - you can't make just one. Word is out, and several of the local shepherds have asked for a sheep - so, I'd better get to work and make some more.

Before I go - a quick Johnny update.

Seems you have to watch where you lay your head around here. Johnny likes to hide under any pillow he can find (I was getting ready to change the bed here) - when you walk by - the one paw comes out to get you! When he's not eating or sleeping - he's tearing around the house like a banshee Oh wait - that's what cats are all about. John is growing - and he fits in quite well here with the other cats. Even though he only has 3 legs - he keeps up quite well.

Until next time.

Canadian Eh?

2008-01-07T17:12:00.000-08:00

Well - the good old Canadian Winter is upon us. Here in Southern Ontario - there's no telling what you might get.. In my last post - the day after Christmas - we had no snow - just a lingering fog and frost. By January 2nd - we looked like this: We had 14 " of snow fall from January 1st - 2nd.

It was such a winter wonderland - very beautiful (except the driveway that I had to get my Dad
to come over and clean out with the snow blower).

And - in keeping with the wonderful Canadian Winters in Southern Ontario - by today - everything out there looks like this: Yep - all gone!

By next week - we'll probably be snowed in again. Thankfully - we aren't getting the snow that they are on the west coast - and the flooding. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

On to other subjects. I've been a little bit remiss this past week or so - trying to keep up with all the work I have to catch up on.

Michelle made this lovely shawl for my Mother in Law in exchange for some yarn that I spun for her. Note the lovely clasp that she made from beads. She is very talented - and I think the shawl is just beautiful. I'm sure the MIL will love it - we'll be seeing her this weekend.

I'm also headed back to work this week - at least part-time. We'll see how that goes. I'd much
rather stay home - alas - I've yet to win the lottery.

Lingering Fog

2007-12-26T12:14:00.001-08:00

Today, we have a fog lingering over the area. It's supposed to be clearing - but I don't see any signs of it. With the temperature hovering just under freezing, the fog is creating a beautiful frost on everything. If only the sun would come out - the effect would be so dazzling.
The picture above is of the trees around the pond, and all the frost clinging to the branches.

I so badly would like to take a walk in my woods with the camera, and take pictures of the fog and frost on the trees. However, I am not supposed to walk long distances yet, so , I have to be
content with a picture from the backyard.

The picture below is of the edge of the pond, looking out into the field. The fog is still fairly thick,
and it's now almost 4 pm. Most of our snow (we had almost 12" of the white stuff), was washed away in the rain on December 23rd. The winds were horrendous - I'll have to check for downed trees in the woods next time I'm out. Tomorrow, they are calling for freezing drizzle. Yippee. It's a good thing I don't have to go anywhere for the next little while.

I'm looking forward to going out to the barn again in the next few days. Right now, we've been rotating the sheep on who gets to go outside, and who doesn't. Rams one day - ewes the next.
Since the pond is frozen, I have to lock the back pasture to keep the young sheep off of it, so I no longer have a buffer area between the boys and girls - this way keeps my fences from being torn up by randy rams.

I also did a bit of spinning today - I've been wanting to spin since the day after my surgery. It
went quite well. Mostly, I reclined in my big chair - and did a really long draw on the yarn.
It was very relaxing, and as a matter of fact, I found that I was able to tension the wool, and make a very even single that way. I may just adopt this as my new way of spinning. Our new kitten, Johnnie was very interested. He stuck his paw (remember, he's missing a front leg) into the flyer, and actually stopped the wheel once when I wasn't paying total attention to him. After that, he decided he would watch the wheel from a distance, and actually layed down beside me to watch with one eye open. He's learning.

Merry Christmas to All

2007-12-24T12:46:00.001-08:00

We do have a tree - for Now! I posted a picture earlier of our sad tree - but, well, I was feeling
well enough yesterday to get the decorations out - and put a few up. I did pay for my over exuberance later. We'll see how long this tree lasts. If you notice - it is all decorated with
feather birds (click on image to enlarge). I have 5 cats in the house. This morning, we came out to find the tree tipped over, and some of the birds missing. We've played this game now for about 4 years. Pippin loves to take the birdies off the tree and bat them around. Greyling, who is the biggest culprit - jumps into the tree, takes it down, and strips it. Long John hasn't noticed yet.

And so I say " Merry Christmas to all, may your Holidays be filled with Cheer" and "May you
have the blessings of family and friends to take you through 2008" - Tammy and Family.

Ow! Ow! Ow!

2007-12-22T18:13:00.000-08:00

Oh well - not really - but seemed like a good start to the blog. Just a quick update to let everyone know that I am home. I have survived. And really - it isn't as bad as everyone seems to think it should be. I feel great - except for the hot flashes. Seems I lost everything in the operation - uterus and both ovaries and tubes - thus throwing me into instant menopause. The good news is that my Doctor doesn't think any of it was cancerous. The bad news - apparently they now have to look at my gallbladder (sigh - seems like I can never win).

So - with all of that said - I feel great!!!!!! Really. And that should give you an idea of exactly how sick I was before this operation. I was in a great deal of pain and felt terrible all the time. The ovarian cyst was uncomfortable (yes - I could feel it). My doctors have remarked on my incredible tolerance for pain (since 12 hours after the operation, I have only had extra-strength Tylenol every 12 hours) - and I didn't even feel the staples coming out. I tire easily - but today actually made a trip into town to get groceries (don't worry - my kids came with me and did all the lifting) - but I drove.

Oh- and today I made it out to the barn with my dad to see all my little critters. We were all very happy to see one another - actually they were happier to see me because it was 9 am - and they were hungry.

Now don't let me kid you - yes there is some discomfort - but really I feel great. Not quite up to dancing yet - but close. Well - maybe a slow dance.

So - tomorrow, I will do a minor tree trimming and put up a few decorations. I'll also finish wrapping gifts and get ready for Christmas. if I don't get back to post again before Christmas - I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas - surrounded by the love of your family and friends.

I'll Be Away For A While

2007-12-10T16:34:00.000-08:00

Well, the new baby is all settled in. He's as wild as can be. Long John (Johnnie) is a total darling, very loving, and although he only has 3 legs - he's a going concern. Nothing seems to slow him down. And I have to say, I haven't laughed so much in the the last 3 months, as I have in the last
3 days.

I will be away from my computer for a week or so. I am going into the hospital on Thursday for
the dreaded operation - a hysterectomy. I am also having one ovary removed. Seems I have a rather large and very fast growing growth on my one ovary. I had a laproscopy done in August and tissue samples taken at the time. It wasn't cancerous. However - it has almost doubled in size since August, so the feeling is - take it out before it becomes cancerous. I also have a mass growing on the outside of the uterus which is creating pressure on the bladder. Might as well take it out at the same time. No sense doing another surgery later. So - with that being said - I go in on Thursday morning. They expect me to be in the hospital for 5 - 7 days - and then recouperating for another 4 - 5 weeks. We'll see - I am self employed - and have sheep to look after. This next few weeks will show me how well I've taught my DH and Kids to look after things.

As for Christmas - well - this surgery was planned this way. My husband and I are involved in a family business, and so, time off is hard to come by. The plan is to combine holiday time with sick time to minimize the actual time away from work. In all honesty - I'm sure that I will be working from home within 2 -3 weeks. At least part time anyway.

I'll leave you with these pictures: And have no doubts - I love my cats very much.

Nancy - don't feel bad - this is my tree. We'll see whether it gets decorated or not.

This is my version on a "Shadow Box" - I believe she would like it if I had bigger feet.

Long John says "I will NOT wear the Santa Suit!"

Pippin Says: "I will!"

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Meet Our New Baby

2007-12-07T17:52:00.002-08:00

Here is the newest member of our family. I'd like to introduce everyone to Long John Silver.
I've just adopted him from a wonderful organization called ARF(Animal Rescue Fund ). I have to thank them so much for letting me adopt Long John.

They are a wonderful organization that rescues rural and reservation animals that are in distress.
Please take a minute to view their website at the link above - and I encourage anyone that can, to help out if possible.

If you look at Long John's picture closely - you will notice - that he is missing one of his front legs.

Long John was shot - probably by some kids with a high powered pellet gun. He was brought into a local vetrinary clinic by a caring soul - but unfortunately - the damage to his leg was very severe - and it had to be amputated. I should point out that Long John is also - just a kitten. He is only 7 months old - and weighs about 5 pounds. He's been through a lot for a little boy - and yet - when I went to get him tonight - he jumped up into my arms and proceeded to purr and kiss and shower me with love. I feel blessed to have been chosen as Long John's adoptive family. I think he will make a wonderful addition to our family.

Pippin and Greyling Say:

"We'll be fine with it Mom, - as long as he stays over there!"

I am Still Here

2007-11-28T19:27:00.001-08:00

No - I haven't flown the coop. Although the cold weather has set in - and Florida is sounding really good right now - I'm still here. It's just been terribly busy. Along with all the chores that have to be done to get ready for winter, I decided to
do a little spinning project for another Shetland
owner who had a terrible misfortune on holiday, and
lost her spinning bag, and shawl that she was working
on. I just happened to have some dark blue rovings
that were very close to the colour she was looking for,
so, I offered to spin them up for her, and in exchange, she is going to knit me a shawl for my Mother in
Law for Christmas.
I finally got it done on Sunday night, and mailed it out
Monday. I hope it is good enough for her to knit with. In the top picture, I spun 2 plies of wool with
a single gold strand of thread. In the second picture, I spun 2 plies of wool with a third ply of
multi coloured soy silk. The colourway is called Mermaid (by Louet). I was very pleased with this one - except my Victoria was a real pain during the plying - and kept seizing up, and causing the yarn to overtwist when it wouldn't draw it onto the bobbin. I'm going to have to do another test yarn to see if I can figure out what was going on.

Of course - right about the middle of last week, I
decided that I should come down with the Mother of
all Colds. I felt like I was going to die. Normally,
colds don't bother me all that much - one day, and
back on my feet. Not this time. Here we are a week later, and I still feel like I want to die. Part of that may be that I took "Buckley's" a few nights
ago, and it completely burned my throat raw.
As I was writhing on the floor in pain - it occurred to
me that I may possibly be allergic to something in the Buckley's. Never again. It's 3 days later, and my throat is still raw.

Other than all of this fun, I am trying to get ready for Christmas, and major surgery on
December 13th. As well - I am a potter, so I am trying to get ready for a show at one of our
local venues in a few weeks. Can you say - not quite enough hours in the day! I have a trip to
Kitchener planned for this Saturday to pick up some new pottery equipment - and then that's it for this year - I have to stay home and get some stuff done around here. I can see now that there are a lot of things that I planned for the barn that just aren't going to be happening this winter.
For my next post - I'm hoping to have a nice surprise (for me anyway). I am very excited.
Stay tuned.

Road Trip!

2007-11-07T14:41:00.001-08:00

This past Saturday, my friend Barb and I took off on a day trip (we do this every so often). First stop was at the Hamilton Potters Sale. There are some very good artist's in this guild. I myself am a potter, and am seriously intimidated by most of the work I see at their show. In the first picture - you can see - a Raku Canada Goose by
Marlen Moggach. I had hoped to get one of her loons - but they were all sold out. This is a beautiful piece of art. For those of you that are unaware of Raku, it is a hit and miss way of firing the glazes, and due to the temperature extremes, a lot of pieces are usually lost.
The piece on the right is actually a small wall hanging. It is also raku, and is a background plaque, and on the front (in black) is all chinese words embossed on a piece of clay. In the raku
process - the black portion is left unglazed, and when it goes through the firing, the unglazed portions actually turn black from the smoke. You get some very interesting effects.

After leaving Hamilton, we travelled on to Glen Williams near Toronto, to view the "Women in Wood" show. It was also a pottery show, and was based on several Toronto area potters who built a wood fired kiln for glazing. Some very interesting pieces were on display.

From there, we stopped to visit my friend Cate, just outside Fergus, and we brought her a rooster. Bera (the rooster) had spent 7 hours in the back of the car - didn't make a peep. He's a very well travelled rooster. I'm going to miss him.

On to the next stop. We went to the Guelph and area Spinners Guild Sale. I didn't take any pictures. Lots of lovely spun, woven and knitted items.

Almost to the end of our journey - and we were getting tired by now. We headed into Elora, to the "Blown Away" Glass gallery. Where all the items are - you guessed it - blown glass, and
dichroic glass.

As you can see from the picture, I picked up 2
blown glass oil lamps. They are awesome.
My secret fetish is blown glass and millefiori glass. I have such a collection of artisan glass. I am going to give one to my Mom for Christmas, and keep one for myself as a Christmas gift. I just haven't decided which one yet, although I'm leaning towards the green one for me.

And then last, but not least - to the mill. Where I picked up
all of my rovings. Lots and lots of yummy, soft rovings.
I was so pleased. There were close to 26 pounds of Rovings. Wellington Fibres, just outside of Elora does a
wonderful job on my fleeces. They are so incredibly
soft, I can't wait to start spinning - but wait - I have to dye some of these first - Oh Jared!!!!!!! Are you busy!
Jared is a great young fella from the Kingston area - and he
has a way with the dyepot. Many of these rovings will be
making their way down to him to be dyed, and then coming
back to me for spinning. I can't wait. There are also several
spinners in the local area who are waiting to get their hands
on these rovings. I think I may be busy for a while.

BORDER COLLIE FOR SALE

2007-10-23T15:25:00.001-07:00

I have decided to sell our Border Collie. She is a lovely, lively active girl, and I just can't keep up the pace right now.
Keen-Eye Wisp needs more attention than I have time. I now travel a fair amount with my
job, and am away a lot on the weekends. I decided in all fairness, that she should be with someone who is willing to spend more time with her, or someone who has other dogs or border collies.
Wisp is 4 years old. She is not spayed, but her shots and heartworm medications are up to date.
She is started on the sheep. We have worked a great deal on driving the sheep this summer, and not much on gathering, so her gathering abilities are rusty. She was trained on whistles, so sometimes gets her verbal commands mixed up - but she tries hard. Once in a while, my ducks distract her, and she decides she would rather herd them than the sheep - but she still tries very hard. I would love to see her go to a home with another Border Collie to give her more confidence around the sheep - but she would also make a great house dog - flyball dog, or agility dog. She is crate trained very well.
Please - serious inquiries only. Please contact me either through my blog on the comments section - or by e-mail: tammyward@xcelco.on.ca

A Weekend Getaway

2007-10-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

As promised in yesterday's blog, here are a couple of pictures of our weekend getaway on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend (October 7-8).

First of all, Kevin and I decided to go on an
Artist's studio tour called "Around the Sound"
The "Sound" means Owen Sound, and it is a beautiful little town that is set at the bottom of a sound up in the Bruce Peninsula here in Ontario.

We packed a picnic lunch - and made the 3 hour drive to Owen Sound. After touring several studios, we decided to make the 1 1/2 hour drive further up the Bruce Peninsula to Tobermory.

For those of you that don't know the area - the Bruce Peninsula is part of the Niagara Escarpment, carved out by Glaciers eons ago.

It is a huge tourist - summer spot. So we were
very lucky to get a room. We got the last room at a little inn called the Grandview. The top picture shows the view off of our balcony - out over "Little Tub Harbour". You can see the ferry that travels between Tobermory and Manatoulin Island in the background - and various smaller islands in the back. I should mention - the weather at home was 92 degrees that day - but up in Tobermory - it was only 80 degrees - so much nicer.

We proceeded down to Cragies for fish and chips. Craggies is a little "shack" at the waters edge,
with awesome fish and chips. It's almost impossible to get a seat during dinner - but we were later enough that we got in.

The next day, we journeyed over to "Big Tub Harbour" - which adjoins "Little Tub Harbour", and went to the lighthouse. The lighthouse is not a large structure - but is as pretty as any that you will ever see. Set out on the rocks - it makes for a beautiful picture. We spend about an hour wandering around , and then headed back home, stopping at several pottery studios along the way (did I mention that I am a potter)? We arrived home around 6 pm - to still hot, hot weather. Oh, how I would love to live up in the Bruce - but the winters are brutal.

Back to Reality

2007-10-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough month. I've found the loss of my little baby boy Mew to be very devastating in my life. The tears continue to flow on a regular basis - I do want to thank everyone who offered such kind words - both on my blog and privately.

I know that I have to get back into the swing of things.

I have been busy this month, and that's part of the reason I haven't been blogging. Work for me, at this time of year is usually quite busy. I've signed up with the college and rejoined my local
potters group, and I'm going to join one of the local spinning guilds as weel. I have also been away every weekend to a different function, an arts tour, a weekend getaway to Tobermory - and more arts tours, and today, a trip to Carole Dailley's Farm, to see her sheep. I met up with my good friends Cate and Al DeSantis, who also have Shetland sheep. We had a wonderful lunch at their farm - then went out to visit with her sheep. I brought home 2 beautiful "Dorking" roosters from Cate's today - more about them in a few days. Then we took the lovely rolling hill drive over to Carole's place about 20 - 30 minutes away.

Carole held an "invitation only" open house today, to showcase the new farm and property. It is a beautiful 92 acres of rolling land near Brantford, Ontario. She had rovings, yarn, and blankets
all made from her lovely shetland fleeces.

Carole's new farm name is "Chassagne" Farm. The picture above, is of the ewes and small lambs in the main field. Sorry it's a bit distant - my close-up function on my camera made the pictures fuzzy for some reason today.
Off to the left is the ram pasture. Behind us are the beautiful brand new barns. I bought some
rovings (like I need more wool), and a great little tote bag. It was horribly cold - with a biting wind, but Carole had hot apple cider, coffee and cookies galore.

And - here come the rams - checking out the action. Some gorgeous looking fellas in this group. Again - sorry it's a bit fuzzy and distant - maybe because my hands were so numb. Stupid me - I forgot my mittens.

Around 4 pm, we said goodbye to Carole - and wished her well - hoping to someday go back and buy one of her beautiful lambs. Then, off on the long drive home - about 2 1/2 hours with the traffic. I am pooped.

Tomorrow I will try to post again - maybe some pictures of my trip last weekend to Tobermory.

I think I'd better go lie down now -I kind of feel like a walking zombie - I've been on the road since 8 am this morning.

Rest In Peace my Sweet Baby Boy

2007-09-10T16:38:00.000-07:00

Well - tonight is a very sad night in our house.
I came home from work tonight, to find that
my little Mew had passed away not long before.

Mew - who I fondly called "My Baby Boy" had
cardio myopathy - or a very irregular heartbeat.
He had suffered a saddle thrombosis on January
27th of this year - and was paralyzed in the hind end. Mew had an incredible will to live, and made a miraculous recovery and was able to walk and run almost like a normal cat again.
He was originally a barn cat - but after the thrombosis - he became a house cat. He never missed a beat - and was the cuddliest cat you would ever be likely to meet. This past few weeks, I knew he was not doing very well, so I spent as much time with him as possible.
With Cardio-myopathy - they are ticking time bombs. Thankfully this morning, I took some extra time to cuddle with him before going off to work. Even though it was not unexpected, his passing was still very traumatic. There will be a major empty spot in our lives without him.
Since he loved being with me so much, I've decided to have him cremated, and his urn will have a space on the livingroom shelf. I couldn't bear the thought of burying him outside - he wanted to be in the house with me so badly.

And so we say - Adieu my Little Baby Boy - for We will meet again. And my love for you shall
never diminish. Mew - 1999 to September 10, 2007.

Where to Begin?

2007-08-20T17:34:00.001-07:00

It's been such a fun weekend - I don't know where to begin.
OK - let's start this way. In my previous post - I mentioned
one of our lambs - Lyra. She's a funny colour. It never
occurred to me to see if she might be Emsket.
Thanks Nancy! I think she's Emsket. What do you think. This picture was taken inside the barn - it's a pretty dismal day out here - but she looks grey to me. It's been several years since we've had an emsket lamb here. I keep forgetting that they start out black, then go kind
of brown - and then grey. It could be shaela as well - hard to tell at this point. But I would say
-definitely modified.

On to other things. Such exciting things (not that Lyra isn't exciting) - but - after several
weeks of waiting (and some dummy with a forktruck running over the first pallet) - my new
baby has finally arrived.

Yes - here she is - my new Louet Victoria. It's been a long and stressful trip from the factory - fraught with many pitfalls along the way - she even got lost - but she is finally here.
I can't wait to start spinning tonight - right after I get off this computer.

It's such a tiny and light little wheel, I'm looking forward to spending many hours in the future getting to know her.
This is so exciting (if only you could see me giggling like a silly little girl). I've been in spinning withdrawal all summer because I sold my other wheel in early July. I can now get out some of these great new fibers that I got this weekend at MFF (Michigan Fiber Fest) - and play!!!!!!

Which brings me to the rest of our fun weekend.

On Saturday, my Dear Husband (Kevin) - such a darling, took the day off of work, and drove me 3 1/2 hours to MFF in Allegan, Michigan. It was our first time there, so, we got lost on the way a few times (you really can't get there from here!), but we finally made it. The weather was beautiful, my camera batteries died, so I couldn't take any pictures - but it was great. Kevin very patiently wandered around to all the booths and exhibits with me for several hours (all you have to do is feed him every so often), and he even encouraged me to spend to my hearts content. The only time he objected was when I was going to buy a pottery mug - for my collection (I am a potter too by the way) - but, we had a great
time.

Here's some of the stuff I bought:

On the left is some alpaca blended with silk roving. On the right are Wensleydale sheep
locks - dyed and natural. These are great for felting.

In this picture, there is a silk cap at the top of the picture, then on the right hand side and at the bottom is a cashmere/silk dyed top. On the left hand side is a dyed soy silk top.

I just love these wild colour combinations, especially the pink and lime green at the bottom.

This picture here just has some of the extra goodies that I bought.
I couldn't resist the T-shirt that says
"GOT SHEEP", and there's a needle felting
book, a "Clover" needle felting mat. There's a pair of fingerless gloves (for my daughter for Christmas), a Diz, a sheep pin, and some lovely
sheep cards.

Lots of yummy little treasures.

And this last picture shows the rest of the fiber
samples that I purchased.
At the top of the picture is some Black Diamond
Bamboo fiber (it's very soft).

On the right is some Yak fiber in natural brown, also very soft.

At the bottom is some Soy Silk in a creamy white. This is surprisingly soft, and I can't wait to try it out.

And on the left, the light brown is baby camel
roving.

I can't wait to get playing with all of these great fibers, and play a bit more with my drum carder.

While I've been waiting for my wheel to arrive, I've been very busy out in the garage all summer - washing and picking fleeces (that's a blog for later in the week). So now, I have lots of great fiber, ready to be processed into rovings and batts.

Well - now it's time to fire up the wheel. I'll be back!

These 2 are Sold

2007-08-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

As Promised, I am going to give pictures of 2 more of my lambs tonight. This first one is Kalwa Taure Chiara, she is out of Cherrington Molly, a lovely crimpy fawn, and the sire is Woolly Pedro, a black HST. Chi-Chi, as we fondly call her, is a lovely moorit, smirslet. She is a total darling, sort of. Lately, she has developed a very annoying habit of trying to jump into your arms when you get close. But she is a sweetie anyway, and we really do enjoy her.

This little girl, who is somewhat of a chameleon,
is Kalwa Taure Lyra, she is out of Willow Garden Greta Garbo, a mioget, and Woolly Pedro, again a black HST, however, he also carries mioget.
When Lyra was born, she was very black,
she is now going to moorit, and I'm somewhat
interested to see if she will turn mioget.
I find her facial markings to be very striking.
Lyra was somewhat skittish as a lamb, but now
she is one of the first to come running over
when you enter the barn.

Speaking of the barn, tonight I got to go out to the barn for the first time since my surgery.
It was so funny when everyone came running around the corner, and all the lambs skidded to a stop when they saw me standing in the aisle: "Do I go see Mom - or head for the Hay?"
Sorry to say - the hay won out - although a few of them came over afterwards to say hello.
It was more of my older girls that wanted to stop and chat and have a chin scratch. My daughter was quick to shoo everyone away, more worried that they would mob me and cause
a stumble. I must say, I am getting around pretty good - and the pain is subsiding - it's the upcoming operation that has me worried.

Tomorrow - I am off to Michigan Fiber Fest - just for the day. It promises to be a very long day, so I won't be posting. But I will try to post all of the goodies that I get when I get my bearings on Sunday. Stay tuned.

I'm Bored

2007-08-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

Sigh - I am so bored. I've just had some minor surgery, and, well - I can't go visit my sheep, and I'm waiting for my new spinning wheel, and well - I can't do much of anything except sleep and play on the computer. So, I guess I will re-introduce some of the lambs before they start leaving for their new homes.

Actually, these first two lambs will be staying here
with me.
This first one on the right is Kalwa Taure Gabriella.
She is out of Cherrington Alice and Ewenique
Tristan - both parents are white,
although, Tristan does carry the moorit gene.

Gabriella has one brown hoof and
then end of the same foot is moorit -
so we will watch that to see whether
it fades or not. Right now -
it looks like it's going to stay.

I'll have to get a better look at her fleece when I'm allowed back out in the field. If she's anything like her Dam, then she will have a beautiful, soft and crimpy fleece.

This little lovely here is Kalwa Taure Jillian. She is out
of Kalwa Taure Blizzard and Woolly Pedro.
Jillian was our last lamb born here this year.
She's going to be a grey flecket like her mom. And I'm sure she's going to have her mom's personality too. Blizzard is our most favoured sheep here at Kalwa Taure - she has such a sweet and gentle personality, and I certainly think that Jillian is going to be just like her. She loves the chin rubs and is just the friendliest lamb we have. I am hoping that she maintains more of a medium gray colour, as that is the colour that I sell most of in my wool.

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow I will try to post two more lambs. And on Saturday my DH and I are off to Michigan Fiber Fest for the day - I must say, I am getting anxious, I have been looking forward to this all month.

KOOL AID DYING EXPERIMENT - PART 2

2007-08-04T11:59:00.001-07:00

If you go back to the archives, and look at my blog for May of this year, you will see that I am experimenting with kool-aid dying of fleeces.
Today, I had a chance to pick out the fleece that we dyed in the bag at that time.

This is Abigails fleece. I chose it because she made a real mess of her fleece with hay - so , if
I screwed it up - I wouldn't be upset by the loss of a nice fleece.

Here's how we did it. I laid the raw, shorn, fleece out on the ground - and proceeded to soak it down with hot water.
Then, I poured kool-aid over it in various areas (look at the pictures from May).

Then - I put it in a clear plastic garbage bag - sealed the bag - and left it in the hot sun for about a week. YES - it was NOT pleasant smelling when I opened the bag.
I then proceeded to wash the fleece as normal.

My theory is that the lanolin closest to the sheep's skin does NOT soak up the dye, and any dye in those areas will wash out when the fleece is washed. I was correct - yeah!!! Now - also - the green and blue do not hold very well. Some of it stayed - but most of it washed out. The best colour is the red, which stayed very nicely, and the orange stayed pretty much as well.

Today - I finally opened this fleece - and picked it. By the way - this is a lambs fleece - it was
lovely - the crimp is very nice - and oh boy - is this soft.

I'm very pleased with the process - it was a fun experiment.
This ended up being a 2 pound fleece after all was done - and will be for sale for $25.

Time for an Update

2007-07-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

Well - I've been a bit busy lately - but thought that maybe it was time for a little update.

We are so happy here to finally have a Bluff Country
sheep. Zha Zha Mikaela kind of had to take a bit of a round trip to get here - but here she is. Isn't she just a darling. With the Canada/US border being a real hassle to bring sheep through, I had to do this by a different route. Nancy - she is just a little darling - I'd love to have more of your sheep!!! Micky - as she is being fondly called, has a lovely dense black fleece with a good deal of white hairs mixed in. Kind of reminds you of a dusting of powdered sugar. Micky is very gentle and sweet.
I bought her from Bill Stearman, who is just downsizing his flock a little.

We also brought home this little cutie. She is
Windwater Lilac, and comes from Shauna Gray's farm near Uxbridge, Ontario.
Lilac is a real little sweetie. She's just a little over a year old - and very, very gentle.

Shauna also gave me some of her very own hand made Goat's Milk soap to try - it is "luscious" and absolutely wonderful! She milks her own goats to
make this soap by hand - what a wonderful craftsman. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit at
Shauna's farm.

Oh - and I almost forgot - Shauna also gave me some Angora to spin - I haven't spun with Angora yet - but I'm looking forward to trying this.

Well - that's enough for tonight. I'll update a little bit more in the next few days.

Yummy Rovings!!

2007-07-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post - really, I have, but it's been so darned busy lately.
A couple of weeks ago, I went to Wellington Fibres outside of Elora, Ontario,
http://www.wellingtonfibres.on.ca/
I came back with 12 pounds of lucious, wonderful rovings. I was so pleased with the results.
Here are some samples of the rovings I got back.
I brought in all white rovings, and had them dye
several pounds in the olive, blue and bordeaux shown here. The remaining white, I had mixed with mohair. It is so soft and silky.
If you check out http://cornerstonefibres.blogspot.com/
and scroll down to July 17th - you'll see some of these rovings that have been dyed by Kim's son
Jared. Jared is only 9 years old - but boy - does he have a way with colours!

The next few weeks are going to be very busy - lots of stuff happening, however - I will try to post as much as possible.

I'll have an updated sales list coming up, and pictures of my new hobby - needle felting.
Oh - and I've been taking some pictures of the lambs this last few days - I'll try to get them posted as well - they are growing like weeds!

Ram for Sale or Trade

2007-07-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

This is Pedro. I really don't want to sell him - however - I have to make room for ram lambs coming in - and he's too small for my big boys at the other farm - they would kill him. And - he's too big for my little rams - you know the drill.

Anyway - Pedro is an equisite HST (head, socks, tail) - or for you more traditional types - yuglet, sokket, with a lovely, crimpy black fleece. Conformation is correct in every way - and those horns are awesome - and striped. Just love them.
He is very much a gentleman - but friendly enough for chin scratches.

And his genetics are very diverse - he comes from Valley Road Rusty (who is a mioget - so he carries the modified genetics), and Woolly Nelly - who looks very much like him.

I am willing to part with him for $350 - or an even trade for a solid, non fading moorit EWE lamb - or yearling with single coated crimpy fleece and good conformation.

Please - if you are interested in this fella - contact me - I'd hate to have to send him to market.
He will produce flash in your flock - if you breed him to another yuglet, flecket or sokket - you should get something pretty much like him. Bred to solids or spots - you'll get lots of smirlets and flecket markings.

I'd like to see his genetics continue on. Oh - and one more thing - I am heading up to Uxbridge
in later July - so if you can meet me somewhere around that area - I can at least get him that far. I am also probably heading to the Kingston area in late August - or September, so that is also an option. I also frequently travel up the Bruce Peninsula on weekends as well.
Otherwise - contact me re shipping and we'll see what we can work out.

Today I am Very Sad

2007-07-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

This is my beautiful baby girl. Her name is Brittany.
In May she turned 18.
This morning, at 6 am, I drove her to the bus.

She is gone until July 28th, to Petawawa (a military base about
10 hours from here) for a training course.
Now - don't get me wrong. Brittany is in the reserve forces - and NO she's not going to Afghanistan.
She is my right hand - and I am going to be so lost without her for a whole month.
She manages the farm with military precision - she points - and the sheep march. It's so amazing.
I point and the sheep scatter.
She's been gone for a whole day now, and I miss her so much. Not because I need her help - but because - even though she's a teen-ager - she's also my best friend, and we might bicker occasionally - but we do spend a lot of time laughing and joking around, and shopping.
I miss her. I spent most of the day feeling self pity and lying around. I am such a big baby.
But - she's off to university next year - and I keep telling myself that I have to get used to
her being away - because she probably will be at university on the other side of Canada.
On a brighter note - my son is here to help me out, because my DH, my left hand - also had to go out of town today for 2 weeks for work.

Tomorrow - I am going to post pictures of all the wonderful rovings I picked up on Saturday at
the mill.

Where is My Camera When I Need It?

2007-06-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

Of course - it's in the livingroom - and I'm on the back porch - Argghh!!! Tonight, as we were on the back step - a little fawn came walking out of the wheat field right beside us and slowly walked
up the trail to the woods. However, not slowly eneough that I could get my camera and take a picture. Now - although this was a surprise, I was a bit suspicious. The mother to this baby has
been grazing this field for weeks, and I was starting to think she had a baby nearby. As a bit of history here, the mom was born right beside our house here about 4 years ago. Her mom has a long history with me, and is unfortunately now gone, but I guess it would explain why her daughter would opt to have her babies here as well.

So - no pictures tonight - I will have to try to get a bit of a closer picture of the momma deer tomorrow - and who know's - maybe we will be graced with another glimpse of the fawn.

I'm gonna have to be like those paparazzi - and keep my little camera strapped on in case a good picture comes along.

2007 Sheep Sales List & Spinning Wheel

2007-06-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

Well - I've decided that since I will be laid up for a while, it's time to do a bit of flock
reduction. This has been heartbreaking for me - as these are all wonderful sheep - but I must reduce in size, especially if I want to do some breeding for next year.
So - here goes.

The rules are - if you want someone - contact me - and we can discuss terms.

-25% non refundable cheque will hold the sheep till September 30th.
-Payments can be made in 4 post dated cheques - June 30, July 30, Aug 30 & Sept 30 for sheep being held.
-All sheep must be paid for before they leave the farm - cheques must be certified - or have cleared the bank. (cash is also acceptable).
-All sheep are FOB my farm - however - we might make a delivery to the Kingston area by
August (surgery pending). I will also be going to Fergus area in July - delivery can be arranged
for that area. (please note - I cannot lift - so it is required that you have someone very strong to help with offloading/loading of sheep).
-Quantity discounts will apply - on purchase of 3 or more sheep at one time - deduct $25 per
animal (with the exception of special deals).
-Please don't be afraid to discuss purchasing the entire lot - or making a deal on several sheep.
(Entire lot can be purchased for $2200 - excludes wheel and stud rams).

Here goes - Pictures can be seen on my website for most of the sheep (link in top right corner) - or also on this blog for any that aren't posted. I don't have up to date pictures for everyone.

2007 Lambs: (all of these lambs carry spots and will produce some flash)

Kalwa Taure Tarian: Black Smirslet ram lamb. Sire is Woolly Pedro, Dam is Kalwa Taure Hearts. $250 registered or $100 unregistered. Carries Spots. SOLD

Kalwa Taure Noah: Black Smirslet ram lamb. (Might go gray). Sire is Woolly Pedro, Dam is Kalwa Taure Blizzard. $250 registered or $100 unregistered. SOLD

Kalwa Taure Eric: Black Smirslet flecket ram lamb. Sire is Woolly Pedro, Dam is Kalwa Taure
Olivia (moorit). $250 registered or $100 unregistered. SOLD

Kalwa Taure Peter: Moorit (possibly mioget) smirslet ram lamb. Sire is Woolly Pedro, Dam is
Kalwa Taure Hearts. $250 registered or $100 unregistered. SOLD

Kalwa Taure Lyra: Black Smirslet ewe lamb. Sire is Woolly Pedro, Dam is Willow Garden
Greta Garbo (mioget). $300 (this ewe might be starting to either fade or go mioget - can't tell yet). SOLD

Mature Ewes:
Kalwa Taure Hearts: Born 2003. Solid Black ewe. Sire is Kalwa Taure Liam, Dam is Cherrington Queen Mary. Very nice fleece. Very good mother, relaxed and friendly. $250

Kalwa Taure Olivia: Born 2003. Moorit ewe - carrying spots. Sire is Kalwa Taure Liam, Dam is Cherrington Brandy. Very good protective mother. $250.

Kalwa Taure Elly: Born 2003. Moorit ewe - carrying spots. Sire is Kalwa Taure Liam, Dam is Cherrington Brandy. Never bred. $250.

Thistlecroft Abigail: Born 2006. Grey yearling ewe - possible faded gulmoget. Sire is Cherrington Merlin, Dam is Prairie Amy. Definitely carries spots. $300

Willowgarden Fava Bean: Born 2006. Black Gulmoget. Carries katmoget as well. Sire is
Willowgarden Smokey Robinson, Dam is Shelteringpines Precipitation. $300 SOLD

Wethers: (these are all great fibre pets - wonderful fleeces, castrated)

Kalwa Taure Peanut: Born 2003 - Musket. $75.
Hopeful Wilbur: Born 2005? - grey flecket $75.
Ewenique Tristan: Born 2006 - white $100. SOLD

Rams:

Woolly Pedro: Born 2006 - Black and White HST. Sire is Valley Road Rusty (mioget), dam is Woolly Nelly. Available AFTER October 30/07. Conditions apply for stud rights in 2008.
$500.

These rams are being offered for STUD SERVICES ONLY:

Cherrington Merlin: Born 2001 - Grey (emsket) - bielset - carrying spots and gulmoget.
Sire is Cherrington Heathcliffe, Dam is Cherrington Queen Mary.
$35 per ewe (see conditions).

Cherrington Harry: Born 2001 - Grey (emsket) - Sire is Cherrington Heathcliffe, dam is Cherrington Esther.
$30 per ewe (see conditions).

Conditions for stud service.
All ewes to be serviced are to be delivered to my farm - 1 week prior to exposure. Period of exposure will be for 30 days. Fee is for one month exposure. Ewe is to be picked up by owner after exposure period to ram. Note: if conception does not occur, and free exposure will be offered the following year to the same, or any other ram available at that time.
A limited number of ewes will be exposed to the ram each month for the months of November,
December and January. Please book in advance and submit payment as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Last Item - beautiful Ashford Traveller spinning wheel
with 8 bobbins $400 + shipping if required.
(1 of the bobbins has been chewed by a naughty puppy - but is still usable). I really hate to part with this wheel - however, I have just purchased a Louet Victoria, and I really don't have the room for both wheels here. This is a steal - this wheel retails for $550 new + bobbins at $13 each. SOLD

Whew - that's it - please contact me if you have any questions:
tammy ward@xcelco.on.ca

Meet the Lambs

2007-06-18T19:29:00.001-07:00

Ok - lambing is over at Kalwa Taure Shetlands for 2007. So it's time to meet the lambs. Click on any of the pictures for a larger image....

First up is Gabriella:
Dam is Cherrington Alice, Sire is Ewenique Tristan.
She was our first born this year and of course it shows.
Very tame - the leader of the pack. She's very large compared to the other lambs. But totally friendly and
relaxed around humans. She is white - with one black
spot on her front knee.

Next up is Trinity:
Dam is Willowgarden Bella, Sire is Woolly Pedro.
She is a yuglet flecket. Her fleece looks white, but
has some grey hairs in it. She's still very flighty - which is
funny since her mom is one of my tamest sheep.

This is Kellynn:
A lovely little ewe out of Cherrington Jessie and
Ewenique Tristan. Her fleece is very tightly
crimped. Kellynn was a bit of a surprise - since both of
her parents are white - however, Tristan is carrying
moorit. Right now, she is very dark moorit on the front
end - and black on the hind end. Her muzzle and inside
her ears are cream - will I take a guess that she is going to fade to musket. She seems very delicate and fragile -
probably because she is very tiny.

This little cutie is our last lamb born this year.
Meet: Jillian, out of Kalwa Taure Blizzard and Woolly Pedro.
She's going to be a gray flecket like her mom -
and I really hope she holds her spots like her mom has
because Blizzard is the neatest colours. Jillian is a real
Pet - she loves the full body massage - just like mommy.

This little girl is Lyra:
Out of Willowgarden Greta Garbo and Woolly Pedro.
Now, when she was born - I was pretty sure that she
was black, but last night, I was looking at her nose -
and her muzzle is turning brown. Since Greta is mioget
'm wondering if she is going to go mioget. We'll have to
watch
her very closely.

This little Darling is Chiara.
She is out of Cherrington Molly and Woolly Pedro.
Chiara and Molly are both sold.
It's going to be hard to let this little girl go - she is soooooo
sweet. She's also a little devil - and gets into everything.

This striking little Fella is Peter:
Very friendly - dark brown - possibly mioget
ram lamb out of Kalwa Taure Hearts and
Woolly Pedro.
Peter has quite the facial markings, and
personality.
He's quite friendly, and another lover of
the full body massage.

This good looking ram lamb is Noah.
He's our second last born this year - to Kalwa Taure
Blizzard and Woolly Pedro.
Noah means restful - he was named this in particular
because Noah loves to sleep.
He's going to be a striking ram with those markings, and he
will carry spots in a big way.

This young fellow is Tarian: his dam is Kalwa Taure
Hearts, and his sire is Woolly Pedro.
He is the twin to Peter. Tarian has the smirslet
facial markings, plus quite a lot of white on top of his head.

And last - but not the very least is Eric (the Great).
He was huge when he was born - and was our
only assisted lambing this year.

Well - that's everyone for this year. We were very pleased with the lambing.
In the next few weeks I will be assessing all of the sheep
and posting a sales list. I have several mature ewes for
sale, as well as a few wethers that would make great fibre pets.

Keep checking back, or contact me if you think there might be something here that interests you.

Pictures of the New Ram Lamb

2007-06-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

Ok - Cate has sent pictures of the two new ram lambs. These lambs are out of Cherrington Merlin, and Kalwa Taure Esme. They were both born yesterday. Now, I find it quite interesting, if you look at both of the parents being as solid and plain as they are, and they have given us such spots and markings. These are much better pictures, and maybe we can make a better assessment of the markings.
I can see that he is clearly white under the tail and the belly and up onto the chest and the back of the front legs. However - the markings around the head are confusing. Looking at his
mouth being grey - would I be correct to assume that he is going to fade to gray?

Again - this second picture gives a better close-up of the head and facial markings.
Actually - I think he's quite a stunning little fellow - regardless of what colour he becomes.

Look at the circles around his eyes. They are quite striking.

This last picture shows Esme with the two ram
lambs. Quite interesting - but when Esme was a lamb - she was quite light grey - with black legs and 4 white socks.
The other little guy is quite cute too. My indication is that he will be a gray flecket - I will have to check him over for solid spots that go right down to the skin.

This picture also shows the white on the underside of the tail of this little ram.

Now - the question. Is he gulmoget? Is he a
spotted gulmoget? If he's Ag - is he still a gulmoget - or just a grey? Is he carrying the recessive gulmoget gene? I have lots to learn about the genetics - of course - I think we need to watch this little fellow.

Gulmoget Update?

2007-06-15T16:35:00.001-07:00

Ok, I am still waiting for my friend Cate to send me along some more pictures of the little ram lamb born yesterday. The other pictures that I have of him are rather fuzzy. But I will post them when I get them.
In the meantime, I did mention that last year, a friend of mine leased Merlin and used him as the stud ram at her farm.

This first picture is Duncan (born in 2006).
Not the best picture - he was a bit put out when we took him out of the trailer.

This next picture though shows Duncan's belly - remember - these are pictures taken in 2006.

Definitely a very defined white underbelly.

And now, this picture was taken of Duncan
this year, only a few days ago after shearing.

Unfortunately - we can't see his face very well.
So we can't see if he has eye flashes. However - still white under the belly and legs.

Now, this last picture that I'm going to post right now, is of a ram lamb that was born this year at
Dawn's farm.

He was sired by Duncan and is out Woolly Bonnie

Again, you can see the white underbelly, and the phaeo markings - and I think that's black at the eyes - and I don't know if they classify as eye flashes or not.

However, this gulmoget marking trend has continued.

I will post the pictures of Cate's ram lambs as soon as they arrive.

Hope these pictures are a bit helpful to those of you that are trying to help me.

Again - comments are greatly appreciated.

Late Update

2007-06-14T19:14:00.001-07:00

OK Folks - I said I wasn't going to do this until tomorrow - but I'm going to do it tonight anyway.

We have a gulmoget - out of the blue.

I know it's not the best picture. On top of that - it looks
like maybe a spotted gulmoget (just looking at the head markings)
Sorry the picture is fuzzy - it was taken on a camera phone.

This little fella is out of Kalwa Taure Esme - a light grey ewe with phaeo markings, and Cherrington Merlin - a light grey ram (see picture below).

Merlin is not katmoget.

Now - I should also say - this lamb is not out of the blue.
Last year - a friend of mine leased him - and he gave her a black gulmoget ram - and a grey
"burrit" ewe - that has now faded away to just look like a grey ewe lamb with phaeo. She also had a gulmoget ram on her property that had been castrated a few months previous to breeding her sheep - and without actually going to DNA testing - couldn't prove that it was Merlin that sired the lambs. This year however - Merlin was put in with only 2 of my (actually now owned by my friend Cate) ewes. There is NO doubt that Merlin is the sire - he is kept on
my father's property with one other intact ram of mine - and 3 wethers. There are no other sheep there. We also keep our breeding group in a separate section of the barn - so we know without a doubt.

Please note - this line is completely unrelated to the Tisket line here in Ontario that Bill Stearman
has - I have owned this ram for 5 years - and never used him for breeding until last year, and this year for my friend Cate.
So this has come as a very big shock to us.

I would greatly appreciate comments and feedback.

I was thinking that these lambs were throwing back to Cherrington Esther - as she is the dam of both Esme and Nina (who had the gulmoget ram last year) - however - the burrit ewe is completely unrelated to our line - and although she is an incomplete gulmoget - I still believe by her baby picture - that she was burrit - or something to that effect.

We are excited about this - to know that the gulmoget line was sitting dormant in our barn all this time.

As Promised

2007-06-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Ok - as promised, here are pictures of the last two little lambs born on Tuesday to Blizzard.

The first one here is her little ewe lamb. You can see mom in the background. Blizzard is a very relaxed mom around me anyway.
So - she appears to be black smirslet - or maybe that's yuglet around the eyes - I'm not sure.
She also has a lot of white on the body. Blizzard was a lot like this when she was born. Everyone kept telling me she would fade away to grey - however, she has managed to keep a lot of the spots - her fleece is stunning (Blizzard's that is).

Now this one is of her ram lamb. Sorry - but I can't get
a shot of him unless he's eating - he seems to be permanently attached to Blizzard's udder (I could make a whole bunch of comments here - but I will behave). Anyway - he is mostly black - and again has the smirslet patches around the head.

Both of these little ones are very devilish and vocal.
I think they will be a bit of a chore. Ah - who am I kidding, Blizzard was a total doll (still is) - if they grow up like mom - they'll be great.

Well - we have hay to bring in - so I'd better get going.
Tomorrow - I think I may have a big surprise regarding my friend Cate's lambs.
Stay tuned.

Lambing is Finished

2007-06-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

Lambing finished up tonight at Kalwa Taure Shetlands around 7 pm. Kalwa Taure Blizzard presented us with a smirslet ewe lamb, and a smirlet ram lamb - both appear to be black.
Sire is Woolly Pedro.
I will post pictures tomorrow as I am terribly sick tonight.
Total stands at 10 lambs:
6 ewes, 4 rams.

Two More Lambs Today.

2007-06-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

Today was an exciting and stressful day here at Kalwa Taure Shetlands.
We started off with a trip to the barn at 7 am.
I noticed that Olivia had fluid trickling, so I thought
great - a lamb today. Why do they always wait until I have to go to work? After a few minutes, the nose appeared. I waited and watched - and watched - and watched. After about 1/2 I stepped in to examine the nose more carefully, and realized that it was actually the front paws and nose.
I sent my daughter down the road to get the lubricating fluid from a good friend who also raises goats. Brittany arrived back and I immediately donned gloves and lubed up - only to find that, I couldn't get my hand in - this was one BIG lamb. Back Britt went to call my friend (who graciously came down - and was late for work). By the time she arrived, I had deftly moved the
lamb around and managed to pull the lambs head out up to the mid section (I really hate interfering with birthing). By this time - Olivia was exhausted, and couldn't even finish delivering this lamb. I pulled the lamb the rest of the way - and cleaned off the remaining membranes, and gently laid him down beside his mom who started to clean him up.
A big - black ram with smirslet markings and some white on his legs.

By this time - Britt has missed her schoolbus - so I drove her to school. I made a detour back home to check on Olivia and her Huge ewe lamb - Mom and baby were up and bouncing around.
I should mention that this ram lamb is the size of most of my week old lambs. Britt has named him legs - because his legs are so long. Jessie - another of my ewes waiting to lamb, is very interested in this lamb - but I have to go to work - besides - I'm suspicious now.

Sure enough - Brittany came home from school
at 3 pm to find that Jessie had presented us with this
little brown ewe lamb. She's very tiny. She has
a few white hairs on her head - and the inside of her
ears are white. She also has sugar lips - so my guess is that she is going to be musket.

Well - Blizzard is very upset - she is sure that this is her lamb. In reality - this is her sister.

So - Blizzard is last. Like she said - saving the best for last.

Oh - and by the way:
The little moorit lamb is out of Cherrington Jessie and
Ewenique Tristan (both white).
The large black ram lamb is out of Kalwa Taure Olivia
(moorit) and Woolly Pedro (Black HST).

The current score -
5 ewe lambs.
3 ram lambs.

I'll wait until everyone is done lambing - and then I will post some updated pictures.
By the way - most of them are for sale - so if you're interested - ask.

No New Lambs Today

2007-06-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

Today we had a break. I think the remaining 3 pregnant girls thought it was just too hot to do the labour thing. I don't blame you girls. I have to go out of town tomorrow for a meeting - and I'm quite sure that all hell will break loose while I'm gone.

So tonight, I thought I would upload an updated picture of Woolly Pedro. He is a stunningly correct young man. I absolutely LOVE his horns they must be at least 18" wide (now I have to go and measure them). And the best part
of all is that he has a wonderful personality. He is just afraid enough to keep his distance - but when
you approach him at the stall or through the fence, he just loves to have his chin scratched - by me
anyway. Pedro is also a fully marked HST (head,
socks, tail) or yuglet socket. He has 4 white socks, a white tail, and of course as you can see,
a white head. Don't you just love those striped horns.
Alas - Pedro has one problem - we used him in a
test breeding this year on several ewes - so far - no ewes have produced his markings (except of course the one lamb that was born pre-maturely dead).
We've got lots of smirslet though. I'll probably use him in a very limited breeding this fall, and then we'll see where we go from there.

Well - unless there is major compelling news tomorrow - you probably won't hear from me until
Sunday. Enjoy the weekend.

More Lambs!!

2007-06-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

MEET TRINITY!

I'm sure that this is the year of the single. So far, all of my ewes that have had babies, have had singles - except Hearts has given me twins. It's not a problem of course - because I don't have as many babies to sell that way.

Well - today we were surprised with 2 lambs - from 2 different ewes!

I went to the barn this morning - walked into the stall, and right past this little cutie here.

Isn't she a doll?! Now - I'm terribly confused.
I think Bella must have snuck in with my white
ram lamb one night? She is pure - sparkling white, the tips of her ears are black, and she has a bit of black on her lips. Her mom is a very light grey (almost white) yuglet, and her dad (Woolly
Pedro) is a black HST. She is out of Willowgarden Bella. I'm thinking - she might be a keeper - but haven't really decided yet. She is very delicate and dainty.

By the way - you notice that I don't offer any comments on fleece crimpiness or coats. I'm a firm believer that lambs tend to change too much in the first year to give a totally accurate
assessment on fleeces - just my opinion.

This afternoon - Willowgarden Greta presented us with this little cutie - also a ewe lamb.
Sire is Woolly Pedro.
At this point - she looks to be black, smirslet - however, that is in my dark barn.
Greta is a mioget. So - in a couple of days - out in the sunlight - I will make a better assessment of the situation.

So far - 2 ram lambs, 4 ewe lambs.
Lots of smirslet - 2 white.
3 more ewes to go.
By the way - Blizzard has informed me - she's saving the best for last (chuckle).

And - as promised:

Presenting : Earendel Rose - born out of
Kalwa Taure Minn, and Cherrington Merlin.
Cate has informed me that I am a granny now, even though I keep telling her that I don't want any grandchildren.
Mommy and daughter, and adoptive parents
Cate and Al are all doing fine.
I will be travelling to visit them this weekend - barring any unforseen lambing problems.
They live about a 3 hour drive from here, and while I'm there, I will also be checking up on a couple of other sheep I sold Cate and Al -
Cherrington Brandy, and Kalwa Taure Esme.
Both are also expecting to lamb at any time now.

Stay tuned for further developments

Wrong Again?????

2007-06-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well - I was wrong again - how can that be? That would be twice in one week - let alone this lifetime (hee hee).
On the right here - we have Hearts (not Blizzard - Hearts). This is Kalwa Taure Hearts, and her
two little black smirslet ram lambs - born this afternoon around 1pm.
Actually - my wonderful 14 year old son - skipped school today (yes - I am an enabler) - to help with lambing.
He checked on the sheep every hour on the hour to make sure everyone was healthy and alert.
At 1 pm - I got a call on my cell phone - "mom, I just went out to the barn - and there's a black lamb - with a black sheep". I rushed home - to find that Hearts had delivered another lamb in the 20 minutes since I had spoken to him.
Both were up - and nursing (not the most brilliant of boys - as you can see they are fighting over the same teat) - and vigorous. I dipped cords, penned them, and left.

And, an update - the little ewe lamb delivered by Molly last night is doing well. She is bouncing around and very active today. I spent most of last evening in the barn - trying to feed her and worrying. Molly is a very private ewe, and tends to freeze when anyone comes into the area - so I am sure that she was just reacting to all of the attention - it was also darned cold yesterday - and rainy. I had to put up the heat lamp last night - and I swear there was frost on the ground this morning) You could see your breath outside. By the way - Molly and her lamb will be leaving us - they have been sold, and will be heading out in July or August.

So - the count is 2 ewe lambs, 2 ram lambs. 5 more ewes to lamb.
I'm taking bets on who will be next:
Blizzard, Bella, Jessie, Greta or Olivia. I still think Blizzard - but Bella is looking awfully ready as well. Stay tuned.

I Was Wrong

2007-06-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

Ok - so I was wrong (must be like, the first time ever :-) ). Anyway, we had another lamb born today - to Cherrington Molly, (not to Blizzard as I predicted). She's a little moorit, smirslet ewe lamb - sire is Woolly Pedro.
She's very tiny - so, I'm not too sure if Molly is going to present another lamb. We haven't seen the placenta yet. Molly is also a very shy ewe, so
she's not overly pleased with all of this attention.
Of course, we couldn't have picked a yuckier day to have a lamb - it was so cold here today - 50 degrees, and the north wind is really blowing.
I've spent the last 4 hours out in the barn - putting up the heat lamp, moving ewes around, and trying to keep an eye on this little one. She doesn't appear to be feeding well, so I have supplemented her with colostrum and some milk replacer, which has perked her up a bit. I think, it's going to be a very long night.

On a brighter note..........................
here's an update on my little darling:
GABRIELLA! Yes - this is our little first born from last week. She is such a pet. Of course in this picture you can't see it - but it's so hilarious - she has two perfect little brown eyebrows. I actually thought maybe she had horn buds, but no - just
eyebrows. She also has a spot on one ear, and a
large spot on her back. They all appear to be
phaeo - and will probably fade away - but it is so cute now. She is also very friendly and playful.

Also this morning, I got a phone call from a very dear friend of mine Cate DeSantis. She purchased a few sheep from me this past few years, and had them bred to my rams this past winter. Seems that I became a Grandma this morning - Minn, had a little ewe lamb early this morning (for pictures of Minn - go back to my Feb 16th post) . Both Minn, and her daughter
"Rose" are doing well. I will post a picture of Rose as soon as Cate sends one to me.

And, just so you know - I have to go out of town this Saturday - my husband has to work out of town this weekend, and my daughter will be away on course out of town this weekend. My 14 year old son will be home looking after things. So I guess - lambing should begin in earnest this Saturday (isn't that how Murphy's Law works).

More Later.