Flock Dispersal Sale

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

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

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!

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

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"

"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

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.