Winter

No, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth-yet. I've just gotten behind with things.

I sold all of my lambs (except the replacement ewe lambs of course.) Most were sold direct, but some through the system. I'll save that for another post though.

I took two of my biggest Shetland X Coopworth lambs to the butcher for my family and I got to compare carcasses with some of Wagners smalller purebred Coopworth lambs. (I do have pictures if anyone wants I can e-mail them, I just don't want to gross anyone out by putting them on here.) My cross lambs were quite a bit fattier (back fat and internal fat) than Wagners pure lambs (if I had taken them in a few weeks earlier they would not have been as fatty.) The carcasses were about the same size, but the pure Coopworth had a longer leg of lamb than the cross as they are taller animals. The interesting thing is even though my lambs were fatty the lamb chops were not fatty. If anything the lamb chops are actually less fatty than the pure Coopworth lambs.

Lambing will start at the end of March-the clock is ticking. I have quite a bit of spinning I want to do before lambing and I'll need to shear everyone as well.

On the fiber front, I started an Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/psalm23farm and can take Paypal now as well. (I still have my wool sale blog http://psalm23fibers.blogspot.com.)

I also am going to Greencastle, IN Fiber Event for the first time as a vendor in April. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I'm nervous because I may still be lambing (my mom and sister will have to take care of my sheep and goats) and excited because I have never been to Greencastle before. Now I just need to wash and dye some more wool and mohair....

A New Guy and Some Visitors

I was feeding my animals after the big snow storm we just had and looked over and thought "the horses are the wrong color", then "oh! the neighbors horses are here!" Two Norwegian Fjords, a donkey and a spotted horse came for a visit with my sister, Lydia's horses. While they were waiting for their "ride home" I served them some hay. (That was to distract them from getting into any trouble while their owner walked over.) Their owner got a halter on one and the rest all trotted back home.




The horses with sheep in the background.
A Fjord.

On Sunday a lovely kitten appeared. He/she is taming down a bit and is very cute. The two cats we already have are leaving ignoring at. They stay in the garage and it is in the barn with the chickens. The little guy slept next to a chicken last night. Now to think of a name...



To top off all that excitement I had a "blond" moment. This morning I had to dig trails and dig out gates so that I could feed everyone tonight. The flashlight that I keep in my coat pocket fell out. Then when I was almost done feeding tonight (it was twilight) I noticed that the snow was glowing. "Weird, why's the snow glowing?" I thought and then "ohh it's the flashlight." (I guess that's what happens when I stay up too late. My brothers were out with some friends and barely made it home. They got stuck three times and then gave up and managed to get a ride in a truck to our house and they all stayed as the rest of the kids lived farther away. Boys. Never. Think. Ok sometimes they do...)