Gaia's Mother's Day Twins

I'm thinking Mother's Day is the perfect day to have lambs!

I went out to check on Elle and her girls, and Zanzibar and her big fella and saw Gaia in the throes of labor.  We figured she'd go pretty soon, but I was surprised to catch her!

Warning: graphic photos to follow....

 

First, there was this!

 Then came some laying down and grunting and pushing. 

 At this point I went to the house to get Lila who said " I never dreamed anyone would ever ask me if I wanted to see a sheep being born."  To which I replied, "Really?  Have you met me?"

 Then, two wee hooves appeared!

 Quickly followed by a black and white head....

Followed by an entire slimy wet body.  At this point, Lila and I decided to go in and let Gaia clean off her baby.  I was gone for ten minutes getting towels and the navel dip and when I came back found this:

TWO almost identical lambs, one Moorit (brown) and the other black.  And they are BOTH rams.

Gaia and her fellows are doing well. 

Just look at their fleeces.....

More lambs!

Yesterday while in the midst of shearing alpacas, Elle decided to give birth to two ewe lambs. We quickly put her into a jug with her lambs and they got to work nursing. Both are black with some white markings mixed with gulmoget markings. Both very sweet.

Krunet sokket gulmoget ewe lamb...the first born.

Gulmoget ewe lamb with a tiny white mark on her head.

Today we were supposed to be going to Mackinac Island. Star line ferries gives residents of Mackinac County free passage to the island one day a year so we were all going to go over. Twenty minutes before heading out the door though, we noticed Zanzibar was in labor. Trip delayed.....she tried pushing for about two hours and was getting tired. The short chase it took to catch her exhausted her. The lamb was presenting normally but had a really big head. I helped out a little by easing his head out and pulling a little on his legs. It was a big ram lamb with huge horn buds! He is a flashy fellow.

Yuglet socket black ram lamb; his name is "Mull".

Ann here is Nala's ram lamb, "Rum", who is a week old today. He only has tiny bits of horn tissue which may be scurs (the tup has scurs). He is a trouble maker and bounces all over the place! He will have fun with the other three when they all get together....which won't be today because it is SN*WING. Cussing weather.

 

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Nala's Lamb

Yesterday I felt pretty certain Nala was going to lamb overnight.  She was restless and didn't want anything to do with me or any other sheep which is unusual for her!  She also wasn't interested in treats...definitely not normal.  I checked on her at 11:00pm-ish and she wasn't in labor.  I checked at 2:30 am; still not in labor.  Then I fell asleep....and didn't wake up until 6:30am.  I went into the kitchen and looked out the window that overlooks the sheep pasture and saw Nala in one of the birthing sheds....

with a big bag of water hanging out of her bum!

I thought I had finally caught someone giving birth....but when I got out there, this is what I saw:

 A sweet wee black lamb peeking around Miss Nala!

(I was hopeful that water bag indicated there was another lamb on the way,

but no...it was just prior to the placenta coming out).

  It is a little ram lamb and Nala is very attentive to him.

He was still wet and Nala was very attentive about licking him clean, if not dry.

He is still covered in wet slimey sheepness in this photo.

I cut and dipped his umbilical cord and hung around a bit to see if he would nurse...he didn't seem to know what he was doing but had the general idea.  I made sure Nala was giving milk, and stripped a bit out...YES!

She has a nice big udder and plenty of milk.  I tried to show him where the teat was but he resisted.

I checked back a few times to see if he was having any luck but he was ready to sleep, and his mouth was warm and he seemed fine so I left them alone for awhile.

Meanwhile, the Vanimans showed up to gather some Bunny Poo for the school garden and they had their roto-tiller with them to use at the school.  They very generously offered its use to us so Will spent an hour tilling all our gardens while I chatted with Sue and Mark.

This is his-self at six hours old.  

I finally did see him nursing...slurping and guzzling and wagging that cute hairy tail of his.

His fleece is very consistent from shoulder to britch.  He looks a lot like his dad!

I can feel some horn nubbins on his head.

He is solid black except for about 30 white hairs on the top of his head.

I was surprised to get a solid lamb because evidently B.o.B carries spots and so does Nala  

He is very sweet.

I think Nala is quite smitten too.

Four more ewes to go....and I can't really tell who might be next at this point!

Stealth Planting & Waiting for Lambs

Every fall for the past few years Will patiently waits until the spring bulbs go on sale for super cheap and then stealthily sneaks around the yard planting them. Spring is that much cheerier finding some spots of color where they haven't been the past year. He never tells us that he has done it so it is a sweet surprise.

I've been keeping a close eye on our white pregnant Shetland ewe, Nala. She is looking miserable, though alert. Not interested in treats, but getting an occasional mouthful of hay. She is our most social sheep and doesn't want anything to do with me. I feel slightly paranoid because it seems like there is a thin line between pregnancy toxemia symptoms and early labor. This is likely because I've not had a toxic ewe, so I'm probably fretting for nothing. She is restless, then lays down for a bit; goes into the shelter then comes out; stares off into the distance and lays down with her head extended. Her vulva is bright pink and puffy but no discharge. Poor thing....I'm sure it annoying having a human staring at your bum all the time. I'm giving her a break by using binoculars from the kitchen....and no, I wouldn't say I was obsessed...not really....

Pizza dough is rising and the beers are chilling. Sounds like we will be watching "Garfield".

 

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Ponyo Soup and other oddities

On those days I just don't know what to make for dinner, Ponyo Soup is a favorite request.

Haven't seen "Ponyo" the movie? It is a lovely Japanese anime movie by studio Ghibli that Disney has somehow picked up the rights to distribute. It is very sweet and the mum in the movie makes this soup that is basically doctored up ramen noodles. Good in a pinch!

Busy this past week and into this week as well.... Had a relaxing and productive weekend doing chores around the farm. Spent a few hours at the field down the road where the alpacas will spend the summer trying to figure out where their pasture fencing should be placed.

This is a screen shot from Google Earth. If I was smart and knew how to draw on the photo I would do so but I'm not and you will have to figure it out verbally instead of visually. The top of the photo is north (handy eh?). We will fence in two fields which may be further split up. The first will be on the west side of the photo adjacent to the tree line and between it and the island of trees. It will be approximately two acres. There would be afternoon shade there in the summer.

See that finger running from the east side through the center? That is a depression in the field where there is a bit of a draw and it is slightly wet in the spring and the trees are apples and crabapples. The property owners would love to have animals in there to graze because haying equipment can't get in there and the grass "goes to waste" there. That area is approximately 5 acres. Bought three rolls of field fence today and need to pick up a bunch of posts and then we will start fencing in the west pasture splitting up both labor and funding. We still need to pick up a couple of portable shelters too. We also may be able to buy the hay off of this land if we can arrange the haying...checking into that.

We are on lamb watch! First possible lambing date is this Friday so I've spent much time looking at sheep vulvas wondering who goes first.....excited! In the midst of lambs the alpaca shearer comes (May 10th) which should be an adventure as we've no idea what to expect. Then the sheep shearer comes the end of the month and hopefully everyone is done lambing.

Busy work week too; climate change conference three days this week in Sault Ste. Marie (Michigan side), downstate today, and off part of Friday to take Mr. Gingerpants to the vet for a urine culture (oh joy).

 

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The CSA Movement Goes Fiber

I had this post on the farm's Facebook page today.....I'm pretty excited that they included our farm on this map! It is a really interesting article too.

"Just wanted to let you know that YarnPlaces.com, a nationwide directory of yarn places and events, is running a feature article today on CSA fiber farms, and Spinner's End is included on our nationwide map (see link at end of article):
http://yarnplaces.com/news/csa-movement-fiber-buying-share-shearing/

Have a great day!"

The CSA Movement Goes Fiber: Buying a Share of the Shearing

April 24, 2013 | Filed under: News and tagged with: fiber community supported agriculture, fiber CSA, fiber farm, yarn CSA

Materials from Kindred Spirit Farm, Spring Valley, MN

So in my last few posts, I’ve been talking about my longing to connect with the animal behind the yarn. I’ve been researching alpaca shows, shearing festivals and farm tours as ways to do this. I’ve found lots of wonderful events along the way, but the events come and go, and my longing for alpaca continues. Well, yesterday, I came across something that may just provide city and suburban dwellers like myself a more permanent fix–participation in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) fiber farm.

Many of you are probably familiar with the CSA movement in food. Typically, a farmer offers “shares” in his harvest in the late winter or early spring. The money raised through the sale of shares helps the farmer plant, cultivate and harvest his crop. Once the crops are harvested, the shareholder is given a share of the produce. For the consumer, it is a way to eat fresh and local, and to support area farmers. There are over 600 CSAs in the US .

Recently, the CSA movement has begun to take hold with fiber farmers. It works on the same principle. Shares are offered prior to spring or fall shearing. After the shearing or “clip”, share holders receive a portion of the fiber- either in its raw form, or as processed batts, roving, or yarn.  Additional perks often involve an invitation to shearing day, family farm visits, and the opportunity to help out on the farm.

Although the specifics vary from farm to farm, a share generally costs between $100 and $200 and buys you a percentage of the clip. At Juniper Moon Farm in Palmyra, Virginia, a share costs $175. The number of shareholders is limited so that each one gets a “bountiful” supply. After the shearing, the fleece is sent to a mill and made into yarn, then divided among the shareholders. Spinners can opt to receive a “spinner’s share” in roving rather than yarn.

At some farms, shareholders can identify the specific animal and type of product they want. At Creekside Acres Farm, in Pleasant Valley, NY, investors can buy  “sponsored” shares for $50 more than the standard share, and choose a specific animal for their fleece.

Mike has made a terrific Yarn and Fiber CSA Map for us, with information about each farm and a link to their websites. There are 41 yarn and fiber CSAs across the country. See if there’s one near you!

Color Therapy

I've been doing some colorful dyeing to chase away the blues....

 This colorway I am calling "Lake Superior".

 The colors reminded me of Lake Superior on a hot bright summer's day;

 When the lake is so inviting that you just have to have a little dip....

...and you come up in varying shades of blue with your veins popping from the cold.

This colorway is "spring flowers"

 because April snow showers bring May flowers...

 Or so we are hoping.

Because if we don't have hope, we have eternal winter!

These colorful braids of fine Merino Wool are available in my Etsy shop. 

There are four ounces per braid.

Hedwig

Hedwig came to us from the Luce County Animals Shelter in 2001,

where she was abandoned as a youngish cat.  

We got her soon after the death of our big fat fluffy Aggie who was an endearing calico lap cat, who loved to sneeze thick green cat snot on the walls and legs of the table.

I was hoping to get another lap cat, and I was disappointed, because that was not Hedwig's way.

 Lila and Hedwig both at crawling stage

Both of them always liked boxes!

 Hedwig loved to lay on top of everything; backpacks....

 

Nice clean carded wool....

 

Imported expensive wool....

 Sometimes it is good to be inside too.

I learned to love Hedwig, not because she was always underfoot and on my lap but because she was always there...somewhere where you least expected it (though it was easy to guess where she was if wool was out!)

Hedwig liked to sit on the bathroom scale.  She was ten pounds for a very long time, until she started to have renal failure and slowly began to lose weight.  

We thought a couple of weeks ago she was on her way out, but she rallied and got really excited about some new canned cat food.  She was fussy so she ate whatever she wanted, including the occasional dab of ice cream and turkey cotto salami.  She loved to clean out everyone's ice cream bowl!

Hedwig collapsed on Wednesday evening and I held her throughout the night so she wouldn't die alone. 

 She purred while I held her and when the kids gave her pats and kisses goodnight.  She didn't want to go though and after a few seizures at night she could only move her eyes but refused to die.  She and I went to our local vet where she was finally put out of her misery...and I was able to hold her the entire time.

She will always hold a special place in our memories, this cat who captured our aching hearts.

Sam has a funeral planned for spring...

he wants her to be buried under an apple tree so the blossoms can fall on top of her.

Back to "Normal"

Ginger came home on Satuday and life is slowly getting back to "normal" for him. He has a new expensive canned food diet which he isn't overfond of and some narcotics I had to sign my life away for which he also doesn't like. He does however appreciate getting back to work on his naps in the green chair.

He has been working hard to perfect these naps and over time I'm sure he with have it pegged.

After all, if you bother to do something you should give it your all.

"Bugger off and leave me alone! Quit following me to the litterbox to see if I've peed!

And WHERE are my crunchy cat kibbles???"

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