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 The dry weather has been tough on both
livestock and pastures. The flock has been feeding on winter hay since the end of July and
we worry about making it through the coming winter. Fortunately, we had a short
"second growing season" following some significant rainfall complements of
Hurricane Dennis. We were able to get an additional cutting of hay which will get us close
to spring. In the meantime the flock is getting extra grain rations. They love it, but our
feed budget is groaning! The weather forecast for the new year is for more drought
conditions. Above are some of our spring lambs (two sets of triplets this year) enjoying a
day in the fields before the drought really set in.
Ron celebrated his big "60" this summer by banging up his left ankle! A bit of a mystery, since he had no recollection of how it happened. We thought at first it was sprained, but ten weeks later he was hobbling as bad as ever! Compounding the mystery, the doctors couldn’t find ‘anything’ wrong... x-rays showed nothing broken or out of place. Then as mysteriously as the problem appeared it cleared up overnight! Go figure. In the meantime, major chores scheduled for the summer went unattended for almost three months, and Ron's frustration level grew inversely to his lack of accomplishment!
Elizabeth's mother came
for a three-week visit while some renovations to her house were underway and Eva, Adam and
Gina came for two-weeks in August. Alex took some time off and joined the clan for a
visit. Adam again enjoyed fishing and helping with the sheep.
We entered a float in the local fire
department parade in early summer (big doings down this way) and won the best float prize,
including $50.00 which we donated to the local 4H club. In October, Carl and Elaine
Wickstrom arrived for another working vacation here on t
Have a great Holiday and a terrific New Year 2000 and come see us! |
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Send e-mail to
saville@savillehillfarm.com with questions or comments about
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Christmas
eve...
1999
Elizabeth and her fiber arts studio
operation had a better year with several successful spinning and weaving workshops under
her belt. She also did a few local "shows," such as the Lexington Home and
Garden and Rockbridge Community Festival. Here she shows a young fan how to
spin with a hook. Note the mascot in her pocket! We held an open house here on the
farm in April and had quite a good turnout. Our good neighbor Erlene helped with the
refreshments and Alex came over to help with traffic and crowd control! He also oversaw
the sheep and lamb photo operation. The youngsters enjoyed climbing in with the sheep
while parents snapped away! We ended up with a rather nice article in the local newspaper.
In early May, Elizabeth gave up her job at the Chamber of Commerce to 
focus on her studio activities and has
been spinning and weaving up a storm ever since. She also has a consignment agreement for
pelts and chenille scarves with a local shop downtown, so she is getting exposure there as
well. In May we also managed a weekend away together for the Maryland Sheep and Wool
Festival, staying with Don and Betty MacDonald. In June, Elizabeth did a flax spinning
demonstration for the Irish Culture Club, which was surprisingly well attended. She
had actually grown her own flax in Massachusetts and so was able to speak with some
authority about the difficulty with rending it into linen! It’s much simpler to order
it right from our On-Line Catalog, where our sales continue to build slowly but
surely!
We
had enjoyable visits from many friends again this year. Jody Harris made it down for her
second visit and she and Elizabeth held an exotic cook-a-thon. Ron was the guinea pig for
their culinary experimenting and managed to survive in spite of his ‘meat and
potatoes’ mentality! Evelyn Brown returned for her third visit after a jaunt abroad
to Turkey and the Holy Land last year. A firm believer that the "rolling stone
gathers no moss," she headed south after visiting with us for a trip through the 
Panama Canal. She is planning a
trip ‘down under’ for next year. Go Evelyn! Bill and Bettie Geist dropped by for
a day visit in May. Bill is retiring from Raytheon next month and they were down scouting
for a place to settle in the Charlottesville area. Ron likes the idea of being closer to
Bettie’s cheesecake! Also in May, Dan Busse’s son Chris peddled his way from
Massachusetts to Lexington and spent a few days with us before setting off once again
headed for the Pacific Northwest. He dipped his bike’s front tire into the Pacific
Ocean in July. Congratulations Chris, quite an accomplishment!
Before they arrived, we added our latest
addition to the menagerie, adopting Andorra, a two year old Great Pyrenees guard dog,
shown here at age six weeks. She is a great people dog, but hopefully won’t cut the
coyote population any slack! We’ve had numerous
coyotes sighted on the farm this fall, although thus far, they haven’t bothered the
flock. An intent Gina examines some of Dora’s dinner, "I could eat this... okay
mom?" You can see that Dora has grown a bit since the picture at the right was taken!
Bear, one of our young dogs, made an indelible impression on Eva (we won’t say
anymore than that) and Adam became the master of the ‘wolf’ pack!
We managed another get-a-way weekend to visit with Pat and Steve Dunlap and
helped celebrate their new home on the Potomac. A most enjoyable time and the first long
trip for our deaf Border Collie, Bear. He handled it quite well and their cat seemed no
worse for his visit! Ron and Steve were at Virginia Tech together and are both looking
forward to the January 4th Sugar Bowl 2000! Rejuvenated by that trip,
Ron headed back to the shop and at long last finished the kitchen island, which we had
begun to call the continent! It kept growing bigger, you see. That just about finishes up
the kitchen cabinetry project. Bathroom cabinetry next!
he farm! Carl, who retired
from Raytheon this past spring, helped Ron get in the last cutting of hay for the winter
and also helped with extracting this year’s honey crop. Elaine and Elizabeth handled
the culinary chores, picking up where Jody and Elizabeth left off! We also held the second
annual Society of Massachusetts Refugees dinner, joined by Harry and Amy Scheuer.
Carl is enjoying his retirement, despite some problems with the health of their folks that
keep them both well occupied. Here Wick and Company relax after a tough day! Seven dogs
under foot that week, including Wick’s Molly and neighbor Erlene’s Bailey shown
here with Dora and Gailen! As you can tell, this year wasn’t all bad, in fact we even
had our first apple harvest since we planted the orchard six years ago and won a couple of
ribbons for our delicious Alfalfa honey! Needless to say, we are surviving here on the
farm and hope to see more of our friends during the coming year, so come visit a couple of
sheep farmers!
